I used to love Final Fantasy. JRPGs are probably my favorite genre of games and I have a lot of good memories and late nights with Final Fantasy. But as I've grown old and my taste for games change I seem to be shying away from Final Fantasy but not JRPGs. Persona 4, Chrono Trigger, The World Ends With You, and the Tales series seem to have me hooked more than Final Fantasy ever did. But considering two of the of games I just listed were made by Square (TWEWY and Chrono Trigger) shows that they have the capacity to do better.
FF13 was a joke. The game took control away from the player, took away the beloved turn based combat, changed all of the maps to hallways, and made a cast of characters that is not only not customizable in the slightest but also unrelatable and uninteresting.
That's what I would focus on first. The characters. Make a cast that the players will love and that don't fall into the stereotypes that Square has made over the years (Tell me one disernable difference between Yuffie, Rikku, and Vanille and Shadow, Squall, and Armarant). Make characters with depth, make them have flaws, mixed agendas, and obstacles. Make them human. If the characters are good people will want to come back to them and experience them all over again (I've played the Assassin's Creed series 3 times because I love Altair and Ezio so much).
This next suggestion may sound odd, but go back to being able to name things. I always named the main character after me and the supporting characters after the friend that they acted the most like (except in the case of 10 and 8 in which case I named the Aeons/GFs in that manner). By allowing the character that sort of customization it makes the story so much more personal and will involve the character so much more than wha 13 did by saying "Here are some people, watch what they do."
Which leads me to my next suggestion. In my opinion 10 had the best combat system in the entire series, you didn't have to wait for your atb bar to fill up, you didn't have to input all of your commands at once, and you didn't have to choose only 3 or 4 of your characters to battle with you. You could switch out characters when you needed them and you saw who was going in what order so you could plan your strategies accordingly. However, I would keep the level up system from FF8. I'll admit that 8 was probably one of my least favorites in the series (next to 13) but they did this aspect right. The enemies level up along side you, meanign they provided a challenge but they weren't over powered if you hadn't grinded. If you're like me, you hate grinding and run away from battle more often then you probably should. But with 8's system, even if you do that you're still perfectly fine. A lot of us are only here for the story anyway.
Which brings me back to my final suggestion. Make the stories more on the micro threat level, rather than the macro. I found myself more compelled in Persona 4 when I was hunting down a local murderer more than I ever did trying to stop Sephiroth from destroying the world. In the micro setting the threat is more personal, the enemy is targeting people you know and love. In the macro setting their targeting everyone. In Fable 3 I chose to save my girlfriend rather than the protesters because I had more of a bond with her than them.
Final Fantasy is a fantastic series and I love it so. But there's no denying that it's been taking a downward turn over the years and I think it's about time we try to save it. Because, contrary to popular belief, it is not beyond saving.
Also? Vivi FTW
