Pretty good sequel! I personally enjoyed the first one more, but comparing them is a bit apples-to-oranges. 

This one is obviously formatted more like an RPG than a VN. The RPG elements are neat, if you're looking for challenging combat this isn't the game for you, but I think most of us are here primarily for the story, in which case the combat and inventory management is just pacing, and if that's the angle you're coming from you'll like it. 

Ari remains delightful, Brash was my least favorite character from the first game but I actually liked him a lot here. The new characters are interesting, and the voice acting is wonderful, as always. 

Minor spoilers ahead:

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I do feel like this game needs more Raze though. He's busy with plot shenanigans for much of this game, but a consequence of that is that he gets much less banter time than the other two, which is a shame, because Raze's politely evil banter was one of the best things about the first game, and there's so little of it here. Also, watching Brash and Ari slowly forced to get along was amazing, and now I'm sad that we didn't get to see something similar for Raze.