Sun And Steel
ARE YOU GOURMET?!
Which is really all that different from 5 and 6 how? A small band of people battling against a dark power threatening to destory the world...FFVII was a lot different, it was a group of people who came together to defeat Shinra an organisation.
If people really, really enjoyed the way Sakaguchi made the games then they will almost certainly see this as a weaker Final Fantasy, and believe that it will be difficult to return to old glories. But if you're just looking for excellent games then there's nothing to say that Final Fantasy is on a downward spiral as such.
It's not as if every F.F. up to now has been universally popular anyway.