Right the plot is bad, and the dialogue is whatever. But I liked the battle system and linear gameplay, and everything else about the game is good. FF has never been open world so I don't know what you're talking about. They're entirely linear stories for the most part. Look at 10, it's almost exactly the same linearity but because it was 2001 nobody cares about open world. The fact that you get an airship in the earlier games doesn't make them not linear. Still gotta do the dungeons in order.

I see why the linearity turns people off, but it doesn't make it bad. It would be like if I said fallout games are all bad because they're too open and I don't know what to do. It just means it's not for me.