Quote Originally Posted by tatatatatata View Post
Uhhh... what? Let's take Sea of Clouds. Half the map is not used in any way and is just empty filler that only has FATEs. You don't go into them even in sidequests. I think it's kind of ridiculous to say that the entire area has a purpose. I mean compare that to Elden Ring where the world is both far bigger (even if you add up all of FF14's maps) and far denser.
You go through most of it in the MSQ alone and its sidequests. Anything which has a bridge to the rest of the islands is used for that, which is almost all of it. The northern islands unconnected to anything are used for the Void Ark quests. The island to the top right corner is used for a dungeon. The island at the bottom right has sidequests and a sightseeing log entry. The nests that extend from the islands are used in quests. One of the islands takes you to Ishgard and then they all get re-used for job quests, crafter/gatherer quests, the beast tribe and as you mentioned, FATEs. You actually have plenty of reason to go to all of the islands for hunts as well. Let's not forget that all of the trees, bushes, plants, rocks and water areas are intentionally placed to become gatherering nodes that are regularly used by gatherers.