Thoughts on the set pieces?

[Departed]

MGS2 has always sat in a very strange place for me.  Back in the day, I used to yo-yo between loving it and hating it.  Today, I can comfortably say that I love all MGS games in spite of their flaws, including MGS2.  For me, it's a game with some genuinely amazing mechanics that make sneaking around bad guys so satisfying, and has some great bosses that really utilize all of those new mechanics beautifully.  But the biggest black eye for me has always been the set pieces.  I love everything about the tanker, especially when playing to bypass enemies instead of knocking everyone out, because the environment is designed so well to provide tons of distractions and little hiding spots.  But the entire photography section always ground my fun to a halt since I've always hated really stringent forced stealth.  The bomb disposal is a great way to get acclimated with the Big Shell in an organic fashion, and I didn't mind the disguise part either.  But the entire sequence escorting Emma, to me, is almost as tedious as the PAL sequence from MGS1, with no parts of it that I can say I enjoy, minus the fun Easter Eggs you can find during the sniping part.

None of that's enough to ruin the game for me, but I'll admit that if MGS2 ever got a remake, I'd be head over heels if those parts got completely overhauled.

How do you all feel about MGS2's leaning into set pieces more than the previous game?  Were there some set pieces or puzzles you liked more than others do you feel like the game would've benefitted from not having those parts, or at least altering them in any way?