i think any video game ip should get at most 4 entries (and even that’s pushing it). after 3 sequels, its time to make a new ip. much of the time, it feels like all the interesting ideas got explored in the first 2-4 games, and after that it’s just about milking the brand name.
Final fansty isn’t that kind of ip. Different ones are set in different universes/planets, with different casts. There’s a billion different things you can explore. One game is basically medieval, another is basically cyberpunk. The things you explore are completely different and the only similarities are the name of the ip, the names of the gods, and maybe the names of some of the characters.
There aren’t many games you can make that argument with because of the way technology has advanced so much.
Elder scrolls v skyrim was easily the most successful, but your suggestion is stopping at morrowind which is an entirely different game. Tomb raider today is a different game from when it came out. Some ways for the best some ways for the worse. But there are always new things to explore. Even if it’s just mechanically.
Sure you can make that argument over something like the yearly sports games. But these games are not yearly releases.
In addition 5o what others mentioned, Final Fantasy is named for nostalgic company reasons, not necessarily for the public. Square was doing bad and going out of business, and decided to have a passion project for their last release, the Final Fantasy of theirs.
It saved the company. So in its honor, their flagship RPGs are always named Final Fantasy. While they often have Easter eggs, like Biggs, Wedge(?), Cid, Moogles, etc, the games are mostly unrelated otherwise. 14 does have tons of references to others in the series though.
