I feel as though most folks writing bad reviews don't "get it".
The game is deceptively linear. You can beat the game in a few sittings if you only follow the main story and the occasional side missions that happen to start up while you do those main missions. However, if you dive into itand actually explore and go off the beaten path... without googling everything... you can find cool stuff.
Did you find the Sphinx?
Did you find the elven village?
Did you find all the dragon towers?
Did you unlock all vocations?
I think the people who never played the first game just can't appreciate how far they've come. They've cleaned up combat so well. It can only go up from here and I hope they make a 3rd game. As far as bug and glitches, I really didn't experience too much of that. Maybe when the terrain is getting absolutely demolished because it's taking my 20minutes to kill a dragon so when he lands its gets a little laggy but I mean really on the scale of things it ain't bad at all. No complaints other than graphics. But I grew up on ps1 so I'm not complaining that much hahaha..
Play it and don't be lame.