Yeah, the roadpass was fairly difficult. The rest of the game is straightforward (dungeons have the exact same layouts and such as the original), save for the fact that the progression is now much more linear than the original. Still, it's not a bad remake.
PSG2 on the other hand, to me, was a great remake. They even mixed the dungeon layouts a little bit, so it wasn't just a graphical improvement. Plus, the ability to do a New Game+ mode and resurrect you-know-who was a fairly sweet bonus
-Corey