People are going to love or hate whatever they like. I can understand disliking something in comparison to something else: e.g. FFVIII called anything but Final Fantasy would've still been a good game and likely wouldn't have upset so many people. I loved the game (disclaimer there, heh) but it does seem like they thought "omg we forgot this was FF quick change the headmaster's name to Cid and throw in chocobos".

Personally I get in a huff when people gush about SO3. If you played and liked SO2, SO3 should irk you on a spiritual level. But that's a discusson for a different forum