Some valid points but some I definitely disagree with.

FIrst off, the elemental surfaces still chip away at your armor when moving and second I didn't enjoy how the fights in 1 start off by stunlocking enemies right away. Here you have to chip at the armor before you can stun enemies.
I overall enjoyed the armor system, more than not having it in 1 but I it's certainly not perfect, I do agree with that.

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The most powerful skills in each tree are Source skills, which cost source points, and also use 2 or 3 points of memory, so not only are they extremely expensive to cast, they also take up as much Memory as multiple other skills. " This I disagree too. Those source skills are meant to not be used in each turn and each fight just like that. They are very powerful and therefore require more slots which makes sense for these high level spells in my eyes.

I actually enjoyed the stories around the factions the most. The choice between the Shadow Prince and the mother tree is probably my favourite in the entire game.