Merging is what ruined them in the first place.

The only way for gamers to win is for SE to completely re-structure itself. Instead of pouring insane amounts of resources into a few really big dev teams, they should have smaller, more focused teams working independently of each other on different projects. That way they could A) produce more material, B) produce material more frequently, C) take more risks on material.

They were actually going to do that after what happened with FFXII (talking about development problems the game had, not criticizing the actual product, fanboys). There were some interviews back then talking about the future of Final Fantasy, telling gamers that future games would be produced on smaller budgets so they could shorten development times (and costs).

Then we got Final Fantasy XIII so God only knows what happened.

And I don't think it's fair to blame Wada. Well, not entirely. He's just the president of S-E, so it's not like he has much (if any) hands-on control with the development teams. Remember, he was also the president of Square since 2000, so Final Fantasies IX and X were produced under his reign, and most people are pretty okay with those two games. Personally, I think the real problem lies more in middle-management.

Wada has expanded Square-Enix's role as a publisher and has really focused hard on shortening localization times, which I think most of us appreciate.

It's sort of like U.S. government. Sure, there are a ton of problems, and sure a lot of people blame the President for 'em all... but ultimately the responsibility (and culpability) lies in a corrupt, incompetent congress.