Disc 2 is kinda losing me…

Hey guys! I’m sure I’m about to describe a pretty common experience, but I’d appreciate if you’d please bear with me.

When I first started Xenogears, I wasn’t immediately hooked (I come from the stance of someone who LOVES Xenoblade 2 as my favorite game of all time, has played all the blades, and wanted to return to the series roots). However, I was interested when Fei got kidnapped by Kislev and really started to love it when I reached sky city Shevat. And the game just kept getting better and better till the end of disc 1.

Now, I’m someone who almost always loves story more than gameplay, but disc 2 feels really off to me. It seems more like a summary with weird random gameplay segments than a cohesive story. I’m not that far, I just finished the first anima dungeon, and it hasn’t all been bad. The Ramsus Elly encounter was wonderful, and the whole Soylent System was brilliant. But still, i find it harder to stay attached to the characters when it’s all just moving from one big explanation to another with no downtime.

Not tryna throw any hate though. I get that they were short on budget, and this is a commendable move.

About how long is this disc? Can anyone with a similar experience vouch to the disc getting better/worse for them?

Thanks for your time.