You know, I think the main focal difference between CoC 1 and 2 is that CoC1 felt like an adventure centered around YOU the PC and you were discovering this new world and had relationships/friendships with characters centered around what YOU wanted to do and the NPCs acted as fun storytelling props that reacted to your decisions. Corruption actually mattered and your goal was always to make it to the Demon Queen.
In CoC2 you are just kind of there as a character with no real goal, and you end up going along with the NPC stories. The problem being, that there is so much "muh OC" going on that it feels like the companion stories never really end. I remember and like Jojo, Amily, Ceraph, Isabella, Izuma, Sophia, Valeria, Shouldra, and all the rest of the camp buddies because they were succinct and relatable. Everyone in CoC 2 is written like Kiha or Urta, which gets very old if you don't really like the character, and they are being insisted upon you.