Haven't played it so don't know the specifics, but I'd be happy that I can easily progress through the story and actually see the story being played out, not wonder across the entire map 50 times trying to trigger the next event. Once or twice, while I go through the story is enough.
Side quests all over the place can be very fun and I'd be glad to experience them all, but as I go through the main story, not just to try to appease me while running around the map being bored.
Searching the house for disc 2 of whatever film you were in the middle of watching may make the experience of "watching" the film a lot longer, especially if disc 2's hidden somewhere stupid >_<, but of course I'm sure continuing to watch the film would be a lot better experience.
Sure have side quests and stuff to stumble upon everywhere you go, but lengthen the game by making the main story big and long, not by just sticking in lots of random "in-between bits" (which are just bits, far from the main, epic story), imo.
Tales of Graces has a system where you can press the Z button to show a "next to do" or "what the characters are thinking" thing at the bottom left of the screen. It's not a spoiler or anything as it's pretty much just exactly what you heard a minute ago in the game, just very brief and very handy if you forget where exactly you were after not playing the game for a while or something, so just talking to the right person to proceed for example doesn't become an enormous task, as it really shouldn't be. (You wouldn't read "And he ran around the entire town randomly talking to everyone until he found the right person who is directly relevant to this story" in a novel lol)
It also, upon entering a new town and having to specifically go to some location for example, doesn't let you wonder off down the wrong route for ages when trying to get to somewhere specific in the story. (If you try the character just has a thought bubble coming out of their head saying something like "I have a feeling we're going the wrong way...".)
After getting to where you're immediately and specifically supposed to (without first having to spend hours exploring the entire place and make a map for yourself to just find what should be simple, killing the experience) and the next objective in the story being not so urgent or anything you can of course roam freely.
It doesn't constantly restrict you or make you feel restricted at all, it just lets the story continue how it should, without weird and sudden pauses in the story thanks to the heroes running around like idiots trying to to do something simple but not being able to because they can't find out where to do it.
I enjoy playing through the story (and any side quests when I stumble upon them), not going over the same scenery over and over to find out how to trigger the most simplest of things in the advancement of the story. If that's the sort of "linear" gameplay it is (just combating time wasted being bored), then I agree with it.