I'm glad they removed permanent effect potions from the game.
Melee becomes easy quickly. I took out several Dead knights at level 11, while in the first game this would have been pretty much impossible. Also, spiders are not a threat anymore since they have no longer have poison attack, which was very deadly in the first game. Not to mention, if you can take out a Cyclops without losing health, it's already pretty much guaranteed that the rest of the game won't be a challenge anymore. Still, I haven't had as much fun playing a melee character since Blade of Darkness.
The exploration is a bit disappointing, though. The few accessible dungeons (most are locked because they're tied to sidequests) contain very little of worth, save a few locked chests containing level-scaled loot. The interiors are generally impressive, though.