Sure, here comes a bit of a crazy rant...
Might have overhyped the original in my head since I'm a big Dynasty Warriors and Fist of the North Star fan, but totally felt that out of all the Musou games I've played, it was the worst. Too sluggish, the horrible frame rate, lack of characters, and limited but unnecessary puzzle and platforming bits are the things that still linger in my mind about what I hated about it. I've come to expect very fast, smoothly animated kill-focused action from playing so many Dynasty Warriors games and spinoffs, so to me this totally wasn't what I was seeking. I even gave the game several tries, importing it on Day One for my Japanese 360, trying out the domestic PS3 demo, and giving the import one more go when I got a 120Hz TV later on, but I still couldn't stand it.
Honestly haven't dug into it the sequel much as I would've like, but from what I've seen so far most of my complaints have been fairly resolved. The cast size exploded and included a lot of the characters I liked that were missing, like the Colonel and Devil Rebirth. Combat feels faster and Ken isn't as sluggish, plus his moves have a larger area of effect. Having evade replace the jump button most likely means no platforming, too. Frame rate still isn't the steady 60 FPS I like, as most of the recent Koei games unfortunately have failed to keep that standard, but it has improved enough to make it bearable to me in 120Hz.
