I was going to return the disc to the shop because I have the exact same bug as you on the loading screen after talking to Rhode.
This is actually a bad bug. I can imagine a lot of people returning the game thinking it's faulty.
I was just about to until I read that you have the same bug.
Anyway I will try skipping the dialogue to see if I can get past the loading screen that way.
This definitely needs patching.
