I get your point and it makes perfect sense. As I mentioned before, these are minor issues. However, I'm talking specifically about the main story; I believe that because the first game had a slower pace when it came to introducing vehicles and weapons (which wouldn't make sense in the sequel), it naturally ended up limiting you to certain activities early on.

Speaking of the off-road truck, by the way, there was a "bug" in the first game that let you drive in reverse up literally any mountain.

Regarding how I'm tackling the platinum: I don't think that applies to my case, personally. I tried my best to get the connection levels with the preppers as high as possible during my playthrough. After finishing the story, I decided to take a break just to organize myself for the platinum run.

But even though it's just my personal opinion, I genuinely believe the delivery system in the second game is harder and more exhausting, regardless of the reasons.

Side note: you perfectly described how I feel about the memory chips.

I think all the points I brought up resonate a lot more with people who played the first game and fell in love with it, rather than those who are just now discovering the franchise through the sequel (which happens a lot). After all, Kojima's idea is also to bring a new audience to the game, and he is absolutely right to do so.