Okay, this is how I look at it. Videogames are similar to movies. They are told through a combination of dialogue, visuals and music. Now, dialogue is very important. But, just as a movie with great dialogue can fail because of poor acting, so can a game with great dialogue fail because of poor visuals. For a story to be told effectively, one has to see how the events affect the characters. As roughly 90% of our communication is done through body language, great graphics that allow the player to see these emotions increase the gaming experience.

And, again, dialogue cannot set the mood as effectively as visuals. Again, in FFVI, the only reason I knew the Empire was bad was because I was told so. Yes, what they did was bad, and as you played the game, you knew that they were bad. But, I never felt that they were bad. When I played VII, walking around through Midgar, I felt that Shinra was bad.

Again, I am not bashing VI. VII was able to achieve this because the technical limit had been raised heavily since VI. But my point is that the use of graphics elevated the game to a new level.

I feel that in a visually intensive medium such as video games, artistic style is needed to make the game more substantial. Look at Sin City. It is a great movie, and would probably have been great if they didn't make it in the style that they did. But, because they did, it was able to reinforce the game itself.

I don't watch that much anime to pick up the references you are making to X and so I cannot comment.

Now, I can guess that the reason you like IX is because it is a throwback to the earlier games, a signing off of sorts. But the thing is, Final Fantasy cannot be about swords and sorcery all the time. They needed to move in a new direction.

And, although I will admit that the opera scene in VI is awesome, what substance does it add to the story? Surely that is a prime example of style over substance...