I found out while playing FF XIII, that I love linearity. I've been reading a lot of comments (mostly negative) about how the first 20-25 hours of this game are super linear. How you can't go off the beaten path. Everything's a straight line. It seemed like linearity was something you NEVER wanted in a video game. Before I purchased FF XIII I didn't know what to think about all of these negative comments. 
 
When I DID get the game and played through the first 15 hours, I was absolutely in love with it. I was in this video game stump where nothing seemed to interest me before, but this game brought me back. When I read those negative comments again, I didn't understand why everyone was against the first half or so of this game. I just didn't care that it was linear.
 
Now I had just crossed the threshold from the linear half of the game to the open world half, chapter 11. That's when the fun I once had was starting to wane. The world was huge, yes, but what was I supposed to do? I could run around and fight monsters, complete missions, but why? I desperately wanted to get back to Cocoon and keep the (to me) engaging story moving along. (I have still yet to get off that damn planet).
 
When I look back at some of my favorite games, they were all linear. Uncharted 2, Prince of Persia, Picross (that's a joke, but still one of my favorites), any Phoenix Wright game, FFX, were all pretty linear. So, yeah, I think linearity is a GOOD thing. Sure you are technically going in a straight line, but you are also moving FORWARD, accomplishing tasks and progressing through the story. You have a more direct motivation for accomplishing these tasks. Instead of "i'm fighting this monster to level up" (the monsters on pulse) it's "I'm fighting this monster because he's an obstacle in getting my task accomplished" (boss battles/ the random encounters on your way from point a to point b).
 
I don't know. I'm sure a lot of you are going to pick out something I said and use it against me and/or show that I'm contradicting myself. I'm not very good with getting my point across, but I know what I mean. I like linearity. Sue me.