yea agree with most people i pre-ordered the game and picked it up when it came out i got to playing it and a few days i later i started to think when am i gonna have some freedom in this game, that's at until you reach grand pulse kind of like the calm lands in ffX. i still have not finished the game, but i think it's safe to say this is the only place you can wander around. You can do cieth missions, find treasures, and fight the hardests monsters as a hardcare ff fan i was a little disappointed, but overall the game is still good.