Final Fantasy is not dead, it is simply doing what it always has done: Shaking things up each iteration so that the gameplay is markedly different and therefore picking up new fans, encouraging innovation in the industry, disenchanting some fans who expect every game to be exactly like the one they loved most and all the other usual things. The only key difference is the development time, which is a concern. But as far as the games go, little has changed but the technology and the freedoms and limitations said technology allows. Every Final Fantasy game in recent years has had it's criticism. The longer time between development, the longer there is for fans to overhype the game in their heads and to criticise it after it's released because another FF hasn't replaced it in their minds.

Thankfully, like Pike, I just enjoy them for what they are. =] Fun video games.