how big did ff11 area grow before and after all the expansion?

[Eidolon]

The teleport system had nothing to do with XI's size. XI was just... Plain massive. Even on a chocobo it took time running from one end of the map to another. Each zone had some unique flavors to it to boot (still remember that giant skeleton in that one zone, even if I don't know its name.) and there was danger in many zones that made you have to think before running through.

From a world building standpoint, XI was better. But XIV has good potential - and I'm excited to see if SE can do something amazing.