It’s not a changed battle system, it’s a set of overall tweaks plus a modified character progression system. You know, like the expert sphere grid from FFX. So by that logic, FFX PAL/HD is a spin-off and not a main game. He’ll, by that logic, every retelease is a spinoff. FFs 1 through 3 had substantial gameplay tweaks and difficulty reductions, with III having named characters instead of nameless. Spinoff!

Your logic is very flawed, is what I’m saying