well i havent played them, (i own Xillia but im currently playing other games in my backlog and i will get to it eventually) that being said i thought Xillia was quite popular and probably the best selling tales game so far, not so sure about the reviews that it got since i never pay attention to them when it comes to japanesse games, since most reviewers dont even seem to get what makes this type of games fun.

anyway i think the games are quite popular amongs the fans, but it does seems like a lot of people just think that Vesperia is probably the best, which pisses me off beyond everything... and the reason why is because the game already has a PS3 version with extra content and even a new cool character but it hasnt been localized and im sure the reason to that must be some weird contract that they signed with Microsoft... like seriously i see no other reason why they wouldnt bring that game to the west when they already remastered and localizaed Tales of Symphonia and every single other "Tales of" game of the 7th gen has gotten to the PS3...

I would say that Xillia one deserves more praise, as for 2 I can some it up in two words why it doesn't get much praise: DEBT SYSTEM

that really brought down 2 it was SOOOO annoying having her call you like every-fuckin-five-minutes or every goddamn minute when you went above the payment cap. And combine it with the re-use off assets it really took away the wonder of roaming around the world as you visited like 95% of the game already from the first, and it's a mystery to why they made the protagonist silent for the first play-through maybe because SPOILER: maybe because we would've found out the Ludger was Elle's father but then again they sounded different enough that I didn't catch on. plus the got rid of the ability to switch character in mid-battle along with the ability to change characters without being in a town was annoying as well....haven't beaten it yet; currently finished chp.13 but all this really brought the game down...

Sorry. I should have said that they "claimed" they missed Japanese games, and I was under the wrong assumption that JRPGs were also Japanese developed games.

Ni No Kuni was a new IP (at least in the west so it got a bit of attention) Bravely Default released on 3ds at a time when there wasnt much out for that system and it seems to be a return to form for SE which excited more people. Valkyria Chronicles had a unique little spin to it i dont think was seen before release

You sould have specifically said JRPGs, saying Japanese games makes no sense cause that includes games like MGS, but I guess it doesn't matter since your logic makes no sense either.

I loved Tales of Graces f flaw and all. Story wise did start to get silly toward the end. IMHO i think whats effecting it is sporadic release, yes they put out a few recently but they should have really taken the reins from the beginning of last gen to build up a brand in the west. It feels like they are desperately playing catch up but better late than never.

They should have released Vesperia on PS3 in the west as well released a collection or something after FF13 (as a lot of people were let down by that game and would have wanted to get their JRPG fix somewhere else) and just kept trucking from there.

I dont know where you got that idea.

With that said, they arent insanely good or anything, not even near the best in the series, but definitly much better than the godawful Tales of graces f. I see some mention it as a good game and i just can't fathom how one concludes that with an unbalanced combat system, uninteresting cliche characters and slow moving plot with a predictable ending. You guys need to go back and play some proper ps1 JRPG's.

Pretty much. The only JRPGs I remembered last gen :
Final Fantasy XIII series
Ni No Kuni
Lost Oddysey

Throughout the 2000s I decieved myself into thinking I was a massive JRPG fan when in fact the only JRPGs I was playing were Final Fantasy7-12. It bridges that gap between Japanese fantasy and western cinematics+grounding. I haven't played the Xilia games because through the appearance and styling alone they put me off through appearing too anime-ish and for lack of a better word generic. I assume them to be filled with sappy+weak dialouge and unwarranted melodrama. Final Fantasy XIII was shockingly close to what I just described funnily enough, my distance from the FF franchise has increased in direct correlation with how much I began to realise recent entries felt more and more "anime" (X-2, crisis core, XIII series). It doesn't mean they're bad, just they go against my taste in ways regarding story telling and stuff 

At a glance I wouldn't be able to tell Xilia from Swords art online or the attelia series or any other JPRG of similar sytling (to more seasoned fans they're probably worlds apart). The fact that they are often of a smaller budget doesn't help either, huge production values is something which allowed me to enjoy XIII despite every aspect of the core game dissapointing me.

I think typically the JRPGs that get attention is west are very unique

-Final Fantasy (or Square Enix in general-Bravery Default included) was a trail blazer in creating original worlds blending different mythologies together in ways no one else had done, with an artstyle that paid attention to detail far more then the rest whether it was medevil (FFIV), steampunk (FFVI-VII), Sci-fi (FFVII-VIII) something from a childs fairtail (FFIX) or a peculiar mix of all said things (FFXII). I mean what other JRPG has encorported real elements of east asian culture like the way FFX did with reference to the "orient" like Thailand and Bhudism.

-Ni No kuni of course is from the legendary Studio Ghibli, similar to square (or at least what square was like), what they do looks nothing like anything their contemporaries are outputting, not in games or any other media. Also really capture the heart of the whimsical in a way that generic anime portrayals can't.

- I briefl recall Golden Sun, Grandia and Breath of Fire. Have no idea whether they actually stand outs or it was just nostalgia. They seemed to have ambition though

I just started giving persona a try mainly because the critical exclaim got my attention, its not that I can't enjoy anime visuals just that I have a negative association with them. Also Persona's style is bit more quirky then the rest :p

So back to the OP, I think people don't give it a fair chance due to artstyle and budget.

Better than that gawd awful mess that was Graces, but by no means were they good games. I got a few laughs out of Teepo, but other than that, they were pretty sub par all round.

They are underrated? Under what assumption?

And never played Xillia 2, but I loved Tales of Xillia. I loved it so much I happen to own a copy of the game, but I don't own a Ps3.