I'm writing this just after beating the game and while I will admit this game is still a good game, it's just not as enjoyable as the first one.
For starters, the difficulty has been ramped up in comparison to EO1. FOEs no longer give out exp, TP cost has been dramatically increased for almost all skills, a lot of the old classes have been nerfed, gathering resources has somehow become even worse (I'm hoping in future games they revamp the gathering system so that you don't have to waste precious skill points on it), and a lot of the enemies have become a lot more tedious and unforgiving.
While I'm on the topic of the gathering system, is it just me or are there more fetch quests that ask you to get rare items than there were in EO1? The rare items also seem a lot more rarer too.
If there is one thing this game has over EO1, it's that the soundtrack is a MASSIVE improvement. It's also an exact replica of the original EO2 soundtrack but this one sounds a lot better than the first one.
In terms of aesthetics, I also think this game has better stratums than EO1. In fact, I think Frozen Grounds and Petal Bridge might be the best stratums in the series (at the time of writing this, I have only played 1 and 2 so if i somehow find better stratums I'll edit this).
So yeah, overall I'd say this game shares a lot of the stuff that make the first game great, but is bogged down by the difficulty increase. So while I do recommend you play this game, I only recommend you play it if you enjoyed the first one and wouldn't be surprised if you said you skipped this one.
For starters, the difficulty has been ramped up in comparison to EO1. FOEs no longer give out exp, TP cost has been dramatically increased for almost all skills, a lot of the old classes have been nerfed, gathering resources has somehow become even worse (I'm hoping in future games they revamp the gathering system so that you don't have to waste precious skill points on it), and a lot of the enemies have become a lot more tedious and unforgiving.
While I'm on the topic of the gathering system, is it just me or are there more fetch quests that ask you to get rare items than there were in EO1? The rare items also seem a lot more rarer too.
If there is one thing this game has over EO1, it's that the soundtrack is a MASSIVE improvement. It's also an exact replica of the original EO2 soundtrack but this one sounds a lot better than the first one.
In terms of aesthetics, I also think this game has better stratums than EO1. In fact, I think Frozen Grounds and Petal Bridge might be the best stratums in the series (at the time of writing this, I have only played 1 and 2 so if i somehow find better stratums I'll edit this).
So yeah, overall I'd say this game shares a lot of the stuff that make the first game great, but is bogged down by the difficulty increase. So while I do recommend you play this game, I only recommend you play it if you enjoyed the first one and wouldn't be surprised if you said you skipped this one.