>>42072350a large part of gaming, particularly in rpgs, is escapism, and escapism requires the careful crafting of an immersive illusion. in this sense linearity isn't itself a failing...so long as the player isn't aware, as they play, that the experience is linear. it so happens that gamefreak are rather terrible at hiding their linearity, and they crafted much better illusions by just letting us do what we wanted
linearity also hurts replayability to some extent but for the core, one playthrough experience, it's really about the ability to lose oneself in the world
