Exactly. It is quite possible your not going to like every single one. For instance I like some Tales games but I don't like some of the others. However I don't doom the franchise because I didn't like a few. Move on and get over it.

Final Fantasy for some reason has always clicked with me. I don't dislike any of them. However I will admit that I do have sme problems with XIV. The series is not doomed or anywhere near it.

I like the way you're thinking here. However, due to posting twice in a row before, I shall wait before I post this comment. So here's a video of FF13-2 in case you haven't seen it:

So yeah. Looks pretty awesome. But your point about Final Fantasy to Mario is one I never really thought of before. However, there hasn't been a "mainline" Mario game which has disappointed me yet, but FF11, 13 and 9 did just that. I haven't played FF14 enough yet to make my opinion about it

Well then, that's OK. I'll let you off this time

Sterling's articles, for the most part, are flawed. They are also (as can be seen here) pretty controversial! I never realised there was one up on N4G...

Also, I haven't played the Tales Series, but I've played enough FF games to notice that the magic isn't there for me anymore. Not it's a bad series mind. Far from it! But I think they need to go a different way that FF13, return to what made 12 and 7 (and 10) great, and PUT BACK IN THE TOWNS AND NPC'S! That's where my issue lies. There isn't just the odd poor installment, there seems to be a run of them. Maybe they need to just release a new IP and go back to the FF series with new ideas.

Also this would be like me saying that Call of Duty is doomed. I haven't really liked a single entry in that entire series but there is no denying that it is a success. It isn't doomed. When Final Fantasy sells like shit then we'll talk.

We have no idea what the majority of people who played Final Fantasy XIII thought about it. We just know what people on forums like this think about it, and it seems to be split 50/50. Judging from the legs the game itself has had, it's liked. We can fairly assume that IMO.

It's like Marmite. You love it or you hate it.

The quality of the games in the perspective of the general public can't have changed that much since VIII released neither really. Obviously, the series has never (And probably will never) reached the heights of VII, but it still sells extremely well. X sold well despite all the bitching about change. XI was a huge money earner for SE so it must have had an active userbase. X-2 sold amazingly despite it being an abomination. XII sold well despite launching after next-gen machines were released. XIII as I've already said has sold extremely well. 

The only problem comes really from XIV. It's an unfinished mess. 90% of people who talk about it know it is. Square Enix know it is.

Edit:

Pokemon. Pokemon is a perfect example of how this is wrong. Mainline Pokemon games sell in the MILLIONS. They are the best of the best. Pokemon Spinoffs are generally regarded as the "meh" games. They don't sell anywhere near as well as mainline games, yet they don't hurt the franchise at all. 

One mainline game seen as bad on the Internet (Ruby/Sapphire) didn't kill the franchise off. The spinoffs haven't killed the franchise off. Black/White is selling amazingly well already. One bad game (or several bad spin offs among a number of excellent mainline games) will not kill off a franchise as big as this.

Um, the Wii shovelware doesn't sell well for the most part, neither did Ninjabread Man.

And it's the fact that the sales are frontloaded that is the proof most gamers dind't enjoy FFXIII (same with Other M and Heavy Rain), while gamers like games like Red Dead Redemption, Just Dance (it's not shovelware just because some people don't like it), and even Epic Mickey.

Yeah, I completely disagree. The only game that really hurt the franchise, imo, was FFXIV. That game is just horrible, but I certainly consider FFXIII to quite a gem.

It also doesn't help that 3 of top 5 most anticipated games have Final Fantasy in them. >_>

Yeah, it's not a dead series at all.

as technology advances ff games will decrease in quality. people can support 2d japanese characters, and 3d ones to an extent, but come on, who can support hd japanese characters with their feminin voices and weird voices.

Forums weren't heavy around the time when VIII and IX were released but I gurantee you there would be as much moaning about the series then as there is now. I hear all the time how much VIII sucked from TONS of people. Then I go somewhere else and I'm told how flippin AWESOME VIII was (and it f'n is). Same with IX, X, XI (if you haven't played this go jump off a bridge), XII and even XIII. Hell even the GODLY (not really) VII has people that oppose it.

I suppose it's like Other M in terms of whether you like it or not eh?

Also, Ruby and Sapphire are awesome. Whoever said that, well...that's it now. Though Pokemon spin-offs are pretty poor. 

Don't forget about how big it was though. Cards, TV show, films, games...it had it all! And FF never had that support