in my opinion, the layout of the first one was a lot better. it feels much more cohesive to me for some reason, and each area was pretty cool. i cant help but feel like DS2's areas are kind of cramped or slightly rushed... (alot of them are supposed to be dreadful, but lots of them really feel like blighttown, ie annoying but not necessarily hard)
i myself just got to the area after drangelic castle.... it's a nice one.
the bosses could be cooler as well.... and soul memory might be the worst implementation ever... (the total amount of souls you ever obtain are factored into your summoning/invading. so if you stay at level 120, your soul memory will keep increasing and you'll keep fighting people with more soul memory, ie higher levels. you'll also be unable to help people in an area with a boss)
ALSO, similar to the first one, hybrids seem almost superior than just staying melee (ie infusions and faith/sorcery buffs)