All this actually works for me

- No towns. Wandering around aimlessly talking to people that don't matter. Glad I don't have to do it
- No shops. Not the same as no shopping and possibly the loss of even more pointless conversations, which is no loss at all to me. You can still shop
- No conversable NPCs. Is talking to pointless people really that important? Unless you're talking about characters that guide you through the story. If this is about people in towns, again, better off without them
- No side-quests. I don't know that they're all that necessary. I think the FF series started to get a little too addicted to the idea of side-quests after a while. And its been a long time since I enjoyed any of them. So I'd be happy if they stop. Plus I hear the game is plenty long without artificially increasing playtime
- No mini-games. Basically the same as above. Mini-games only started in FF7 and the previous games weren't considered lacking without them. Just more pointlessly bloating playtime with stuff that would probably just annoy me anyway. Again, no loss to me
- No airship. Is it really needed? I'll grant that this staple has been around most frequently in the series. But lots of video games and RPGs get by okay without an airship. Its more of an icon than a necessity
- No world map. I could re-hash my statement about pointlessly bloating playtime due to aimless wandering. But I'm content

Sorry for the people that want a seven course meal. Sometimes the developers think their main dish is good enough. Personally I find the parallels eest pointed out both amusing and profound. FFT is considered by many to be one of the best RPGs out there. Let alone best in the series. And it had very few of these things too. Different play-style yes. But completely proved the idea that all those things are just icing. But with a tastey enough cake sometimes you don't need icing :] At least, sometimes I don't

Some people are graphics whores. Some people are content whores. Graphics may not make a game, but artificially bloating it with content doesn't either. I'm in it for the experience. So we'll see how the experience is