Honestly, I feel there are enough examples from film and TV to show that inner monologues are not terribly hard to pull off. Daria and Fight Club come to mind.

For gameplay changes:
  • I want Xu, Nida, and possibly the Pigtailed Library Girl to have a playable moment with the party as temp characters during the NORG sequence and the Garden Battle. I feel it would be cool.
  • I would love for them to add a battle where you can tackle the full Disciplinary Committee, maybe a fun "practice" style battle before the SeeD exam.
  • I would love for Laguna's squad to get an additional Limit Break each. Maybe tie it into my additional optional sequences.
  • While I am far more partial to Turn Based combat over ARPG junk, I do feel VIII's system may work well for that style of gameplay. You would still need to Draw and Junction magic but maybe add a few new layers to it. Like add an option where instead of stocking or casting a drawn spell, you can also choose to Boost and give your character a minor boost to their stats temporarily for the battle. It would likely work that offensive spells would boost attack and magic, while curative and defensive spells would temporarily boost HP and defenses.
  • Junction would work mostly the same but I would remove a good chunk of the %boost support skills and instead balance stats algorithms better and work in more classic FF skills or abilities that would work better with an ARPG system like Critical HP boost style skills or an auto-parry skill. I would also boost magic damage and change it so that you need a lower magic threshold for maximum stat boosts so you'll actually have some spells to cast without worrying about your stats.