It had some good qualities, yes. It was a very ambitious piece for it's day what with the open, non-linear style of it (I LOVED that part of it, it made 8 year old Laina have the happies), it just wasn't well executed. I found it so annoying with the grinding for hearts, the overly cryptic hints from NPC's, the lack of bosses, "WHAT A HORRIBLE NIGHT TO HAVE A CURSE" taking 10 unskippable seconds, et. c..
It was a pioneer game for the series at the time (Metroidvania with it's non-linear wandering) & God bless them for trying something so new at such an early stage of the series, but it still had quite a few flaws. It's okay though, like I said-we still love it & are glad it's part of the CV family.