Square you need to streamline the main story

[Berethos]

2.1 was intentionally made with padding to keep players busy. That's the real reason behind it.

2.1 was made to introduce F'lhaminn and give character development to Minfilia and a bit to Thancred, provide a believable set-up for the Scions moving to a new location and the establishment of a hub area for players, and reintroduce the Moogle Primal to the game as a foundation for future important developments regarding how primals are formed (namely that they aren't pre-existing deities returning to form but can be created wholesale out of an idea or myth).

It also arguably served as a sort of soft reset on the action, as the story had just come through a climax with Ultima Weapon, and always trying to one up the action, intensity, and stakes with each subsequent patch simply leads to bad story telling.

That is the real reason behind it.