Open world vs linear

I've been hearing a lot from gamers about open world vs linear style games, and frankly I feel it's time I have to speak up on behalf of linear games. I understand open world games make them seem more real and more lived in and it's annoying when you're in a linear game and hit some invisible wall that we know only exists because the programmers just didn't put anything over there, probably due to lack of time. However, I recently had the opportunity to make my own game and found out just how hard it is and I understand why programmers need to make boundaries to hold players back, and also as a player for years I have preferred knowing where I am supposed to be and not just run off in random directions wasting hours exploring and not knowing where I was supposed to go.

I know I've been talking about FFXV a lot but it really is a great example of what I'm talking about. The first part of the game is open world and I've heard complaints about how it becomes mor linear towards the end. I haven't gotten too far in the game so I don't know how true it is, but frankly I'm actually rather looking forward to it gettign more linear because I feel that while the open world format makes the game world seem more real, the amount of time they spend in such a relatively small portion of the game world starts to actually work against the realism that they were able to provide. The biggest problem is that there is a great story with a sense of urgency that is undermined by the sidequests. In chapter 1 you're trying to get to your wedding, which you would think would be important but your car breaks down so you need to mae some money to pay for repairs because nobody thought to bring money before leaving home, Noctis' first line is "What's a gil?" Seriously? The prince doesn't know money? Anyway you need to get to a port only to find out that the ferry has stopped running though a shady fellow named Dino can help you out, only after you do your part, you find out your father has been betrayed, your kingdom has fallen, and now you must save the world. This is a big deal because it means you have to retrieve thriteen royal arms, bond with six gods, fight an evil empire and bring down an army of demons, and to top it all off, Noctis has known about this since he was five. But first, let's go fishing! And play pinball! And pimp my ride, the last memento of my dead father! And Prompto says we should check out the chocobos! And Gladiolus wants to add something to Cup Noodles! And Dino wants us to help him launch his shady jewelry business! And Takka wants us to go grocery shopping for him! And Sania wants us to help her catch frogs because she's oblivious to the nation collapsing! Most of this has to be done just ignoring that there really is something more important to do but you do it anyway. It's jarring that the same characters that face things as dramatic as fighting the empire, facing gods, and collecting relics can make light of sidequests and act like the world isn't literally collapsing around them, especially with their constant dialogue that takes on two completely different tones that make it hard to believe they are happening simultaneously.

To give another angle, let's go back in time to where Square Enix began, with the original Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy. Dragon Quest was pretty open world, which was actually pretty annoying because you could try to make a mad dash for the end of the game and get yourself killed before you even make it halfway. The game leads you off tellign you that your main goal is to rescue a princess, and retrieve the ball of light, defeating the dragons guarding each. The first of these quests has no deterrents except your level, which means grinding until you're strong enough to fight the dragon. The second main quest requires three lesser quests to collect the items necessary to build a bridge to the final dungeon, but two out of three quests will require a fair amunt of grind ing and one of those two requires you to finish the princess rescue main quest. There are about four optional sidequests, if you can even call them that, and all requirea fair amount of grinding before you can attempt them, which means you have to do a lot of nothing before you can actually do anything, There is a certain amount of joy in freedom, but it comes with confusion and ultimatley boredom when you realize how much time you're wasting on the grind wandering aimlessly. Final Fantasy on the other hand beat that problem by creating a series of minor quests that open the world slowly which can seem annoying, but it also allows you to be kept where you belong for the part that the story requires. The downside for critics is that the game is linear. My counterargument is that you don't have to waste time grinding as you explore an open world, you just keep moving forward through the entertaining story which if you haven't experienced the tedious boredom of Dragon Quest, is much better than you can imagine.

Ultimately my point is that a good game is probably going to be more linear than open world, but only as long as they can make it serve a story that is good enough to make you forget whether it's open world or not.