Let's make a Final Fantasy XV!

[Fynn]

Let's try to have a brainstorm on FFXV! :D Let's list any ideas we have for story, art design, combat, characters, world - whatever you want! And let's discuss it. What would make it good? What needs to stay and what needs to change?

I would personally love to see a return of the ADB system from FFXII. Perhaps combined with a job class system, a la the International/Zodiac Job System version. Also, a huge world would be nice, with tons of sidequests. I kind of don't care whether it's more sci-fi or fantasy. As for the characters - I would love to see something fresh. I mean, it worked with Zidane (as opposed to the previous two brooding protagonists). Generally, I would love to see SE take some risks again. Make it fun and quirky with maybe a dark underlying theme, don't treat your audience like idiots - I'm sure teens can handle real emotional complexity instead of just cheesy tween drama... :mad:

[Formalhaut]

I'd like a main character who isn't either:

Whiny and irritating: Tidus, Vaan
Dark and broody: Cloud, Squall
Serious, determined: Lightning

A main character who isn't a cookie cutter clone of another. I agree, I would love a return to a large world map with many sidequests, towns and secrets. I missed that in XIII..

[ShinGundam]

I would like to play a game that isn't fantasy setting or medieval esque setting, no job system just don't do it anymore we have overabundance of that from SE or any Japanese publisher.

I would like to have more plot important locations, since FF12, cities don’t serve much of a point and looking at current trends from JRPGs and WRPGs, cities are just guilds to take quest from here and there and i don't want that. Bottom line do the exact opposite of everything that a modern RPG do.

[Jinx]

I just took a crap in my toilet.


SE says it's a hit!

[Del Murder]

You forgot an s.

[Citizen Bleys]

I'd like a main character who isn't either:

Whiny and irritating: Tidus, Vaan
Dark and broody: Cloud, Squall
Serious, determined: Lightning

Yes, this. I'd like to see a more likeable protagonist. Someone confident without being stern and rigid or arrogant, witty, and pragmatic. Someone like Grayson Burrows from Privateer, in short.

A Final Fantasy game starring a clone of Grayson would be perfect.

[maybee]

Okay

Chrono Trigger battle system. It's not completely random, but it still has that old school feel. Both easy on old and new fans. Not that hard for SE to do since Square has done it before.

FF X battle mechanic . Let you choose who to have in battle and be able to change the characters within battle.

Main Lead male that doesn't look like he should be a female and he's not whiny or lame like Vaan.

Good VA acting unlike FF X and FF XIII

Open world that's not too open, more like the old days of Final Fantasy open.

Controllable airship.

Good Villain.

[Old Manus]

http://0-media-cdn.foolz.us/ffuuka/board/m/image/1257/23/1257230732598.jpg

okay

no wait

alright

a young androgynous boy with a mysterious past saves the world with his friends

[Miriel]

I think the next game should have a puppy as one of the main characters. And then the puppy can grow up to be totally bad ass.

Also, Final Fantasy XV: The Musical

:D

[Citizen Bleys]

Also, Final Fantasy XV: The Musical


brb vomiting

[Miriel]

Nooo no, listen. It would be amazing. REALLY.

They could SING THEIR FEELINGS.

[Laddy]

Nooo no, listen. It would be amazing. REALLY.

They could SING THEIR FEELINGS.
THIS. But combat would be Rock Band.

[maybee]

Nooo no, listen. It would be amazing. REALLY.

They could SING THEIR FEELINGS.


Cloud : Come on everybody
Lets head down to Sephiroth's Cave
Lets Mosey ! Lets Mosey !



Squall : Whatever, I'm not singing. Whatever.
OMG RINOA I LOOOOOVE YOU !
MARRY ME ! I CAN'T LIVE WITHOUT YOUUUUU !


Zidane : Dagger let me touch your sexy butt.
Oh my god it's soft ! My nose is bleeding !


Tidus : HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA
I hate my Father, my old man
I have the hots for you Yuna !

SEYMOUR !



Vaan : I have no basic character development, so what can I sing about ?
I want to be a Sky Pirate and I suck at being the main lead
Most of the Final Fantasy community wants me to painfully bleed..



Lightning : I will punch your face Snow !
I will punch your face Fang !
I will punch you again Snow !
I will punch you again Sazh !
Here Hope, have a knife !

[Citizen Bleys]

God dammit, Eleni, look at what you've done!

[Big D]

Things I'd like to see in a future FF...


A vast, open world. Think Skyrim, but an entire continent or planet to play with. The same level of freedom to come, go and interact with the people and places.


