I think a lot of the better experiences came precisely from the fact that the rules were so byzantine we tended towards ad hoc ruling a lot more.

There was a lot more background material for lore and world-building back then though. I still look to some of my second-edition Player's Option books for inspiration at times, but I haven't bought anything since I realised 3rd Edition forward was pretty much just a list of classes, feats, spells, magic items, monsters, prestige classes, powers, and so on, and so forth.

2nd Edition has monstrous Sea Urchins. That is awesome.