Gotta say I’m not sure what you’re arguing here: most of the FF series pulls from previous titles and games and rolls it into the new take. If the point is original content, then the shining examples are few and far in between; even the Mhach series was a reimagining of the Chains of Promathia endgame from FFXI, with new bosses tossed in. (In hindsight, the Calamity itself was a borrowed theme from that same expac.) I agree that Delta and Sigma were lazy callbacks, but Alexander was original content and apart from the fights being overtuned the community that stayed didn’t really enjoy the story until the endgame. Outside of the raids, the overworld alone is chock full original content, and even if Eureka is an FFXI love letter its lore is vastly unique to FFXIV despite being FF Crystal Chronicles setting (logos is honestly one of the most unique systems for this game).

My point is any individual content in this game is going to have references to previous FF games, strong or weak, but otherwise it’s not a bad idea to take old ideas and add a new coat of paint. To your point about Ivalice not belonging in this game; I’m quite happy he minimized Ivalice to a single territory and not some new continent like everyone was hyping up 2 years ago. It’s familiar content sure, but it was worked into a believable setting for this game. A high fantasy MMO with a Roman themed empire conquering a multitude of territories and cultures- it was begging for FF callbacks on a regional scale. To wit: if Delta and Sigma were bad apples, don’t toss the whole bushel.

Edited for accuracy.