The only reason that this series tanked is because of Sakaguchi leaving square. Fantasian and Last Story is more final fantasy than the current ones. Imagine if Last Story was released today with a sizeable budget from Nintendo.
(The guys a troll so I decided not to engage further)Based on what arbitrary level of fuckedness?
Imo, I think the problem is that with games like dragon quest ot tales of, you know what you're getting. The games haven't changed much. However, with final fantasy, you don't know what you're getting. The game could be good or shit.
I remember Miyamoto once saying that the mark of a good game in an established franchise is that the player should be able to tell what series it's from. I don't see that with final fantasy, because each game is so radically different.
Tbh nothing wrong with western games, FF is its own hell