Let me begin by saying that the game is fine, but I recommend playing the first instead.
It's more focused.

The added ship "exploration" is, ok at best and just gets repetitive much faster than the main game which, personally I'm here for.

But there's one glaring issue related to it. Having to constantly go back to the tavern to sleep to be able to go back in battle. It gets old immediately and serves no purpose. It doesn't make the game easier or harder. It just has a couple of systems related to it (rewards and forcing the player to use more characters) which could be done differently if not just removed altogether.

At first I thought the open class system would be an improvement but it turns out, as I forgot with most games like that, that you spend more time trying to get new skills than actually putting to use any "amazing combination" you're trying to achieve.
It also dimishes the identity of characters who have their own strength and weaknesses on the first game.

Al they have now is personal skills you unlock fairly late (the second one especially) which is nice but not enough for me.

Make the same game without the tavern trips and the whole ship system and I might recommend it.
There were plenty of ways to improve on Heist, this is more of side/diagonal step that improvement.

Let me begin by saying that the game is fine, but I recommend playing the first instead. It's more focused. The added ship "exploration" is, ok at best and just gets repetitive much faster than the main game which, personally I'm here for. But there's one glaring issue related to it. Having to constantly go back to the tavern to sleep to be able to go back in battle. It gets old immediately and serves no purpose. It doesn't make the game easier or harder. It just has a couple of systems related to it (rewards and forcing the player to use more characters) which could be done differently if not just removed altogether. At first I thought the open class system would be an improvement but it turns out, as I forgot with most games like that, that you spend more time trying to get new skills than actually putting to use any "amazing combination" you're trying to achieve. It also dimishes the identity of characters who have their own strength and weaknesses on the first game. Al they have now is personal skills you unlock fairly late (the second one especially) which is nice but not enough for me. Make the same game without the tavern trips and the whole ship system and I might recommend it. There were plenty of ways to improve on Heist, this is more of side/diagonal step that improvement.