>>47961238I take inspiration from Octopath visually. Go back to sprites with fancy post-processing, focus on gameplay and sekaikan (usually translated as "feeling of atmosphere", it's kind of hard to explain, you can google it), and try to emphasize non-linear progression similar to what gen 1 had, where you can pick and choose certain pathways. Do not focus on the story at all, focus on individual characters instead, so that their lives become the story as you explore the world. Don't make the map too big, but make it as dense with detail as possible. As postgame, give the player a roguelike dungeon crawler mode where they could catch the entirety of the national dex if they want to, by completing challenges and navigating giant randomly-generated mazes that go deeper and deeper.
