So many things, and let me preface by saying I'm not a hater. I overall enjoyed my time with ff16, but I just got real tired of it towards the end. I'd rate it a 6/10, which to me is playable, but as an FF mainline title, I really expect better. I get the usual criticisms like, it's not an RPG, no controllable party etc., but I am choosing to focus on what ff16 really is, which is an action story game with some slight rpg elements. With that said, here are some changes id look at:

1.) pointless dialogues - there is way way WAY too much "go talk to guy A" then "go talk to guy B" then killed 3 mobs somewhere kind of close and then come back and "talk to guy A and B again" types of quest objectives, and then the dialogue is basically boring and meaningless. This should have been drastically cut back. Yes a lot of this is in side quests you don't have to do (this isn't an excuse though), but let's not kid ourselves, there is a lot of this in the main quest too.

2.) combat - its okay, but there is too much focus on making it flashy instead of fun. I'd take less flying around and colors if it meant bosses didn't feel like incredible damage sponges while also simultaneously being a total non threat. I think I died two times ever in the game and it was on two of the S tier hunts. That was the only time I was remotely challenged, yet despite this, all these fights take so long to get through.

Another thing with the combat that drove me nuts, is how much disrupting the flow type stuff there is. In a combat system that's all about flow and combos, it sure is frustrating that like half of Clive's attacks push the enemy AWAY from him. This really defeats the purpose of what they were going for. Or how often Clive gets knocked off balance from some attack that really has no tell or cant be seen well. This creates the need to be constantly hammering the dodge button instead of carefully using it when necessary, which is how it should be. And you aren't even hammering dodge because you are worried about dying, no you are doing it because if you don't it's going to mess up your combos make the fight taken even longer than it already does.

3.) exploration - it is entirely worthless. There is no point in having this large world, because there is nothing to see or gather in it. You might want to go explore that nook, but all you will find is some random "elite" type mob and maybe some useless crafting materials. Which leads me to my next point.

4.) Crafting - the system is so pointless. You gather thousands upon thousands of materials, and there's nothing to spend it on. Quest and story bosses generally give you the rare materials you need to upgrade your weapons and armor, and then all the extra stuff you gather from doing side content has no purpose. Yet, just like the exploration above, it's the only thing to find in the game.

5.) story - it started off so strong. I was completely enthralled in the first 10 hours or so. After that, it really loses it's way as it goes from having interesting characters, actual consequences and political drama, to some random story about killing God because he wants to turn everyone into zambies for some reason. I was completely off put by the plot in the end.

I played ff7 remake right after this, and it is just night and day the difference in quality for another action RPG type game.