Shion just isn't interesting enough to utterly dominate the story like this! At this point I'd even take another round of Momo Is Sad/In Danger Because Of Other People to break it up! D:
Look! Look at these incredible places! Why would you make a game filled with sights like these and then make the journey to see them as long and tedious as possible?!
The best way I can describe Xenosaga II is... It's like someone spending hours baking you a beautiful loaf of bread - measuring, kneading, proving, baking - and then garnishing it with dead flies because it "needed" a novel twist. Oh and the loaf weighs 400kg, b/c more is more.