Why people didn't like this game

[Skyblade]

Unfortunately, we're well past the point that Square goes that deep. Was anyone fooled, even for a moment, by Sazh's "suicide"?

Nope. But if they did have that happen, I think it would have been on par with Aeris' death.

I wonder sometimes if that's precisely why they don't kill off party members mid-game anymore.

The usual response to this is, I think "wasted resources". Playable characters are so expensive to produce, models, animations, voice acting, etcetera, that companies are loathe to throw that away.

Notice how perfectly balanced the characters are, with their relation to the classes and combat styles? Killing Sazh off would have wrecked all of that, not to mention removing the only comic relief in the game.

Square did the bare minimum for characterization in this game. There's, what, fifteen people, total, in the whole game? Could they really afford to get rid of one?