So I finally finished this game - after 8 years. I had initially played it on release on PC, but I lost my save file due to having to reinstall Windows. I had made it all the way to the Geothermal Valley - about 50% through the game - so it was a pretty significant blow at that time and I just never had the motivation to restart it. Fun fact, I also lost a Planescape Torment save and a KOTOR save during the same incident, which is why I have never finished those games despite really wanting to. Maybe one day I'll go back to them as well.
I left this game for a few years before finally getting it on PS4 at a massive discount. I played through it slowly until the same area about 2 years ago - according to my trophy dates. Then other games came along and I just kinda soft-dropped it. It never left my PS4 hard drive or anything, I just simply didn't play it again for the longest time, choosing to delve into other franchises. I have no idea what possessed me to return to it at this time, but I'm glad I did and that it has been finally completed. Boy, has it been a journey.

Now, I quite liked the reboot of the franchise, and I did actually replay it again two years ago as well - because I got all 3 of the games in the same discount bundle. This one does feel like an improvement in some ways, but it is also a step down in others. The gameplay has been tightened up and has some more variety in how you can mow down hundreds of enemies throughout its playtime, and there are new traversal abilities that are fun to play with. The wonky jumping can still lead to unnecessary deaths sometimes, something which is inherent in all action platformers since the dawn of time and the gaming industry just seems unable to fix.
The story, however, is just not as compelling or well-told as the reboot's was. It might have been because of the way I experienced the story, but I never felt any connection to anybody in this game the way you do the crew of that game. Jonah makes an appearance here, sure, and he is a welcome sight, but none of the new villains or allies had any real impact on me. The exploration part of the game is also a massive headache. The hoops you have to jump through to get 100% in some areas, including needing multiple pieces of new gear in places - tested my gaming OCD to its absolute limit. If this had been a tighter, more linear experience like Uncharted or something like that, I think I would've had a much better time with it overall and probably would have finished it sooner. But no, I spent like 30+ hours doing dumb shit to collect useless collectables just to fill that 100% completion bar in every area.

Overall though, I wouldn't say I had a bad experience with the game, despite experiencing it in a completely convoluted way. I do think it's weaker than its predecessor, but not by that much, honestly. I'm tentatively looking forward to finally jumping into the final game, but I'm gonna need a palette cleanser because I know that one is just gonna be bigger and have more useless shit I will need to spend hours collecting for no reason.