To me, Square really became a joke after FFXI. That was really the biggest disappointment in my eyes, since it appeared that they went the WoW route of sucking people in and just taking their money on a monthly basis. That, and I wasn't doing any gaming online, so XI was useless to me regardless. For the first time, Square had effectively alienated me as a gamer, and that bothered me. Combine that with the fact that I wasn't a fan of X, or XII, and to me, that's three strikes.

With all of the FFVII titles, books, movies and reincarnations, it only seems to further hammer the point that Square has lost sight of what really matters, has become far too profit driven. I refuse to shell out money for a PSP so I can play the prequel. That game was fully explained to me in the 5 minute cutscene in Shinra Mansion (as well as when Tifa rescues Cloud from Lifestream), and it was all I needed to know on the matter. Zack died, Cloud picked up his sword and started to tell the world he had lived Zack's life. Genesis or any of those other characters invented for a new game have any bearing on the original FFVII story. They were just invented, because without them, there's really no point to making a whole new game. To me, that's atrocious; completely inventing a new canon to the story, and then making sure everyone not involved in VII, dies, so there are no loose ends. What's the point?

Also, with AC, what was the point? All it did was show off how flashy the graphics could get, as well as provide voices for the characters that we'd already given voices to. Nobody needed to know that Sephiroth's left nut was stored in a thermos and he was going to be cloned by another three goofballs that nobody had ever heard of. But yeah, it was a very pretty film. I'll give it that. It didn't do anything for me otherwise.

I can understand how X and XII were hit or miss, since many people love them, but they don't have that charm that the older games, especially IV and VI had. There's a much stiffer and stodgy feel to the newer games, where the characters seem much more pigeon-holed and typecast than unique and real, or to even have that good ole Final Fantasy lighthearted feeling to them.

I still haven't picked up XIII, and I have no intention to. I really have no desire to play any FF games after IX, since that's really the last fun one I remember playing. The sad thing is that I wouldn't even know what to say to recommend fixing the series and making the games like they used to be. They do have to realize that when dealing with the Final Fantasy series, they should try to be just that. They're just trying to keep up with the Jonses now, in terms of making a fun and quick paced RPG... instead of doing it's own thing and being known for insane quality and a truly enjoyable experience. Unfortunately, that's not the way of the world anymore. They're clearly being told by your average retard what game to make, and they're pandering to the consumer, instead of putting out the game that they had envisioned, and letting the consumers who want it, buy it.