So, now that the game has officially been announced, what are people's wishes for it?
 
Here is what I'd like to see:
 
Keep the basics of the combat the same, but work on improving it and giving more options to the players. The ability to change leaders on the fly would be nice, as well as the option to set AI tendencies for individual paradigms. I'd also like to see them add a few more classes to the game, to give more options to play with.
 
Keep the Crystarium, but have more branching paths and have the whole thing unlocked at the beginning. If you wanted, you could basically make someone a kickass Ravager early in the game, but it would come at the expense of their other classes. Basically, just give more freedom in terms of how to spec each character, but with the same basic system (which worked well in the first game).
 
Add more equipment outside of just weapons and accessories, and completely overhaul the upgrading/customization. The weapon upgrading in XIII was probably one of the weakest elements of the game play, so completely overhauling this would be good.
 
Have more side quests, and make them become available earlier in the game. With the story of XIII, it made sense that you couldn't tackle those quests until Chapter 11, but hopefully XIII-2 will be designed in such a way that there will be more optional content earlier on. On a related note, going into towns would also be a good addition to the game, but I think that's something which has been beaten to death.

Like I said before, Assassin's Creed and Final Fantasy XIII reviewed about the same, and Assassan's Creed 2 was amazing, so it's totally possible XIII-2 could be awesome as well... Although AC2 was the 2nd game in the series, while XIII-2 is the 903rd game in the Final Fantasy series.

All of those are good suggestions that I wouldn't mind seeing myself.

I would love a more expansive crystarium that you can cross between characters, like the Grid Sphere.  
 
I would also love to have a just a regular world map type deal. Not something like FF7 where you walk around, but something like Lost Odyssey where the map is mainly used for transport and small exploration, not aimlessly walking around a field. In Lost Odyssey you could fast travel to any previously visited town (with the option to explore on sea, underwater and in the air), but it was accessed from the world map, kind like the Galaxy Map in ME1.  
 
The battle system is fine, just a few little changes like the ones you've mentioned would be cool. And, since we all know the battle systme now, I'm hoping they can get into it a lot quicker rather than dragging it out across half the game. Although I do admit, it worked well in helping me master it.

Scrap the press x to win battle system, bring back gambits plzplz

As long as they dont change the combat too much im all the happier - probably my 2nd favourite battle system in the entire FF series (not played IV, V or IX though so take that with a grain of salt).

" Scrap the press x to win battle system, bring back gambits plzplz "

" @ryanwho said:

" Scrap the press x to win battle system, bring back gambits plzplz "

I'm pretty sure that strategy didn't really work for too many in Final Fantasy XIII. "

I just hope it won't suck as much as X-2 did.

" @TooWalrus: only difference is that the team at Ubisoft who made Assassin's Creed 2 and Brotherhood aren't cretively bankrupt. "

" Scrap the press x to win battle system, bring back gambits plzplz "

Personally, I'd like to see the combat designers to take a step back. Many of the fights against specific monsters felt over-designed, allowing only 1 correct approach (or you'd die), and the combat system was inflexible enough to not really give you alternatives. This became exceedingly apparent with the Eidolon fights and certain other bosses and even smaller enemies (mech with machinegun comes to mind).
 
EDIT: On top of that, and more importantly of course, is a bit more of an open world approach rather than the A to B that XIII gave us. (prior to chapter 11 etc.)

Towns, no Hope, open world, no Hope, new combat system, no Hope, proper NPCs, no Hope,  new characters, no Hope and more monster designs. 
  
Also the ability to control all characters, not just the party leader. 

Did I mention no Hope? ...or at least make him die. 

I hope they build technology to simulate even longer hallways this time around.

Yeah i pretty much agree with everything you said but i can add a few. 
 
Combat I think there should be a few changes like first have a causal setting that will keep the auto attack. But normal mode i feel you should be picking the right order of attacks and elemental damage should matter more.  Also make the summons stronger or add a element of strategy to them so we have a reason to use them.
 
Also i feel enemies health and the stagger mode should be balanced a bit better from normal enemies, hard and boss enemies. I don't want to be spend 20 minutes fighting a enemy i fought at the start  of the game  when i'm far higher level then i was before. I never got the feeling i was super powerful because there was quite a few enemies that toke forever to put down. 
 
Let me save or remember my custom  paradigms order by who i have as a leader because it sucked having to reorder my paradigms when the leader changed.  
 
Please add more side quest that i can do in random order because sometimes i just want to goof off for a bit. 
 
