The problem is cost. Most JRPGs back in the PSX era actually had very detailed worlds. There were lots of side stories and you learn a lot just by talking to NPCs. The problem with JRPGs now is that it takes a lot of time and money to make a world like that. Most development houses in Japan just don't have that kind of money to throw around so instead you get those dungeon crawlers with portrait cut scenes instead of actual cut scenes. The development studio that does (Square-Enix) have completely mismanaged themselves into NOT having that kind of money anymore. When you cut out Square's RPGs out of the equation you're not really left with much. Therein lies the problem; Square sucks and they made the most. There just hasn't been any developer who can fill in Square's holes.

Edit: To sum up, JRPGs are NOT being made the way they were.  They're being made very cheaply and the company that could afford to make them like they used to mismanaged themselves to the brink of brankruptcy (again).

I think it all comes down to the writing and battle system to be honest...Ni No Kuni, Tales of Xilla and Xenoblade all saw great reviews

You are free to list any console JRPG's that are not constrained by these limitation's and I will gladly look into them like Dragon's Dogma.

Xenoblade comes to mind first.  Large map, lots of sidequests, day night/weather cycle, etc. 

This.  If you have so many problems with garbage RPGs released this gen, why don't you go back to classic RPGs?

One thing you should do is stick to handhelds.  A lot of classic style games actually are released on there.  Brave Story New Traveler, SMT4, Dragon Quest 9, Nostalgiai, Final Fantasy 4 Heroes of Light, etc.  I haven't played the last two I listed and Dragon Quest 9 is probably the worst in the series, but there are games that have the classic style of RPG to them.

Fundamentally i agree with both points.

I want the overworlds back, i always enjoyed exploring them to discover all sorts of secrets and the interaction can also be used with items.
Whats funny is that im playing tales ofthe abyss and the game has it right. Overworld and interactions with the envyronment with myus powers. This is the sad truth, but Jrpg regressed starting on the ps2 era because of graphics. These games had all these elements and managed to tell great stories.

I mention Xenoblade.

Now I know your smarter than that Kupo. I'm will wait till you read the op and get the message before I respond to you because you sure as hell dont have it now.

You state that RPGs haven't advanced because of limitations, but your complaints about Final Fantasy 13-2 is how RPGs now have more limitations than they did in the past.  Stick with RPGs from the past, back when they were good.

It is a RPG, with a robust character creator, fairly open-world design, class customization, and so on.  Some of its combat aspects may have some similarities to Monster Hunter, but they are still very different from each other in that regard.  Like KylieDog mentioned, I would recommend the Dark Arisen version, as it includes the regular game, as well as the expansion.