That's a good list. Don't hear people say much of anything about Skies of Arkadia very often.
SoA is maybe my favorite JRPG ever.
It had a lame combat system with an awful random encounter rate (which it was a bit corrected on GC release), that's true.
But you can explore a huge world, full of details and stuff to discover, and everything put together a great background and a great story.
The plot is a bit cliché, but it's perfectly paced, and at times you just don't give a fuck to play the usual "save girl from guy who want to destroy world", because who cares, it's a trope and this game knows how to amazingly exploit it.
In addition, you get my favorite part ever in every games: to upgrade your ship and to build and upgrade your hideout, recruiting people and buying components.