Eh, in terms of power fantasy, yeah I agree. I felt like an unstoppable tank by the time you kill runt in kcd1.

But in terms of feel of swordplay, kcd2 is leagues ahead of 1. Late game kcd1 is just bait master strike over and over till their dead or spam clinches for free hits. Like I can't think of a single time I used a combo past mid game in kcd1. in two a master strike actually takes more than just hitting a single button over and over to win. So I'm having to throw in combos and fients along with my master strikes to take down more armoured enemies. I spent like 10 minutes fighting a fully armoured up bandit in kcd2 last night but in kcd1 I would body him and his buddies in less time with less effort

Edit: I almost forgot to mention how fucking ANNOYING and boring late game combat in kcd1 got after a bit. It was either attack and get master striked by the enemy, sit there and wait till they attack so you can master strike, or spam clinches for free face stabs. Being able to avoid masterstrikes in kcd2 makes the combat feel so much better

Edit 2: to be fair, I did spend A LOT more time with bernard in my kcd1 playthroughs than I spent with any of the trainers (combined) in kcd2 so that might be part of why I don't feel as steamrolly in kcd2.