This is purely related to the visuals and not the gameplay.

I get the idea and i do understand it from the marketing standpoint but trying to westernize this IP is IMO a big mistake.
FF already has a huge fan base thanks to all the other offline FF titles, common sense tells that people much accepted all the previous styles worldwide.
I know that some developers worry about having what so many call a 'manga/anime' style (misused term) assuming that most westerners dislike 'anime' characters,
it is not entirely true, people reject it only if it is made poorly and that so far never was the case in the FF titles.
All the old FF concept art was done by Yoshitaka Amano, It was a very artistic and widely accepted and to my knowledge never even compared to a typical 'manga/anime' style. With FF7 the style changed but the game did not loose any popularity.

There are many alternatives to all the offline and online RPG titles and other games.
If i want to play a western RPG, i simply would pick up one.
I pick FF titles because they offer me something original.
If people disliked the style of all the offline FF titles they would not have bought it.
FF XIV style is playing it way to save IMO, the graphics are great, do not get me wrong. The texture and model quality is great, its just the style.

The style lost a lot of charm, magic and originality. With originality i by no ways mean that it is copied, it just does not feel fresh.

I am no big fan of WOW, but i did play it and one has to admit that they have their certain cartoony style, they stylized many elements in a interesting way and made the game the way they wanted it.
Look at blade and soul, not everyone may like the strong sexual content (large boobs, sexy cloths) but you have to admit that this game does not feel like they had to compromise the style of the artist.

I really love the work of Akihiko Yoshida but this game does not reflect his style and charm.

Look at the charming Illustrations of the FFXIV cities:
http://ffnext.com/images/game/ffxiv/artwork/CityStates-Aug-7-2009/ffxiv-city-states-gridania.jpg

The actual in-game graphics do not reflect it.

IMO this could be changed in a acceptable time-frame, reusing the existing content.