What consumers expect of a FF-title

[Betelgeuzah]

I don't think so. I was well into adulthood when I finally got my hands on Final Fantasy III and I enjoyed it just as much as I enjoyed the previous games. Personal preference and nostalgia may be a factor, but it's not the whole story by a long shot. The feel of a game is very much a product of the people who designed it. Suggesting that these people can be interchanged without altering the entire feel of the game doesn't make sense at all.

The fact that it's a different form of media than you're used to is surely to be a factor that can not be denied. Especially considering the (possible) expectations you have set beforehand for stories in said format, in the age of Super Marios and Sonic the Hedgehogs forming the standard with barebones stories in them.

We can also think about the experience of improved visuals factoring into the total package. PSX after SNES was a huge leap in visual quality (a core part of gaming in general) and the same can be said about PS2. Then, it should also be noted that the games in question were released early in their respective consoles lifespans (starting from VII) which further accounted for the perception of the overall experience.

None of these factors have anything to do with the story but nonetheless account into why exactly people feel the way they do about these games.