Congrats, this is truly the rpg of the generation, and one of the best games ever. Enjoy it! I put about 150 hours into it and didn't even do the post end-game quests. It's truly epic in all aspects. Its one major flaw for me is that it's not in HD - it would be amazing if it was since it's so beautiful That makes me so hyped to play X in HD. And unlike what Kylie said, you pretty much need to do side quests to end the game at the right level, unless you use a "cheat" combo team which can beat enemies that they should be able to. I would take my time in each zone and do quests and chat with characters until my star level is at least 3 before moving on. That way you don't miss content, or have to do lame quests that are well below your level to get your star levels up later in the game. (the star levels are needed for certain cool unlockables.)
I don't know if Xenoblade is more exciting than an all-new system, but it's not a stretch to say it's probably better than 99% of any games that will come for them, and certainly better than any launch titles.
