Not in any particular order...

- More voice actors...

- More weapon choices...

- Duel wielding could be cool but within reason...I don't think anyone is going to be swinging around two warhammers.

- More spell variety and animation. Every spell type had the same animation, regardless of how powerful the attack was. That and there could have been more to choose from.

- More character customization. There were like 1000 options you could mess with and they all did barely anything.

- Solid 30 fps framerate!!! 60 fps would look sexy in this type of game but, that's probably not going to happen.

- 1080p resolution. My screen supports it but it's too small to make much of a difference, so I don't really care. But a lot of people would probably appreciate it very much.

- Less bugs/glitches

- Improved leveling system, PLEASE!

- Bigger world. I know Oblivion was pretty huge but, they could do more. Maybe even continents, rather than one chunk of land?

- More character races

- More guilds

- No more useless items. You should be able to dig with a pickaxe or shovel dammit.

- Better A.I. If I take someone into a cave and kill them, I don't want to run into a guard 30 minutes later and have him maul me for it. If they don't see it, they don't see it!!!

- Drug effects could be neat. Drink too much wine/beer, have the screen get all woozy. Or some of the harder drugs in Shivering Isles could've produced some gnarly effects. o_O

- Be able to attack from your horse! It'd be a lot better if you could ride by a guard at high speed and swing your sword down at him.

- Better house features / customization. Maybe even be able to grow your own alchemy ingredients in a garden outside your house?

- A store feature would be neat. Open a shop and sell stuff at whatever prices you think you can get! NPCs could try and talk your price down too, just like you were able to in Oblivion. And if you want to keep questing, you could hire someone to run the shop, and gold would just get subtracted from you like, once a week or something, to pay the shop keeper.. And when your out questing, messages could pop up telling you when stuff gets sold.

- Boss battles. I know there were kinda sorta boss battles in Oblivion but it just didn't feel like it. I think in most dungeons (not all but most), there should be some sort of beast or dragon or something BIG at the end, guarding that nice item in the chest behind them. We should work for the good stuff, not running through killing trolls and getting uber items for little to no work.

- More music! I loved Oblivion's soundtrack, it was composed well and fits the game perfectly most times. However it's rather short. Some more variety would be nice.

I can't think of more at the moment but...I'm sure I could eventually.

@Rhyu/The guy with the long name and gave me the long butt explanation: You clearly need smiles with me for now on out since you thought I was being evil about your opinion. Here: :P Now on topic: I like FFVIII, IX, and X. VII was overrated as sin with a sub-par storyline. How so? SPOILERS ON FFVII: What in Final Fantasy VII made the game so special compared to the other games? Ah yes, great graphics for its time, a man with a huge ace sword, and a death scene. NOTHING else is rarely discussed. To where in FFX, memories take you back to WAY more than 6 key scenes. I'm sorry, but FFX isn't a universal favorite for naught.Symphonycometh

Ah, sorry my response seemed harsh. You're post didn't "offend" me, I just wanted to clarify and get my point across. You say FFVII has a sub-par storyline and FFX isn't a universal for favorite for naught. I could say the same thing, just vice versa. I played nearly to the end of FFX, and nothing storyline-wise stands out in my mind as being great. It's fairly origina... I suppose... but it's not good IMO.

Not only was FFVII's storyline amazing, so were many other elements of the game as well. The materia system was the last good magic system in my opinion. FFVIII's got a bit confusing. I can't really remember FFIX's magic system. FFX's magic system was horrible. The whole grid thing was just lame.

FFVII didn't really do anything new as far as the battle system but at least they stuck to what works. This is going to go against my argument that I'm not old-school but...there haven't really been any new battle systems in RPGs period, that have blown me away and made me say "This is so much better than turn-based!!!" There have been so many attempts at new battle systems and most of them have been flawwed, or just plain crappy. For everybody that says "Why do you want to sit there and watch them do everything, how boring..." I could say that about FFX as a game. Turn based battle systems require a lot of planning and strategy, and would be even better if they started adding more complexity to enemy attack patterns.

