To be fair, I'm not completely against the idea of linear gameplay design and having story be a major focus but I feel when you go too far with one way or the other I feel the game becomes terribly unbalanced. What I really seek is something more like the old days where both story and gameplay played their part equally as opposed to one being more important to the other. Obviously I don't feel XIII looks to be fulfilling those needs but its too early to tell I guess. To me it looks and sounds from reviews to be an interactive movie.

The PS2 generation of RPGs has kinda shown me that a great story does not make a great game. Xenosaga II was a title that had a terribly linear design, terrible combat, and had a ratio of 5 to 1 of story versus gameplay and it was probably one of the bigger disappointments for me last gen. Obviously FFX lands in here as well for me but I've been beating that horse a lot as of late (though god knows it deserves it ) but what I find is that when story overtakes gameplay by a massive amount like my two examples, I honestly wonder why I should bother playing it? I could easily get the same experience from both titles by watching the cutscenes on Youtube rather than force myself to play through the short but awful gameplay parts. That is really how I feel these games are designed. If these are games, we might as well count Advent Children as a game cause its where the series seems to be heading sometimes cause the gameplay side is being reduced more and more.

Granted I understand the reverse is true as well. I never cared for sandbox titles or open ended worlds with a loose plot cause I quickly lose interest due to lack of incentive. I sometimes get so lost in the freedom of the title I feel it would be better to just write or create my own story rather than play in another person's world that lacks narrative and focus.

Lately, I've been replaying FFIX and I feel this game stills hold the ideal (for me at least) way of designing a game, its got its faults but I've never been bored and I find the gameplay to be just as fun and engaging as the story and characters, its not one sided. I generally play games for the whole package and while I truly enjoy my RP, I'm also a big fan of the game part and I feel gameplay in RPGs are a little more than just a combat system, random encounters, and boss battles. I also have side quests, mini-games, and exploration that have been slowly being removed from SE titles of late.

Its hard to give a damn about a world when its all relegated to the story (just as the reverse is true about all gameplay and no plot). At that point the game only has the chance to appeal to its audience from the perspective of a film, with visuals and dialogue but games have the ability to transcend this cause they bring in an interactive element and I feel when all I'm doing is transporting my characters from plot point A to Plot point B and its literally a straight line to that point, I feel the developers and designers have failed from a design perspective and in an immersion. Story segments might as well end with four choices popping up:

Save
Shop
Battle random enemies
Next Cutscene

Cause at least we can really streamline this and not even have to waste our time with dungeons if thought isn't even going to be put into it.