This article reminds me of all the "Fifth generation Pokemon are UGLY!" stuff. Seriously, I think most of that is just the Nostalgia Filter having its way. I haven't played XIII yet, but XII blew me away with its sheer mastery, so my personal experience gives me no evidence that SE is in decline Also, the KH "spin-offs" (as in, handheld titles) are, IMO, great, maybe even better than the "main" games. And the story makes perfect sense to me

On topic, franchises are OK as long as they're implemented right. Heck, I can even forgive X-2's horrible storyline thanks to the awesome gameplay and the game not taking itself too seriously.