Skyward Sword and it's not even close for me.  Skyward Sword is my second favorite zelda game, while I kinda hated Xenoblade.  I never even finished it.  I gave up pretty close to the end but I just could not get into it and the whole time I was playing it, I was just trying to force myself not to finish.  I'll probably go back and finish it later, just to finish it(I'm at Agniratha right now).  But either way, I much prefer Skyward Sword, even though it does have its problems as well.

It's an interesting point that people say "Zelda gets praise just because it's Zelda". I completely disagree. Zelda gets unfair expectations because it's Zelda is my opinion.

Suppose instead of Xenoblade Monolith Soft developed Skyward Sword - except it wasn't a Zelda game, it was just some generic new IP. It would've undoubtedly sold a lot less copies, but I'm also certain it would be talked about as one of Wii's hidden gems, in exactly the same way Xenoblade is. The expectations and presuppositions about what a Zelda game should be wouldn't have been there, and as such people would have been surprised by how good the game was (if they ignored the fact it was a Zelda-clone!).

Xenoblade in my opinion is a fantastic game, but a lot rougher around the edges than Skyward Sword. It also helps for me that I simply prefer the action in Zelda to the more RPG elements of Xenoblade, but I accept that that is simply subjective.

Bottom line is, Skyward Sword gets a ridiculously hard deal from fans, and if we're honest, the main reason for this is because it isn't the Zelda game they wanted, so they don't care if it's good or not.

I have to vote for Xenoblade...
I find the setting, the environments, and the soundtrack more interesting...
Skyward Sword might have the more interesting story, but I also found some of the decisions pertaining to gameplay to be very questionable (I didn't appreciate the use of motion controls for flying and swimming, nor did I appreciate having to fight larval-stage Demise more than once)...
And it may not affect how I feel about the game overall, no is as good a time as any to say that I hate Zelda's appearance in Skyward Sword...

Never played Xenoblade (am planning to though), but I enjoyed playing Skyward Sword. Ironically, the thing I disliked the most in Skyward Sword is the new motion controls due to the motion plus, but other than that it was fun

I vote Skyward Sword because it's my favourite (or 2nd) Zelda game, so i think it's hard to surpass it, even if i never played Xenoblade (though i'm not totally ignorant about this game)

Zelda

Easy vote for Skyward Sword. Xenoblade Chronicles probably has the worst combat system I've ever encountered in an RPG. It's not turn based, so I don't have full control of my party, but it's not exactly an action RPG either, since I don't have full control over the actions of my own character. That middle ground that forces you to walk in circles around a monster or stay quiet watching your character swing his sword at the air while you wait the time required to use an special attack killed the game for me. A shame really, since the story seems to be really good and I liked some things like the affinity chart or that it allows you to trade items with NPCs.

Damn, this is such a hard question. Two of my favorite game of all time. There is no doubt that as a whole, Xenoblade is the better game. Way more ambitious, better story, bigger world...

BUT, for personal reasons, because of what SS means to me, it is my favorite game of all time. It has a certain charm, and the journey I lived towards this game's release, all the hype I had and it did deliver. Because of so many reasons (art style, characters, music and more), this game makes me go thru beautiful emotions of nostalgia when I think of this game.

SS has my vote (altho I admit that Xenoblade is probably the better game). Bottom line, I LOVE them both.

the true is that Zelda Skyward Sword did not derseved many 10s it has. It is a really great game bt the way, it has some issues and a formula that didn't like to everybody but if you play it and you look back to remember it, it comes to your mind with a great sensation of joy. The most important thing of Skyward Sword as a game by itself is that it is the perfect example of the capabities of the Wii as a system and how cool can be the motion controls in a core game.

on the other hand Xenoblade captivated me, I love this game sooo much and it becomes one of my favs of all time soo my vote goes to Xenoblade Chronicles !!

I love Skyward Sword as much as I do any other Zelda game. Top notch level design.

Xenoblade is the one I feel strongly compelled to return to hundreds of hours later.