I am having trouble getting the game to load after the loading screen. I am able to select New Game or Load Game but when I select New Game it doesn't start the game, it brings me to a black screen with the minimap active and you are able to open up the menu. I've included a screen shot of what I see after I select New Game. I am running it from my disc and it seems to be loading properly.
In case you were curious, this is why that happened:
As I said, Xenosaga is a dual layer disc(DVD9) and the disc plugin doesn't support that. The reason your screen appeared black with the minimap is the data for that scene is on the second layer of the disc which the plugin can't read, while the mini map and opening FMV are on the first layer.
It's always best to rip your games to ISO for anything other than a quick test. It's more compatible and has better performance that way.