SubiyaCryolite above is correct.
What made FF in the past isn't the gameplay (while always good and worked well each time) it was the indepth world, the characters and most importantly story. Each game the gameplay was essentially the same, they all had contained battles with control of all characters, a natural magic and leveling system, a world/towns to explore, people to talk to. So much of that vanished with FFXIII, no exporation, no towns as such, leveling was no more in depth than pressing a button, magic system was contained to pressing X then swapping and pressing X again, battles where you had limited control.
If they wanted to replicate Call of Duty, they succeeded in one aspect, it's genericness, it is now seeming the basis for all shooters.
They need to get back to a more traditional format, ATB turn based combat, an explorable world, small character interactions, make the characters likeable, a truely great story and no sequals, that world and that story should be contained. FFVII was ruined because of the extended universe, so was FFX. get 2 or 3 teams working on the games, make one every 2 years.
But maybe SquEnix have lost their edge. They've seemingly abandoned many RPG franchises for their pursuit of Final Fantasy glory, HD gaming isn't as profitable as handheld/phones so why should they bother?
I miss Final Fantasy.
Hmm, pie.
