I disagree. Yes, the way people's turns in battle are picked out wasn't shaken up too much in that time, but other aspects of gameplay were notably changed. If you name any two Final Fantasy games (preferably those I've finished!), I can pinpoint a large number of differences between them, from the levelling up system, the job system, how magic is learned/obtained, the technological era, all kinds of things. Compare that with most other games (again, the shooter genres are worst for this) and you'll find that Final Fantasy does mix things up to a considerable degree, often doing things that have not been done before.