Reviews

[Flying Arrow]

As for linearity, FFVI, along with a few others, are pretty linear until you get an airship or something similar. Basically you have the town NPCs more or less drawing you a map where to go next. Sure, you have that nice big open world map to go to, but for the most part at the beginning of the game all other areas are conveniently blocked off, leaving your next destination very obvious. Not so coincidental and ever so convenient, the only place you can go is the place that all the earlier NPCs were talking about and the next plot point! Not to say they don't open up, they do, but it only occurs later in the game. Sure, it seems open but if you look close enough they are just giving you slack on the leash.

I almost completely agree. I also want to add that the towns of VI were as bland as they get in the World of Balance. People complain about the lack of towns or whatever in XIII, but is it better to have boring towns than no towns at all? What makes the FFVI world interesting (if you find it interesting, that is) is how everything changes so suddenly and the new perspective it brings. I find that going through FFVI isn't a particularly incredible experience - FFV has far better gameplay among the SNES saga - it's only how it all fits together at the end that makes me think about what a great time I just had.

I'm hoping XIII ends up similarly satisfying. At this point there's no reason to believe it won't. I can buy reviewers calling foul on the linear-freedom game model; most mainstream reviewers have always cried foul about a lot of RPG conventions. The fans shock me, however. From what it sounds like, as much as XIII is trying to riff on VII, it seems like it's really the spiritual successor to VI (linear-freedom design, ensemble cast, standard backdrop setting brought to life by great character work, etc). One would think people would be more welcoming.