Soul series is the modern Final Fantasy imo.

[LMU Uncle Alfred]

Hynad said:

Soundwave said:

I liked FF7 but after that it got way too much into "J-POP Backstreet Boys RPG" territory. I don't understand at all why Squaresoft thought that was a smart direction to go in. IX was good too, but it was the last one that was really free of that Boy Band/Pop Girl aesthetic. 

FF XII wasn't "Boy Band/Pop Girl" either.

Neither was X (Rikku wasn't represented that way much at all, she was handled pretty decently in X, X-2 not so much), XI or XIV.  VIII there's some J-pop-ness and XIII has Vanille in it...