The camera might have been worse in Ico, but because I didn't have to move it very often I considered it superior to SotC's camera. I found that in Ico objects or places of interest were always made clear by the camera and I rarely felt lost. This gave me a sense of direction, whereas the camera in SotC excelled at providing a sense of size but fell short in terms of visual cues hinting at the next destination. Maybe this was a design choice.
I think you hit nail on the head, buddy.
So I beat ICO and am now having that special brand of end-game depression, where I want to play something but everything just seems blah. About ICO, I think I originally wanted to approach playthrough with a fresh mind, hoping to rediscover an old gem. Alas, while it was fun rediscovering, I apparently have such muscle memory with this game that I didn't have any problems at all. When I felt a little lost I just tooled around a bit until I remembered what to do. The one part I had forgotten was the ending, which was more bittersweet than anything because I had convinced myself at some point that this game had the Japanese ending (for the record, I am playing the PS2 copy). Bummer, but that is what Youtube is for. I now place ICO back on the shelf where it will sit for another decade.
However, I can't wait to get everyone else's impressions.