This game is good! However, it is, in my opinion, a downgrade from the previous installment. The romance element, already fairly subdued in the first game, is wholly absent here. I also thought the cast was not well-utilized in general. With all eight characters accessible fairly early on, I settled into a set party of four and didn't really feel compelled to switch it up, other than the occasional swap in to use Stray's piercing attacks. I think having characters made unavailable for a period would have gone a long way towards encouraging party experimentation. Combat is also less fun. Without the ability to regen mana, I found myself avoiding abilities for much of my playthrough. One improvement is the new encounter system, which I do prefer to the old random encounter system. Overall, the game is very enjoyable - it's just a pity it is inferior to its predecessor.