What in the enchanted forest are you complaining about? Truly good games don't get outdated just like that.
It indeed was.
I never really played the original, but my brother has it and I saw him playing it sometimes on his PS1. I detected that it was a very good game back then, and it still is.
The story and humor are just hilarious, great cutscenes, voice acting, nothing ruins the impression. If I am not mistaken, some cool characters are also added here.
The camera... Horrible? Not really. Never caused any trouble for me. In fact, I have never tought about it, nor have I found it annoying. Just press the R button and the camera will be behind you! No problem. What's next? Are they going to start complaining about FPS games where you can't turn your head?
And why are some saying the fighting is broken? Those who say it doesn't matter what weapon you use have clearly not understood the point. Whenever you go to the Hall of Heroes you get a new weapon. Mainly there are two kinds: Melee and ranged. I assume you know the difference between these groups.
About the melee weapons: You have small swords. These can be carried together with a shield, which must be repaired to function. Repairing the shields are not waste of money, trust me. Press the L-button to shield.
You have big swords and other things. These are powerful but cannot be carried with a shield. Another thing is the club, which can be set on fire. You can light various objects from lanterns to cannons with a club.
Ranged weapons: Things you either throw or launch. Varies from chicken meat to flaming arrows and so on. Although you mostly get linearly better and better versions of these, there is a factor which must be considered. They use projectiles, which must be bought at a statue-salesman-thingy. The projectiles have very different costs. Some of these can also be carried with a sword.
All weapons can be "charged" by holding one of the attack buttons. With melee weapons this can cause a powerful spin, stab, or slam. Useful for taking out groups of enemies.
Different types of enemies are weak against different kinds of weapons. It's logical. The speed of the weapons are also a factor.
I love the atmosphere. The music and sound effects are just great. Often dark, sometimes some morbid form of silly. You'll also meet Death, a too busy nice guy really.
This game is solid with no bugs, inconsistencies, or any other negative aspect that ruins your experience. But if you hate cutscenes, stories, "hack'n'slash", anything near classical music, dead people, looking for stuff, humor, and platforming, this is not the game for you.
This is not a mindless action game.