Load times stink.
I have no idea why a company like Squaresoft can optimize their code so that they can make Final Fantasy XII texture-rich, and run with a scaling level of detail (as in models become simpler the farther they are from the camera), or how games like God of War can run with almost NO load times, and yet a developer like Raven Software, whose experience lies primarily in high-performance shooter games like |Return to Castle Wolfenstein and Heretic II, based on id software engines still turn out a game that loads like glue dripping on a cold January morning.
And this is the third iteration of the same Vicarious Visions engine for God's sake. You'd think they'd have optimized this for the PS2 by now.