To be fair, every FF game was extremely linear - extremely until 1 major plot point in the game then every FF game gave you the ability to "explore" in order to get optional bosses or items (like ultimate weapons), FFX+ just made it that much more obvious. For example you could never tackle a FF storyline from any other direction other than the one set forth - To get to the northern crater in VII you needed to go a very set path, then a bunch of stuff happened, then it opens then you go straight to sephy boy or tie up loose ends that happened during your linear path.
