The journal really could be better. Increasing information shouldn't be a performance issue. The old game probably started to stutter because it never expected journal abuse. It would be a small matter to prevent that kind of thing in D:OS since it's still being actively developed.
That said, cramming the journal full of information is only useful if the info is readily accessible and the ease of use is substantial. An archive for archive's sake with a poor user experience is useless.
