Picked it up in the EU sale - 29 euros is perfect for this, as I'm someone who loved the first game as a Vita game for its charm and because it was astonishing to play such a game on a handheld but who also felt it had a lot of gameplay flaws that needed correcting and would need to be hugely 'expanded' in terms of content and quest design to be a worthy full-fat console game.
I'm coming from Zelda and then Horizon, so the poor game has basically an impossible task living up to either of them, and my standards are probably sky-high at the moment.
Anyway, two chapters in and I have to say it's been a super-weak opening in everything but the tone of the dialogue / story, which is still cheerful and upbeat like the first. The descent into the mines as some faceless miner was such an odd choice to begin the game with. There was no tension or interest there at all. The focus is on in-game dialogue, but the game struggles with in-game dialogue as it's not properly voice acted. Without being properly voice acted, the dialogue can't build up the tension the scene requires to hit home, nor the real nature of the banter between the characters. Just a really weird, boring start.
Since then it has just been running dull errands on the flotilla. I'm fine with a slow start in general, and that's what this is, but surely they could have made this more interesting. Whatever caused Kat to wind up here - THAT'S what the game should have led with, rather than just referencing the actually interesting event and showing us the boring stuff.
It's too early to say, but so far the gameplay feels identical to the first one, especially ground combat and gravity kicks. That'll be a huge disappointment if it remains the case.
Still cautiously optimistic but it's a poor start.