Phoenix downs are useless in that they can't be used during battle, only when there's nothing beating on the down owner can they raise someone if they don't have access to a raise spell and you can only carry one at a time. The other thing is this game does not use a death system. SE went the "you're simply unconscious from being knocked out" route, so graveyards would be useless in this scenario for overworld situations.

At least there's an aetheryte or two for each zone to teleport to even though you still had to travel back to that spot on the map. Could have been worse without one.