"The Final Fantasy XIII is a long corridor" criticism is interesting to me.
I have heard that criticism since the game released, but since I had never played a 3d Final Fantasy game until this year (so far have finished VII og, VIII, IX and I am playing X now), I always thought that the other games before XIII where really different from that.
But after finishing 3 Final Fantasy games, I have to say the games strength (to me) so far was when they where more linear, for example the whole Midgar section in VII, the start of VIII, some of the linear town exploration in IX.
In comparison, when the games "opened up" it was the cause of frustration since the traversal of the world felt convoluted and hard to grasp where to actually go (VII quest to find the underwater item was the worst part of the game easily), exploration seemed to be rewarded by items, eidolons or limits, but aside from the ninja girl sidequest in VII, side quests felt like a waste of time or were too convoluted to progress (seriously playing Tifa´s theme song in a Piano to unlock her last limit break is obnoxious).
Now playing X, so far its the most linear by far, it can be argued that its the most "corridor" like game of the 4 I have played, but I am loving it.
In a few words I don´t really see why a game being a "corridor" is actually bad, since when playing the Final Fantasy games being a beautiful corridor was always there as a strength of the series.
Guess I will find out when I get to XIII.
