I still haven't had the chance to play this.

[Lone Wolf Leonhart]

I really enjoyed the first half of the game. Even if the story was sparse, there was enough to do in the world to keep things interesting, and the characters had great dialogue. The second half of the game streamlines the experience massively

Is it fair to compare it to criticisms of being a reverse Final Fantasy XIII? Where you start out with the open world map but then it's taken away overtime, or is it just that the places you have to go keep being less of a distance to travel?