Average?

Remember that each new game in the series has a new world and story, and they tweak the gameplay engine, trying each time to do something different than last time.

It's hard to compare the series because each game is so different from the others...what a crew, indeed.

That said, if you want a game that is strictly an average ff game, Mystic Quest fits that bill. They don't get much more bland and stripped down, but the music is superb.

It's just a shame that the story plays like it was written in three days by a marmoset.