As much as I hate FFXV from the bottom of my heart it's not really a good comparison. FFXV is going for a complete different experience than ACO or other western open world games. The open world isn't even an actual open world. It's just a series of large areas as it is done in all large scale JRPG. In fact I have yet to see the first open world JRPG. The thing is, do we even need it? The west has already perfected open world games so it's nice to still have your regular JRPGs. Going into a JRPG and expecting ACO or the Witcher is like going into a JPOP concert and expecting Finnish Hard Rock.
Right now I'm playing FFXII which is from gameplay extremely similar to FFXV, except that it's not shit at everything it does. It's not about exploring necessarily but about experiencing a world with lots of strange and amazing set pieces while also having some roaming in between to fill time. Having amazing set pieces and varied environments is simply not possible with the western formula of open world.
I believe and hope that it will stay on the same path. We don't need more open world games, we need more big scale JRPGs that don't suck ass like FFXV. FFXII and Xenoblade Chronicles are great examples to lead.
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