All I said was that there are games that use various techniques in an attempt to hide their otherwise fairly rigid and linear nature. That is it. I did not say that was a bad thing in general. I did not say that was a good thing in general. I simply said it was a thing. As in it exists. Cause it does.

Now regarding XIII, and only XIII specifically since apparently I need to make this point extra clear so that there is no misunderstanding,I do not argue that the game is by far the most linear title in the Final Fantasy series. It is not the only fairly linear game in the series by any means. Take FF IV, which basically railroads players to a very similar degree of XIII. That game gives players preset paths that offer little in the way of meaningful deviation until, like XIII, late in the game when finally side areas and optional quests start to appear. IV also heavily controls the way players can approach its combat system like XIII, albeit in a very different way, by refusing to let players have a permanent team of characters until, again, near the end of the game. It did this all in service of the specific story that game was trying to tell and in a way that stands in great contrast with the following two games in the series with their either extremely robust jobs system (V) or truly open ended second half (VI).

Now take XIII. This game features characters who have not only been tasked with a mission by god like entities, but are also being railroaded by said entities so as to give them no choice but to complete said tasks. Combine this with the fact that the characters are literately branded by these entities in a way that makes them the most hated and feared of all possible things by the overwhelming majority of the society they belong to, a society itself caught in the unknowing throes and absolute control of these self-same beings, and many aspects of the game make a great deal of sense.

Where XIII does drop the ball in a way that IV does not, and where I believe the heart of many players problems with the game truly lie, is that the makers of the games overly employed using straightforward corridors for many of the game’s areas. I can understand why they may have done so and its not out of laziness despite what people like to say. Telling me that you think XIII is a terrible game is one thing, telling me its a lazy game that just half-assed everything is a whole other kettle of fish. XIII was a far more complicated and clearly effort intensive game to make than simply churning out yet another boilerplate standard JRPG would have ever been, especially for the company that through its Square and Enix sides defined that boilerplate in the first place. I think that the makers of XIII wanted players to feel trapped and hemmed in by the game up until Gran Pulse and thus used straightforward corridors for many areas to help reinforce this feeling. And its interesting to note that the few areas in the first half to game to break away from the corridors also coincide with areas in the story where characters are experience the key moments of emotional and character growth that will eventually lead them successfully defy their preset fates.

Now if I am correct, did they still none the less go too far in this pursuit by creating an aspect of the game that more people then not find frustrating? You could definitely argue that and I personally would agree. They tried something different and it did not really work as intended. In short they made a mistake. But its is a mistake that I do not find a particularly aggravating one, either onto itself or in light of the larger context of everything else about the game that does work for me.

I would not want every JRPG, Final Fantasy or otherwise, to be as linear a game as XIII was. But I also don’t have a problem with a game company trying something different in the name of experimentation, especially when said experiment was a success for me personally. And this is also why the linear nature of Final Fantasy XIII is not a negative one for me.

That being said, just because I like one game for one aspect it possesses does not mean I cannot like other games for the exact opposite aspects as well. I don’t play Tetris looking for the same experience I get out of Mass Effect 2 for example. What bothers me is when people tell me that liking XIII means my opinion in general has no value or use to them personally. I read plenty of reviews from reviewers who I often personally disagree with. So why do I keep reading them? Because they usually justify their opinions in a way that I can respect even if I don’t agree with. I find value in seeing other opinions and ideas and often even when somebody is trashing something I like or vice versa, if the piece in question is well written enough it still can still help me to understand my own feelings and/or reach my own conclusions about something. We do not exist in a vacuum and god help us if we ever try to live our lives like we do. Thank you again for taking time to continue this discussion and hopefully we can continue to do so in a meaningful and thoughtful manner.