If you want a case where I did switch mid generation it was (In my opinion) the worst generation I've ever experienced, with the Saturn, N64 and PSone.

I got an N64 because of Nintendo, but also because I figured Square and others would continue on Nintedo system (as SNES was awesome) with Saturn likely being secondary system for Sonic and all.  Did not turn out that way and by 1999 I had to concede as Final Fantasy, Grandia, Suikoden, Breath of Fire and others were all on one system (PSone) and not on one I owned (N64).  Honestly, besides JRPGs and rare game like Zelda that whole generation was pretty meh to me.  We are bit spoiled now on choice as all three systems are viable.  Nowadays it is bills and time retraints that form gaming habits.

I'd be surprised if that happened again as more read on industry now than in 1997, but would not rule it out if games were there. 

Who knows what can happen during a gaming generation? Things sometimes takes strange turns. While I had previous experience with some gaming consoles, my first owned console was the PS, but I was very very young and hardly knew anything about games. Probably very proud of beating Final Fantasy VII and VIII. Then I owned a xbox. It was a gif (But mainly because it was easily pirateable, that's the reason I got one). Again, little did I know about gaming in general. Now in the seventh generation I got, again, as a present, a 360, but by this point I had matured in gaming, and the first half of the generation, the 360 was an unstoppable force. I don't regret it, I've loved this machine more than the others, even if in this second half Microsoft have dropped the support (I hope for their sake that they're using resources for the next one) and they still make you pay for the online. Never been an online player (Always singleplayer, duh), but I do pay Xbox Live for Gears of War 3 (Probably the best online experience I've had this far, except for Unreal Tournament - which reminds me a lot - and Counter Strike). I've had some interesting games this gen. Probably my biggest complain is that those games ended up in the Ps3 and Wii as well (late, but better late than never) with added content, which gave more value than the original game in the 360.

Probably the example that fits this most is Deadly Premonition. I'm a proud owner of that game, and thanks to the fanbase established in the west, the Japanese PS3 version will finally be localized. What bug me the most is that it will have added content - LOT of added content - that won't see the light on the 360 version, which is IMO screwing the fanbase.

Of course I miss sometimes not owning all consoles (My mom owns the Wii, so that allowed me to play some of its games), but hey, not having money is what it is. But I can't say I have not enjoyed my time with the 360, and I still have tons of games to play. Tales of Vesperia is a great example (Now that we're talking about JRPGs). Then there's the XBLArcade and Indie support, which from time to time have great, hidden gems. I don't know. Probably my best advice would be that, when you have enough money and the prices are good, go for it and buy all three. That's what I'm planning to do.

Certain games are region-free, but 90% of games are region locked.

Some of the side scrolling SHMUPs from Treasure are region-free, but those are only region-free 360 games I know of.

Treasure? hm, i don't remember a single game  released for the Xbox on disc. You mean Cave, but there's more.

The list is quite big on the 350, Lost Odyssey is included even.

As i said, i bought mine from Play-Asia (asia version) and it works perfectly on my PAL 360.

That looks interesting, I'll read it later, but this only furthur supports that the game is unfinished and sucks. Emil being an ultimate weapon was well explained in the game, and his cutscenes were great. Why couldn't the cutscenese related to the story be as good as Emils?

Why is this link not in the game?

Nier could have been amazing, but it just feels unfinished.

Yes, N3-2 there. N3-2 plays exactly like N3, there is no excuse for that game. N3 is still bad, even if you give it the extra credit of being an early title.

Too tough to figure out? The game tells you nothing about the origin of the Black Sprawl. Yes I get it was some plague created as a weapon in our time, but I want to see at least a cutscene, or maybe a dialogue talking about how it happened in fairly good detail. Finishing Nier, there is no confirmation that the cycle of human shells will be finished, and no never helped with the big issue (curing the Black Sprawl). I mean Kaine go berserk at the end of the game, and there is no evidence that others won't become infected in the future.

The endings were 30 second clips, and very predicatble and unsatisfying. The last ending had a big impact on yourself? It was similar to one of the decisions in Mass Effect 3, but less explained, and felt less needed (In ME3, you needed to sacrifice yourself to stop the Reapers from their cycle, in Nier, you need to save Kaine, but why sacrificing youself was the only alternative to killing her was beyond me. You could have tied her up and brought her to Emil, Emil lived remember?)

The Gameplay wasn't bad, but the game made you replay half the game twice to get the endings. That's repetetive, and all that for a couple 30s endings? Zelda and Drakengard don't make you do that, and no Nier was not more deep then Drakengard. In Drakengard, one of the braching story's was your friend having an infatuation with your girl, and was willing to kill you for it, and then he went insane.

Atelier confuses me to be honest. I can't get into a franchise which doesn't consistantly make good quality games. I can understand when a developer make 1 good franchise and 1 bad one (e.g. I like Drakengard, but hate Nier)

Oh, so just some games aren't region locked? I know Halo CEO Pal works on my 360, and DeathSmiles in Japanese works here too

Yup. Those two are region-free. Cave schumps are all region free: DeathSmiles, Akai Katana, Dodonppachi...