A solid and varied cast, where each of the heroes gets their chance to shine. Somewhat like FFVII, where every main character - even the optional ones - has their own sub-plot and arc. One of the bigger disappointments for the later games, for me, was the way some of the key playable characters were basically relegated to the background.


Greater role-play. More ability to shape the plot, and to control the protagonists' behaviour and choices.


If the games could evolve like this, then I'd probably get back into the series again for the first time since FFXII.

[ShinGundam]

Things I'd like to see in a future FF...


A vast, open world. Think Skyrim, but an entire continent or planet to play with. The same level of freedom to come, go and interact with the people and places.


But dungeons and towns would lack the common framework of the plot to make them worthwhile for main quest, there's no point to the dungeons other than gaining experience (or overpowering your party), airships would be worthless, towns will be filled with 10 to 20 irrelevant and unimportant NPCs. Also, in every FF game, mountains act as in-game wall, you can't climb mountains like in an open world game.

[Loony BoB]

Miriel's mention of 'badass' is exactly what I think FF could use. A proper badass. An angry, bulked up, berserker. A badass mother who don't take no crap off nobody!

Also, characters that can access different areas if you have them in your party. Strong guy = Moves boulders. Fairy-size character = Gets into tiny areas. Make use of characters to expand gameplay.

Also, non-humanoid characters. Seriously, Red XIII is just awesome. Why no more since then?

Also, pointless (plot-wise) locations that are pretty and just have a bit of lore.

Lots of lore!

NPCs that say different things depending on how well known you are. How can you save the world and not be known!?

Optional jobs that never change, just like in the original Final Fantasy game. This allows for immense replayability and for interesting tactics. Maybe allow them all a subjob, too, halfway through the game.

[maybee]

What happened to the musical idea ? I'm so sold on this idea now. I was joking before/ being a stupid head, but a Disney like Final Fantasy could be fun.

I sort of like picture a Disney cell-shaded like graphics and a young beautiful princess, of course named Sarah and a thief like Zidane or Locke saving her from danger and a jazzy Moogle like song. :jess:

[TrollHunter]

Things I'd like to see in a future FF...



A vast, open world. Think Skyrim, but an entire continent or planet to play with. The same level of freedom to come, go and interact with the people and places.


But dungeons and towns would lack the common framework of the plot to make them worthwhile for main quest, there's no point to the dungeons other than gaining experience (or overpowering your party), airships would be worthless, towns will be filled with 10 to 20 irrelevant and unimportant NPCs. Also, in every FF game, mountains act as in-game wall, you can't climb mountains like in an open world game.
Not if it's done well. A bit of lore and interesting quests can save this very easily. Also, why would airships be pointless in such a massive world? Even with a large world it's not like you can't block off certain areas via lakes, oceans, mountains etc.
Fun fact: You actually can't climb mountains in a lot of open world games. Crazy I know.

A lot of rpgs have optional towns and dungeons, hell, even FFXII had them and they were great.

I really just think FF needs to cut out the 2 deminsional characters, and actually use complex and subtle emotions to help with character development. 13 is the exact opposite, with it being simplistic as hell and all but subtle.
Also, what BoB said with non-humanoid characters. Fran in XII didn't count... she was just fan-service.

More characters like Auron. Not with his personality per-se, but with a likable badass personality and design. It was impossible not to like Auron, and we need more badasses as someone said...

I would also like a darker story. I don't want it to take itself too seriously, but a darker story is almost always so much better. I'm sick of wanting to mute the game or skip cutscenes/dialogue just because of crappy story or writing. They did good with quite a few entries, why did they give up on good writing story and characters?
We need more characters to die, we need more Aeriths in these games.

[Fynn]

Things I'd like to see in a future FF...



A vast, open world. Think Skyrim, but an entire continent or planet to play with. The same level of freedom to come, go and interact with the people and places.


But dungeons and towns would lack the common framework of the plot to make them worthwhile for main quest, there's no point to the dungeons other than gaining experience (or overpowering your party), airships would be worthless, towns will be filled with 10 to 20 irrelevant and unimportant NPCs. Also, in every FF game, mountains act as in-game wall, you can't climb mountains like in an open world game.
Not if it's done well. A bit of lore and interesting quests can save this very easily. Also, why would airships be pointless in such a massive world? Even with a large world it's not like you can't block off certain areas via lakes, oceans, mountains etc.
Fun fact: You actually can't climb mountains in a lot of open world games. Crazy I know.

A lot of rpgs have optional towns and dungeons, hell, even FFXII had them and they were great.

