Thank you for sharing the article. I believe I own that booklet as well, though I have no idea where I put it.
That aside, let me explain the original plot.
First of all, I think the interview omits some important details, which causes my original intentions to come across somewhat differently than they actually were.
The original plot was as follows:
The city of Leá Monde is suddenly attacked by hordes of monsters that appear without warning. To prevent the creatures from escaping into the outside world, the kingdom's mages erect a magical barrier around the entire city. As a result, the monsters become trapped within Leá Monde.
Most of the surviving residents manage to flee before the barrier is completed, but a number of people remain stranded inside the city.
At that point, the knightly order receives word that the daughter of an influential noble family has been left behind. However, Leá Monde has become an extremely dangerous place, and none of those previously sent in to rescue her have returned. While everyone else hesitates, a single highly skilled warrior volunteers for the mission. His name is Ashley...
The game was the same in the sense that the player controlled Ashley, the protagonist. However, one of his missions was also to locate and rescue the handful of survivors still trapped within the city. The core gameplay mechanic revolved around escorting those survivors to safe locations. In that respect, it may have been somewhat similar to ICO.
The nobleman's daughter was intended to be the final rescue target, and bringing her back alive was planned to be extremely difficult. The concept was that the ending would change depending on how many survivors the player managed to rescue and bring back before completing the game.
However, there were concerns that on the original PlayStation hardware, displaying both the protagonist and an accompanying survivor would significantly reduce the number and variety of monsters that could appear simultaneously on screen. As a result, the entire "rescue and escort" gameplay system was fundamentally removed from the project.
That is what I meant when I said it was "cut due to memory limitations."
Thank you.