This was technically a better game than the first one. They fixed a lot of the jank. All of the changes to the battle system were welcome; though the game was laughably easy until the last two dungeons, so I didn't get to enjoy the changes to their fullest. The alchemy system was improved. All in all, this is a much more polished game than the first. Yet, I still ended up liking this less than the first game.

The biggest mistake was making Fi the emotional linchpin of the story. Fi is fine in small doses, but he got very annoying very quickly. Also, the game was paced poorly. It's great that the game gives you so much content, but it seemed like everywhere you went you would trigger a new cutscene about some sidequest or secondary character. It made progressing through the main plot a chore.

My head says this is a three star game, but my heart says three and half. I've grown to like most of these characters and the basic gameplay loop is fun and very addictive.