I really just think FF needs to cut out the 2 deminsional characters, and actually use complex and subtle emotions to help with character development. 13 is the exact opposite, with it being simplistic as hell and all but subtle.
Also, what BoB said with non-humanoid characters. Fran in XII didn't count... she was just fan-service.

More characters like Auron. Not with his personality per-se, but with a likable badass personality and design. It was impossible not to like Auron, and we need more badasses as someone said...

I would also like a darker story. I don't want it to take itself too seriously, but a darker story is almost always so much better. I'm sick of wanting to mute the game or skip cutscenes/dialogue just because of crappy story or writing. They did good with quite a few entries, why did they give up on good writing story and characters?
We need more characters to die, we need more Aeriths in these games.

I like how you say subtle emotion is good but later scoff Fran off as pure fanservice. Adorable. ;) Seriously though, this reminded me of how much I adored her relationship with Balthier - their dynamics are so different from anything else pop culture offers to us, in that we don't see them fall in love or break up only to get back together, they're just there, they're not making a big deal about it, but in their gestures and other subtle stuff you can see they really care for each other. Now this is something I would like to see in more games, so I guess FFXV could have it as well.

[TrollHunter]

Things I'd like to see in a future FF...




A vast, open world. Think Skyrim, but an entire continent or planet to play with. The same level of freedom to come, go and interact with the people and places.


But dungeons and towns would lack the common framework of the plot to make them worthwhile for main quest, there's no point to the dungeons other than gaining experience (or overpowering your party), airships would be worthless, towns will be filled with 10 to 20 irrelevant and unimportant NPCs. Also, in every FF game, mountains act as in-game wall, you can't climb mountains like in an open world game.
Not if it's done well. A bit of lore and interesting quests can save this very easily. Also, why would airships be pointless in such a massive world? Even with a large world it's not like you can't block off certain areas via lakes, oceans, mountains etc.
Fun fact: You actually can't climb mountains in a lot of open world games. Crazy I know.

A lot of rpgs have optional towns and dungeons, hell, even FFXII had them and they were great.

I really just think FF needs to cut out the 2 deminsional characters, and actually use complex and subtle emotions to help with character development. 13 is the exact opposite, with it being simplistic as hell and all but subtle.
Also, what BoB said with non-humanoid characters. Fran in XII didn't count... she was just fan-service.

More characters like Auron. Not with his personality per-se, but with a likable badass personality and design. It was impossible not to like Auron, and we need more badasses as someone said...

I would also like a darker story. I don't want it to take itself too seriously, but a darker story is almost always so much better. I'm sick of wanting to mute the game or skip cutscenes/dialogue just because of crappy story or writing. They did good with quite a few entries, why did they give up on good writing story and characters?
We need more characters to die, we need more Aeriths in these games.

I like how you say subtle emotion is good but later scoff Fran off as pure fanservice. Adorable. ;) Seriously though, this reminded me of how much I adored her relationship with Balthier - their dynamics are so different from anything else pop culture offers to us, in that we don't see them fall in love or break up only to get back together, they're just there, they're not making a big deal about it, but in their gestures and other subtle stuff you can see they really care for each other. Now this is something I would like to see in more games, so I guess FFXV could have it as well.
I was talking about her character DESIGN. That was purely fan-service, and I doubt anyone can deny that. scantily clad bunny girls don't exactly have the most respectable design. BUT, I loved the personalities of the viara. They were a lot of fun to talk to and their story arc was very interesting. The problem is it's hard to take them as seriously as I want to due to their design. It's just... terrible. Balthier and Fran had great chemistry as characters, and even though they never got up in our face with dialogue, they had a big impact when they did speak. If frans design was at least only 50% influenced by fan-service instead of like 85% I wouldve loved her character even more... but as it stands... look at her
http://img.thzhost.com/i/du/tfran.jpg

High heels... a thong... need I go on? They did her a great disservice by making her look that stupid.

[Fynn]

Things I'd like to see in a future FF...




A vast, open world. Think Skyrim, but an entire continent or planet to play with. The same level of freedom to come, go and interact with the people and places.


But dungeons and towns would lack the common framework of the plot to make them worthwhile for main quest, there's no point to the dungeons other than gaining experience (or overpowering your party), airships would be worthless, towns will be filled with 10 to 20 irrelevant and unimportant NPCs. Also, in every FF game, mountains act as in-game wall, you can't climb mountains like in an open world game.
Not if it's done well. A bit of lore and interesting quests can save this very easily. Also, why would airships be pointless in such a massive world? Even with a large world it's not like you can't block off certain areas via lakes, oceans, mountains etc.
Fun fact: You actually can't climb mountains in a lot of open world games. Crazy I know.

