Quote Originally Posted by Randy View Post
It desperately needs more exploration options and a more sophisticated story and characters.
The first game was very tropey, not in a particularly good way.
I beg to differ. While the protagonists are pretty standard, the other characters are introduced in a pretty cliche manner only to have their personalities become (in most cases)something much more complex, with much more depth.

The plot, on the other hand, played with so many JRPG tropes that it was really refreshing to see this kind of resolution to a religion-centered story.

Seriously, people don't give this game's writing enough credit. It's really self-aware without being blatantly so, and the subtle twists of tired tropes are really satisfying when you see them.