There's a big difference between a game that is entirely single-player and a game whose most important facets are very multiplayer friendly, though-- not to mention that Final Fantasy is mostly for stationary consoles, not portable handhelds. If S-E were to make a two-version game with different ultimate weapons that one would have to trade to get, they wouldn't be the biggest money-grabbers the world has ever seen, because what can you do with them beyond that point? It's not like you can compete against each other in any other way-- and even if you could, you'd be limited to ~10 characters who would take turns smacking each other until the other one falls. I'd understand if they would make a multiplayer Tactics game, where you could have any assortment of characters in your party-- with the ability to trade characters with other people, however. As a matter of fact, I'd go out and buy it in a heartbeat. If S-E would make a Tactics game with local/online multiplayer, I think it would sell very well. Otherwise, you're making a connection that isn't as plausible with a normal FF game.

As far as Pokémon goes, one of your main goals is still to smack the opponent 'til they fall, but the number of combinations you can have in your party-- let alone builds and movesets-- are countless, and there's an enormous amount of depth that one could put into their strategy. However, if you don't want to do that, that's fine, too. If you simply want to play the game to completion, fine. If you want to play the game simply for the non-battle competitions in-game, that's fine too. If you want to collect all of them, it'll take more effort, but not as much as it used to, now that it's so much easier to connect with people. That's what makes Pokémon such an accessible game, since it's easy enough for a child to understand and enjoy, yet has enough options and depth for older folks like us to have fun with.

I'm not going to deny that it's the biggest money grabbing exercise in gaming history, but it has to be one of the most genius money grabbing excercises in gaming history as well, because it worked.