Add towns and a better fast travel system because by the end of the game there was a alot of pretty places but i don't remember any of them by name or where they are. Fast traveling sucked because you still had to  hike it to where your side quest was and encounter all the monsters you just killed before when you walked down this road. This is a problem because the roads are pretty straight  so some fight  you will have to do just to get pass and that got old really fast.   
 
Better boss fights granted i liked the stagger system to some degree but fights just went down to just a long long battle of staying alive until the boss is dead. I don't mind it as much but i would like some more strategy to it beside having a medic medic crew and a revager revager commando  crew. Later end game it mixed it up a bit but we need that from the start. 
 
So those are a few things i would say need fixing but i think this will be a different game mood wise. It sounds like lightening will be the lead the whole time.  So let wait and see!
 

@skrutop

" @ryanwho said:

" Scrap the press x to win battle system, bring back gambits plzplz "

I loved the gambit system in FF12.  I'd really like to see it make a comeback in the series. "

" @ryanwho said:

" Scrap the press x to win battle system, bring back gambits plzplz "

I'm pretty sure that strategy didn't really work for too many in Final Fantasy XIII. "

" @ryanwho said:

" Scrap the press x to win battle system, bring back gambits plzplz "

I'm pretty sure that strategy didn't really work for too many in Final Fantasy XIII. "

People need to stop getting my hopes up for XIII- 2 with these misleading posts and topic.

Less linear I suppose and you can go anywhere like an airship like FFX-2.

More gameplay variety, better pacing and less tedious level design.

Sphere Grid + Crystarium = Crystal Grid

1. Towns: Bring back the over-arching design of a traditional RPG that has been in-play for the last twelve entries. Town->Exploration/Dungeon->Boss is used for a reason for a myriad of genres because it works. You will have pacing, and your down-time will not be fixed to a cut-scene. The worlds of both Cocoon and Pulse are very extensive, but without proper time to explore them we have no connection to the world. Giving non-combat locations for the purpose of exploration can disseminate story/world/characters without a static encyclopedia or quick glances through a cut-scene. Now that the characters are not being actively pursued, we can stop and check this world out.
   
2. Better Level Design: Somewhere during development in Final Fantasy XIII, the idea that having "linear level design" appeals to western gamers came up. This entire conception, is skewed and poorly interpreted. Even using First-Person shooters as their bizarre base example, it's still wrong, because the last thing on players mind while playing a good FPS is that they're essentially running from point A to point B. Good level-design masks, usually by not obviously funneling everything down a tight corridor. Having linear dungeon design is not a bad idea, but you have to mix it-up both from an environmental standpoint and a general design standpoint.
3. The upgrade system is horrible, get rid of it: Straightforward. I'll get into this in just a little bit.
   
4. Re-balance combat: I never found nothing necessarily "wrong" with FFXIII's combat. You are still doing the same actions in battle that you have been doing since early Final Fantasy games, the manner in which you pull off these maneuvers are far more simplified in FFXIII. Especially given how easy the enemies are early on in the game, and I think this fuels the opinion that it's "Just holding 'X' ". The balancing of FFXIII's combat can be horrible at times. Capping your characters stats is a neat concept, but difficulty shouldn't translate to: THIS NON-BOSS CHARACTER HAS A BAGILLION HP!
5. Re-balance the crystarium: I got the platinum trophy, and let me tell you: The end-game grinds in that game were ridiculous. Even after maxing my characters, I never felt at the fun "god-like level" you obtained in previous FF game's. I'm all for a challenge, but if I've gotten a playtime that hit's over triple digits: I think I should be entitled on crushing certain foes. Also, I don't remember grinding that much in comparison to previous FF games. In an ironic twist, you don't really have to grind to finish the main-story, but if you want to get into the other-half of FFXIII's content: You have to grind for hours.
6. Grinding for cash sucks: I would rather fight FFXII's Yizamat six times-over, instead of grinding certain enemies for items with the sole-purpose of selling said items, for cash and then struggle through a crap upgrade system to get an Ultimate Weapon. Whatever happened to going on quests to get Ultimate Weapons?
   
7. NO VANILLE: This composite character of four different FF female protagonists served no purpose but to annoy me. The game couldn't decide if she was the game's narrator, or if she was her own character. Given the game's ending, I doubt we will see her again, but just to be sure: DON'T HAVE HER COME BACK.
8. MORE SAZH: Most interesting and surprisingly relatable character in the game should get more screen-time.
   

This isn't new. It's basically gambits made for noobs. You have an autobattle command that picks themost suitable actions for the character to take and you have roles which can be shifted. Gambits was a really neat system that gave a lot of options to the users. XIII's battle system is a big step down but was still solid. 
 
