It's not like KOTOR gave us a huge freedom. I mean, despite thef act you can be dark/light and complete the quests for the Star Map in a different order, it'S still the same thing.
Did you actually play the Final Fantasy games? You can developp your characters like you want, that's the whole point of materias in FF7, and it's even more specialized in FF8. Same with old FFs, in different ways. IMNHO KOTOR is as linear as any FF, altho not as bad as NWN. There is only some fake illusion of non-linearity.
Don't misread me, KOTOR is still a very good game and extremeley fun, the complete opposite of NWN.
w3rd, comrads.