Much worse than the first game. The area design feels less interesting, the encounter density is much higher - to the point of tedium -, and some of the design is super trolly (the final puzzle being a prime example). The first game felt almost perfectly paced for my playstyle, granting me the final tier of spells just when I finished the game. By contrast, MM2 is much longer, more repetitive, and replaces the steady stream of cool new spells with a slower, more numbers driven progression. Ew.