The one thing I think WotR does really well is its soundtrack.
It's been on point since Kingmaker, so it's unsurprising. Having different capital city themes based on your alignment combination was quite rad.
As for the characters, so long as none of them are Jaethal & Valerie levels of absolutely unbearable both in writing and in voice-over, it's definitely an improvement. Heck, the first game had Harrim, who, despite being proclaimed as a boring "whiner" by Linzi (who should really shut up), probably has the most entertaining and competently written dialogue and voice lines - perhaps exactly because they don't try going into grating pretentiousness (J&V) or attempts at crude humor (Regongar).
