Despite owning this game for a month and a half or something, I didn't get the chance to start playing until last week (during my break between semesters). I haven't played at all since (when I put in about 20 hours) but I am eagerly anticipating jumping back in this weekend.
This game has been hailed as one of if not the best JRPGs of this (console) generation and something of a revival of the genre. While I feel like this opinion is mostly supported by individuals who don't actually
play JRPGs, my takeaway so far is that Xenoblade is an absolutely amazing game and needs to be played by everyone for reasons that go far beyond showing Nintendo of America that the US still has a market for this (Xenoblade was part of the almost tragic Operation Rainfall movement)
I'm not going to give the game a review, but I am going to make a short writeup of the things that make this game, in my opinion, special.
( If there are any spoilers here they are really minor )