Regarding the plot, I read this too:

Takahashi:"Actually, the main story might be shorter than Xenoblade Chronicles. However, the quest stories are matched up with the open-world game design, so there's more depth to the quests"

And this

Yokota: "That's right. During the first stages of planning, we discussed increasing the number of quests by 3,000%. However, this took place before the development process, so in the end, we ended up creating a similar number of quests as in the previous game. But we did put 3,000% of our hearts into creating them..."

So, even if the main story might be shorter, they put more effort on the side content, and that's what I think XC lacks. Nice to hear that.

Far out, you make me look like a ray of sunshine. :p

Sooo for anyone who was wondering, the map size of Xenoblade Chronicles X in square miles is 154 square miles (~400 square km). For comparison, some last gen games people have claimed XCX doesn't measure up to in scope:

Oblivion and Skyrim: 16 sq miles and 12 sq miles respectively
Grand Theft Auto 5: ~100 sq miles

Now some comparisions in KM cause I'm lazy :P

Xenoblade Chronicles X: 400 sq km
Witcher 3 so far (Novegrad, No Man’s Land and Skellige Islands): 136 sq km (there's a few more regions coming so Witcher 3 and XCX are both probably going to be in the same general league in terms of size)
Red Dead Redemption: 41 sq km
Far Cry 4: 46 sq km

In other words, the map is ridiculously huge.

And people swore up and down it wouldn't be as big as those games.

Indeed. 

Dinner is served doubters >:D

On a side note, I called this as soon as I saw the 2013 trailer.  I have worked with both Oblivion and Skyrim enough to know that the game was going to far outstrip them in size.  Especially once I saw the size of NLA and it's relative size compared to the surrounding land.  You could probably fit all or almost all of Skyrim's major cities (Windhelm, Whiterun, Riften, Solitude, and Markarth) inside of NLA's walls to be frank. 

PS:  perfect gif btw

Actually, I belive GTA V is ~49 sq miles

I saw conflicting reports, went with the most reliable one in my mind.  Either way, XCX is far larger :P .  

The map is gigantic, and yet some people is only looking for some tiny ugly corners...

What the crap? X is bigger than all those games?

@MaxWill37699872 Hello there, Unfortunately we don't have that info. Stay tuned for updates. ^SB

— Activision Support (@ATVIAssist) April 28, 2015

Well, it's not a denial, though I still wouldn't get my hopes up.