A lot of rpgs have optional towns and dungeons, hell, even FFXII had them and they were great.

I really just think FF needs to cut out the 2 deminsional characters, and actually use complex and subtle emotions to help with character development. 13 is the exact opposite, with it being simplistic as hell and all but subtle.
Also, what BoB said with non-humanoid characters. Fran in XII didn't count... she was just fan-service.

More characters like Auron. Not with his personality per-se, but with a likable badass personality and design. It was impossible not to like Auron, and we need more badasses as someone said...

I would also like a darker story. I don't want it to take itself too seriously, but a darker story is almost always so much better. I'm sick of wanting to mute the game or skip cutscenes/dialogue just because of crappy story or writing. They did good with quite a few entries, why did they give up on good writing story and characters?
We need more characters to die, we need more Aeriths in these games.

I like how you say subtle emotion is good but later scoff Fran off as pure fanservice. Adorable. ;) Seriously though, this reminded me of how much I adored her relationship with Balthier - their dynamics are so different from anything else pop culture offers to us, in that we don't see them fall in love or break up only to get back together, they're just there, they're not making a big deal about it, but in their gestures and other subtle stuff you can see they really care for each other. Now this is something I would like to see in more games, so I guess FFXV could have it as well.
I was talking about her character DESIGN. That was purely fan-service, and I doubt anyone can deny that. scantily clad bunny girls don't exactly have the most respectable design. BUT, I loved the personalities of the viara. They were a lot of fun to talk to and their story arc was very interesting. The problem is it's hard to take them as seriously as I want to due to their design. It's just... terrible. Balthier and Fran had great chemistry as characters, and even though they never got up in our face with dialogue, they had a big impact when they did speak. If frans design was at least only 50% influenced by fan-service instead of like 85% I wouldve loved her character even more... but as it stands... look at her
http://img.thzhost.com/i/du/tfran.jpg

High heels... a thong... need I go on? They did her a great disservice by making her look that stupid.

Point taken ;) Though it never bothered me. Seeing how games contain tons of sexual objectification (of both women and men nowadays, so at least it's equal :D), for better or for worse, I learned to look past it, so her looks don't make me like her any less. Ivalice is a hot place, right? :jess:

[Formalhaut]

Ivalice is a hot place, right? :jess:

Tell that to Balthier. Leather pants? His legs must be sweating.

[ShinGundam]

Not if it's done well. A bit of lore and interesting quests can save this very easily. Also, why would airships be pointless in such a massive world? Even with a large world it's not like you can't block off certain areas via lakes, oceans, mountains etc.
Fun fact: You actually can't climb mountains in a lot of open world games. Crazy I know.

A lot of rpgs have optional towns and dungeons, hell, even FFXII had them and they were great.

Obviously fast travel is more convenient than an Airship section with 2 or 3 loading screens for worldmap and regional map, I don't really care if open world is done well or not, I am not interested in open worlds or sidequests.

[TrollHunter]

Not if it's done well. A bit of lore and interesting quests can save this very easily. Also, why would airships be pointless in such a massive world? Even with a large world it's not like you can't block off certain areas via lakes, oceans, mountains etc.
Fun fact: You actually can't climb mountains in a lot of open world games. Crazy I know.

A lot of rpgs have optional towns and dungeons, hell, even FFXII had them and they were great.

Obviously fast travel is more convenient than an Airship section with 2 or 3 loading screens for worldmap and regional map, I don't really care if open world is done well or not, I am not interested in open worlds or sidequests.
I feel so so sorry for you. You're missing out on a LOT of stuff if that's the case.

[Laddy]

Ditch, or at least de-emphasize, the archetypes. Although FF isn't nearly as bad as most RPG's, lose the plucky teenagers and all the other overused tropes. The best characters in the series do not fit a specific archetype.
Oh yeah, less nonhumans too. VII and IX kicked ass in this department. An unhuman-like character like Zidane would be cool.
Create a unique or underutilized setting. While Final Fantasy has always been strong in this area, they should continue with this.
Focus on a more subtle narrative. Final Fantasy VI, IX, and XII all had great characters with emotional weight to them, yet none of these games hammered in the themes and feelings of the game. The dialogue and characterization evolved much more naturally than say...FFX.
Evolve the character art style. FFXIII did manage to steer away from the overused "bishounen" style and I think it worked. One of FFXIII's few strong points was the character designs; they weren't oversexualized and were relatively more realistic. Even with pink and white hair. Hey, it's the future.
Make the game a bit more open-ended. While I don't think Skyrim is a good direction to go, give more sidequests and incentive for exploration while giving the narrative enough focus to not diminish the quality of it. The Elder Scrolls has always given you a lot of things to do, yet I didn't find much of it to be particularly interesting.
Make character advancement more open-ended. Give us multiple weapon types and skill points. Give characters strengths and weaknesses, but don't pigeon-hole them. Final Fantasy VII was great in this department; every character had differences in weapons, abilities, and limits, but they were flexible enough to be made into anything.
I like female leads. More female leads would be nice, but it's not necessary.
Create a strategic battle system. Give us tactical options. XII was a huge step in the right direction, but give us less emphasis on auto-battling and gambits and more on traditional human tactics.
Give us great music and voice acting. XII and XIII did not disappoint in these areas (sans Vanille), but continue to evolve and experiment.
And finally, write a plot with balls. Surprise us. Write a narrative that doesn't involve an evil empire/organization/religion. These are fine, but not focusing on them is a great place to start.


