X-2 and XII (not to mention the very fact that XI even existed) essentially combined to destroy most of my interest in the Final Fantasy series. 2 x (mediocre plot and characterization + combat system that I actively disliked) = the series will now have to produce something spectacular to convince me to pay full price for a new game, even if I already have the necessary console on which to play it.
Others may differ, but I think the era of the PSX was the golden age of the Japanese console RPG. The PS2 era produced a few good games, but it was at that point that the studios really started to go for eye candy over substance, and the trend seems to be getting stronger rather than abating. Anything produced recently that I might be interested in has probably gone to the hand-helds rather than the consoles, and I have...other problems with hand-helds. (Specifically, the problem is that the average modern hand-held seems to be of the exact size and weight that the cats here enjoy pushing off flat surfaces onto floors and then treating like a soccer ball if you're foolish enough to leave such an item laying around, and no piece of electronics is likely to take more than a certain amount of that kind of mishandling. Likely to get broken + (small screen + poor vision) + portability not being an advantage for me = not likely to buy.) End result: the game studios in general have pretty much lost me as a potential audience for new games for the foreseeable future while they go chasing after the people who are only interested in pretty graphics and online play instead.
