Final Fantasy's roots involve constantly reinventing itself and innovating heavily to evolve the genre into something new. So, basically, it's roots are to let go of it's roots.
This is why I love the series - you don't end up playing the same old thing over and over. Sometimes it hits, sometimes it misses, but at least they try to shake things up unlike most major games in the industry.
Still, obviously they'll need to involve chocobos and stuff. I think things like the Iron Giant scene show that it most defintely still has the FF vibe.