You don't get what I'm trying to say perhaps, because you necessary agree with me. Delaying Versus = having an entire generation made only of XIII. If Versus was out, we would be moved onward and talking about this new grand FF instead of talking still of XIII spinoffs.
Got it?
Versus was meant to be the next main entry in the franchise, yet by being delayed we got stuck with XIII series, and like many other said, if you didn't like it you would not be playing anything else outside of that. That's the paradox, it's not XIII damaging the series but it's a lack of a proper next entry doing so.
There is no paradox, this does not make sense at all.
Final Fantasy XIII was a bad Final Fantasy thus it damaged the series' reputation.
Just because Metal Gear Solid was released 8 years after Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake does not mean it is Metal Gear Solid's fault that the series wasn't really popular in the west in 1990.(Ok bad analogy with MG2 in the west, but you get my point).
In other words, you can't blame an unreleased game for the damage that was done by XIII and presumabely XIV.