More believable characters.

Better balance between story and gameplay. Nothing breaks immersion like killing wave after wave of easily dispatched foes for your character to suddenly question someone else for unnecessary killing during a cut scene.

Better sound. We've had surround sound for a long time now. Use it to it's full potential instead of a few sound effects on a loop.

the latter leaves Kratos out

I say more believable characters. Say what you will about Final Fantasy XIII being linear, but what killed it for me was the terrible writing. It felt like I was watching a really cliche anime...and I like anime!

there's always gonna be that guy who says something "controversial" that makes zero sense, don't be that guy.

Final Fantasy XIII greatest achievement was to break from cliched shounen anime story themes. such themes plagued jrpgs and made them painfully repetitive

then again I think FF XIII is a perfect example of a story being a little better than the "mainstream", wider crowd can appreciete. we are used to jrpgs stories treating us like little children. XIII was the first game in years that treated me like an adult. the first game in years that was not ridiculously patronizing in how you (the hero) can magically rise above a difficult situation by shouting and screaming, it was a story that told the gamer that maybe your enemy is not always crystal clear and the real fight is to realize your goal

Better AI, improved sound to make it so that you actually feel like you are in the game (Example Battlefield games do sound in a way that make you feel you are in the war) improve visuals to make it seem as real as possible but still have that "Video game" feel of the graphics.

I couldn't disagree with you more lol. XIII was the most cliche generic FInal Fantasy I have ever played. I would literally feel embarassed to watch certain cutscenes just because of how cliche the dialogue was. It was literally painful. I didn't hate the game, but felt it wasn't all that strong.

I'm a huge Jrpg fan, and gaming enthusiast in general. I've played every FF except for 5. Don't call me "mainstream" just because I didn't care too much for a game that the main fanbase of the franchise actually doesn't like that much either.

alright you either give me one concrete arguement HOW THE HELL THE STORY WAS A CLICHE or i am reporting you for flaming.

the terms you used were "terrible, chiche, painful, generic, embarassed" and NOT A SINGLE EXAMPLE. is this your contribution to a thread titled "How to improve game immersion?" shouting at everyone YOUR own personal preferences without elaborating on a single accusation ?

Music.

It simply comes down to music.

Are you serious? Everything I said is completely subjective. What, are you going to prove to me that my opinion is wrong?  I even said "what killed it for me". I never attacked the game outright.

I have a Laguna avatar, I'm a giant FF fan but I feel that while not deserving of a lot of the hate FFXIII gets (like for being linear, because that doesn't really bother me, or the whole "game plays itself" arguement) the writing was one thing I personally wasn't fond of. Not so much the story, but the dialogue between characters.

I seriously don't have to give you anything. Your are taking this way too seriously. You realize the majority of the fanbase didn't like the game right?

yeah you are reported for flaming. mindlessly talking down on games is FLAMING, you said:

"terrible writing" no examples

"cliche anime" no references

"embarassed to watch some cutscenes just of cliche dialogue" no quotes

"It was literally painful." no nothing

No sweetheart, don't give me the it's my opinion routine. no it's not. mindlessly bashing games is not an opinion unless you ELABORATE. calling sh!t terrible is not an opinion in a very godamn specific thread. and don't you dare pull stuff out of your behind about the "majority"