Every game after VI has been a slow reinvention of the formula. Keep just enough to feed nostalgia but change it to be different enough to be something else
VII was just way ahead of its time compared to anything else at that point. Super long game, with lots of highs & lows. Tons of optional content. Materia similar to VI but with pairings now which made for lots of fun possibilities. Full party control.
VIII was literally built off ideas tossed out from VII's development. Triple Triad was great, and if you took the time to do it, it trivialized the battle content. Materia is out, draw is in... most people hated this. Me too. Full party control
Tactics was just a masterpiece. Took the job system of V and slapped it on top of Tactics Ogre. Great story, lots of job combinations to 4D chess around. Job board is the new Materia.
IX was the last hurrah of the PS1 era. I never really like the character designs enough, and also found the final super-boss Ozma really boring. Equipment is the new Materia. Full party control
For the PS1 era games, the charm of still having a world map you ran around on was a big deal for feeling like you were exploring a world.
X on PS2 was a system seller. We lost world map exploration, but areas had a lot of twists and turns, and mechanics to progress. Sphere Grid is the new Materia. World map is a menu. Characters are now voiced, for better or worse. Enjoyed it at release, but time has not been kind. Full party control
X-2 was the first game that was just too embarrassing to even play. I got to the first cutscene where Yuna uncontrollably dances and turned it off. It was a cash-grab asset re-use trash game. Fight me. Costumes are the new Materia...Full party control
XI was Square copying Everquest, and adding in-game cutscenes everywhere. Tons of lore and great story mired by impossibly difficult (at release) content that punished you for existing. Arguably one of the best storylines in FF history lost to time because most people wouldn't make it through the installation, let alone begining learning curve. Constant gear swapping optimal BiS for each cast is the new Materia.
XII is either love it or hate it. I loved it (but HATED the final act\ending) . It really pushed the limits of what a PS2 game could look like. Matsuno games always deliver. Job board is the new Materia. World map is a menu. Hunt Board gives us a ton of special fights leading up to Yiazimat which took hours to beat at max level. Semi-full party control, but mostly 1 character with programable AI for other 2\3.
PS2 era games were all over the map. Most only really played X which they loved, and then tried XII and hated it.
XIII on PS3 was Square's beginning down the path of "What if we just made 20 hallways and called it a game?" path of mediocrity in game-play. Graphically it looked great but felt kind of like everything else took a back seat to that. Battle system was much more limiting, no real superboss unless you count the dumb giant enemies with too many HP that were a regular enemy. Crystarium is the new Materia\Sphere Grid. Single character control with AI party. Very incomplete narrative overall since they wanted you to continue on to ...
XIII-2 new characters playing Pokemon with enemies. Complete asset re-use with a handful of unique new bosses. I found this entry to be the most enjoyable to play of the 3, but couldn't tell you a lick of the story now. Much more battle oriented of the 3.
XIII-3 or "What if we made an FF Ocarina of Time?" Utter garbage of a final act to the XIII series. More time spent running around a few town maps trying to figure out what to do than actually battle or anything fun. Lots of asset re-use.
XIV 1.0~1.23: "Let's remake XI, but with newer graphics and even more absurd player punishing systems like you can only level a class so much each real life day before you earn 0 xp. The maps were labyrinths full of enemies 100 levels higher than you right outside starting cities in some places. At release most people didn't have a PC capable of even running the game. By 1.23 most of the major issues had been fixed, but there still wasn't a whole lot to actually do at max level except a few inanse level grinds. Like XI though the story\lore was really good, but overall direction needed a lot of work. Most people never even played it since it was PC only.
XIV 2.0 (at release on PS3) was a total revamp that really improved everything. It is as much FF WoW as FFXI is FF EQ, but it does most of it BETTER than WoW (except the account creation lol) with a narrative that carries directly on expansion to expansion. Like all MMOs the carrot on a stick that is endgame is still a mess of some like it, some hate it. The game also re-uses assets from every 3D FF it can. Exact same skeleton & animation with a minor polish to the model\texture. Yoshida has actually done this intentionally to trim costs. Instanced dungeons with great boss mechanics, but uninspired hallways design of XIII everywhere instanced.
PS3 era games were um... TWO games. Development costs and infinite delays of XV really left us waiting. Since most never played XIV, that left really just XIII which was largely a disapointment for FF fans.
XV: A delayed game CAN also be a terrible game! All the early vs footage looked a lot more like it was going to be a KIndom Hearts style action RPG without the Disney. That would have been great. Instead we got a nonsensical plot full of time skips, one dimentional love interest, loading screens from hell. Ascension Grid is the new materia albiet extemely limited with few customization options. The game really had like 2 large maps with vast swaths of empty space. The car mechanic was clumsy and not very useful. Eventual slowly released DLCs did little to improve the narrative either. A full playthough of the entire Royal Edition with all DLCs is still a very incomplete feeling game. Graphically nice, battle system starts out good but quickly becomes a chore with little really NEW happening after 20+ hours.
XIV 2.1 PS4 released. Game ran understandably better than PS3. Much faster load times, especially if you replaced the stock PS4 drive with a SSD. Starting to show its age now on PS4 largely due to load times in starter towns where everyone AFKs.
FFVII Remake: First third, dogshit bad. Not even a remake, it's a re-imagine with lots of extra convoluted Kindom Hearts level plot nonsense. Materia is the new Materia except it's also an action RPG now and kind of sluggish.
2 mainline titles and 1/3rd remake on PS4. Sad days.
XVI: clearly made by the devs of XIV. It's a nicer looking, single player version of XIV. MMO style sub quests were largely hated. It's also an action RPG which turned a lot of people off. Some of the asset re-use and lack of enemy variety overall was a let down, but expected from Yoshida's cost cutting like in FFXIV. It has a good lore setup with a weaker story that def borrowed themes from GoT, and in places felt incomplete in a way similar to FFXV. The world map is menu similar to FFXII. Accessories that turn the game into a single button masher is the new Materia. The game is more cutscene than game a lot of the time. Quicktime events are not gameplay in 2023 but SE didn't get the memo. Bittersweet ending largely hated.
FFVI Rebirth: 2nd third of FFVI remake. A bit more on the rails storywise, much more colorful open areas than Remake, refined battle system, and fuckton of mini-games. Overall a fun game if still frustrationing incompletely narratively.
1 mainline title and 2/3 remake on PS5. Sad days continue.
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