Opinion time, I'm half into the 2nd world of the game, And while the lack of story isn't great the gameplay and world still is, I'm also fine with the lack of story for this reason:
When Uncharted came out on the vita some people talked about how people don't want a large AA+ story on a portable platform, Because it's not supposed to be something you spend hours at a time on. And i think that's the reason for this, I'm playing about 10-20 minutes a day and it always know what i'm doing, And i don't have time taken up by lengthy talking or cutscenes. Where as it's fine on gamecube because i'm sitting down with it expecting it to fill x hours, Not a toilet break.
I also don't have a problem with the lack of leveling or anything, It all seems to add up to more money so i can roll the wheel thing and get more stickers in a turn.