This Fantasy is never Final.
It is clear that there is a lot of passion surrounding Final Fantasy franchise, positive and negative. Every little detail is put under scope and examined, from story and gameplay to music and animations.
Final Fantasy as a franchise might be too ambitious for its own good. Ever since I've known about it I noticed it sets the standards high, and tries to push every aspect by reinventing the wheel with every new main entry. Final Fantasy doesn't know how to settle. The gameplay is always evolving and different, they story have always been more than a simple series of events that takes place, it always revolves around a bigger meanings, tries to be deep and meaningful. The graphics have always been among the best throughout console generations. One of the most remarkable music pieces in the industry. An example for fluidity and great animations.
Now, that doesn't mean that every game in the franchise live up to the "Final Fantasy standards", and even if they did, that doesn't mean everyone should like them. People are different so is their taste. But in general the expectations for FF are high, unlike other big yearly franchises like Assassin's Creed for example. That's why direct sequels don't as much as the first game. People expect something new every time.
Final Fantasy XII: Clearly, the battle system was ambitious and refreshing, there was a vision behind it to break the limits of the ordinary turn-based systems. Even though the execution made it too automated, it was a step forward that should be appreciated. Personally, I didn't like XII at all, the forced main casts greatly weakened the story and the world in general.
Final Fantasy XIII: looking at it from distance, I'd say XIII saga wasn't ambitious in many departments. Story left a lot of things unexplained, exploring the depth of the characters wasn't there. The world design and how the back stories was added (through menus and not told through the game). The director actually mentioned Call of Duty as influence. The battle system is was ambitious and imo well executed. In the end many didn't feel that XIII was a true FF title even though it kept it turn-based origins. That shows how being a FF title is about the grand scope and living up to the FF standards, not about one certain aspect.
Final Fantasy XV: You need to be blind not see how ambitious this game is, and how grand is the scope of the project. Even if you don't like some design choices like the real time battle system. You can't ignore they are aiming high with every aspect of this game. Ever since Shakespeare's quote appeared in the first trailer I was interested. It was said multiple times that game will tell a deep and dark story, while keeping the fun and light hearted relationship between the main cast. The real-time interaction between the characters is never seen before, really pushing the limits of what you would expect from AI. In one scene, a character was injured the other was helping him standing, while other character defending them and the last is cowardly running away...so much characterisation. All controlled by gambits system. Even the animations is a step ahead, the characters were stretching after they got out of the car. Fluidity, graphics, music. Everything single aspect is living up to the Final Fantasy standards. The battle system is fast and engaging but also aims to be deep and rewarding.
Of course, you always can choose to focus only on something that doesn't suits your "unexplained" personal preference, that doesn't change the fact there is ambition behind this project to deliver something great. I wish everyone would appreciate all of that, even if not every single thing is appealing to you. Pushing the limits is becoming rarity in the industry. Of course, some will ignore all of that, all that can be said is :
