The FFs after X are not FFs. And we shall not speak of them as such.

You sound like you've got a problem with moderately linear storylines. FF7 was only that until the second disk hit (and arguably until you got the Tiny Bronco, if you did the Wutai sidequest early, like I did). If you remember, so was FF6 until (arguably) the World of Ruin (you could say until you got the Blackjack).

IMO the biggest flaw in 8 was the Draw system. They tried really hard to make everything super customizeable with enemies that scaled with level and what resulted was a game you could cheese from start to finish with a few card games at the start.

6 had the benefit of being the third released game on a console, whereas 7 was the first. In 8 they mentioned multiple times that they now had a feel for the limitations of the PSX, and were able to improve on the game's graphics significantly. Whatever else you can say about 8 and 9, the graphics are significantly…

Square has been obsessed with "remaking" the FF franchise since Sakaguchi left. It hasn't worked, at least not to the degree of success FF had prior to the split. To this day Square continues to rely on the already-established popularity of the franchise - EXTREMELY heavily - rather than producing new content. Can…

Because the Jenova cells didn't absorb all memories. Remember when Cloud meets Aeris? Little white flashes of light every time he "remembered" something about SOLDIER? Stuff was fragmented. Tifa mentions that while Cloud thinks it's been five years, it's been closer to seven. It's incomplete, which is why…