I've really been in the mood for a good RPG lately, and I will wholeheartedly give FFXIII the chance it deserves, but I'm not going to go into it thinking it's going to be totally mind blowing and awesome. Graphically it looks stunning so far, but lots of RPGs have the graphics. They just don't have anything to go with the graphics. I'm hoping FFXIII is different.

Get out of here. That's just being an old-school lover to the extreme. While that may be good, it fails when you can't like the newer ones.

FFX IS a gem. I dont quite know how you can call FFX not good without calling VII the same thing...

Symphonycometh

First of all, everything I said was an opinion, not a fact, so don't tell me "Get out of here." The topic starter asked if he should play the other 12 titles. I gave him my opinion on which of the 12 I felt were worthy of playing. What he does with the information I gave him is up to him.

I'm not an old-school lover to the extreme. I've never even beaten an SNES Final Fantasy before, but I played enough of each of them to get sucked in rather quickly and know that they're good. I've actually been meaning to go back and beat them all.

However, I played nearly to the end of FFX, and it is NOT a gem. I actually put off playing it for the longest time because I didn't like it. But finally I was like "You know what? Maybe I didn't give it enough of a chance, I'll play further this time and see if I'm missing something." I was wrong. The story was mediocre first of all. The battle system was pretty good although the magic leveling system and the number of summons was not. The main characters could've been better/more interesting.

I also gave most of the FF's I said NOT to play the benefit of the doubt. I said VIII could've been good without the flawwed leveling system. If that doesn't bother you, then enjoy the game! I said I didn't care for IX but from what I heard, people swear by it, so by all means give it a try. I did say FFX was bad, and IMO it was. FFXI doesn't really matter because it's an MMO. FFXII MAY have been good but I didn't like the battle system. If you like the battle system, go for it! I'm not going to play an RPG when I dislike the core gameplay mechanic of it. The last TRULY great Final Fantasy was VII, and once again, this is my opinion. Many people would agree with me.

RPGs have been going downhill since PS2. I think people have lost sight of what's important, and the graphics are becoming more important than the storyline, gameplay, and characters. I'll give FFXIII a chance just as I've given the others. I'm actually rather excited about it, and hoping it'll surpass my expectations and get me enjoying the series again. If anything, my lowered expectations will help me enjoy it more because I won't be expecting the greatest game ever.

Play all the FF's on SNES (Mystic Quest and V excluded) and play FFVII on PSX. After that you're not missing out on much. Everybody seems to think X is some gem...have you guys played it? I know it was the first FF for PS2 and it looked great, etc. But seriously, go back and replay it. It's not good. VIII could've been better without the flawwed leveling system. I haven't played too far into IX because I got bored rather quickly but, many people swear by it so it could be really good. XI is online and most people say it's not that great so you're not missing anything there. XII could be good but I didn't like the battle system so, try that one for yourself and see.

As for FFXIII, I'm looking forward to it but I've learned to be skeptical with FF now. I'll definitely rent it first. If it doesn't suck me in in a rental period, I won't be buying it. Some people say I don't give RPGs enough of a chance. I usually play RPG's for at least 10-15 hours before deciding!!! If it doesn't get better in 10-15 hours, then it's not worth it IMO.

Tlahui...campers don't make the game worse for me. That's like saying that airstrikes and helicopters make the game worse for everybody. It's part of the game!!! Everybody plays games differently. Some people aren't as good at the close and personal action so they choose to hang back and camp and/or snipe. Maybe you just suck and get picked off by campers all the time.

As far as the topic issue goes, you can't be overly pissed at someone for aiming out the same window. It might be annoying but they do have as much right to be there as you. Some people just don't have the common courtesy to go elsewhere when they see that someone is already there.

I "heard" that if you use a cure disease potion VERY SOON after being infected, like right afterward, you can cure it. It's when you wait a bit that it's too late and you must do the quest. I have not tested this theory though.