They can't be "saved" in terms of internet acceptance. After a certain point, people complain about ANYTHING you produce. That's the flaw with IPs that go on for 6+ versions.
With Final Fantasy, for example, a lot of the people who buy the game don't even like RPGs. I mean, seriously, think about that for a second. Millions of people who don't like RPGs buy Final Fantasy and then they complain about it, then they do the same thing with the next version. A large number of people won't be happy no matter what.
With most of these series, people will pick out their favorite version and say "make this over and over and over"; after awhile, of course, they'll start to complain about it being stale, but if you change, THEY WILL STILL COMPLAIN. It's amusing but it's also kind of sad.
With older IPs, it's always a lose/lose scenario, but the sales are always better than new IP, so publishers milk something as long as they can, knowing that it will one day reach a point where the fanbase will be impossible to please.
Personally, I hate it when I see this happen. Many people stop being objective. I've played so many games that I thought were good, only to look on the internet and see that I'm supposed to hate it because it's different from other games in the series.
