Final Fantasy's first mistake was Mystic Quest on the SNES. ;) Though I kind of enjoyed that game back in the day. Their second mistake wasn't being too Western, but quite the oposite, becoming to Japanese anime/manga like. VII was the first to start in this direction. VIII and IX weren't pulled back a little, then from X on it became overly too Japanese.
Let me clarify. Younger and more anoying teenage/pre teen characters, convoluted stories(Complex can be good, but they are too convoluted now), lacking the magic of expolration and interesting villians.
My biggest compaint with XIII, Lost Odyssey did this as well, is thier choice of Voice cast for the Western version of the game. It is accepted or even considered cute to have a whiney voiced "cute" pre-teen girl in Japanese media, but in the West most people find it just anoying. I for one can't stand it. Vanille's voice drove me mad and is one of the reasons I didn't complete the game. When a company localises something from Japan they need to come up with a good solution for these characters to not sound like fingernails drawn across a chalkboard.
Take my coments with a grain of salt if you became a fan of FF post VII. I still hold FF IV as my favorite wiht VI coming in as a close second. So I have a different opinion on what makes a FF game than those newer to the series. I also loved Lost Odyssey, despite it's big problems (long loading times, an anoying little girl, etc.)
