I'm not saying story is a bad thing. It's not, but it seems like a lot of devs focus so heavily on coming up with an engaging story and good visuals that they forget to actually make the game fun to play.
I think about some of the games I've played over the years, and a lot of my favorites either had fairly limited or even downright absurd plots that basically boil down to an excuse to make the gameplay loop happen.
Just a random musing.
Have you tried the remake by chance? I almost bought it for my Switch a couple years ago.
I may just download a ROM of the original and see, PS2 emulator is not a problem.
I think I might have? I'd have to check, but If I have, it would be on the shelf, most likely ps4.
If I'm remembering correctly, it's basically just a graphical update. controls were always fairly solid, so no worries there.