Don't know if FFXIII will ever be vindicated as one of the best of its franchise like Wind Waker ultimately has once people got over the looks of it. Also Dragon Quest excluding the most recent MMORPG usually outsell FF in Japan.
But I do agree, as successful as the Xenoblade franchise may eventually get, it is unlikely to ever touch FF despite the drop off in recent games. Nintendo will probably keep it around if X does as well if not better then the first one but much like most Nintendo IPs (Metriod, Fire Emblem, Star Fox, etc), if you aren't falling under the brand of Mario, Zelda, Pokemon or Kirby, you will only get games that Nintendo developers want to do and it will not be a priority to release.
Hercales (Glory of Hercales) , Starfy (Legend of Starfy), Mike Jones (Star Tropics), Kyle Hyde (Hotel Dusk) and Ashley Robbins (Another Code/Trace Memory), you all are missed.







