Lightning is fine, other than being a female Cloud with a taste of Squall's "...whatever."
* Remove Vanille. (I'll tolerate Hope.)
* Stop head-hopping in the narrative.
* Give the player meaningful choices to make in the first 20 hours of the game.
* Give the player the ability to influence their characters' development, ever.
* Delinearize the story, or write the characters so they're actual people. (Sazh is okay.)
* Remove all the stupid flashbacks. We don't care.
* Explain the world in a way that makes sense, with meaningful terms, within the actual gameplay.
* Create an antagonist who makes sense.
* Add side characters we can actually interact with.
* Don't make us wait until chapter 11 to experience the actual game.
* Don't hide the best items behind a wall of synthesizing.
* Let the player have better control over the flow of battle beyond just changing paradigms.
* Don't put your characters -- especially your strong female hardened soldier -- in a fucking Louis Vuitton ad.