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6th Gen Does the game feel more linear than RSE?

I wasn't sure exactly what to call this thread so the title is a little confusing, but I'd like to talk about the fact that ORAS included several cutscenes that weren't part of RSE that revealed where the next storyline event will be. For example, the Rival will show up more often to tell you about where to go next, and you find out about Team Aqua/Magma heading to Mt. Pyre in advance rather than just finding them there, etc.
This was actually something I didn't like much in ORAS, as I preferred a fairly open adventure rather than having the feeling that the game is steering me towards the next event. I'd like to know your opinions on this.
 
I don't think it was more linear than RSE because of that. It was just telling you where the next major plot point was to take place. You could still make the choice to not immediately go there and do whatever it was you felt like doing instead. IIRC there were still times in RSE where they told you where to go next, it was just without a cutscene of some sort.
 
The nudges in the right direction didn't affect linearity imo. I think there was certainly more hand-holding in this game than there was in RSE but that was about the extent of it.
 
I think these games were a little too dialog/cutscene heavy. I feel like they could have trimmed it all down at least a bit. But I didn't get the impression that they made the game feel more linear, per se. It may hold your hand a bit and steer you towards completing the story, but you can still branch off and do other things before moving on with the story. I'd be more inclined to say it was linear if you were forced to go to the next event, and there was literally no where else to go.
 
The game may have been holding hands, but that's more because of how young the pokemon players these days are in my opinion. I mean, they did tell you where you should go to advance the story, but it wasn't so linear as to force you to go there right away; you still had freedom to explore, train, whatever the hell before you made up your mind.
 
I honestly thought there was too many cut-scenes and dialog but this did not make the game more linear for me I mean you can figure out without the little nudges where to go and sometimes the nudges were just really annoying I cant stand how much GF and Nintendo are making the games hold your hand all the way I mean wheres the challenge?
 
As the rest of the people here, i think it has very hand-holding, but i feel like it was kinda the same. Of course, there is Episode Delta (which was easier in the sky tower situation but harder on the Catching deoxys part) but still, it had a relatively easy difficulty and thats something that needs to be fixed with different difficulties entrenched in the game. It's definitively one of the features i want to see in the next games.
 
A lot of the non-linearity in R/S/E comes from the underpronounced, interesting passages outside of the main plot, or progression, and as OR/AS, like the more recent games in the series, has more of a focus on the 'shiny' aspect of the game would mean that it would probably focus things significantly away from those kinds of things, and towards a linear pathway. As such, it would only seem reasonable to point players toward the next plot-point. The role of the 'rival' (would you really call them that? The game likes them, and the player isn't supposed to dislike them or really see them as any different to the rest of the trainers, except they show up more often) being more prominent might have to do, in part, with the recent romance kick that the series has been on, both in the anime and games, and in part that a later re-make of the Advanced games takes AdvanceShipping to the point of ludicrousness, so to speak.
 
I felt there was sufficient "hand holding." It made it somewhat easier to pick up from where I left off seeing as how I can sometimes go months between playing through any games whether its on my 3DS or another console. I do agree with others that there should be a difficulty setting though.
 
Yes. It was indeed a lot linear than RSE for one particular reason. I remember being able to skip Winona if one isn't ready to face her, as i did in some playthroughs of Emerald like in one particular instance I was playing a Grass monotype run that time so facing off Winona without moves that could counter her lineup with an all Grass-type team would be horrifyingly hard.

But surprise, ORAS kinda force feeds everyone playing it that hey, you go from Gym Leader A to B in an obviously crafted matter where you can't skip anyone. I tried skipping Winona at one point to see if I can do the same but surprise surprise the path is blocked. Good thing i wasn't playing a Grass mono that day.
 
I agree with the others: this game has a lot, and I mean a lot of handholding. The game was not challenging at all either, and I point to the free "Latias/Latios" in the middle of the game to prove my point. It disturbed me to the point where I'd wish I was playing Emerald, but I guess I get the target demographic/shifting demographic.
 
i didn't think these games were super hand holding, but enough to irk me. i liked how in rse brendan basically doesn't care about you and gives up by lilycove lol. but the whole "wanna travel to mauville together!" "lets go back to petalburg together :)!!" um no dude get the hell away from me i can travel by myself thanks <3

but yeah i agree. rse was more there was a story to it, but you went and learned the story by talking to people yourself and basically discovering the story for yourself.
 
If anything the extra cut scenes and dialogue just made it feel more cinematic to me. It did feel more linear, but I wrote that off as the result of replaying the originals enough to know them inside and out.
 
It felt about the same as the originals did for me, just more interesting because of the cutscenes.
 
It felt more linear in two places to me.

1. Dewford Town. Going on to Slateport before beating Brawly is no longer an option. In the originals, I needed to do this and get EXP from the trainers on the beach in order to beat him. Thankfully with Ralts' new 4x Fighting resist and me deciding to use Zubat (which also has 4x Fighting resist) I was able to beat him.

2. Route 120. Someone would block the way until you beat Winona. Originally you could bypass Winona's gym completely until you had the other 7 badges. You could do the same to Brawly until you beat Wattson and Flannery.
 
Tissue's statements definitely have a point. In the original games you were able to delay the Gym match with Brawly and completely skip Winona until Victory Road. It was more sensible that OR/AS changed it so that you had to fight them in their respective order.

Other than that, I don't see much linearity with this compared to the originals.
 
I didn't notice any hand holding other than when they took us back to Petalburge City, and I am extremely glad they did. I never liked that long walk back. I never tried to skip gyms. I just did everything in order.

Freeing Latios in the middle of the game was a wrong move, but it didn't effect me in the least.

The game was a bit easier, but that was mainly because I know what I am doing. I've been a trainer for 20 years, I would expect most people know what they are doing by now, making the games seem easier. Though, I just learned how Special and Normal stats worked at the start of Gen 6.
 
I don't compare it to the originals. But I like the fact I can get a Latios from my friend on the computer. I could trade it into my Alpha Sapphire. (I have Omega Ruby, but it's nice to have more than one of the same Pokemon. ^_^ But I just looked up the word Linear, and the newer games are linear. Maybe i shouldn't post this. If I make a mistake, can I get a do-over?
 
Eh. It most likely has more to do with the fact that you aren't a kid anymore and the game just feels different. When you're a kid what you see is this big unknown world for you to explore. At a certain age the wonder that comes from that fades and it just turns into enjoying a game made by people. I'm sure if there were more "cut scenes" in the original games we wouldn't have cared because the game was just different to us as a kid.

Edit: I would go into more depth on the subject but I think you get the point and I'm tired.
 
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