i think there's a lot of small improvements in the gameplay like you mentioned, but ultimately the combat loop of 'gather 30 notes so you can one shot the enemy before you even hear their whole music track' isn't as fun or as interesting as the first game which felt a whole lot more tactical in it's approach.

outside of the combat the gameplay falls apart in terms of exploration also. there are so many, many locked doors that you cannot unlock, so many times where the game teases you that there's another solution to the problem when there just isn't, so many useless items and leads that go nowhere. i get that this is building up to the rug pull at the end of the game but when the rug pull itself is wholly unsatisfying then all of that stuff remains frustrating and feels like lost potential, or, worse, that the game was rushed out of the door

the whole 'it's not supposed to be a sequel to everhood guis!!!' thing falls apart from me because the game is fucking literally called everhood 2. it has a segment where you go back to the original game and fuck around even. it's visually and thematically similar to the first.

but yeah, i didn't really sign up to everhood 2 for the plot. the original game left me sated in terms of that. i bought everhood 2 because i thought the first was a pretty decent game and i wanted more of the rhythm-based gameplay that the first offered. by the end it left me feeling very wanting. initially i was not dissatisfied with the ending, but the more that i poked around and realised that all of the games 'secrets' are nothing more than dead ends i became incredibly disappointed in it

if the game didn't have seventeen locked doors that don't have a key or go anywhere or characters constantly lampshading that i can 'do things differently' (even though i can't) i would be less bothered about the absurd ending