So, in short, rediscover your roots but also look to the future.

[Fynn]

[LIST]
Make the game a bit more open-ended. While I don't think Skyrim is a good direction to go, give more sidequests and incentive for exploration while giving the narrative enough focus to not diminish the quality of it. The Elder Scrolls has always given you a lot of things to do, yet I didn't find much of it to be particularly interesting.

You should check out Xenoblade. IMO, they simply nailed this. The world is huge with plenty of sidequests, but you don't get lost and there's a huge amount of story as well. The pacing is just right.

[Miriel]

What happened to the musical idea ? I'm so sold on this idea now. I was joking before/ being a stupid head, but a Disney like Final Fantasy could be fun.

I sort of like picture a Disney cell-shaded like graphics and a young beautiful princess, of course named Sarah and a thief like Zidane or Locke saving her from danger and a jazzy Moogle like song. :jess:
Yes! Moogle dance number!

[maybee]

Yes! Moogle dance number!

Yes ! :kaohappy2

[Loony BoB]

Re: Fran/Zidane - they may not be human, but they are certainly what I'd class as humanoid. Take away Fran's ears and bunny tail and she's pretty much human. Same for Zidane's tail. Even Kimahri is close to it. Two arms, two legs, stands tall, normal thumbs and fingers and feet, etc. For me, a humanoid is a race that can pretty much can be drawn over a picture of a human. Throw on some long ears and a tail, change their skin colour to blue, add horns if you like, whatever. Still a human body shape/stance. :p

Non-humanoid is when you start off with a dog, a frog, a bird, a moose, a spider. Red XIII is a great example of non-humanoid. Cait Sith, too, although obviously robotic is still not humanoid in stature. Quina is arguably non-humanoid, too... and obviously Moogles and Chocobos are non-humanoid. :D but yeah, in relation to the topic, I just think they add a lot more fantasy and imagination to the game, although I can imagine they are a bit trickier to put into full animation these days.

[Wolf Kanno]

Oh boy, this may be long...

Battle System:
Bring back ATB, it's not dead and it offers more in terms of strategy than what you've been coming up with for the last couple of generations, the problem has been the fact Square has been making the games too easy so they stay accessible for newbies. Yet series like Demon's Souls/Dark Souls, and MegaTen have shown there is a market for challenging games. You don't have to make it as hard as those games but it doesn't mean I should be using basic attacks to win every battle. So stop with the health restoring save points and auto heal after battle, make items harder to acquire and more useful, bring back enemy gameplay variety with enemies that are immune to physical, ones that have brutal party killing counter attacks for abusive skills, boss fights that require more strategy than hit it with my limit breaks/summons. Also ditch the A.I. or at least make them optional again like XII (just give us a better interface if we choose to ignore it) cause if we slow the games down a bit we the players won't need any of that nonsense.

The other strength of using ATB is that you can make the cinematic in battle more focused. The issue with XII and XIII is that there is so much action going on the screen you can't really pay attention to the finer details. ATB would allow for the artist to go wild with cool animations and special spell effects, just make sure we have a skip function for them if we don't want to bother. Final Fantasy used to be a series known for being cinematic and I feel the most recent entries have made us feel more like an MMO or action game.

Use X's version of Summons, it was a good idea that was marred with shoddy balancing, but I feel the idea could create so much more potential for strategy if you just played with it more. I also like the Summons being something more than just a ten minute Black magic spell so let them be playable and customizable.

In terms of customization systems... Part of me wants to say FFTactics style job class system but another part of me would like multiple elements like VI, have the characters have unique classes and stats but then also give me the ability to mess around with them. I'm thinking of something in line with what you could do in Breath of Fire 3 and 4. This way, my characters can be unique outside of personality and limit breaks but also give me the ability to really shake things up if I want.

