I think that is the sign of a declining series. This wasn't a trend in the SNES or PS eras. FF XII doesn't seem so bad once we had to experience XIII. I doubt XV will be worse than XIII, especially after seeing the gameplay, atmosphere, and story in these trailers. 

I am excited for the game, but in what way does the bolded fit? It looks like an excellent game, but certainly nothing that doesn't already exist (I guess it is unique for a JRPG.) 

I think FFXII is good on its own merits and not because FFXIII sucked and made it look good, that's a pretty bad reason to suddenly start liking a game.

Please be excited.... OK, mattemaaaasu.

Astounding! Hopefully they stick with the world and make it truly open!

Well, he is way to excited for sure. But I'd the interaction with the party members is something that seems to be an achievement both in gameplay (through utlizing the gambet system and depending on situation) and as story telling element (In one situation, 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)

 Also, the interaction with the environment elements in battle not only as finishing moves, but as strategic reactions to what's going on( through warping). Even if we talk about the others system that already exist, it is the combination of everything that could be unique enough to be considered an achievement.

FFXII has been and will perhaps always be my second favorite in the series, only behind IX. I loved the world, the battle system, and even the characters (well, other than Vaan, I guess). The only way the game could have been better, imo, is if Basch was the main character :P

That wasn't the trend because there was no internet back then =P

The amount of people who claim the series died after FFVI is considerable, for example. And VIII is EXTREMELY divisible.

The series is not "declining", XII was lauded by many people FFXIII got some pretty good reviews (8's, 9's, some 10's...), but a few years later you could see those same reviewers jumping on the bandwagon of "XIII sucks balls" despite giving the game an 8.5 or something. Gametrailers was particularly funny, I believe they gave the game an 8.9, only to include it on a Top 10 Worst FFs years later =P. But the game has a strong following regardless, Lightning is pretty popular in Japan, for example. It just so happens that XIII is as divisible as VIII. Plus, people love XIV, so there's that.

My point isn't that people enjoy XII because XIII is worse. My point is that they reserve their negativity for XIII and when they revisit XII they are more open to the game because a lot of the faults they had with it no longer overshadow the good things about the game. Basically there is less hyperbole when looking at XII. This likely wouldn't be the case if XIII were a better game because then XII would constantly be compared to the better XIII. 

The FFVII thing was fanboyism, I'm sure if VII were on the N64 there wouldn't be hate. Furthermore, VII was always highly acclaimed by gamers. The for-profit review industry is deceptive. They review games based on perceived popularity and how much money they can make off it, nothing else. User reviews are much more accurate for describing the preferences of gamers. As for the internet, I am pretty sure there was internet (in its archaic form) when X released, and people always liked X (as a consensus.) VIII still gets a lot of hate today. Your argument was that the hate is there when the game is new, and then it goes away. My argument is that this is a newer trend in the franchise.