I wouldn't disagree about the first Divinity, the second is on a whole other level. Masterpiece.
First Pillars was pretty good but flawed. Seems this one has addressed a lot of those problems at least.
Might have to try it. I know I'm in a very small group here, but I didn't like the combat in the first game... Felt too slow, even for a turn based game. I'd rather play Shadowrun. And don't get me started on the story
That said though, I did only make it 20 hours in, so it's unfair for me to properly judge the narrative.
Pillars 1 was definitely flawed (Caed Nua management was dull, the writing wasn't up to the standards of PS:T or SR-DF, difficulty was sporadic with the game being hard for a bit, then easy until the last boss) - And probably more besides! That said, it always had a charm that other recent RPG releases just don't have for me. Plus, like you say, the sequel has bettered so many aspects of the game: Production quality is definitely higher, the writing (18 hours in) seems better & more varied, the side-content feels more fleshed out, there's more voice acting, better music, the option to play with enemy scaling (in either/both directions), and some of the tediousness has been taken out of magic use.
It's not perfect, though. Performance is, at times, laughable, and the difficulty isn't anywhere near where it should be (I'm playing on veteran & it feels like I'm playing on normal or lower... Maybe I really should've started with a Path of the Damned playthrough).
The ship stuff is surprisingly enjoyable. I usually hate anything & everything pirate themed.