What I don't think a lot of people understand is that as the PLOT of the games have gotten more complex, the CHARACTERS have grown increasingly obscured and not-so-great in many ways.
I actually do appreciate some of the spin-offs, though there are too many: COM has the coolest Arc for Sora bar none, which is probably why that same plot line is now simply being re-used over and over again (I mean this issue of "do I deserve to be a keyblade master? Does anything about me NEED to be real?" When Sora actually doubts himself, that's the good shiz). I actually think 358/2 days is severely underrated, as Roxas' struggle, though he is a little whiney, is far more compelling than many of the other characters in the series, and the emotion that the game managed to evoke for Xion, and simply the really interesting (and not overly complicated) premise for her character, is amazing. I did like the struggle of the characters in BBS (though I wish Terra would never speak in english again), but I don't see the need to make everyone everybody else, that's unfortunately been set in stone for a long time though probably.
I hope in KH3 the series doesn't continue to go the route of Dream Drop Distance, as, for me, DDD was the worst in the series in terms of story: Sora AND Riku (despite it really being his game) didn't have anything new (how many freaking times will I have to fight Ansem before Riku masters the darkness for goodness sake), and don't even get me started on the plot: time travel? What a terrible decision.