Trip report:
Two Worlds 2 owns.
Still as janky as the first (jank owns, deal with it, it's a european game feature) and not nearly as funny as the first. It tries way too hard to be serious instead of goofy, but it's still goofy and that's a good thing because if it wasn't it'd be worse than Gothic 3. Fortunately, Two Worlds 2 improves on the first by having a slightly better combat system, cutscenes are better, and a magic system that is extremely customizable in a way I've never really seen in a game before.
The UI is two steps back but familiar to the first game, and the controls are about on par but feel floaty compared to the first game.
Crafting and upgrading items is way better and more modular than before, only requiring that you break down items instead of having the same type of item in order to upgrade. You can do more and combine gems even.
Certain issues that seem to be frustrating:
The landmass that is much bigger than everything else, isn't for single player. That's MP only. Why? Who the fuck thought that was a good idea? Fuck you.
Can't buy stacks of items, making buying a bunch of something frustrating. You can sell a bunch of stuff though.
They made it so you can walk around in conversations but there's no point to it. You can't move away from someone to end a conversation early.
A bunch of locked items aren't because you don't have a key for it, but rather because they don't want you doing something yet. Eugh.
Anyways if you're a gothic fan or two worlds fan, pick it up, it's good. Fuck the naysayers, they have shit taste.