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This is one of the many reasons why I don't typically play JRPGs. There's RPG stuff like party control, stats, consumables, cooldowns, skill trees, etc. but very little in regard to real role playing with choice/consequence that leads to spider webs upon spider webs of branching paths. That was the biggest reason why D&D took off the way it did and what game developers tried to replicate when bringing that concept to a new medium. It was the players creating their story rather than the player following the story the developers created. That's why I prefer to lean to WRPGs/CRPGs.
I can't comment on whether JRPGs could work in a completely open world as I haven't really played any before. But isn't FF7 Rebirth a completely open world?
You called down the thunder, now reap the whirlwind
