Quote Originally Posted by Leigh View Post
I personally feel that all they need to do is actually hire a decent scenario writer. Get a good author who can actually build a decent storyline and set of characters for once. But I expect they'll continue to fall back on anime-tropes and Japanese cringe worthiness. "Ganbatte!" And stop with crystals...they're not all that interesting. Flash Gordon and Superman films were 30+ years ago.
Both of these things strike me as valid things. My list starts off with the former thing.

- The storylines are getting worse lately, even if the original concept was alright. Get a foreign fantasy author to help write a storyline.
- Don't read too much into criticism. Make your changes slower. Don't live on knee-jerk reactions as you'll never find the sweet spot in the middle if you keep overcompensating.
- Bring back airships and traversable world maps. There is no excuse here - if you could do it on earlier consoles, you should be able to do it on later consoles.
- Give us villain(s) that we can grow a hatred for. Make them do terrible things. Make them known to you early in the game, and make them the obvious final boss all the way through to the very ending (in other words, actually make them the final boss).
- Give us villains with personality. The personality of the main cast has been pretty clear recently but it's been some time since I really felt personality coming out of a villain. Can the villain tell jokes? Does the villain have quirks? Give them flaws, perhaps even make us sympathise with them.
- Don't be afraid to do the unthinkable. Sazh shooting himself. Hope turning into a Cie'th. Imagine how this could have really made an impact for FFXIII. This kind of thing should not be shied away from just because you don't want to lose a character. Dare yourself to kill off your most loved character.
- Build a fantasy world, not just a fantasy story. Spira was arguably the most beautiful world SE ever created as it was full of fantasy. Repeat that!