JRPG fans, why don't you.....

[F0X]

I totally understand your choice. I appreciate a good, complex story as much as the next person.

However, I still prefer Xenoblade mainly for gameplay reasons. I've never played a JRPG with more rewarding exploration (which suggests to me that there has never been one), and I can easily see evolution of the genre in many gameplay areas, especially the combat and questing. The presentation occasionally sometimes leaves something to be desired, but hey, considering that the game was probably made with a much smaller budget than Lost Odyssey, it's altogether very impressive.