Ni No Kuni II's storytelling doesn't stick the landing

Ni no Kuni II: Revenant Kingdom is one of those sequels that is unanimously considered good, but less so than its phenomenal predecessor, Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch (or Dominion of the Dark Djinn if you count the Japan-only, Nintendo DS version). I prefer Revenant Kingdom by far, largely because I prefer action RPGs, yet even I agree its story has some blatant lulls. I still love its tale it's telling, but more so for a few particular moments rather than the whole thing. I’d hope that any sequel breaks out of its franchise’s established comfort zone, and Revenant Kingdom’s best scenes do exactly that, but it definitely misses or neglects something at the same time during its low points. The disparities between these stories intrigue me considering the sequel’s Tale of a Timeless Tome DLC is adding a new postgame arc packed with references to the first game. It makes me ponder about how the different stories from both games may mesh together. That, and I want to more clearly define my gripes and compliments around Revenant Kingdom. To do that I’m going to contrast their plots, which will require discussing several story spoilers from both games. I’ll avoid touching on the details that made my favorite scenes hit the hardest but consider yourself warned.