I mean yeah FFX is linear as heck and I don't argue that. I don't think it 'hid' its linearity per se, I think it made it so it didn't matter and you didn't care because it was an enormously fun and engaging time. Which is a pretty goddamn widespread point that has been made by reviewers etc. in its favor.
The only reason I can see people wouldn't think it's a convincingly long pilgrimage is because they had such fun the time just flew by
Well I can't speak for Bolivar but it hid its linearity for me by making me forget that it was linear because I was having too much fun with the battles and sphere grid and stuff. Even when I do remember that it's linear, I don't play FF for a non-linear experience anyway. I just want to be shuttled around between having fun with battles and job classes and if it's a straight line being that shuttle then it's fine by me.
Holy hell this thread is making me want to play FFX. I'll add it to the pipeline after my current Morrowind playthrough.
EDIT: Mindhive with Hux *high five*
There's the rub though, your mileage varies depending on how much you liked the battles and sphere grid on that linear path. The latter was also too linear for me until the end game, and the battle system, while an interesting concept and change from ATB, was a bit too straight forward in strategy. It suffered a similar problem as XIII for me where the optimal choices were almost always immediately obvious. Possibly even moreso considering you could always see the turn order.
It's not a bad game per se, just has some glaring flaws that I couldn't get past enough to say it's anything more than pretty good.
Hey, this is progress at least. I got you to admit that it's pretty good!Originally Posted by Vivi22
I always forget you poor bastards didn't get the Advanced Sphere Grid. No wonder your opinions are less positive.
Why? The Normal one has more slots so maximizing is better with it.I always forget you poor bastards didn't get the Advanced Sphere Grid. No wonder your opinions are less positive.
I do admit I love the concept of the sphere grid. XIII tried to copy it, but it came miles away from being as fun. In the end they all turn out similar if you max it out, but it's fun watching your characters progress depending on the path you choose for them.
I've seen a lot of boarders talk about how FFX hid its inherently linear game design when discussing the entry, especially in comparison and when the FFXIII issue comes up. It was a series of levels but they weren't hallways and some of them, again, were outright massive. The game's pacing and flow keeps the it moving smoothly, to where it would be rare to stop and think about how open or straightforward the game is.
I know you're asking if we played the same game but I guess it's more of a matter of if we've read the same threads.
I'm confused at to how ANYONE felt the Linearity was well hidden.
It wasn't. At all. And I've never heard ANYONE praise the game for hiding this before. Now I've heard people say that it doesn't bother them, and that's fair enough. But in no way, shape, or form was the linearity well hidden.
And enough people who hate the game seem to have picked up on the Linearity rather quickly to go against the Idea that it was rare, as well as a few people on here who I like the game saying they found it linear, and pretty much every person I know in person who likes the game agrees it was linear.
So yeah, your other statement still confounds me.
Mind you, this is not meant to be an argument against the game proper.
There were enough. Plus the direction arrow. Especially the High Road to Guadosalam part shows that it is very linear. And Final Fantasy often has half of its areas locked at the beginning.
Ok...
Anyway, you weren't in the thread so I can't call you a liar (per se) but I don't think the idea is as unheard of or as unreasonable as you've insisted it to be. No one's saying it's not linear, just that X pulls off what it does so well that it never occurred to us to notice (or care).
There is still to much desent to call it rare I think. FF X, while quite popular, has a lot of detractors. Like, a lot. And it is constantly bashed for it's linearity.
I also don't see how a person could see it as being well hidden in light of that. And you are trying to lump in people who don't care again at the end there. Those who just don't' care actually go against your premise that the linearity was well hidden.
The indicators of it's linearity are far to obvious for me to think it was ever well hidden. Lack of world map, all the levels outside of the cloister of trials being very linear and straight forward, and very few side paths to take. Basically a lot of XIII's problems, though admittedly a lot less extreme then in XIII's case. These are glaring, and the reason they are so glaring is there had already been games as far back as the SNES that have less linearity in the RPG genre. It came at a time when RPG's were basically still at their height for crying out loud.
People may have not cared about it's linearity, and some people may have just gotten caught up in other things and didn't notice, but it is far from being well hidden. So praise for being well hidden is baffling to me.
Maybe it was just bad wording? From what little I read of that thread it sounds more like the praise should be "Even though the game is linear, there are enough interesting things going on that the linearity is like a non-issue." A point I would strongly disagree with that sentiment in regards to the game, but it makes plenty of sense.
Again, not an argument against the game. God knows if you look at my Top 100 games list I have a fair few games on their that are even more linear then X was.
P.S. Yeah, I know you could probably find me complaining about X's linearity in the past, and that is kind of a screw up on my part. I should probably have specified that the linearity just makes all the other things I dislike about the game worse as I can't really distract myself from it all that much, not so much a complaint about linearity itself. That's kind of irrelevant to the previous point though.
Luckily for me and Tidus both things you mentioned are a matter of personal taste.
@thread, I couldn't care less about the linearity or the spheregrid, the story and the characters are what kept me playing from beginning to end and what keeps me playing. The same goes for every other game on this list that has a story to it. If you don't like it make your own list.
Neo I think you need some new emoticons.
That would require effort, the very least of which would be proof reading.
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