FC walked so SC can run. This game worked so well as FC has built the foundation and world building for this game.
Gameplay is virtually the same, except that there's more room for you to customize your team as you can switch around your party members as you wish, to some extent relative to the story.
Story wise it's definitely far much personal and emotional than the first one. All those things in FC is leading up to this.
Most of the characters shine through, while a few of them not so much.
I have to say though, with the world is now opening up, it can be quite a chore to go backtrack when there's no fast travel available. Then again, it's yet another old game so you just got to live with that.
Despite of the oudated game design, it's still a solid JRPG and definitely a really good sequel to FC.