The Final Fantasy games generally followed this up till 9 if you break them into trilogies based on the system they came out for. 1 was the OG groundwork, 2 tried some weird stuff with it's systems, 3 was the true step forward with the first iteration of the jobs system. 4 started the emphasis on story, 5 then tossed that aside for a more gameplay focused game with it's job system and silly story, then 6 was the perfection with heavy drama story with a nice side of silliness with it's gameplay having great gameplay-story integration with the characters each having a unique ability tied to their background. 7 went for a more futuristic setting with lots of cinematic flare, with 8 following that but going with FF's only romance focused story and a rather out there game mechanic with the draw system, 9 probably would have progressed along the same lines but they specifically wanted a throwback game.
Kingdom Hearts manages to follow both progressions.
KH1 to the weird game CoM, to KH2
And if we only count numbered entries then it follows the Mass Effect progression.
KH by the numbered games definitely follows the Mass Effect progression:
first game : is the most ambitious and best with the most focused and well executed storyline
second game : instead of trying to improve what was good conceptually but flawed in execution of the first game just does away with aspects of the first game(platforming/level design for KH, planet exploration/RPG aspects for ME) while perfecting one aspect(combat for KH2, squad interactions for ME2) and making such a mess of the storyline that the next game couldn't recover from it
third game : tries to pick up the mess left from the second game and flounders doing so while bringing back to an extent some of the lost aspects of the first game, with some new surprisingly good aspects(ME3 multiplayer, I guess larger party size for KH).
