Great review Ryuki. You know i could talk for hours about this game so i'll try to keep the word count down lol. I have enjoyed it so much since getting it, it's become an addiction but i've had to force myself to do other things so i can make it last otherwise id play it nonstop. I've racked up over 50 hour so far and i'm loving it. the last rpg i had this fun with was golden sun 1&2 on the GBA, 8 years ago.
True that pretty much every RPG released outside of japan is compared to FF7 and its unlikely Xenoblade will become as iconic as FF7 which is a shame really because it ticks every box to make it iconic.
The storyline which as ryuki said starts off slow but it builds and builds and there are a fair few surprises and shocks (sorry if that was a spoiler) instore if you and ive still got some way to go til the end (im in sword valley atm for those who have completed the game) the day and night time shifts are brilliantly done along with the weather (rain, thunderstorms, sunshine, even shooting stars = only on Eryth Sea as far as im aware) each one will bring out different monsters and certain ones will bring out mini bosses. same with the quests in towns, different people will out in the streets at certain times of the day and will give out quests (if you need to find them after the quest you can see what time of day they are availible in the affinity chart menu) its a very indepth game and should be explored throughly. The game also has an awesome soundtrack aswell and you should check it out.
just to prove how big the game can be Eryth Sea is HUGE. I swam all around the edge of the map (just to uncover it all) and it took me around 3 hours (i live a sad life lol) quite a few in-game days past lol.
I could continue talking about it but i'm sure it'd just bore you all lol, so as ryuki said go and buy it, i did and it was the best choice i've made in years. gotta get it finished though before The Last Story release in Febuary. It's times like these i'm proud to be a European aswell as a Wii owner.