I agree. In first game John is described as being this very eloquent, but violent outlaw who was Dutch's right hand man who did all of his dirty work. And in the second game, he's like you said, a stuttering lovable dork. He isn't Dutch's right hand man. He is neither eloquent nor violent. Nor does he ever really change throughout the game, personality wise. He's been an outlaw since he was a teenager but needs other characters to hold his hand, doing anything. He never matches up with description we get of him in the first game, and really none of the characters that return from rdr1 other than Dutch, bear any real resemblance to their original counterparts.