Well, finished the game. 66 hours, SL139, 466 deaths. Went with a pure dex build, curved swords, katanas, bows and occasionally the black knight halberd when the situation called for it.
Totally loved it, it exceeded my expectations by a long way. It's hard for me to say if I like it more than the first game since that was the first souls game I played and you don't get to have that experience again, but I think game is better in many respects. I thought the changes to the combat are mostly improvements, the level design is better, I enjoyed the story more and this game is just bigger. I'd say it's a little uneven in terms of areas and boss designs but the only time I ever felt really annoyed with the game was one optional boss at the end. Oh, and I absolutely love the armour designs.
Excited for NG+, I can already tell there are some surprises in store from the first few seconds