The problem being that every game since number 7 tried to copy 7.  
Missing entirely what made seven good.
 
One of the things that made 7 good was the fact that the plot was simple really. All the ancillary stuff with Cloud’s past was only ancillary and probably could have been cut out.  
Aside from that: evil guy wants to become a god through a manner that was foreshadowed earlier in the game.  
An evil corporation/surrogate government entity also wants to control the world and their plans and goals changed throughout the game to keep it interesting.
 
There were setups, payoffs (the Junon cannon) and things happened.  
Unlike later games where we don’t know what is going on half the time a d we have 1 goal that never changes.

I liked 9. Everything else… Well FF8 is where it all started going wrong

I actually liked Final Fantasy 8, it wasn’t fantastic like FFVI or FFV, mind you, but it was still a pretty good game for what it was.  
My biggest complaint with 8, and every FF after 6, is that the plot becomes needlessly convoluted in later parts.  
For instance, in Final Fantasy 8, it turns out that all the different and broad cast where all orphans in the same orphanage, that Edea is being possessed by a Witch in the future, who wants to possess another Witch in the present, to take control of a badass giant death machine that was created during the previous big witch war, and with it, cause total time compression, why I don’t know, and the GFs cause memory loss, and… ugh…  
You know, FF6 had a simple story, big bad wants/already fucked the world over, go kick his ass, the reason why it was so compelling was because it was well told.

So this means Snips and Snails are Fujin and Raijin?

I didn’t find 8 to be that bad. The draw system was annoying and it had some minor points _{(easiest ff to get to level 100. Final dungeon has enemies that cast level 5 death. Oi.)} but for me the game made up for it with its humor. There’s a lot of funny and silly moments in it and I’m a sucker for that.

@gg666  
There there, of course it did. What are those people talking about? There’s no games past X, that’s impossible.  
(Personally, I started to dislike the series the moment they stepped into magitek territory. Sure FFVI was good, but it opened up the door to a whole lot of bad. In the FF series’ efforts to become ‘different’ from other fantasy RPGs, it ironically began to become more and more generic)

i mean X was a great finale. Sure the series got a little iffy at points but it had a strong run overall and X provided a good ending to the franchise.
 
looks around
 

 
 
THE SERIES ENDED AFTER X GODDAMIT!!!!

@gg666  
|: \  
I wish. They really need to go back to their roots. Too much science, not enough magitek.

What do you expect after XIII and XIV?

such a shame that this series is no longer being made

FF8?