World Design:
Dear Squenix, I need your employees to sit down with a Wii and play Xenoblade (you know, that game made by former employees for your company) and then I want you to play Dragon Quest VIII (you know that game series you own but you hired someone decent to make it for you) and now I want you to merge those ideas together.

From Xenoblade, I want the massive world I can explore and by explore I mean go almost anywhere. I want to jump, and I want to swim and I want to fall to my death sometimes but all of this makes the world feel so much more alive. You need to take this games scale and up the ante. From DQVIII I want you to see how it's possible to still do world maps, give me my expansive world I can walk around and explore, but when I hit ocean, I want a boat or an airship and I want their to be an old school style map. :colbert:

Love story:
Make it a side story and don't let it overshadow the main plot. I was fine with VIII doing it cause it's theme was love but then you did it in FFIX and X as well so no, bad Squenix, this isn't Hollywood where you have to have some kind of boy meets girl love story crammed in whether it makes sense or not. Speaking of which, can we do a game without the boy meets girl love story? I honestly feel it would be more appealing and work better for writing to do a more mature story, perhaps about an established couple falling out of love, or perhaps former lovers brought back together due to story circumstances, now trying to deal with each other and their past relationship with each other. You finally gave us a story about the bond of child and parent from the parents perspective in FFXIII, can't we finally get a love story from two characters who didn't just finish puberty?

Characters:
Whatever you do, don't do a spunky young girl/boy, don't do a dark brooding loner, don't do a calm, apprehensive but strong willed (while staying meek) female lead, if you're going to do a non-human character, at least let them play more of a role in the story, I often feel like they are only there to be the token fantasy race requirement.

********************************************************************************************

I'll post more as I think of them...

[ShinGundam]

Is Final Fantasy REALLY in desperate for massive landscapes, open and non-linear maps? what is the big deal about them?

[Wolf Kanno]

Is Final Fantasy REALLY in desperate for massive landscapes, open and non-linear maps? what is the big deal about them?

Immersion and giving the examples I gave(Xenoblade,DQVIII), I wouldn't say I want non-linear maps like Skyrim, just ones that create a sense of proper scale and allow me to explore my surroundings. There's a big difference from experiencing a world you explore and one you briskly walk by while reading a brochure about it. :D

Also...

Villains:
No more obvious pretty boys or evil ladies in fetish gear. Seriously, I feel it's time we do an Eldritch Abomination again. I would love to see a Lavos or Jenova type villain. With a little more thought, I would actually like to have a villain who isn't blatantly evil, I would like to see a villain whose goals are actually noble. They tried to do this in XII with Vayne but appeared to have chickened out before the very end. I would love to see another Delita type character as well, someone who has good intentions but gets corrupted by the system.

Sidequests:
I want you to look at how you did the pacing of sidequests in FFX and FFXIII and then I want you to shoot the person(s) responsible for thinking that there is no way I could possibly not want to do anything for 40 hours but watch your drivel of a plot. Give me something to do while I'm playing through, and don't have all the sidequests unlock once I reach the end of the game, I really hate games that do this. Sometimes I get bored and I want to do wander around, I do this even in the games I love so yeah... I don't mind if you want the bulk of the quests to unlock at the end but give me a few sidequests optional locations and mini-games to do before the full gambit opens up. It's just stupid to believe at the climax where you know everything is at stake and the world is going to end if you don't do something to decide now is a good time to help pick up apples and start gambling at a casino for stuff. It's really anti-climatic. :p

As for types of sidequests, beyond mini-game territory, I would prefer a smaller amount of quests but ones that are filled with a bit of story to them as well. I want that ultimate dungeon or optional boss feel like its a part of the world and not something you tacked on for the hardcore players only. Mark Hunts are fun, but I would prefer to have 10 of them if they were the same quality as the Gilgamesh fight over having over 50 of them that largely feel like busy work. Also, let my ultimate weapons have personal quests to obtain, no more of this making them stuff. VII did it mostly right.

Music:
Can we let music be important again? I mean I'm sorry but while XII and XIII do have some gorgeous tracks, outside of being ambient noise for dungeons and the battle themes, the music just lost it's spark as a narrative focus. This genre used to live and die on the quality of its music and games like FFIV, VI, VII, and IX have their most dramatic moments helped by the strong soundtracks they have. I blame Voice acting for causing this problem but here's an idea, can I just choose not to have voices. I can still read and it might make the silly subject matter feel more serious if I don't have to hear it out loud. That way, you can tell your composers to write some beautiful music again that really helps set the mood of the scenes and feel like a part of them. I want to start humming themes again while I play.

