Plot and Pacing
I can see where you are coming from with this, though I think this particular case was just us stopping for the week exactly when the plot wanted us to advance. With the weekly scheduled format this inevitably happens every now and then… We were not done with ラムサス and ミァン yet even for time being.
Overall, the writers feel confident in juggling multiple story and character threads at once – much more so than other games of this era. This game has its flaws for sure, but at least for me this is a cornerstone strong point for the game – you can count on it being ambitious. The huge cast combined with the in medias res style opening act kind of necessitates this sense of bewilderment, but I also feel the writers are most definitely doing it on purpose – they want to hook us in.
I also get the sense now playing this in Japanese that the storytelling is even more implicit than I previously thought. I’m not sure if it’s the language that relies on omission or just me being 25 years older and picking up on things I previously wasn’t ready for. Probably both.
This week’s introduction scene for ラムサス and ミァン left a strong impression on me, and especially how it paints シャーカーン being so subservient to ゲブラー. They are not equal allies by any means – but that also creates the dynamic where シャーカーン is seeking for ways to even the odds… as we saw.
In modern games we would have journals and quest logs making sure we don’t miss anything salient. I love that Xenogears doesn’t do that for us – it expects the player to keep these threads in their heads. Our weekly format increases the challenge, as details submerge into subconsciousness over time… I’m taking a ton of screenshots and there’s also the script to fall back on.
My personal reading is that releasing マルー from ファティマ城 is for now the clear main thread, with the surrounding mystery around 『ファティマの碧玉』 being the bigger overall driver. ラムサス, ミァン and シャーカーン are also looking for it…
フェイ is still in a shocked state, despite taking some steps towards firmer ground. At least he no longer feels suicidal.
Then there’s the constantly increasing list of other threads to pull from in the future… starting from the mundane “why is シタン called ヒューガ by シグルド and how do they know each other?” all the way to the god-killing business.
Yup! And also introduce whole new threads to clear up. 
Very early days still.
