There is no other explanation for the tedium related to the moogle item collection. It has classic Tanaka time sink all over it. The tedium level just feels like Tanaka to me.

Another example:

After acknowledging that the the +1/+2/+3/NQ versions of items were creating inventory issues, next steps were to implement 4 tiers of Materia, each having variable stats, non stacking, and requiring numerous variety of catalysts.

There are numerous examples of this sort if anti-logic in the game that make me wonder if Tanaka isn't really still driving, and the management change was just for show.

If that is NOT the case, then it seems like the new mgmt is just as interested in tedious, time consuming, not really "fun" game mechanics as the previous.