Final Fantasy XVI Is Linear Like XIII
One of the biggest criticisms people had with Final Fantasy XIII was how linear it was because, for a large chunk of the game, you are being introduced to new game mechanics so it can feel like you are stuck in a tutorial for a long time. There isn’t the ability to explore the areas much as it’s all just literal corridors designed to make you keep going straight. I am someone who enjoys Final Fantasy XIII a lot but I don’t think the linearity is the issue with that game, I believe the storytelling is. It relies a lot on the data log to fill in the blanks because the cutscenes don’t do a good job of explaining the story. Then again I am biased because I prefer games with linear, well-done stories rather than games that have a lot of breadth but all too often don’t have much depth. Even if they do have a lot of depth, chances are due to the volume of content most players won’t see it so I question the need for it other than for marketing purposes. That being said I do understand the need for these games sometimes because not everyone can buy lots of games and so buying one huge game that lasts a long time has value to people. I know it did to me in earlier parts of my life.
Final Fantasy XIII isn’t the only linear game in the series either, a lot of the games are. Final Fantasy VII is based solely in the city of Midgar for the first 5 or so hours of the game and it’s largely just moving between story beats, so much so that the remake was also largely linear too. It’s an amazing feeling when the world opens in the original game once you leave Midgar.
Final Fantasy IX too is deceptively linear, you go on the world map a couple of times on the first disc of the game but realistically there aren’t really that many places to go outside of the main story towns and villages until the team gets the airship late in the game.
Final Fantasy X too I would argue is the closest to XIII as well in terms of linearity as it is mostly just corridors pushing you along the amazing story until the game finally opens up in the last act of the game.
All of the above examples and more make me think that the reason XIII is usually criticised for its linearity is because outside of the killer battle systems and music, the game's messy storytelling leaves a bad taste in the mouth and so it makes the corridors stand out much more than they would do otherwise.
I feel as well that this is proven by Final Fantasy XVI which for a long time is incredibly linear too. The first 2 hours of the game remind me of a visual novel because it’s so heavily cutscene-based with very little gameplay which is why Square Enix decided to release 2 parts to the demo, one to set up the story and one to showcase the gameplay.
Light spoilers for Final Fantasy XVI but it’s set across 3 different periods of Clive’s life. Once when he was a teen, then in his 20s and finally in his 30s. The opening section of the game covers the teenage years. After this finishes which is also when the demo concludes, the game opens up slightly but it is still quite linear. There isn’t much side content in Clive’s 20s although the game does start to introduce the different hub areas.
However in the grand scheme of things, these hub areas are quite small, it’s not like the old Final Fantasy games where the world map would be quite large with lots of different secrets. Therefore I would argue that Final Fantasy XVI is very linear like XIII and there are a lot of corridor sections in the game too. It’s more deceptive about its linearity because there are some hub areas sprinkled throughout the game. At least though this game has some of the best story and storytelling in the series. This is something that I would argue aside from VII Remake if we exclude the MMOs we haven’t seen since X back in the day. It’s also nice to see a vast step up from the data log in XIII which was essential to read to understand the story properly whilst Active Time Lore in XVI is more of an assistant if you need it. I think the game did a great job of telling the story as is, that I ironically didn’t use it much but it’s such a fantastic feature that can prevent things from becoming confusing when discussing events across several kingdoms.
I love this series and I loved XVI more than I expected however I would argue that it is often quite linear just like a lot of games in the series. Let us know what you think in the comments below and if you have a moment, please consider following us on here and Twitter/Mastodon.