I saw someone remark tonight that they wished Square Enix would make FF games for people that enjoy FF . My first thought was , who are those people and what are those games ? Every game in the series is so different in many ways . In some , you have jobclass systems . In others , you have set characters that are locked to a class or role . In later entries , characters become somewhat homogeneous , Story themes have overarching similarities but are largely different . Progression systems are largely different , especially from VI on . In the end , what Final Fantasy has done is create new systems that appeal to a very wide range of individuals at different points in their lives . Try comparing IV with XII , or VI with ! , or III with X . Completely different games ! You ' ll find some are more popular across that group of people VI and VII seem to be higher on the list , anecdotally , or if you like job systems , III and V might be high on your list . So you have this huge variance of fans , some of which have strong nostalgic ties to certain entries in the series over others , so when the next entry comes out and is completely different from their favorite , they wax poetic about the glory days of SquareEnix and how they ' ve made a terrible mistake . It ' s happening with XV , and it will happen with XVI , and hopefully XVII , XVIII , and beyond . Certainly with someone like Tabata at the helm , or someone who subscribes to the love that Tabata has for Final Fantasy , they will always find what the fans want while bringing new fans on board . Just think Final Fantasy will be 30 years old next year . And they are still pumping out games . Super Mario Bros . and The Legend of Zelda may be the only two franchises that can claim higher longevity .