[General Discussion] An Ideal RPG?

*Turn based or real time battle systems

-Turn based, but with plenty of customization and 5-8 characters.

*Male or Female lead

-Eh, doesn't really matter...I'd settle for an interesting party, with no set leader (basically a mute).

*A single main character or party array

-See above.

*General Theme? (e.g. Futuristic or medievil)

-War tends to breed the best storylines I think. I'm not picky in regards to the futuristic/medievil thing.

*Should there be transition between field screen to battle screen, or should battles take place on the field itself

-Fast transitions. Suikoden 1/2 or FF6 would be ideal...Get into the battle, fight, then get out as fast as possible.

*Should it feature a world map, or should areas be interlinked/ linear

-In my experience, my favorite RPG's all have world maps. The linear thing (FFX) doesn't work for me because I always think you should be able to explore the map.

*Should there be more focus in RPGs - in other words, intergrating more gameplay genres - such as sport, racing, etc. Okay you see this in mini games, but should there be a grander focus?

-Fun minigames are a plus, but the core focus should be on the balance of the battle system...It can't be too easy, it can't be too hard (although I mean in the sense that it can't be unfair...Hard is normally a good thing because it forces you to think about what you haven't been doing right up until that point). Give me an RPG with good-to-great character interaction and a smooth, polished battle system and I'll probably play it straight through.

*Cut out the cliched elements such as 'romantic love stories' or 'save the world storyline?' or the 'annoyingly pathetic heroine who is always in distress' - How would you go about changing these cliches?

-Leave some in, but do them right (in other words, do something to make me care about what's going on...). I mean, I don't mind rescuing a princess if its' a character I like from the game and they make it fun to do.

*Should it be more about gameplay than storyline?

-A good balance is needed...Something needs to drive the story forward well and give reason for the characters to do/say what they do, but that's no reason to skimp on the gameplay.

*Weaponry - What would you have, what would you cut out...like the main character almost always has a sword, and the heroine is a weakling with a staff

-Not too concerned here...Whatever works.

*What would be an ideal battle engine - combos, limit breaks, magic system stc - how would you like it

-Suikoden V's. Plenty of character positions (normally 6, with formations for 2-5 as well...RPG's not called Chrono Trigger with only 3 character slots annoy the hell out of me), runes for magic, formations to play around with, special attacks, plenty of preparation needed...That game had basically my ideal battle engine, although I might try mixing it with something like Grandia's and make timed hits more of a factor. Be less of an excuse to auto battle each time.

Jam it back in, in the dark.