Yeah, I think the story of Dark Souls was more "grand" and full than Dark Souls 2. There was an ancient battle, the fire age has begun, you are the chosen undead, you must end the fire age and begin the dark age by doing this, this, this, this.
All I got from Dark Souls 2 is:
a) you are cursed and you don't want to be, thus you must kill shit
b) everybody has Alzheimer's
c) Kingdoms have risen and fallen here over and over again, you keep hearing this
d) those ladies at start were rood to me ;_;
BUT.. for some reason I still like the DS2 story, it feels more mystic/dark to me.