[ShinGundam]

Immersion and giving the examples I gave(Xenoblade,DQVIII), I wouldn't say I want non-linear maps like Skyrim, just ones that create a sense of proper scale and allow me to explore my surroundings. There's a big difference from experiencing a world you explore and one you briskly walk by while reading a brochure about it. :D

That is fine and all, i still can't bring myself to think a map filled with monsters are suddenly more important to FF fans than say a large scale city with complex structure similar to Midgar or Lindblum. Honestly i will take more big cities and countries with many activities and NPCs over an empty lands.

[Wolf Kanno]

Who says FF fans don't want the cities to reflect that as well, besides, barring XIII I would say FF never lost that element. Half the damn cities in XII required maps to find your way around due to how huge they were. I feel when other fans say they want a large world, they mean the whole shebang, not just the countryside, but also the towns and cities. What fans want is a real breathing world.

[Jinx]

I'm not sure if this could be executed well (or at all) but I think it'd be cool to go back to classes. Maybe use a point system as you level up, and where you distribute your points changes your stats. And later (taking from FFI) your character/class levels up. And maybe for each original class has two or three options of where their class would go.

For example, a Black Mage might become an Elementalist (meaning they only use elemental magic, or possibly use both types of magic, but elemental is stronger) and a Caster (same as Elementalist, but with non-elemental magic.) I actually think FFXIV has a job system kind of similar to this.

[Fynn]

You know, TB, your post actually reminded me of how much I love the job systems (which is also why I can't wait to get a new iPhone so that I can play Dimensions :love:). But I think it is possible, I mean, X-2 did it and it did it in a very fun way. The classes were broken there, though. I would love to see a return of the FFV/Tactics system, where you can mix and match abilities from other classes.

[Wolf Kanno]

I'm not sure if this could be executed well (or at all) but I think it'd be cool to go back to classes. Maybe use a point system as you level up, and where you distribute your points changes your stats. And later (taking from FFI) your character/class levels up. And maybe for each original class has two or three options of where their class would go.

For example, a Black Mage might become an Elementalist (meaning they only use elemental magic, or possibly use both types of magic, but elemental is stronger) and a Caster (same as Elementalist, but with non-elemental magic.) I actually think FFXIV has a job system kind of similar to this.

This actually sounds a bit like Sword of Mana's leveling system, though I feel your idea gives more of an impact since the classes in SoM you unlock mostly dictate bonuses to weapon and magic types as opposed to changing skill sets

[Edge7]

I pretty much agree with Fynn's OP completely. I also agree with many of Wolf_Kanno's points, my only dissent being ATB; I'm perfectly content with XII's battle system, though I would make a few changes in interface. I also was charmed by the romance in FFIX, so while I wouldn't mind seeing the "boy meets girl" archetype gone, I wouldn't roll my eyes at it (once again, if done right).

As far as a main character, I don't mind "dark and brooding", but only if done right. There's a huge difference between "I'm a loner because I don't want to be abandoned", and "I keep to myself because I caused the destruction of a village", or even PTSD. Personally though, I'd love a character like Auron or Balthier; they ooze confidence without seeming stuck up (my main problem with Lightning and Tidus, even if they went about it differently). I liked Cloud, but that was because despite having a dark and broody past, he was confident and it took something serious to slow him down (until the compilation). If we do have a teenage character, make him upbeat without being annoying, like Zidane, or, if you must, make him introverted and akward, but avoid too much emotional melodrama.

Although in all honesty, my dream RPG would have someone like Spike Spiegel as the main character: someone who has quite a few problems (these problems being serious, yet never blatant-in-your-face. Like, the direction his life is going/existential doubt), but never lets them show. He's charming, rarely gets angry, and yet doesn't hesitate to kick ass (so I guess, once again, like Balthier).

[Flaming Ice]

More of an open world with lots of side bosses.

Side bosses can add different things in the game to make it more interesting (like leviathan is the king of the sea, etc, it just provides a bit more detail into the world).

Also, choices. For example: Pick *so and so* character to join then a different character won't join you. Help save a village or it'll be destroyed later. Makes things more interesting.

