From my short stint with the PS1 version, the load times didn't really bother me that much. Definitely not to the crippling extent of CT at least. IIRC they kind of made up for it with auto-dash even without sprint shoes, and wearing sprint shoes made your dash even faster.
Though I seem to recall the sound effects for the PS1 version being pretty bad in comparison which did bother me a little.
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A refusal of praise is a desire to be praised twice.