DO NOT buy AC3 , just watch the ending.

[S.T.A.G.E.]

nnodley said:

S.T.A.G.E. said:

nnodley said:

S.T.A.G.E. said:

The game is sandbox, but is at odds with itself with all it tries to be. The linear story confuses the user into story on the path rather than exploring all the fruits the game has to offer. Because I was so trained to stay on path by the storyline I went through the whole game without caring for the upgrades, jobs, artisans or anything else.

I don't think the story is linear at all, IMO. I have played the game for around 12 hours and I am only on sequence 8.  Yes, the first 4 sequences were pretty linear, but it is not hard for me to do some stuff on the side while traveling to the next mission. I don't think I will beat the game for another few days.  

The main missions are linear, the sequencing puts a COD like hold on you and you cannot break it until you finish the mission. After that you are free to roam.

Haven't they always been that way.  Sequence 8 was by far the most linear, but I understand what you mean.

They have all been that way but this game in particular is asking for less than 200% sync on half of the missions. Sequence 1-5 were hella linear. After that I couldnt care less about exploring unless it was to hunt in between getting from one mission to another.