Dunno how many of you played the first, but the 2nd is better! I downloaded the demo of it; characters are more in depth, the story seems to be a bit better (more intriguing from what little you get to play) and all in all its much more involving all round.
Graphics, surprisingly, look virtually the same as the original. And you still have fairly linear maps, but you can discover secret areas in them (I found 2 in the demo but know there are more!).
Not only that, you remember the pack mules? Well now you can buy pets (yes the mule is still there
) and you can... well I'll say evolve, but not like Pokemon 
You feed them any armour/weaps/rings you don't want (yeah you heard me) and after they eat enough, they grow. I had a mule foal that I grew to juvenile. Each pet has different characteristics (i.e. mule is a warrior, there was an ice elemental that was a nature mage I think) and different armour gives them different bonuses (i.e. warrior armour gives them strength, ranger armour gives them dexterity) and as they grow, they gain new abilities depending on what creature they are.
You have to buy new places in your party from the Innkeeper, then you can also hire people from him. Kinda annoying having to buy them (I found out when I went to buy a pet and was informed by the merchant that I had no space and should purchase more) but it's not bad. Also you pick up 'reagents' which you can use at an Enchanter? I think to add magic properties to 'enchantable' armour and weapons. You also get set and unique items again, and I *think* you get socketed stuff but not sure.
lol@ feeding weapons to your pets...erh, that sounds kinda off-center. 
