Sorry I'm a little bit late with my opinion, but I've just recently played PoE 2 for over 50 hours. Anyway, here's a little opinion about both games from me.
When I played PoE 2 I thought that there is something missing there. I mean the graphics were gorgeous (in my opinion this one of the best looking isometric cRPG's and maybe even the best), combat and leveling were way better (in my opinion) than in PoE 1... and yet something didn't clicked with me. I gave it some thought and I think I understand what didn't worked for me.
First of all I think it was the story. PoE 1 plot was interesting and I was curious what will happen next. Where will I go this time? What will I learn in this new location? I also think that the story was more personal than PoE 2. In both games we need to save ourselves, but in the first game it was more interesting and I wanted to discover new things. In sequel it's just... I don't know, not that compelling? It's like those four factions are much more important than this huge reincarnated God, who wants to do something that can change a lot of stuff. I also liked the atmosphere of PoE 1. It was darker, more melancholic and I had a feeling that something is not right with this world, like something messed it up or something is out of place, but in a good way. And story of The White March was also really interesting. Zahua and Maneha were really nice additions too.
Speaking of companions, I think in the first game they had more to say and were more fleshed out. I wanted to know more about Durance, Eder, Aloth, Grieving Mother or simply help Kana. Also I can mention only two compaions that I didn't liked in PoE 1: Devil of Carroc and Pallegina. When it comes to rest... well, what can I say? Eder was a bro and I wanted to help him. Aloth was interesting and I wanted to learn more about him, his problem and help him set things right. Grieving Mother was fascinating and her relationship (not romantic of course) with the Watcher was really something else. Plus discovering her story and knowing her better was simply put awesome. Durance? Must I say anything about him? That Magran Priest was the reason why in my first playthrough I rested as often as I could, so I could talk to him again. Kana Rua had this great personality and was a fun companion. I can write the same about Sagani, Maneha, Zahua or Hiravias (that crazy little druid). I even had problem with party composition, because I really liked them and I couldn't take all of them (except Pallegina and Devil of Carroc) with me.
In PoE 2... well... emm... I don't feel the same way about companions. Serafen was ok, Teheku I didn't like and Pallegina was even worse than she was in PoE. Eder was great, Aloth too, but Xoti and Maia were missing something. Xoti had a side quest which I helped her with, but it didn't changed her that much and it didn't involved learning something new about her. It was... meh. Maia also had a quest that didn't changed anything, and while I've learned something new it was just that, nothing more. It's like those quest lost something special, which was there in PoE 1. Not only quests, but companions too. I appreciate party banter though, it's nice to hear them talk to each other.
I also didn't liked the open world. It's huge and naming islands is nice and all, but to be honest there is a lot of space that is just not used. Nothing happens there, just long voyage to the target. Plus Aloth's Quest involved triggering a random encounter and that really sucks when you have bad luck. I was looking for this one little ship and I spent a lot of time on it. Didn't got it. After two days I tried again and got in 1 minute. I mean... why? Why do this? If I need to get a certain random encounter to complete a quest that is not a good quest design. It's just frustrating when you swim from point to point and nothing happens.
Anyway I have this weird problem with Deadfire. I like the leveling system, multiclassing, combat... but the story and rest is just not as good a the first game. I want to like it, but I can't unfortunately. Right now I do not want to play PoE 2 again. I just don't. Instead I want to go and replay either PoE 1 or Tyranny... and I think I will do just that.