In real world we call this “political suicide”.
In Sacred 1/2 which was less in combat and fast-gameplay-flow(compared to Diablo), but more focused as well in Exploration, its obviously that it a bigger map is needet. But that doesn’t mean it also apply to Grim Dawn, and that also don’t mean its a dumb choice. Its like he said a Smart Choice, because it fits better the Game…
Apples and oranges. You put it the way like gameplay flow and map size are in opposition to each other, while there’s no reason why fast paced game with big map can’t exist and be a blast to play.
That said, I don’t really want a Sacred 2 sized map in GD, but saying that current size of the world in GD is “smart choice” is pretty farfetched. It could had been twice or even thrice the size and it wouldn’t had ruined the game.