Better than the first game in a few areas, worse in few but mostly the former. Improvements are starting to show: really enjoyed the character switch, which i cant praise enough: definitely offered an interesting approach to combat (iframes, berserk state "storage"). Of course that trashy upgrade system is here to stay but it seems to have been streamlined just a bit which is fine by me and they at least tried with the OST. Now when it comes to worse stuffs than the first game, some fights would go for unreasonable stretches to the point they become exhausting.