I wouldnt consider the Bravely series to be a proper successor to the 3D FF games, more like they are 3D successors of the 2D FF games (FF1-6) specifically moreso to FF1, FF3 and FF5 which all three were based upon the class/job system and the Crystals that provided power to that system.

But ya I agree - the action RPG system that VII Remake and Rebirth has is the way to go - its actually what I wanted FFXV to be like but it lacked.

I'm not familiar with Rebirth's padding because I'm still going through FFVII Remake (on Chapter 9) - from what I played so far, I actually like the sidequests in between the main chapters

X-2 I didnt like as much, felt too much of a cash grab and they ruined the lore completely that made FFX great.

XIII-2 was a huge improvement from XIII and I found it to be an exceptional game, really enjoyed it, havent played LR.

World of FF I havent played yet but thats pretty much a pure spinoff for fan service.

Crisis Core was a great game at least the PSP version I played over a decade ago but the gameplay mechanics alienated people who were a fan of the old systems back then , I personally enjoyed it.

Now Type-0 was utter garbage in comparison to everything I covered above - absolutely the worst FF game made in the last 15 years. They tried and added too many mechanics and the story was utter shit that required multiple playthroughs to actually experience it - the gameplay was a mess and it felt like you were playing one of those old school dungeon crawler games with an action RPG gamestyle. To add insult to injury, the creator thought he had made something that would be red hot especially considering it was the first rated M FF game , even teased a sequel at the end which went nowhere since the creator isnt part of Square Enix anymore and for the time he was there, stuck on fixing Final Fantasy Versus XIII/XV.

As for the conversation about sequels - I agree.

Square Enix is terrible at continuing stories in sequels and do far better with making original worlds/stories. There's obviously many examples

-Final Fantasy IV After Years, the entire gameplay was re-hash of fighting the same enemies and bosses, the new characters were not memorable and the gameplay focused more on difficulty and challenge rather than a compelling story like the original Final Fantasy IV.

-Final Fantasy Legend of the Crystals - turned into an anime which only vaguely mentioned events that happened from the original FFV.

-Final Fantasy VII Advent Children and Dirge of Cerberus - they tried to capitalize from the popularity of FF7 but failed miserably because there wasnt much to add to the original story, the stories after the original VII were weak which is why they made the Remake trilogy to be another timeline/multiverse thing.

-Final Fantasy X-2 - completely destroyed the lore, only good thing was the gameplay

-Final Fantasy XIII-2/LR - story was perfectly done at the end of XIII, didnt have to expand the story but they did. As much as I loved XIII-2, I just felt the story didnt need to be made and the gameplay they created for XIII-2, could have been used for a original new world and cast of characters. Cant say much about LR but I know LR has that bullshit time limit mechanic similar to Breath of Fire Dragon Quarter which I played and I hate that mechanic so much because its just a cheap way to make you play the game multiple times to get different endings/paths.

I'm not sure if they would have fared better with FFXV considering the prequels didnt have as much impact and suffered the same things that VII series went through.

They dont know how to expand a world or have writers that can do a Kojima/Metal Gear style world building.

But ya, stick to making original stories/worlds instead of sequels and treat the FF series like an anthology series like how most of the series is, that should be the way to go for the Final Fantasy series.

The is an article on this very site for a start and considering the weight sites like Resetera and GAF carry that highlights the point even further.

To be fair... like World of Final Fantasy, Bravely games were scaled down "too much" to be seen as proper successors to early 3D FF's.

It actually doesn't. As much as I love vgchartz & the immense effort that goes into it, it's not the kind of site which would do the investigative journalism to even make sure the Japanese translation of what was said was right. There are more reputable sources that are less trigger happy with rumours and such. VGchartz is great for it's estimations and focus on sales news but it is not especially journalistic

If the statement was actually made at the investors call we would of seen way more analysts and sites referencing it. Daniel Ahmad for example is one of the most reliable Asian analysts and he didn't touch the news. But it's just something to keep in mind for future: taking things with a big grain of salt unless it's been corroborated by journalists and not just spread on the more forum leaning sites.

Again that is YOU that doesn't equate to the general gaming populace, VGC along with Gaf and RS are seen as reputable among most and it wasn't a translation error either the individual themselves was who gave out incorrect information.

Again unless you have contrary information that can be verified your push back doesn't hold up against his word because ultimately he's in a far more reputable position this isn't even hard to understand.