I honestly don't see what the problem with cinematics is. It's the same thing as sitting there pressing X while tons of dialogue moves across the screen. It's like the Xenogears/Xenosaga parallel. For some reason it's perfectly fine to press X for two hours while Fei sits his ass down in a chair, but everyone has to scream bloody murder when we get 30 minute cutscenes in Xenosaga that are actually interesting.

I would like to see MORE cinematics and less text. Better yet, Star Ocean style. A choice of text only, or no text in cinematics. It is just a method of improving the way to tell a story without interfering with gameplay mechanics, unlike the 2D to 3D jump in other genres besides RPGs. That is a beautiful thing exclusive to very few genres, RPGs being one of them. For that reason I can understand why people prefer 2D action games to 3D ones (I'm one myself), but I've never been able to pinpoint the reason why people could prefer a 2D style RPG to a 3D one, all things being equal except the graphics.

I would like to see a better battle system, because the ATB is not only as outdated as regular turnbased, but it is also boring. Just because a game is an RPG is no reason to slack on gameplay. Looks like I'm getting my wish in FFXII. I don't want to see non-linearity, because the more non-linear a game gets, the more the story is sacrificed. I'd like to see different difficulty modes like in Phantasy Star Online. I'd like to see incentive for replay (I guess I can file that under difficulty levels). I'd like to see stories that are so awe inspiring, that they engulf you so much you forget to save.

I'd like to see the be-all-end-all RPG. I honestly don't think it will be a Final Fantasy though. I'm not going to count the series out though. We've just got to see where it will go under new management. And don't get me wrong, I'm not saying the previous Final Fantasies are bad. I'm just saying there is always room for improvement.