I'm probably going to go with the majority here and say IX was the last FF for me. X was a huge disappointment for me and the first game in the series where I actually got bored playing it.

X to me was a very streamlined adventure that restricted control from the player and only gave the illusion of choice. Gameplay was dumbed down considerably to the point where even VI-VIII looked like challenging titles in comparison and the cast itself felt like I was watching the RPG equivalent of a boy band with each member fulfilling some niche and cliche within the drama. I recognized the premise of the plot as being the Tale of Orochi and consequently with that in hand I was able to predict most of the games plot before it happened.The one plot twist I didn't predict was so silly and utterly stupid that it made give up on taking the game serious from then on.

Despite my long list of complaints against the game, I found it mostly mediocre at best (It is not the worst game ever) and that frankly just didn't sit well with me. All these traits were things I noticed in other RPG games which is why I liked playing FF cause it always threw me for a loop. X was the first title where I felt Square slipped and was no longer leading the genre. It had sadly become like much of the mediocrity that was prevalent in the genre at the time and even now.

XI being an MMO turned me off from it and it was years before I actually played it, while I felt the game is quite good, my fear that kept me away from the game rang true and that was the fact I just don't like MMO style games. I don't like playing with other people and I have no interest in forming a bond with a community of gamers. I play games to forget about people. For that reason, I've started XI two years ago and I currently still have a level 14 WAR and no linkshells.

I really loved XII, the game restored my faith in the series, that it might actually rise again if placed under the proper care of someone who actually understands and gives a damn about the FF name. Kitase kinda feels he can do as he pleases while Nomura only likes messing with his own titles. Matsuno on the other hand was a fan of the series from back in the day and in a lot of ways, XII has more in common with IX than any other entry if only cause the game is filled to the brim with references and allusions to every major FF title in the series much like the original FFTactics.

Though I feel XII is easily worthy of being an FF title much like I felt FFTactics had before it. This game still felt like a Matsuno game. In a way it feels like a "guest entry" into the series cause SE was still waiting to make a follow up to succeed IX. XII is definetly the last good entry in the series for me, though I'm sadden by the fact that I know it could have been more had Matsuno stayed with the whole project to completion.

XIII... god XIII is a mess. By trying to streamline the genre, SE pretty much unmade the genre and sorta proved to me that the list of people at SE who know what they are doing is incredible short. Motomu Toriyama needs to go into another profession cause the man has never worked on a game I liked and most of his games tend to get railed by fans and have a strong dislike (X-2, RW, and XIII). Kitase needs to retire cause it obvious whatever good came from any game he made in the 16-bit and 32-bit era was not because of his input or was a complete fluke cause the man is crazy and I don't think this is something that just came about. Nomura, who has been blasted by fans for ruining the series is about the only guy over there who seems to get what makes a game and actually gets the series anymore and in a way that's kinda sad...

The transition to the PS2/PS3/360 has been a disaster for SE in my opinion. In 10 years time, SE has released a mediocre set of games with a very small list going above and beyond and showing that some of Square still exists there and its sad when you realize that in the four years on the PS1, Square gave us some of the most memorable titles of all time that even went beyond the main FF brand. Today, SE's best offerings come from a series that is the Video Game equivalent of Scooby Doo and Friends with KH, and its nice to see DQ is sorta having a Renaissance of sort in the West but most other attempts at rebooting other franchises are often mishandled and poorly done and the FF series lacks any true direction and will probably never regain their former glory as its being handled by people who don't realize they don't know what they are doing. I feel SE has slipped and is being passed on by everyone now. Its reached a point where if the game is good is an actual achievement for the company and its sad when there are more fans wanting remakes of fifteen to ten year old games over anything new the company has in the making.