always deemed mm7 unfinished/rushed due to how most of the land are barren textures, but only now that im crafting many black potions i realized how rare ingredient flowers are.
Only 3 locations bothered to have them: starting island, home town and elf city
I'm confused by what you mean by this.
There are ingredients on almost every over world map in the game. The difference is that they're higher level ingredients so of course the first areas would only have the basics. And because they're higher level ones, you have to kill enemies more to get them rather than just picking them up. You can find dragoneyes just lying on the ground in Eofol, but you mostly need to kill dragons to get them for instance.
Also how in the world are they rare for you? I usually have to throw tons of the stupid basic blues/yellows/reds/greys away just because they constantly clog up my inventory. If you're THAT desperate you can generally buy them from alchemists. And if that doesn't suit your needs, you can always raid one of the many boxes that has like 20 of the damned things (like the ones in Harmondale's stable)
As for it being rushed. I never noticed it. MM8 on the other hand felt rushed (but still enjoyable).