I played through the first game and enjoyed it quite a bit. I'm a big Dragon Quest fan, and used to play a lot of the Dynasty Warrior games when I was younger so this was right up my alley. A warning to anyone that isn't a fan of either of those things: the story in game 1 was very simple and cutesy, so expect the same out of this one. The gameplay was also very simple, and I can see a lot of people getting tired of it if they don't know what they're getting themselves into.
I'd like to play this one too, but there are just too many other big games out right now.