I've never understood this argument. I mean, don't get me wrong, I'm not spending another penny on this franchise for the foreseeable future, but... I'm still a fan of the books. I've read my copies so often most of them are held together with duct tape and chewing gum. I have my old dvds and I give them a watch here and there. Probably gonna watch them with my kid once he's old enough.
I'm a fan of Harry Potter. Its not about if a different series is better or worse. And the books aren't bad, but that was never the issue. No one who is really a fan of something is gonna transfer their love for that thing to a "better" version that easily.
What do those other series not have? They're not Harry Potter. They're a different thing. And it doesn't have to be nostalgia for you to like a thing. And if you can replace it that easily, you're not much of a fan. Which is fine! Everyone has their own tastes.. But think about something you actually are a fan of. There's no replacement for it.
Hope this didn't come off too strong, I'm not mad or anything, but its really an argument that I don't understand when people make. There are so many good arguments for voting with your wallet on this thing, but this doesn't seem to be one of them.
Man, I love random encounters. They feel like an intrinsic part of the genre for me. And I was mildly annoyed by the open-world encounter style in FFXV (latest one I played), partly because I felt consistently incentivized to avoid encounters but running around enemies. But maybe I'm just turning into an old man lol or I have too passive a playstyle