Devoured by Darkness
I think it'd be cooler if they just revamped VIII. The basic re-release with updated graphics and a few more side quests since VIII was very short even after completing everything.
But knowing Square, they won't do that. If they do happen to somehow tack a sequel to VIII, I'd definitely play it. I do agree that it may not do so well because of the baby fanfags latching onto the VII compilations like parasites, but that doesn't mean the older VIII fans would miss out on it. I, for one, don't think a sequel revolving around Squall is necessary since the ending had closure on his behalf. However, it could be a second adventure revolving around someone else. Rinoa dealing with being a Witch/Sorceress or what happened to Seifer after the end of the game. Maybe something involving one of the other Liberi Fatali (I'd like to see something about Zell, myself.) Or maybe something else entirely, like some background on Ultimecia that gives her a motive besides wanting omnipotence via Time Compression! They do have a lot of possibilities for a sequel but, much to my chagrin, I don't see any involving Squall as the lead anymore. It's just up to Square if they'll actually do something.
A part of me slightly hopes that it won't happen (so it won't turn out like VII) but if it does, I'll totally snag a copy.
My hope is that IF they do make a follow-up or a full-blown sequel to VIII they won't use the newer battle systems... They should stick with the classic turn-based system.... and I would also suspect that if they were to make a sequel, that they would do just that AND just to add insult to injury, they'de take out or heavily modify the Junction system that worked well for VIII.... the only thing I wouldn't have a problem with is if they deleted that "stock magic" system and replaced it with a traditional MP system.... Magical effectiveness/junction effectiveness should be exclusively based on a character's stats instead of that and the number of casts of a particular spell they possess, thus giving even more incentive to train your characters harder as well as adding a greater challenge to the game.
Also, I agree that perhaps they should pass the stroyline torch over to a new generation of SeeDs... I mean, Ultimecia was only defeated in the future... if she had the power to reach across time, then she could still theoretically alter any given time period.... and could even make the efforts of Squall and Company null and void. So, with this logic, I think it would be more productive and more challenging to have the next generation of SeeD to go into an earlier point in Ultimecia's personal past and take her out before she could even begin to trigger Time compression, thus resolving the paradox. It sounds reasonable, unless there is something I'm missing...
Furthermore, if that won't work or doesn't sound attractive enough, then you could say that there would be a future organisation (perhaps making a veiled reference to Kingdom Hearts or other Final Fantasy themes, as is Square's habit) that seeks to use Junction Machine Ellone and other Odine inventions for far more nefarious purposes than what Ultimecia was up to.... still provides a challenge, interesting storyline, a new cast of characters, perhaps a smoother system of gameplay, and would be theroetically attractive enough for final Fantasy fans of all types and ages to want to play.... maybe I'm being too optimistic/presumptuous?
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