Wow, we're kind of polar opposites on some of these, haha.
Xenoblade is undoubtedly loaded with its fair share of "JRPGness" but I still managed to enjoy the story and characters overall. As far as the combat I thought it was a lot of fun but it did start to get a little repetitious as time went on. However, I was usually able to keep things interesting by switching the character I controlled from time to time.
That said, the number one reason I love Xenoblade is the world. From the moment I left the first town I was captivated by almost every new area I encountered. I have never played an RPG with such a creative and well-realized world. Even though I finished the game a year or so ago I can vividly recall almost every environment in the game, and the simple act of exploring those environments was enough to keep me hooked throughout. That alone makes it top-tier for me, but I also enjoyed the surrounding elements a lot more than you seemed to. To be honest I ended up loving the story at the end once it went into full on metaphysical philosophical territory. So good.
Also, protip, play with the classic controller. The game controls much better that way, in my opinion.
As for Pokemon X (I played and finished Y) I enjoyed it but didn't love it. The primary reason is due to the game's difficulty. There are so many side systems in the game that you can utilize to make your Pokemon stronger but what is the point when everything is a cakewalk? It just makes all the optional layers feel like unnecessary bloated additions that are just there because. The easy difficulty undermines almost all of the nuances of the battle mechanics which just led to me going through the motions 90% of the game. Still, I did enjoy the polish and the Pokemon themselves are always pretty cool. I just wish the game had difficulty settings even though I know that's taboo for Nintendo.
I totally can understand where you're coming for with Xenoblade. I just feel, this generation has been waiting for a "traditional" Jrpg for so long that the game was given a lot of leeway, and a lot of it's gaping holes are glossed over. But i think you do make a great point, in that the game world immersed you in right away. When that happens, a game will definitely make an impact. It never grabbed me. Which probably had a lot to do with my overall feelings for the game. There was a part that I vividly remember though, we were fighting a boss, and one of the dialogue going back and forth was my knight saying "He's kidnapped juju, we can't let him get away with this", at that point I was pretty much

Did this dude just say Juju and kidnapped in a sentence? SMH
As for Pokemon, yeah it wasn't the greatest but it's Pokemon bruh! It's an event. A game that you can play for 1 year easily. But Soul Silver is still my favorite in terms of content and story.