I really love this game, warts and all. It's just so over the top: The gore, the crazy plot (four armed werewolves, naked women bathing in blood, murasama cutting baddies in half), the world-hopping scenario. I agree that the difficulty comes from some cheap mechanics, but those parts are short in the scheme of the larger game.
And I think I'm alone in this, but I really enjoyed the vita port. My only NG2 experience had been the OG 360 version, so the Sigma upgrades were quite nice, and having it on the go was even better.