Final Fantasys are all different flavours for the same audience. Some people like chocolate chip, some pistachio. But at the end of the day, Ice cream is a childs food and we're all growing old. A taste of it is good for some refreshment, but no-longer do you crave for ice-cream in the heat - now we reach for cocktails and beers.
This is true with final fantasy - I personally love every final fantasy between 6 to 12 (excluding XI) with fond appreciation for the different experiences they gave me. I've seen thier gimmicks and even tasted them, but now, I'm too old for cheap tricks to entice me. When Final Fantasy XIII came out, I changed the name of a bunch of elements and came up with the intro storyline for Final Fantasy 7, all the crazy was just an attempt to hide the fact they were trying to reignite the Final Fantasy 7 flame. They failed, in part because 'the crazy' was just that, and partly because the resultant product was a breath of what it was first planned to be (The story was just off-cuts of the original and didn't even fit together right for me).
The fact that more and more things from Square show that their dreams of recreating a great game are only hindered by the fact they underestimate how much effort it requires - and 13 was just too much for them. In thier effort to do new interesting things, they do silly and thoughtless things, like making a game in English just was foreign as if it were written in Japanese.
Final Fantasy VII on the other hand isn't there to feed the dreams of the designers, it is there to line the pockets of the business. So Final Fantasy XIII Versus being cancelled must be hurting the business. I very much doubt it will be cancelled completely. Worst case - they'll reuse everything and change the story and make a non-final fantasy out of it.
What doesn't sit right with me is in regard to the duality of Square - The dreamers release over-budget games that are a let down because their purse-strings are strangling them. But the business side still release substandard money-makers like FF-VII PC. So why NOT release a half-arsed Versus 13? The cost of making it is alot, marketing could double that, but I very much doubt that selling it would get less back than the marketing costs. The cancellation doesn't fit either duality - that confuses me.
My theory to justify this - Versus was cancelled because they fear the backlash from releasing a substandard game after all the expectations we have for it, knowing it could be the final nail in the coffin got Square. I think someone who is very powerful in Square has overturned the project, in a hope they can resurrect the company to its former glory. Now I don't think for a second this has anything to do with a ressurection of old franchises - rather a step away. Someone has come forward with a new story, a new plan for game that will be good enough to potentially fuel a resurgence in Squeenix fans, a new Final Fantasy, with an original format, somethign that appeases the money spinners and the creative minds.
