Congrats on finally breaking free. My thoughts on your gaming pile...
Xenosaga series: Each game gets better, but each game plays radically different than the last. I think the story is worth it, but you can tell they rushed things a bit with three... it was supposed to be a six game series covering chapters 1 and 2 of the "Xeno" story. Due to poor sales, we'll probably never know the whole story (unless Square-Enix remakes Xenogears), but at least Part 3 has some cool straight up allusions to Xenogears.
Final Fantasy 12: I never really understood the hate for this one... yeah, it's not turn-based. The gambit system makes it unduly hard in the beginning of the game and way to fucking easy at the end. It's still a better story than most of the recent games.
Persona: Wait for the PSP remake of Persona 3 (assuming it includes "The Answer" post-game. If not, get Persona 3 FES). Persona 4 doesn't look like it's getting an updated game.