I only played 2, not 1. And... I got a bit of a love-hate relationship with it. I did love exploring the open world and how the strongest creature in the manual was 30 feet of the starting path was a great introduction into the brutality of the world.
But the combat was very bad. Okay, it was actually fine against a single opponent, but against more than one the whole timing your swings to counter the enemy attacks went right out the window. Instead, it was a frantic buttonmash before your target's friend rammed his sword up your ass. And once you almost got your first target down, the two enemies would get near each other. At that point the lock-on system, which I presume was developed by Satan himself, would switch your target to the other full-health enemy while your previous victim would happily proceed to give you a double edged prostate exam. And just forget about manually switching targets in the heat of battle. It got so bad that I completed most of the game by taking potshots at a group, running away as soon as they got close and kiting them until they lost interest. Rinse, repeat, until there was only one left and you could fight him properly.
Also, the ending was a massive anti-climax IMHO. The final boss, who's been hidden all this time and when you meet him taunts about how everything you did to get to him was all part of the plan to destroy you is... another dragon. With the exact same moveset as the previous 4 dragon bosses*. Oh, but this one is a skeletal dragon... meaning it's vulnerable to the highly damaging Destroy Undead spell. On my sorcerer playthrough I killed him within 5 seconds by just casting that spell a few times. Yeah, how's that master plan of leading me to your lair working out for you now?
*Incidentally, the dragon AI was amusingly predictable. They had nasty attacks that made it hard to get close, but they'd always switch targets if another creature hit them twice. I always used summon spells or scrolls. Wait until they target the summon, then run up and get a few good hits in, retreat and let the summon get aggro.
But the combat was very bad. Okay, it was actually fine against a single opponent, but against more than one the whole timing your swings to counter the enemy attacks went right out the window. Instead, it was a frantic buttonmash before your target's friend rammed his sword up your ass. And once you almost got your first target down, the two enemies would get near each other. At that point the lock-on system, which I presume was developed by Satan himself, would switch your target to the other full-health enemy while your previous victim would happily proceed to give you a double edged prostate exam. And just forget about manually switching targets in the heat of battle. It got so bad that I completed most of the game by taking potshots at a group, running away as soon as they got close and kiting them until they lost interest. Rinse, repeat, until there was only one left and you could fight him properly.
Also, the ending was a massive anti-climax IMHO. The final boss, who's been hidden all this time and when you meet him taunts about how everything you did to get to him was all part of the plan to destroy you is... another dragon. With the exact same moveset as the previous 4 dragon bosses*. Oh, but this one is a skeletal dragon... meaning it's vulnerable to the highly damaging Destroy Undead spell. On my sorcerer playthrough I killed him within 5 seconds by just casting that spell a few times. Yeah, how's that master plan of leading me to your lair working out for you now?
*Incidentally, the dragon AI was amusingly predictable. They had nasty attacks that made it hard to get close, but they'd always switch targets if another creature hit them twice. I always used summon spells or scrolls. Wait until they target the summon, then run up and get a few good hits in, retreat and let the summon get aggro.