I like these 2 things you suggested. FFXII was tactics-ish anyway so having the team which produced a great game (even if it wasn't all that final fantasy like) produce another around the Ivalice world would be great.

And the 2nd bit here is a nice idea. Give a different aspect to reply value for sure.

In regards to the 2nd bit, we could let each of those side characters have their side story linked to a specific town....and we could make that town only unlockable if we found that side character.

So this would mean that when you play the game again you have a chance to not only see a new character, but see a new town/place and experience its culture and specific side missions present there. If that is too much content to add and not practical having just 3 extra side characters is fine.....so at least you have the incentive to play the game 3 times and have hours of content in each playthrough that'll be a bit different than the last.

Can't see how it would be too much content. I mean first play through of any FF game I miss so much out because I didn't know about it or didn't bother looking because I didn't know to, they might as well have not included it. Only online guides lead me there. So having a specific character that takes you to this new area, without the use of a guide for more gameplay, is surely a good thing.

The replay value thing is the key. I haven't replayed FFXIII at all because I don't feel I can gain anything and can't have new experiences from it (maybe I can but running around doing killing missions got a bit boring). While older FF games there was lots to explore on the world map or in towns.

Oh that's another thing, more side quests and missions and game that are not just hunting missions, like FFXII and XIII had.

In the good old SD days when we could have towns, yes.

I want: Sakaguchi.

Don't want: Nomura.

Yeah hopefully it isn't too much content....I mean in my original description I did say just 2 huge cities....the rest should be smaller settlements.....so adding in 5 medium sized towns for these 5 side characters shouldn't be too difficult.

Ideally it would be good if each town at the end of their story arc gave you a VEHICLE that is only achievable through doing the story arc for that town. so a submarine if you go with the underwater village side character, a digger if you go with a underground town story character, or say a tree hopper if you go with the forest side character. But of course an Airship will be standard.....so you could have 2 vehicles in the game.....an airship in every playthrough....and this extra exclusive vehicle that you get from one of the side character's story arc's. 

That said I don't know if the devs will think its good to completely not allow the player to get the remaining side characters in 1 playthrough, because you will have some people who don't wanna replay the game even if they can have a new side character, new town and a new vehicle in that way.

And i thought i was asking for too much, but Darth from 1 to 23 "I want" lol, but really i m practically fine with everyone of them. I really don't like to way FF is heading and this is actually my favorite franchise. Played and finish IV, VI, VII, VIII, X at least 3 times because they had some replay value. The fun about replaying the game is that you remember some boss that gave u a hard time. So you make sure u grind enough, (sometimes more than enough) just beat the crap out of this boss.

1. Make Kazushige Nojima the scenario writer. No one else is allowed this part besides Yoshinori Kitase if he promises to have the same frame of mind when directing Final Fantasy VII

2. Romance

3. Characters I actually care about. NOT the ones like Final Fantasy XIII. The only one that didn't annoy me was Sazh and he wasn't anything special.

4. NOT so much sci fi setting like FInal Fantasy XIII. However I Did enjoy that sci fi style of Final Fantasy VIII

5. AN interesting battle system. My favourite is the CTB from final fantasy X. If it's not that turn based, then something like Final Fantasy VII or VIII is good.

6. Preferably 4 members in the party at one time.

7. Health that only regenerates at SAVE POINTS. NOT after each battle.

8. A more complex version of the sphere grid from Final Fantasy X. The crystarium system was extremely boring and stupid.

9. NO auto-battle (make me think about the ability and tactics during a battle like in Final Fantasy X)

10. Larger world to explore with PS1 style world map. More locations that aren't necessary for the story but are there for exploration and finding each characters ultimate weapon and such.

11. More mini games.

12. Make me feel as though I'm the main character on the journey again like in Final Fantasy VII, VIII and X. (e.g. make me feel the same emotions as them.) This is why I want Kazushige Nojima as the scenario writer again (and the reason I have hope for versus XIII even after the disaster that was XIII). This is what made these specific Final Fantasies my favourite games ever.

13. DO NOT let the director or scenario writers of Final Fantasy XIII work on Final Fantasy XV or any other Final Fantasy while we're at it. At least put them in less important rolls like before.

14. Nobuo Uematsu for music. Masashi Hamauzu can join in as well. Keep the traditional tracks such as the prelude, battle fanfare, chocobo music.

15. MOST IMPORTANTLY. DO NOT hand over development to any "stupid western" designer that'll turn it into some idiotic ridiculously and unnecessarily over the top masculine people shooting others heads off. (I'm looking at you "western" version of Nier. Dante redesign and any other Japanese games or franchises that have fallen prey to such stupidity) I hope Square Enix realize that 90% of their fans like the Japanese feel of Final Fantasy and that they actually care about what their fans want. DO NOT WESTERNIZE IT. (That being said, I do enjoy a lot of western games however, I love Japanese games because of their differences in style. And I've always hated it when they change it to suit western audiences. Japanese games can be made perfectly so that both Japanese people and Westerners can enjoy it. Even changing that characters name from Eclair to Clair was annoying even though my cousin has that name and I'm used to it, the fact they changed it when Eclair means LIGHTNING which was the whole point of having it that way in the first place.)

16. Maximize the power of the Playstation 3 (as in Uncharted 2 quality) before you even THINK about bringing it to other consoles. If another console can't do what the Playstation 3 version can, then DO NOT remove the content to keep things "equal" on both consoles. The reason you stabbed Nintendo in the back and went to Playstation was to better the quality of your games and you did indeed. The reason you stabbed Sony in the back and made it multi-platform was to make more sales which is pathetic and just like every other stupid developer out there these days.

17. KEEP THE ORIGINAL JAPANESE SONG WHICH WAS MADE SPECIFICALLY FOR THE GAME. I can't believe how much better the Japanese version of the fireworks love scene in Final Fantasy XIII with the song Eternal Love was compared to the English version with Serah's theme (And I watched the English version first). At most, you should only get the Japanese singer to sing it in English. That is the most you should do to the original song.

18. Make me press a button to talk to NPCs instead of auto talk. The auto talk made me feel like I wasn't taking part in the games journey. Or maybe that auto talk could have them just talking to themselves or to someone else and THEN you can interact with them by pressing X and they talk to you.

19. Meaningful side quests. Like ones that shows us more about the main characters or where we learn more about the world in which we're in.

20. Vanille was and still is an idiot.

21. Keep anyone in the company where their job is to make more money for the company and screw over the quality of the games AWAY from the production of Final Fantasy games. Final Fantasy will sell enough, they don't need to screw it over. Examples of these people would be Yoichi Wada...

22. The pre-rendered cut scenes are very detailed and animated to perfection but the in game cinematics need a lot more work. Take advice from Hideo Kojima. His in game cinematics in Metal Gear Solid 4 are the best I've seen to date.

Whatever happens, think about the quality first, not the sales.

Why don't you all go play an older entry in the series? All the "new" ideas being given here are in some FF already. Fail.

Where in the thread did it say these had to be "new" ideas? This is a thread of what you want in the next FF iteration, not what new innovations you want. What I'm getting from this thread is a lot of people want a lot of features that were removed from the series to reappear on top of the few innovations Square-Enix have added.

The only thing to fail is your reading comprehension.

Your argument fails enormously for several reasons which I shall not elaborate on as the very act of thinking of it gives me several brain hemorrhages.

OT:

All I want is a good story and non-linearity. That's it. I want to see what they can come up with.

Oh, but Uematsu music. Uematsu must do all music in it.