If it has nothing to do with deadlines, then you're telling me that Square concientiously made the decision to skimp out on animation to make it more like 'The MMO standard'.
It's comments like this that drive me up a wall. Where did Rukirri say this? What did she say? Do we need another quote? You are making up a bunch of false scenarios based on your preconceived ideas and prejudiced attitude based on the mistakes made in 1.0.

You have a very active imagination. I suggest you use it to imagine the extra step they're taking out of your precious animations.