Well, like I said the area i'm currently at is very open with loads of hunts to carry out. Really the only difference between FF13 and other FF games is that it's more streamlined generally.
I think people are muddling their words, JRPGs have always been linear. It seems like your trying to say the word "exploration". I haven't played this game yet, but from what I can grasp from everyone's confusion is that it doesn't have as much exploration as previous titles. Which is fine for me, the exploration in Final Fantasy games isn't exactly interesting anyway - should I go down this way.. oops its just a dead end, I'll go down this direction then.