The Legend of Dragoon's combat systems is a MUST. For magic,I'm particularly fond of Final Fantasy VIII drawing,but I'd rather not have to do the number crunching of Junctioning,s leave Junctioning out.
The game would require a VERY good plot. One that's deep,and complex,and will come to light slowly as the game progresses. The characters need to be dynamic,and for this to happen properly...No voice acting. Seriously. Too many potentialy good characters were made meh by bad voice acting. The characters also need to evolve psychologicaly. Also...Stay FAR AWAY from the angsty emo-teen. Give me a 25-40 year old veteran,or a 20 year old who got themselves into a combat situation...And need someone to dig them out.
The controls need to make sense. I don't want to hit one button,only to find out it does the EXACT OPPOSITE OF WHAT I WANT! I want the game to always be a challenge,so have the enemies level with you...But make them level a tiny bit FASTER than you. Furthermore,make equipment actually matter! Also,the soundtrack needs to be good,and fits each situation accordingly. Have Jeremy Soule and Nobuo Uematseu collaborate for the soundtrack. Finally,the camera angles...Look to ye olde RPGs for those. Like The Legend of Dragoon.
Now...If only the guys who make games actually read these...