A very good RPG but as others have stated, it isn't perfect, but a sequel expanding on the core battle mechanics and with a similar style of story but with a bigger more open and varied world would be divine.

As a game itself, it is easily one of the better JRPGs of the last generation although hurt by being released so soon near Xenoblade and NoA's idiocy about bringing it over causing it to be delayed years after it dropped in Japan.

Hopefully it will find new life as a digital release soon that might get Nintendo and Mistwalker together to do another The Last Story game.

I loved every second of this game. For me, probably one of the best RPGs of the seventh generation.

Well they are named the same anyways, Last/Final-Story/Fantasy so why not

Not entirely true as ARPG just means things are happening in a real time system, menus or button mapping have little bearing on this as Kingdom Hearts is an ARPG but utilizes menus while various western RPGs utilize button mapping but aren't ARPGs. XC can actually be considered an ARPG because actions are performed straight away in real time when activated with out being subject to any turn based system like in FFXII where a character has to wait for their gauge to fill up before any action is executed.

Better than Lost Odyssey?

There are plenty of realtime RPGs that are not Action RPGs. Practically every MMORPG, Dragon Age, CRPGs, Final Fantasy XII, Xenoblade are examplss of realtime RPGs that are not ARPGs. In order for a game to fall under the action genre it needs button/key mapped attacks. Xenoblade does not have this.

glad you like it! I absolutely loved this game. it was one of those games that i was bummed when i got to the end because i didn't want to stop playing! The characters are what really drove this game. I will say my only complaint is i felt like the story was a tad underdeveloped. Like they didn't have enough money to fill out the last little bit of the story that fully explains the end of the game. Still by far one of my favorite wii games, and probably one of my favorite rpg's. Not sure i'd have said the same thing had nobue not been involved though. That dude is a master of thematic melodies. I sung the female leads theme to myself every day i played this game.

I have finished Xenoblade and never played Last Story, how would it compare?

That and it was very easily exploitable so that you didn't have to bother with a lot of the systems they bit into the game to make it strategic.

Button mapping is not what defines it, it comes down to the system  of execution, KH as mentioned is an example of this using menus but still being an ARPG, another example of this are games like Diablo. A number of MMORPGs have button mapping and even a various JRPGs have button mapped actions, ARPG just means you have real time control over the characters with out being subject to any turn based mechanics.

MMORPGs and FFXII have a turn based mechanic in their system hence why they aren't ARPGs, games like XC, Diablo, KH, Phantasy Star Online etc... utilize menus but do not have a turn based mechanic everything is executed in realtime, it can have a menu but still be an ARPG you're using an out of date definition.