Kotaku: Xenoblade Chronicles Import Preview -- 'in one word, it would be “boredom.'

[Skullwaker]

Wagram said:

Honestly, I kind of seen this one coming after the big interview where he called Xenosaga a failure. This was also something I was concerned about when Nintendo picked them up. That studio is mainly about story and music. Gameplay has always been a distant third, but then they decided to fuck up both 1 and 2 in favor of 3.

Congratulations! Twelve missions in a JRPG this massive is a failure.

There aren't 12 missions. This has been clarified numerous times in this thread.