I don't think any of us walked into this game thinking it wasn't going to be convoluted
It's a legitimate criticism though, you can't dismiss that. Japanese storytellers over the years haven't exactly been known to start and finish stories strong, they are great at concepts but they known to stumble. Especially Nomura.
I thought convoluted storytelling was par for the course with JRPG’s and honestly Japanese storytelling at large. You literally go IN for a mixture of likable characters caught up in a plot that involves mysticism, spirituality, esoteric religious themes, and open ended “the thoughts in your head are the ending your heart wrote” conclusions.