I'm thinking of downgrading from PLaystation 5 to Playstation 3 - I would like to ask for advice

[Gameguy]

I don't know how to describe it other than games have gotten so complicated and convoluted and frankly I don't have to patience to spend 3 days learning how to play a game.

But they start to get good after the first 80 hours....

Yeah, I don't bother with games like these either. Games have become a chore to play through, but a lot of games are now specifically designed for twitch streamers so they are literally work to play through.

I'll try to answer a few of your questions at least, as best as I can.

1) Am I crazy?

Not really, you're not crazy. Overall I tend to prefer earlier games to more modern ones, I'm not even watching youtube playthroughs of modern games when I did during the PS3/360 era. Imagine 10-20 minute long youtube videos of people just messing around with skill tree options, it's pretty tedious to watch modern games. It's not even just my opinion, but plenty of people who actually like modern games now consider the PS5 to be a mediocre generation for Sony compared to the current Xbox console. The PS5 is not as good as the PS1 or PS2 generations. At least there's plenty of discussion on youtube going into detail over this.

4) can I play PS2 games on the PS3. Not the actual disks because I know that requires very specific models, but a virtual purchase? I can't seem to find the PS3 virtual library, it all defaults to PS4/5.

I know this was possible in the past, PS2 games were available as a digital download for the PS3 and could be played on the console. I don't know if PS2 games are still available for purchase on the PS3 today. A friend of mine bought PS2 games this way for the PS3, what I do remember is that they looked like shit on the HDTV as the PS3 didn't upscale the resolution for these PS2 games at all. It actually bothered me to almost giving me a headache, I just couldn't stand the pixilation as it was pretty extreme.

Controllers can be a crap shoot as the connectors that connect the top board to the bottom board are connected by pressure and is susceptible to corrosion. If you read stories about button presses just randomly happening-that's what's doing it. It looks like Retro Fighters has a PS3 compatible controller that turns on the system AND has Sixaxis called The Defender. I'm down to my last four working PS3 controllers so if they start croaking, I'll probably go to this.

I didn't know that this was a common issue with PS3 controllers, I mostly came across controllers with bad analog sticks. If the PS3 controllers I have stop working, then I'll probably be done with the console and I'll sell off everything I have for it. I barely use it at all, and mostly keep it around for a bluray player in case I need to use one. I do have some games for the PS3, and Xbox 360, currently less than 10 each that I'd consider worth owning. There are still other games I haven't picked up yet but I will if I come across them for a really good price, so I may still add more games to my PS3/360 libraries.