WHAT SHOULD GO IN A CHARACTER FOCUSED GAME

Dialogue is incredibly important here, usually. Take the time to make it sound natural, though, rather than just getting as much exposition across as possible. It's not helpful to stuff in more character development if the player isn't engaged with the character in the first place.

Also, character traits need to be consistent across all of the game's systems. That means that combat abilities need to affirm said traits or have a very good reason not to. In addition, if you have a support system such as Fire Emblem, make sure that Chatty Cathy and Silent Sam don't start sounding the same in the name of character development.

Then, make sure that the character's motivations match their personality. It may make the plot much harder to weave, but players will generally appreciate not seeing odd personality abandonment at crucial junctures.

Most importantly, make sure to keep your conflict close to home. Epic journeys are nice and all, but if the focus is on the characters then you need to be sure that they have a good reason to care about it all. Avoid trite things like revenge or being the 'chosen one.' Instead, create something personal...something that can resonate with players. They aren't playing your game to hear about some legendary hero, rather, they want to watch how your characters respond and react (and perhaps shape that response).

Its hard to find character driven games anymore with things like Halo flouding the market. You want to play something strong, I suggest:

Heavy Rain

I'd claim Visions and Voices is one. A good one at that.

author=macblo
Thanks for all the suggestions! I'll try and post something by Saturday since
I won't be able to do ANY work next week. Do you guys know about any
RPG Maker character driven games?

Illusions of Loyalty is a pretty good one, though it is more a game with strong characters than explicitly character-driven.

Incitement 2 also does a pretty good job in that regard.

Deimos is shaping up to be one, if you're ok with a demo. It's worth checking out just to see how they handle it, imo.

I'm also releasing one sometime tomorrow, provided disaster doesn't strike too hard.

Only character driven game that comes to mind is Grandia, Breath of Fire 3, and Lunar Silver Star Story.

I think Ar Tonelico 2 was a very character driven game - not only did you lern about their personalities by casual conversation and adventuring - but also by diving into their subconscious mind, which gave you an even deeper understanding of how they worked as individuals. But that was part of AT's very specific / unique game mechanics and storyline.