Quote Originally Posted by adn View Post
As others have said, they are primarily bound by technical limitations in the form of servers and PS3. Until PS3 support is dropped, an open world is not even a question-- it simply won't happen.

However... based on the HW zones, I honestly question whether an open-world design would work well for this game. While small, ARR zones feel cohesive and every area feels very deliberately designed (though they could stand to do away with areas like the Sylphlands...)
I just had a thought... how amazing would it feel if I could get on my chocobo and fly out of the zone our FC house is at and go exploring.....

I still have no idea where my FC house is on the world map. It's a magical place that is in the heavens somewhere and I just teleport to it right now.