Quote Originally Posted by Shougun View Post
(...) On FFXIV it's a clear note given they require people to go on foot at first as it provides scale and exploration to the world that straight flying access would obliterate (...)
I think this is the bit worth zeroing in on when it comes to discussion of 'travel' in this game in particular since by the time you get flying to 'skip' the exploration, you've already done all the exploration that's relevant to the MSQ... plus a few side trips for aether currents and the sidequests which do enough of a job of fleshing out a zone on a first pass, so that any subsequent re-treading of that same area goes from 'meaningful exploration' to 'pointless time-wasting busy work,' which FF14 bless its heart is extraordinarily dedicated to obliterating.

Like putting aside all the stuff about 'joy of motion' because sure it doesn't feel great or compelling just to engage with movement mechanics, the point of travel in most games that have it as a focus is because that's where some of the meaningful gameplay happens. When you're made to go back to zones you've already previously explored for a story beat, it's not because something meaningful has happened in that zone to engage with on the way through or because there's going to be some kind of random event to participate in.

Indeed this was also the case in older MMOs with a 'hazardous overworld' but because those games as a genre were defined by time-wasting tedium the gameplay mostly involved wasting as little of your time as possible getting hassled by overworld trash.

Unless we get a specific, serious overhaul of every overworld zone to add a ton more meaningful, engaging gameplay there's simply no reason why the game should ever force you to spend more time there