I wasn't much on the net when EP1 was new but I don't remember ever hearing of much talk about this scene from the conclusion of EP1. We didn't know who Abel was at this point.

Was there any real chatter or wonder about who it was? Do you remember any theories you had?

Yeah I remember that some people thought he was Ziggy's son. There were some pictures to compare the two, but I thought it was reaching since they didn't share many similarities if you ask me. Most people thought he was related to the Abel's Ark that Willhelm mentioned. And that he might be the one to tie Xenosaga's story to Xenogears. That Abel's Ark could be the Eldridge.

Luckily they didn't tie Xenosaga's story into Xenogears', I never liked the idea and am glad they decided not to do it. It was just a Xenogears easter egg reference.

I thought it was Ziggy's son. Joaquin or whatever his name, in the one scene that you see him in had very similar facial structure and features, which made me speculate about their being the same. 'cuz Joaquin was a person of the Zohar, which was pretty enigmatic back then, pre-Missing Year.

You get to visit that one room where you see his building blocks in XS3.

Yeah. I remember that. It's some weird-ass place all while with no apparent end or beginning from what I remember.

I thought it was dome shaped.

Well, considering that at the time there was every plan to connect this series to Xenogears, I just assumed it was someone that would link himself to Fei in some way just like how I was figuring that Nephilam was going to eventually tie herself to Elly. But, you know, considering how Xenosaga concluded we figured out who that guy is now.