When has the FF series not been about being linear?  Its pretty much always put the focus on linear storyline and long dialogue/cenematics over gameplay and flow.  And also, making an RPG doesn't force an RPG to become linear.  See Suikoden III, some Mana games or various SRPG, which follow 'chapter' based stories, but let you play them in different orders.

Am I the only one who can't see the photos? It says bandwith exceeded. D:

OT: The new chapter thing seems interesting. Hopefully, it won't interrupt exploration and make the game too linear.

My biggest concern is that the game won't allow you to backtrack to other places near the end of the game, sort of Like FFVIII. IMO, it should be like 10. Where the story doesn't interrupt exploration of previous places.

New DLC chapters will be easier to integrate than just some DLC story here and there

Well, that's mega fail by that site.

FFX was the most "obviously" linear games in the series and the story to gameplay ratio is the highest in the series.  I am basing FFXIII being linear based on the fact that Mother 3 used chapter based stories and was very linear with little time to go off the beaten path.

SE said that they are shipping complete game and there won't be any DLC.

When ever a developer released DLC, it is usually just content locked on the disk that can only be accessed by downloading the DLC and paying extra cash.  That might be a blessing in disguise for FFXIII.

eh... awkward opening aside... what does this mean?