As someone who really liked Xenoblade back then and has kind of gone "hmm, maybe this was better in my memories" when playing the Switch version, I kind of think it has to do with the time and place.
Console jrpgs were not having the best time during the PS3/Wii era.
So I haven't finished the Switch version at all so after the beginning I may be like "no this game is actually awesome like I remember". But back then it felt like kind of the next step in jrpgs. Like the mmo combat I kind of find meh now back then felt like the next step after FFXII. FFXII's "problem" was playing it self and a critique was that it was an offline MMO. So in XB you have MMO ideas like aggro and tanking and it addresses the play itself stuff by having things that keep you really involved while things auto attack. When I played it that felt very smart to me.
Also while the world in the end is not that interactive. The scale and size was still impressive. For me, I want jrpgs to have worlds that feel like they exist. To be well rendered, have some belief in thier existence and feel like I'm traversing a world when I play them. XB does do that, but it also has an interesting aspect that you are on giants. I remember one time while playing I eventually realized this land mass that I was scaling was actually a giant finger and from the top of the finger I could make out the whole palm. It was amazing.
But also the story felt very old school jrpg. Simple town boy has his town destroyed and is flung into a greater adventure. It's cliche, but I remember it being engaging and not offensive. Yet, in an era that felt like it was all NIS or waifu bait animu stuff, this was the kind of anime/Japanese nerd shit I was looking for.
Is it as interesting as Xenogears(a game I played when I was like 13 after experiencing Evangelion so that's probably why I like it), but I remember thinking it was really good.
Getting over the hump of Jrpgs can be annoying so if I can do it I think I'll probably enjoy it like I did before.
