And now I'm going to turn into everything you seem to hate, DLPB.
XIII was (is, actually, as I haven't beaten it yet) a typical (aside from no Towns, nor memorable NPCs) Final Fantasy, and was well worth the time I spent playing it. It had the usual mix of annoying characters (Vanille and Hope, ugh.) and ridiculous weapons (A f*cking boomerang, really?), and it had such an interesting take on the MP aspect of the Battle System, I was honestly quite amazed. Although, it did mean I pretty much never used the Summons...
What exactly was typical about it? Your only concrete example is "mix of annoying characters", and that's not really a good example, because this really falls down to personal taste.
Removing towns, exploration, party control, mini-games, NPC's, length, and depth, makes it more different than previous FF games, than similar, hence the term "typical" is completely nonsensical in terms of describing the nature of that game.
Finally, I can't recall who said it, but someone did say that you shouldn't stick to one franchise / developer. To this point, I proffer NaughtyDog. Never have I played a bad ND game. 
Hardly anyone sticks to just one company. But as I said in my previous post, the trend of loss in quality is something that happens all across the board, not just in Square-Enix.
Besides, by your logic, even NaughtyDog will go to the dogs(*lowblow-alert*) in time.
In any case, there is probably some truth in technological advances being somewhat at fault -
Like a lot of people in music production will tell you - More possibilities tend to screw with your creativity.
With limitations, come the need for creative solutions - With possibilities come the confusion that follows lack of directives.
A lot of creative("cheap") solutions you see in old games(like the world map, where everything is tiny, and the character is huge) were the direct result of limitations, but they still worked out and ended up being central and enjoyable part of gameplay.
Now, it's possible to just use the old formulas and pimp them up with the new technology - Most people just gobble that up anyways.
The new generations of gamers don't smell the stink of degeneration that lies behind the pretty HD facelift used to cover up the same old dusty formulas - And the developers who try to do something new, are struggling by forcing out creative yet utlimately pointless changes, because innovation usually just becomes redundant when there is no limitation there to provoke it.
When we got the huge, 3D open world environments, this was a direct result of new possibilities - But where do you go from there? Bigger 3D open world environments? Do you revert back to the old "overworld" system, or just a bunch of corridors?
At the end of the day, there is a choice between going for the tried and tested, successfull formulas(or try to improve on them), or be innovative.
The fact is that a lot of companies don't do either, and end up failing at both.
They botch the working formulas, and their attempt at being innovative simply ends up with gimicky BS.
FF13 is a great example of this.
They've tried to improve upon presentation(graphics, FMV's, voice-acting etc), but they messed up everything else.
The only innovation lies in the battle-system, but it feels forced and unnecessary, rather than like something new and progressive in a good way. To illustrate this, just imagine if FF13 had been made with the FF10 battlesystem, or something very similar - Do you think anyone would notice? Do you think people would praise it less or more?
It probably wouldn't change a thing, and is why I don't consider the change to be very good in either case.
And how many people buy FF games for the battlesystem anways? When the battle system is the only redeeming quality of an RPG, you know something is wrong - This is like buy a fighting game, solely for the story.
Although old formulas should be upgraded, and improved upon over time - The old axion "There is no need to fix what ain't broken" is never more true than in most media instances.
Most new jrpgs are examples of what happens when you fail to heed this.
With the exception of Last Story, which btw, is scheduled for release in late February, for those who're interested.
