well, it WAS pretty linear, I'll have to give you that.

But that's what gives it a strong storyline and a good sense of flow. There's a definite forward motion, which that linearity gives you. That, and the sensation of the plot marching on, being dragged inexorably toward the end of the game, toward 'destiny' or whatever.

I'd definitely prefer that to "go wander to random place X, to find key Y to open door J". And the sidequests were nice breaks from that linearity (though you kind of had to get most of the way to the end before most of those sidequests opened up for you).

Most rpg's have the same sort of linearity, they just try to mask it by making toe road from A to B curvy. The only ones that offer you real freedom of movement, and don't herd you to specific places are mmorpgs, and they blow because they inherently have NO storyline.