I agree witg your first statement, but I don't think the Arisen did a lot of stuff in the first game when it comes to the main quest. It's been quite a while since I played it, but wasn't it just mostly doing missions for the Duke? Like going to a place, do something and report back? Imo the story didn't pick up until Grigori crushes the upjumped zealot and challenges the Arisen to seek him out and battle.
Imo, the story is cooler in DD2 but, sadly, so poorly delivered that it makes it feel like a bunch of disjointed stuff.
Yeah it's crazy, and it makes me feel like we got monkey-pawed to death with this sequel. Hopefully a DLC/expansion will come out to better flesh out the world and make the whole game feel more completed.
And better combat and exploration too! Which imo is enough reason to consider it better than the first game, even if the sequel has some stuff that's worse than the first game.
I feel the combat is better in DD1 on the basis you can do more stuff and there are more mechanics you can use. More uses of Torpor/Slow, Poison, Lightning affects metal armor, setting yourself on Fire and running into enemies hurts them, with the exception of Warrior you have 6 skills you can set to a class.
Augments also really suck in this game. They are so uninteresting to me. Mostly just utility, QoL and defensives. The DPS ones don't do much of anything to ever actually matter. But with Martyr's Bolt and Allheal/Wakestone every boss in the game becomes toast. Ho wow.
Like sure on PC(rip Console players) you can use mods for a skill swapper or the True Warfarer mod but here I feel you are more limited in skillset. As primarily a Sorc main I have very jaded view of how the class was treated as Bolide/Maelstrom spam or just Flare Spam. And taking out Brontide and all Dark Magic is just really lame. Sorry I'm a pure Sorc guy. I'll never let this go.
I think the combat in DD2 is still good but DD1 I still prefer overall. It could also just be once you gear up and hit even lvl 30(I'm like 70 something now) a lot of enemies just aren't challenging at all. Unless the game throws everything at you or you get sideswiped by a Gore Harpy the game doesn't pose much challenge.
Have not bothered even using a Savagery Extract(Atk buff) with how cakewalk the game is.
Comparing the stories it's very clear the first game has better focus on the Arisen and the Dragon and pulling you along(I guess doing Duke stuff is a bit of a dry spell but everything else was exciting to me?) as opposed to DD2 which is not much progression or have memorable setpieces. I guess what I mean to say is that DD1 has good pacing and DD2 is kinda all over the place. The dungeons are so lacking in comparison to even the Cassardis Well(that's pretty sad IMO). And nothing in this game has anything remotely similar to the journey and the climax of Bluemoon Tower. Every dungeon being a Corridor Cave leaves much to be desired. It's like they fell in love with their cave textures for RE4R and said "Hey lets make every dungeon that!"
I did like the Elf and Vermund Regalia Sword questlines. Takes you all the over the place.
Exploration I think DD2 wins for sure. Lots to do and find. I primarily enjoy finding certain landmarks of where old areas would be from DD1.
I think the main story in DD2 is definitely more interesting once you have an idea of what's going on. The stuff involving the Seafloor Shrine is really cool shit but there just isn't enough of that. But the Vermund and Battahl stuff I really don't care for.
If DD2 goes as I expects it to I would hazard to guess the base game we have now will end up being half the story or game and the DLC is going to be our part 2. If the rumors are to be believed I think the DLC is gonna be massive. Massive in a similar vein to the upcoming Elden Ring DLC(which is gonna be a expansion or basically a ER2). I'm hoping DD2 bridges the gap between DD1 and DDO but we will see. There is evidence of more "Spellseal" doors in the game that are unused so I feel like some of those tunnels that collapsed are going to be unearthed and DLC is gonna be accessed that way.
If anything I really wish there was a way to jump back into Endgame faster then rushing Key Quests because Endgame has materials you can't get anywhere else. And I'm rather bothered that the game world does not have a lot of enemy spawns for those stronger boss variants.
Looking forward for DLC. Hopefully something to top Bitter Black Isle.
