Well I never criticised 6,7,8,9,10 as bad games (in fact I liked them all), but I have done with X-2, XII, XIII and all the other crap cash in spin offs for very good reason. That reason is: they are dumbed down and nothing as good as the ones I just mentioned. I like change, if that change is positive and building on what went before.
Dismissing criticisms of XII and XIII as "just fear of change" isn't a rational viewpoint when I can compare the games to such a point that it becomes obvious that they are taking lots of things away in this so called "change" and replacing it with nothing more than flashy graphics. That isn't really in dispute here, it is clearly visible. From bad storytelling, lack of decent story and character development, missing enemy skills, missing puzzles, missing minigames, missing interactive NPC, bloated FMV sequences and cut scenes, missing choice of allies and selections in battle, missing traditional towns, and repayable areas and 1000 other things.
This isn't just people imagining a dumbing down. IT IS a dumbing down.