I would say they need to ditch the lienar chapters. Get rid of that and XIII-2 will be a great game for sure. Add in some towns and shops too.

" @TooWalrus: only difference is that the team at Ubisoft who made Assassin's Creed 2 and Brotherhood aren't creatively bankrupt. "

Looky what I found!
 http://www.finalfantasy13-2game.com/#/uk/trailer/

They do a better job fleshing out the story and world of 13, because they did an absolute shit job in the last game.

" The ability to change leaders on the fly would be nice "

I hated that you had to preset the classes you characters could take.  Especially with some of the enemies being a chore to nigh impossible with one setup but easily destroyed with another.

1. Bother to tell the story. XIII thought it was too good for things like exposition and the story suffered because of it. Hell, they couldn't be bothered to work the information into the environment in any way, like the the form of audio logs or terminals you could stop and read. Throwing vital pieces of information into a menu and telling me to just go read that is bad. It is very. very bad. If you ever want to instantly kill player immersion and story momentum, then just follow SE's lead here.
 
2. Kill off a majority of the cast within the first couple of hours. I would say just don't bring back Snow, Hope, and a few others, but that isn't good enough. I can't enjoy a game knowing that somewhere in its world people like Snow are still running around douching everything up. Focus more on good characters like Sazh. Oh, and turn down the melodrama. A 90% reduction would be adequate
 
3. Get rid of the crystarium completely. Do something else. How about something like characters automatically get stat increases every time they level. At higher levels they gain access to higher level skills. I really am just tired of dicking around with sphere grids and license boards,  and would prefer for characters to naturally develop with specific strengths and weaknesses. 
 
4. Ditch the weapon upgrade system. 
 
5. Allow me to have freedom in how I play. Let me chose my party from fairly early on. Bring back towns, NPCs, item shops, mini games, side quests, etc. Not only do these things help with pacing and keeping the player from feeling burned out, but they also help flesh out the world, thus increasing immersion. 
 
6. Change your fucking character designs. Do you remember the black guy with the fiery spiked up hair? Yeah, that was stupid. Not laughably stupid, either. That was someone needs to be taken out back and have the shit kicked out of them and then forced to explain what they just did stupid. I'm also getting kind of sick with how pretty they try to make all their characters. It is getting old and starting to feel bland. So your typical Final Fantasy character ilooks either super pretty aka forgettable, retarded, or both.

I'm curious to what they are going to do with this game but I sadly think it's not going to be any good. These sequel things are usually not very good. I'll probably still check out the game though and see what it's like for myself....who knows it might surprise me and actually be good. There's only one thing I can say at the moment, I really love Lightning's new outfit! It's really sexy!! I wonder what the others are going to look like.

I want them to make a JRPG that doesn't even try to appeal to the west. I'm sick of Japanese developers trying to mimic western video games in some way or another, because I think doing so detracts from what makes (or made) Japanese games so unique.

I want my old JRPG's back. With turn-based combat system. Get rid of the hybrid system from 13 and go back old-school.

When I first saw this I thought you were talking about a sequel to the FPS XIII. You can imagine my disappointment. 

Like most people I thought the combat was pretty awesome, so they can leave that almost alone.
 
OK, I'd try to make summons actually useful, and given that she's the poster child I'd make an effort to make lightening more useful in the end/post game power levels, but other that the combat is fine.
 
Little things, like door animations taking about 6 seconds each, needing a cutscene to get on and off a chocobo... all things that can be removed.
 As much as I'd love to see villages back like someone suggested above, the super-save-points(tm) make it kind of pointless. And I imagine that's the kind of huge development they're trying to avoid by releaseing a 13-2.
 
Oh and no godfuckingdamn leona lewis songs. I don't even like the ff13 soundtrack that much, but stick to your guns square, Japan that shit up

Fang. Lots of her. Somehow.

I am pretty sure I am going to finish Final Fantasy 13 before this game hits the shelf. I quit playing at 12 -14 hours in the game. I know it gets better or good soon, but I lost interest. This does not count out I will give it another run to see this game to the end. 
 
I am glad Square is doing a sequel / story arc of this specific FF universe. I'd like to see improvements and changes they may make in the mechanics, gameplay and how this story unfolds narratively . Plus the fanboy in me would give anything to see the FF franchise sending out more solid games that will either compete or be ahead of the pack of the modern RPG genre.

" I want them to make a JRPG that doesn't even try to appeal to the west. I'm sick of Japanese developers trying to mimic western video games in some way or another, because I think doing so detracts from what makes (or made) Japanese games so unique. "