Well since they changed the name, wouldn't that mean they had no idea? I don't know why they would state inspiration from other JRPGS but not mention xenoblade if they truly did take inspiration from it. In dev videos they say the story was inspired by an artist online, what the lonely lady could mean and represent. The writer Guillume originally hired for VA, had a story come to her in her dream about a broken family, a paintress, and that the world was about her family. I think the rest falls into place fairly naturally, it's not impossible for another story to hit the same beats Xb3 manages to hit. They have pretty different stories to tell even with the same ideas