It's a solid game, if you like the first, most likely you'd like this. Combat is bassically the same with new people, skills and weapons.
The story and lore works pretty well with the saga, and some light comedy is still present. Great music too, hoping for the soundtrack here.
The biggest novelty of the game is being able to explore the map and have some real-time fights. It is pretty nice and there's some hidden things to find, which encourages exploration, however there are really not many things to find, and in the middle-end game the place gets too big to go around.
I'm kinda dissapointed on the mc not being able to fight formost of the game, and the payoff later in the game does not feel that great.
The game is also unnecessary grindy, literally just before the end mission you get a boost to EXP, that comes too late, it should be boosted sooner.
Still, despite some flaws, the overall experience is great, I could not avoid finishing the game in just a few days despite being an almost 30 hour run.