I actually have a really hard time with how linear it is.
I'm in chapter 9 and I still feel like the game has yet to really start.
I don't know why I feel that, there's already been some character progression but I don't actually care about any of them.
I skip all of Sazh-Vanille & Snow-Serah cutscenes tbh.

If it weren't for the datalog I woulnd't know what's happening. & if it wasn't for the xbox's ability to play music I probably wouldn't play at all, maybe my taste has changed in the last 10 years but I used to enjoy FF music?

This game reminds me of Lost Odyssey but I'm sure you even had more freedom in that game then in this, which confuses me. The story isn't even that well put together for it to be driven solly on that factor. There's actually more side exploration in HALO for christs sake lol