Finished Xenogears on stream last night and I truly do think there's a case to be made that the messier that game gets, the better it becomes, straight up?
Disc 2 is a segment of that game that some people absolutely abhorr, saying that it "ruins the pacing" or "just turns into a VN" (like thats derogatory or something), but the segments contained there are like. The most compelling scenes and encounters in that whole 60 hr game to me? lmao
Disc 1 has numerous pacing issues as is, too, since many of those smaller arcs drag out things that could be dealt with waaaay quicker (the Nortune prison arc especially comes to mind). So, the expedited pace of Disc 2, in a way, resolves that issue for me?
Despite being a much more grandiose part of the story being told, it somehow also seems to laser focus on specific characters and themes explored earlier in a way that I think really works.
Kind of talking in circles at this point but yeah I think Xenogears doesn't really deserve the flack it does for those late game growing pains.