I would argue we are still getting closer and closer to it as games like Xenoblade have proven. I would never care to see a 1:1 scale map as I have done enough road trips to tell that good chunks of the planet are hardly scenic and if it could take me the time it takes to traverse all the Americas as it does the Bionis, I would be pretty stoked by that.

On the other hand, Overworld maps can be engaging but most of them are pretty samey with their experience. Even games like FFIII-VI had to keep changing up the maps to keep the player from being bored and even some of the novel elements of games like VIII and IX couldn't save their maps from feeling like lots of empty space with most of its "secrets" being an out of the way treasure or Draw Point. I'm more than willing to suspend my sense of disbelief by walking past a desert into a snow cap mountain over traversing a large overworld map with maybe five places of interest to see and lots of space to give the impression of a large world not really worth seeing.

I guess the point I'm trying to make is that I prefer having world maps that instinctively make me want to explore and I feel most of the world map types can work that way. Hell even BoFIV made the point and click map actually engaging. As you said, it just comes down to preference, I just agree with Raistlin that XII was one of the "good ones".