Hm, while I think this game kept my interest a lot more than it did for 1, I didn't particularly find it much better or good. Definitely feel there was a more engaging story here, just didn't connect with it, it didn't feel anything new to me and I guess was a bit predictable at times. I hate Joshua's character and background, was completely generic to me, wasn't a big fan of him prior to this game anyways. Thought Estelle's and Joshua's romance wasn't needed and forced while I much had rather preferred they kept their previous relationship and grew on that more than something shallow here for the sake of it. None of the plot beats really piqued my interest or got me feeling a certain emotion. I feel I have a lot more to say on the narrative and characters of the story but don't know where to start.
The gameplay itself, wasn't a huge fan of it before, but in particular this game, the bosses absolutely BLEW. The Loewe fight having a continue glitch was so jarring, the final boss having unnecessary stages with vats of HP that really did nothing to the narrative has me questioning the point. Multiple bosses throughout the game put you at unreasonably unfair advantages to the point there's nothing you can do before you get one shot by some super move at the start, and I was definitely not under leveled.
The pacing was better but at times it definitely was padding out certain events and making the experience longer