I don't want tropes and archetypes that are just tropes and archetypes. That is to say I don't want one-note characters. Ideally they'd have lots of notes and layers, and hopefully actually develop or expand on those notes and layers

I mostly hate having kids and chibi mascots in JRPGs because that's all they are. I'm okay with Persona having kids, because they aren't just one-note stereotypes. And I think that's why I've grown to hate having high school kids lead the way in my JRPGs. Because the writers rarely know how to do any real storytelling with them

I also tend to like having sidequests, and completely missable/extra content that is just as compelling and treated with just as much care as the main story quest and characters. Things that spring to mind are the Neir games, Bloodborne, and Symphony of the Night as far as compelling optional and extra content. And while I haven't played it, I've heard enough to know that The Witcher 3 is a master at making side quests that are as memorable as the main quest. I've listened to plenty of podcasts where someone was talking about how they were doing the one quest where they were out lost in the woods and came across the one person and did the one thing with them, and people remember that as well as any other part of the game are just like "oh yeah, I remember that quest. I loved that quest." And it's just a side quest, where you could have played the game for 500 hours and never gotten lost in that area and met that person. And I think that's just grand