In which chapter does Final Fantasy XV become linear?

Question

Before Final Fantasy XV was released, the director stated that the game will become more linear later as you continue in the story.

IGN

Final Fantasy XV has a gigantic open world to explore, but it doesn’t stay that way the entire time. Recently, director Hajime Tabata has discussed the fact that in later parts of the game, XV actually becomes more linear as players start to focus more on following the story.

I have not picked up the game yet, but I would like to explore the open world as much as I can before completing the story. With that said, in which chapter does the game become more linear than just open world?

Answer 1

Chapter 9.

This is the chapter when you go to Altissia to be reunited with Lady Lunafreya.

From this point forward, you are not able to explore freely without using Umbra to return to a previous chapter. The game will give you plenty of warnings to tell you that you will "not be able to act freely for a while" before finishing Chapter 8, so it won't blindside you.

If you want a reference or source, look at this article:

There are 15 chapters in FFXV (how appropriate!), and the game becomes much more linear around Chapter 9, with the story coming to a climax in Chapter 14. The end of Chapter 8 is a good time to catch up on sidequests and hunts, though you will be able to go back to them later.