Originally Posted by
Hulan
I remember hearing somewhere - and it sounds extremely likely - that the reason we don't see any overworld maps in recent Final Fantasy games is because the quality of the graphics have outstripped the capacities of the machines. The PS3 only has 256 MBs of dedicated Graphics RAM with another 256 MBs of system RAM. Developers can play all sorts of cool tricks to squeeze out every bit of graphical prowess of those 512 MBs or RAM, but overworld maps a much larger in scale with a larger amount of "stuff" to store.
My understanding is that SE wants to keep a "consistent" graphical style with their games; a style they just cannot make happen anymore on a massive scale like an overworld map. In the older games - take FFIX for example - the backdrops were still images, meaning a much lower overall memory footprint and a very specific graphical style, which could be reproduced in an overworld setting. Meanwhile, games like FFXIII just have too much "there" there to reproduce on the same scale.
As I said, that is what I have heard, and it makes sense to a degree. Also, I like to think that that is the case, since it would mean that in the next generation when console makes finally wise up and realize it only costs $20 to install 8GB of memory we may very well see some overworld maps again. Perhaps I am just being wishful though.