I think I actually liked the second one a little better overall. The characters look pretty awesome and I can actually give them a personality (that they continuously use). I also liked the way the story was told, and the characters had a bit more charm to them. It really did suck to have such a small world to explore, though. The whole game was based in one town and it really seemed like the creators struggled to squeeze everything in one place, because they were too constrained to make many other maps or something. The "world" travel screen looks pretty empty and sad.
That being said, the ability to change the intro of the first was amazing. Back in the day, I was blown away by it. Now, going back to the first is really challenging for me. As Halo said, it can get repetitive, but the main thing for me is how slow the game is and that it makes me want to fall asleep. I hope they can recapture the same sense of adventure and choice from the first, only with a little more excitement.