Haha, nice to know! It's been on my wishlist for a long time... Did you think it was a big departure from SaGa Frontier 1 to 2? Do they relate to each other at all? I haven't finished 2, and I played it like 10 years ago, so I don't recall the story, but I just remember loving the watercolor artwork and the interesting timeline choices you could make.
SaGa Frontier 2 is vastly different from the first. SF is a traditional SaGa game that plops one of seven characters in the world and lets you proceed how you want. They call it the Free Scenario System, which is something that has been used since Super Famicom days. SF2 is super linear. There is very little backtracking and the game will punish you if you rush areas too quickly. There are also various points of no return that have high difficulty spikes that, again, need to be taken into account before rushing too quickly since you essentially "run out" of places of to develop your team.
You can play the games in any order since they're not related. SF is more of a techno-inspired, steampunk/anime world whereas SF2 is a typical medieval setting. The narrative is much heavier in SF2 and has more lore and history whereas SF's story takes a backseat to adventuring.
Both games feature the classic SaGa-ism of "sparking" new moves, but there are other ways to learn them in SF2. You'll learn more skills by combining moves in one-on-one duels, which are a blast. That said, SaGa has always been known for fun battles and both games deliver on this front. It's the subtle features that differentiate the two.
I hope that helps. If you do play SaGa Frontier, I recommend not starting the game with either Lute or Riki. Lute has the potential to go straight to the final boss if you're not careful, which can lead to some permascrewed adventuring. Riki is a monster and it's better to recruit one in a party before you play as one. I tell people to go with Red for their first choice, but it's really up to you.
