going downhill?
Kingdom Hearts
They have a tendency to re-release older games either as 'final mix' versions or, in the case of RE:Coded, turning a foreign cell phone game into a portable game. The first game was really good, I'd liken it to Chrono Trigger. Battles are mostly random but they take place in real time using real strategy. The series tried introducing a card system that I didn't really like personally but the main problem is that they're not focusing on the main numerical story progression. Also, there's only so much you can do with the material present.
Grand Theft Auto
From the early top-down GTA games to as late as San Andreas, you could get away with calling the GTA games wacky. They were off the damn wall! Ever since GTA-IV though, things have tried getting far more real. Not that realism is a bad thing but something was lost in translation. To be fair, I haven't played Lost, Damned or the Ballad of Gay Tony. Gay Tony looked like it tried to recapture the whimsy of the earlier games though.
Final Fantasy
Final Fantasy X, XIII, VIII, VII and arguably VI were more sci-fi than fantasy, They took place in a sort of modern/futuristic dystopia, ruled by military police, an evil Emperor, an evil corporation, etc. As I've mentioned before though, people would rather play Final Fantasy MCIV than, Last Sci-Fi I. It could be that Square-Enix doesn't want to create an entirely new franchise but they seem like they're really trying too. Final Fantasy XIII for example had chocobos but it had no moogles, airships, a proper Cid, etc. The staples that make Final Fantasy a Final Fantasy seemed absent or altered (like how they had Transformers come on to take the place of proper Eidolons/ Summons) Square-Enix doesn't know where to take Final Fantasy so it could very well be time to lay the series to rest instead of giving the public spin-offs and, sequels.