I loved PoP, I still have great memories of playing through this beast. I wonder if I'd have the patience to make another effort to run through the whole thing...
Speaking of this style of game, I was always a bit bummed that Out of this World and Flashback never got a SCD release. I think the Turbo Duo SCD platform could've easily handled those games and it's a shame they never got ported.
Even though PoP has a cool redbook audio score for the SCD, I absolutely adore the SNES soundtrack and prefer it over NEC's. You should definitely have another go at it. There aren't many games like it. The only other game that might come close is Nosferatu.
I agree, OOTW and Flashback should have absolutely been released on SCD. I own the 3DO version of OOTW, and I must say the soundtrack is breathtaking. I would imagine that NEC's would have used the same score.