I mean before Mania (2017) was Lost World (2013) and after Forces (also 2017) so it's not like it was a hard race following Generations (2011). But I get what you're saying, it kept to the formula that has been proven to work and improved on them. I guess that's what made Generations work, whereas Forces was rushed and never even matched it.
I think it's fine if Bravely Default started basic but nothing has caught my eye that gives it its own soul beyond "it's also Final Fantasy, technically".
"Make a new IP if you want to make an action game" worst part? They did! Kingdom Hearts already takes elements from Final Fantasy. While now-a-days it doesn't rely on outright characters, the command menu still exists, magic and items are all around. I don't know what prompts to make the Final Fantasy franchise it's own action monstrosities. Feel it has to do with trying to "modernize" a well-known name to keep up. Like the idea "well RPGs are dated, let's spice it up" and you get one of the worst feeling action games (XV).
You are correct..
"Kingdom Hearts already takes elements from Final Fantasy." - and that is fine, it worked out for them.
So apparently they can make new successful IP's, why mess up their existing ones?
Someone at SQUARE ENIX thought that this was what the franchise needed going forward.
It was a mistake and they refuse to admit it and do a rollback.
Had they instead admitted that they have been unsuccessful in creating a proper Final Fantasy title in about the last one and a half decade and spent some time instead studying their past successful entries and studied fan opinions then perhaps they could create something great again.
But I suppose someone at SQUARE ENIX is too proud to admit that they're fumbling around in the dark at this point.
And when they listened to fans they were taking it like too far.
Example: they heard that fans thought that FFXIII was too linear.
Then they responded by making FFXV "open world".
I don't think they had to go THAT far. Final Fantasy X was also quite linear, in fact it was similar to XIII in some ways. But the main difference was that it embraced back tracking and it had NPC's that you could interact with, so the world didn't feel as linear and and empty as XIII's did.
Also Final Fantasy X had a less linear growth system, yes it was sort of linear until halfway through the game when you really could start shaping your characters however you wanted.
If you wanted Lulu to hit 99 999 in physical damage and have Auron being the strongest Mage then this could be done.
Final Fantasy XIII's growth system was linear all the way.
Final Fantasy XV's growth system is a bit better, but it's still not great.
That's because the over all feeling of getting stronger has greatly been reduced and there's less things to unlock in general.
It's funny, because I was excited for Final Fantasy Versus XIII being a Final Fantasy playing similar to Kingdom Hearts. But the moment they announced the renaming to Final Fantasy XV then I thought it was a bad idea.