I have been thinking of Final Fantasy XIII for the last couple of weeks. I bought, beat and platinumed the game at its release back in March. At the time I thought it was good, but far from the best of the series. But ever since I've started thinking about it again lately, I realised how fucking great of a video game it is. It's like I can only think good things of it. I don't have the game with me right now and it pisses me off because I just want to play it again. 
 
That said, Square-Enix has hinted pretty heavily at a direct sequel for this game ever since its release, and it gets me really excited when I think about the potential. They created a really interesting world with this game. You get the feeling that the game only shows you snippets of the universe it inhabits. Now that they have the technology already built, they could concentrate on writing a damn good story and refining/tweaking the gameplay. The area of Pulse we visit is just but a tiny valley of an entire planet. We could get to see more civilizations elsewhere, more towns (see what I did?). And who knows, maybe on a distant foreign continent is where Versus XIII takes place. 
 
Discuss.

I really enjoyed FFXIII overall. The combat was fun, I found the characters interesting, and of course it was fucking gorgeous. 
That being said, my main issue with the game is the pacing. The beginning was too slow when it came to combat and gameplay. And while most of the chapters followed a similar length of time with fast movement., at Chapter 11 it suddenly stops to gives you 40 hours of grinding! Instead they need to spread the stuff out throughout the whole game instead of stuffing it into the near end. 
 
I agree with you though. For all the hate FFXII gets, I found myself having a good time with it.

What would I want from a FF13 sequel?  For there not to be one.
 
They've tried this in the past with FF10-2, or the numerous spin-offs of FF7.  They don't end well.  FF games should be self contained universes and stories.  When they break off and try to expand even further upon a story or setting, the subsequent games are usually sub-par and/or barely given any
 
Besides, they already have two more games set up under the 13 name; Versus 13 and Agito 13.  Though they have pretty much nothing to do with one another, other than being in the same sub-franchise of Fabula Nova Crystalis. 

Tetsuya Nomura to not fuck it up.

Just to be clear, we aren't talking about FXIII Versus right? 
  
Because I believe that is supposed to be more action based. I think.

I am currently just starting (on chapter 5 or so) my run through FFXIII, and all I want is to kill all of the characters. I really like the combat and leveling system, but every time a camera cuts to someone and all I hear is "ugh... uh!" I want to punch my TV. I know this is a product of Japan, but that doesn't make it any less annoying. I just want Hope to say what is bothering him so he can stop ummmming and ughing over it all. Lightning is the best character because she isn't taking anyone's crap. Thumbs up I say. 
 
I would want a sequel to waste a little less time early on, and just continue to have an interesting battle setup and great graphics. Also, maybe make the story a little more apparent rather than hiding a bunch of it in those text files. I read a few and liked it, but I have only read about %20 of what is in there waiting for me...

" but every time a camera cuts to someone and all I hear is "ugh... uh!" I want to punch my TV. I know this is a product of Japan, but that doesn't make it any less annoying. "

I loved the game, and I really do hope that they're working on a sequel ( it seems like that conference they have next month would be a good place to unveil it).
 
My biggest desire would be for them to refine everything. The battle system is already my all-time favorite, but I'd love for them to add even more new stuff to it. Make things more complex, give more options, and just generally keep it feeling awesome while adding new options. More classes and more places to branch off in the Crystarium would also be much appreciated. I also think that the weapon and accessory upgrading needs a complete overhaul. Make it actually  matter what you're using to upgrade your stuff, and let me customize my weapons' abilities by using different types of items.
 
More exploration and the ability to go into towns would also be great. In XIII, it made sense that you were always moving in one direction and not going into towns, because that's what the story necessitated. Now that we're not playing as a group of fugitives who are on the run, it would be necessary to be going into towns and exploring more. More sidequests to do would also be important to me.