The custom assets for this game are very cute and I appreciated the eye candy, that said, I'm not one who ignores bad stuff in a game just because it might look a bit pretty and while there wasn't anything extremely horrible in the game, there were a few things that did stick out as weird/annoying. The passability, for one, really got a bit annoying after a while, especially for the taller trees and things you should be able to walk behind. I also had issues with some of the writing but for the most part the game as alright.
I liked that I knew the prequel - it helped to give a bit more of a nostalgic feel to the game. The gameplay was pretty standard - run around, kill monsters, talk to friends - nothing exciting but nothing bad. It felt like a standard jRPG, which it pretty much is. Without the history built off the previous game, though, it's not as special (since you don't understand that you're undoing all of your sisters' hard work, for an example).