The really funny thing about complaining about Square trying new things with FF is that trying new things is really the only standard there has been for the series according to its creator, Hironobu Sakaguchi. In the August 2001 issue of the Official U.S. PlayStation Magazine (issue #47), Sakaguchi said the following when being interviewed about making Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within:

"The spirit of the Final Fantasy games has always been to outdo ourselves every time we make a new title, to try something that's never been done before. And in that sense, the Final Fantasy movie was just another step of that -- we're just trying to follow the mentality of doing something no one's seen before."