A huge improvement graphically, and a story just as distressing and depressing as the first. Maybe more. It's insane how much Amicia goes through, she's tough as nails, and this game developed her especially well.
The characters shine the most in this game.
The gameplay loop itself is more or less identical to the first game, and it gets repetitive pretty fast. I could have stood the game being a few hours shorter because of this, but it's fine. I enjoyed it for the most part, and it has a very strong ending.