Disappointing? Perhaps, depending on what you expected. Bad? No. I'll have to go into the usual Black Wind "Analysis Mode" for this.
First of all, what everyone should realize is that this wasn't originally intended to be a true sequel. It was a spin-off that eventually became somewhat of a sequel, and it's fan-service. While it continues where ToS left off, it didn't really need to because ToS's ending was satisfying. They're giving us more because we wanted more. At the same time, it doesn't feel forced because even in the original, whenever your group thought they had the solution to everyone's problems and the game seemed to be coming to an end, more things went wrong and the story continued. This is basically an extension of that.
Also, this game is much, much shorter than the original ToS. When I finished the original, I clocked in at roughly 60 hours. In this game, it was half that much. Not that there's 30 hours less of story, but since the world map was eliminated and the game is a lot more linear, it takes a lot less time to finish -- that's about 20 hours gone right there. So yes, the original did have more story.
While Lloyd and his crew are in the game, the main focus this time is on a boy named Emil and a girl named Marta. I'll warn you of one thing: Emil is going to annoy the shit out of you in the beginning. You are going to hate his guts because of how much of a fucking pussy he is, and want nothing more than to play as Lloyd again (even though he's apparently become the evil that he fought against in the original ToS). Then the bad-ass "Ratatosk Mode" Emil will show his face and you'll wish he was in that mode all the time. However, I can say with utmost honesty that by the end of the game, Emil becomes one of the most finely-crafted characters in video game history, and everything makes sense in the end. Not to mention he is voiced by Johnny Young Bosch, one of the most talented voice actors ever (Nero from DMC4, Guy from Tales of the Abyss, and he was even the second Mighty Morphin' Black Ranger!) His performance is certainly the best in the game, with Marta and Tenebrae not too far behind.
As for Lloyd and the rest of the original cast, everyone except Colette and Kra-- er, the "narrator" have had their voice actors dropped -- probably to save money. It really hurts listening to some of them sometimes, especially Lloyd, because his original voice actor (I forget his name, but he was Robin from Teen Titans) had so much charisma that it really brought the character to life. Zelos and Sheena also suffer from this, but the others are a lot more forgiveable. You'll get over it eventually. What I like about the game is that you got to see more of certain characters that didn't get a lot of spotlight in the original, such as Regal who really gets to shine as a character in this game, or Zelos who felt like a Kratos replacement. Unfortunately, Presea doesn't show up until towards the end and I really would've liked to see her come a long way since she broke free of Rodyle's control in ToS. Wasted potential there.
Soundtrack is pretty much the same as it was in ToS but remixed. There is an exclusion of a few awesome tracks and an inclusion of some new ones... Overall, the original was superior in this aspect.
Graphics are obviously aged due to the fact that we're in the midst of entering the high-definition era now, and this will turn off most gamers, especially reviewers. The gameplay is on the same engine as Tales of the Abyss -- in battle, at least. Since the camera is fixed when not in battle, that's still much like ToS.
I'd give the game a 7.5 out of 10, really. The original to me was a 9.5, which could have been a 10 if the Z-skits were voiced like they are in DotNW, which would have gotten an 8 if the cast had their original voice actors. Oh well.
