But would it? The Mario series has been through numerous installments with very few changes, and remained as popular as ever. Granted, it's a whole different genre, but RPG's have a longer lifespan than platformers. I don't think that FF would suffocate without those changes. I honestly wouldn't care had the ATB or salary system never been introduced, and I'm not really bothered that I can't play FFXI right now.

*Prepares to be crushed*