Tanaka's vision might have started out great on paper but somewhere that writing just got out of control and wouldn't stop. You can have the best ideas in the world, but if you don't sew them together your ideas become a blurred mess. There were giant holes in everything we received at launch, including the server structure. Even the original leveling process sounds good on paper, but come one... It's like everyone was shouting ideas at the "round table" and the decision was to add it all, no question.
I think he was so caught up in making this "Grand/Amazing/more realistic Final Fantasy World" that he forgot to set solid ground beneath him.
Yoshi-P has my vote for FFXIV. You can hate on him if you want, but I respect him for taking over this sinking ship and actually handling his business. He also actually listens to the community instead of everything falling on deaf ears.
Tanka would be like "This is working as intended."
Community: *shows evidence of something being underpowered/broken*
Tanaka: "It's working as intended!"
Community: It's suppose to be broken?
The guy used to be great in my opinion but as the years went on he became too stubborn/blind to what needs to be done. FFXIV should not have been released in such a horrid state that EVERY feature of the game was filled with holes.
Could Tanaka make a better game than Yoshi-P, if given the time? Maybe
That's taken into account that Yoshi-P actually gets his own shot at a MMO with 100% his own ideas, not like what he's doing with XIV now(putting out the fires and building a city over an old dump site..)