Hmmm...reading about the bloat, I wonder if the delays were due to pressure from Sony to artificially pad out the game.
I've found that for me personally, most of Sony's games, regardless of the overall quality of the game itself, were all longer than they needed to be.
As I've said all along, the E3 build I played was good but I did wonder how it would hold up over 20 hours or so. Hearing how long this game is, I guess maybe the consensus seems about right? Because even the most enjoyable games can drag on too long and start to not feel fun anymore.