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.Originally Posted by ShinGundam
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.
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.
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