no! we are stingy!

Basically, the only thing you mean to say is that you love Xenoblade a whole lot. 

You love the settings and world of Xenoblade and that makes you say things that just aren't true. Illustrated by the fact that you admit DQVIII did what XB did years prior to it. You talk about the scale of the world as if it's a way to reinvent something. It is not. You're telling me that all a developer needs to do to reinvent something is make everything to scale and add miles of maps to their world? Sorry, but that's shallow a view at best. And seems to be only a way to elevate Xenoblade beyond its actual merits.  

And seriously, who ever thought that "the JRPG genre could not have vast, open and monoscaled worlds"? Never once heard that claim made by any reasonable person.

I say the exceptions don't make the rules.

You mention Wind Waker. Let me direct you to Twilight Princess and Ocarina of Time.

Again ad-hominems and no substance with strawmen speckled in. I said DQ VIII and XB did entirely different things. DQ VIII perfected classic JRPGs, XB didn't perfect (at least I hope not) but made a standard out of a new type of JRPG. Those are entirely different things. And then you marginalize what was done in Xenoblade with , "You're telling me that all a developer needs to do to reinvent something is make everything to scale and add miles of maps to their world? " You know very well, or maybe you don't because you didn't play the game enough that what was done in Xenoblade wasn't just that. 

Plenty of people characterized JRPG's as traditionally linear games whose endeavors in non-linear gameplay were not successful. 

That's just what I see when I read your comments. You seem to blind yourself to what other games have done in favor of Xenoblade. When everything it did was done in other games before it. Xenoblade is linear in the same way classic JRPGs were. The plot doesn't unfold in non-linear way. You are still asked to go to pre-determined parts to get the story and the game move forward. Exploration is open, but so is it in DQVIII and many other games in the genre, be them older or of the same generation. You just like the way it was put together in that particular game. So do a lot of people. It still doesn't mean it reinvented anything. 

The standard existed way before Xenoblade was made. That standard was neglected during the last generation, and Xenoblade contributed to making it come back. But it didn't set it.

No I see you overrating other games which have been critically slammed in order to make a point that you can't make. And then you scream bias without ackowledging your own. I'm the one making actual arguments, you are not. Being the first to do something is NOT the same as being the one to reinvent a standard. The Iphone wasn't the first touch screen smartphone, but it reinvented the standard of phones toward touch screen smartphones. Likewise Final Fantasy wasn't the first JRPG, but it reinvented the standards of the genre. 

It makes me wonder if you even played Dragon Quest VIII or Xenoblade if you are going to compare it to Xenoblade. They are very different games with very different focuses. 

How hypocritical of you to talk about ad hominem.

You haven't made any arguments. All I've read so far is you saying that you love Xenoblade in part because of its scale, trying to pretend it reinvented a genre and set a new standard. Despite said standard having been there all along and done by other games before it. I say It brought back that standard.  You don't agree. Instead, you're trying to force your view of the game on me, and make me say things that I just don't see in that game, despite, yes, having played it (and yes, Dragon Quest VIII as well. Who do you think you are? xD).

You say I am overrating other games, yet here you are having nothing but praise for Xenoblade. Who's overrating anything, again? So, we're going to have to agree to disagree on this topic because you seem to be way too emotionally invested for me to get a reasonable discussion with you about this. 

Your entire post was ad hominem. How would I respond other than likewise? What else was there to respond to? Of course I will target you as well, as apparently in your own eyes you are unbiased and everyone else is too in love with Xenoblade to see the truth of the matter. 

I mentioned a combination of things that made Xenoblade's open-world gameplay different from prior games which attempted as such. Who did you think you were when you made the assumption that I didn't play many JRPGs? What makes you better that you can make the assumption about me and I can't make a similar assumption about you? 

@ Bolded Right, you werethe one resorting to logic fallacies such as ad hominems and strawmen based on a perceive biased and I  am the one emotionally invested? Please. Your entire existence in this thread is to get reactions from fans of said game because you feel it might be overrated. 

Except in this case the exceptions do make the rule because games like Okami and WW prove it's purely art direction not whether a game is 2D or 3D that determines it, highlighting TP makes no difference in what you're claiming as it's plain false. The are games like JSR, Red Steel 2, XIII, DQVIII etc... that all show this, even games like Metroid Prime still look good today so what you claim is wrong no matter what game you put forward as one exception debunks the whole argument.

I talked about DQ VIII and you end up saying you doubt I have played it. I brought it to the discussion and you said that. Hence the "who do you think you are".

Like, seriously.

And you take this all as if I'm saying the game isn't as good as people say it is. I am not saying this at all. What makes a game good isn't whether or not it reinvents the wheel or creates an entirely new genre or standard. If that was so, games like Uncharted and The Last of Us wouldn't be considered good. What makes a game good is the sum of its parts. Be them parts that existed before in any fashion or entirely new ideas. Xenoblade doesn't reinvent anything. It doesn't set new rules or bring anything original to the table, outside of its settings.

What it does, is takes many things that worked well and were greatly appreciated in other games of its genre and bring them all together in an extremely well crafted package. Do you still think I believe the game to be overrated, after I make such a statement? Besides, I don't use that word. I think people calling something overrated display an ounce too much of self-absorbtion and appear to me as incapable to understand that not every games are made to catter to their particular needs.