Few things here
* Persona is a B class JRPG. Sales and critical reception have nothing to with it. I'm sure nobody considers Wii Fit a AAA game right? It is entirely budget based with games with more than 50mill considered "AAA". We on this site should know that.
* This is not about if Final Fantasy should or should not be open world game because that choice has already been made. This is also not about if Final Fantasy should be more like Western RPGS. Its more like Final Fantasy truly committing to an open world experience, and the kind changes to formula that would have to happen.
* Final Fantasy is Global AAA IP. I have seen Persona 5, Bravely default and Octopath brought up, none of them AAA. Those games can do what they do because they are not competing on global scale! Ask yourselves, when was the last time we had a Turn based AAA JRPG? FF13 right? The only time we see turn based RPGS now are on handhelds, B class developers and small low budget projects like Octo. Final Fantasy is in the same field as games like Uncharted, God of war, Halo, Witcher, Skyrim and that other stuff, luxury IP's that are suppose to represent the best of their genre. FF going back to be like SNES/PS1 games is not firing all cylinders! They were amazing for their time...15-20+ years ago.