[Loony BoB]

Music:
Can we let music be important again? I mean I'm sorry but while XII and XIII do have some gorgeous tracks, outside of being ambient noise for dungeons and the battle themes, the music just lost it's spark as a narrative focus. This genre used to live and die on the quality of its music and games like FFIV, VI, VII, and IX have their most dramatic moments helped by the strong soundtracks they have. I blame Voice acting for causing this problem but here's an idea, can I just choose not to have voices. I can still read and it might make the silly subject matter feel more serious if I don't have to hear it out loud. That way, you can tell your composers to write some beautiful music again that really helps set the mood of the scenes and feel like a part of them. I want to start humming themes again while I play.
Completely agree with this. I only actually realised how good the soundtrack of FFXIII was once I heard them in YouTube, because I completely zoned out the music throughout much of the game. Make the music go loud whenever characters aren't talking, minimise the sound effects so they don't overpower the music (I think footsteps and other sound effects actually have an even more negative impact on the music than voiceovers), stuff like that. And while I don't mind voice acting being kept in, it doesn't mean you can't have silent scenes where the music takes over. Let's put it this way: If VII had voice acting, the Aeris death scene (the best music for a scene ever in my opinion, and I don't even like Aeris) would still be nothing but music. The music makes the scene, not the other way around.

At least XIII-2 had the music more prominent, but it was also very repetitive since the majority of songs were all based on Serah's theme. A step in the right direction, though.

[Miriel]

I would like a main character who is an older woman, who is also badass. A la Helen Mirren.

[Quindiana Jones]

There're lots of interesting ideas in this thread. It's an enjoyable read. I chose to comment due to Miriel's desire for a badass old woman playing the lead.

Hell yes, that would be awesome. I want someone like Stagecoach Mary as a lead (i.e. a completely over the top badass who doesn't take even the smallest nugget of shit from anybody). We've had laissez-faire protagonists, we've had mopey, cheery, heroic, kind, selfish, insane and sometimes just plain old vanilla protagonists. I want an anti-hero, damnit! SE have come close a few times, but they've never had a truly "I don't give a fuck. I'm just here because I want to hit things/get revenge/punish these puny mortals" type of character.

[maybee]

I would like a main character who is an older woman, who is also badass. A la Helen Mirren.

There was a old woman character in The Last Remnant she was pretty cool. Though she didn't look old or aged at all, she looked about 20 from memory. Which was odd.

[Loony BoB]

There're lots of interesting ideas in this thread. It's an enjoyable read. I chose to comment due to Miriel's desire for a badass old woman playing the lead.

Hell yes, that would be awesome. I want someone like Stagecoach Mary as a lead (i.e. a completely over the top badass who doesn't take even the smallest nugget of trout from anybody). We've had laissez-faire protagonists, we've had mopey, cheery, heroic, kind, selfish, insane and sometimes just plain old vanilla protagonists. I want an anti-hero, damnit! SE have come close a few times, but they've never had a truly "I don't give a smurf. I'm just here because I want to hit things/get revenge/punish these puny mortals" type of character.
SE would look at this post and say "Right, let's make another Squall."

[Quindiana Jones]

:barf:

[ShinGundam]

I guess, it would make more sense if this thread about next western RPG not XV.
Of course we only know FF when it is going to induce some nostalgia.

[Miriel]

I don't necessary need the older woman protagonist to be an anti-hero. I just think that if you get to become a tough fighter and hero at the age of... I dunno, 45-50. And you're also a woman, that character is probably going to have a lot of life experiences that are vastly different from a protagonist who is a 16 year old, or even an older male protagonist.

It's not that a young character can't have depth, obviously they can. But I'd imagine the history behind a 50-something year old heroine would be fascinating.

[Quindiana Jones]

We're just going to have to request multiple old women. One normal one, one horribly jaded one. :D

[Laddy]

I agree with the older woman protagonist idea. That's a character type that's never been done. Hell, I don't think I can name a single female RPG character in history (besides maybe Wynne from Dragon Age) above 40.

A Sigourney Weaver-type character would kick all kinds of ass.

[Quindiana Jones]

Oh man, I love Wynne. She was filled with Wynn- NONONONONO

Make her an Arcane Warrior (I think that was what it was called), deck her out in the Medium Dragon armour, and then just let her annihilate everything. So good.

[Laddy]

Yep, she was one of the best characters in that game.

[Del Murder]

I agree with the older woman protagonist idea. That's a character type that's never been done. Hell, I don't think I can name a single female RPG character in history (besides maybe Wynne from Dragon Age) above 40.
Bleu?

[Laddy]

I agree with the older woman protagonist idea. That's a character type that's never been done. Hell, I don't think I can name a single female RPG character in history (besides maybe Wynne from Dragon Age) above 40.
Bleu?From the original Breath of Fire? Never played it; is she around that age?

[Del Murder]

She's like 100.

[Laddy]

:colbert:

By that logic, Fang and Vanille have the whole older woman thing covered.