I'm trying to combine elements from a bunch of games to make my dream RPG.
You explore dungeons in the old-fashioned, tile-based way, with random encounters.
Combat at its core is Dragon Quest's "pick commands and watch everything play out (hopefully) as you intended".
There are lots of Ailments to pester either side, Priority moves that make you act sooner or later and Shin Megami Tensei's stackable Buffs/Debuffs to snowball your way to victory.
The Etrian Odyssey twist is that you'll come across lots of gimmicks/puzzles and/or wandering monsters that should be avoided and still move while you fight other enemies.
Besides its single-digit values, classic Paper Mario's Badge system is also present, allowing you to equip new skills for use in battle, using points gained from leveling up.
Skills come in three flavors :
-Active Skills : the attacking, defensive or support options you'll use in battle ;
-Passive Skills : a variety of special effects that will help you out in battle ;
-Soul Skills : same as Passives, but every playable character has their own.
Monsters also use skills, so keep an eye out for their crazier Passives that'll put you to sleep when you kill them, mitigate the first hit taken, give them more turns and so on...
... man, I hope I'll be able to finish this and make it every bit as awesome as it is in my mind! xD