The first was better, 2nd was a bit too ambitious.
I agree Black & White was simpler because it was easier to follow than its successor. The stories/tasks were all very good, albeit a bit cheesy but that was the appeal. I did find getting the sheep a bit frustrating in the task 'Good Sheep Hunting' as they are so small in the low-res textures. Its very hard to spot them unless you zoom right in & listen to 'bahhs'.
I have the 2nd game so once I finish this game & Creature Isle (hope the trainer works for that).. I'll try to finish B&W2 as well.
You should also remember to install the bonus creatures from here Link
Better Performance Possible?
Also, I find even now, B&W seems to be badly coded to run smoothly (get 62fps) even my PC when you keep zooming in & out as you need to: (3.3Ghz Intel QX6700, 8GB RAM, 4870 CrossFire). I run @1,400x1050, 32bit colour, Direct 3D Hardware T&L acceleration, and all the Advanced settings on + up full.
I did find some good sites showing the comparisons of getting the performance right Link AND Link but nothing like I wanted to tweak game settings yourself. It would be great if they redid B&W to the equivalent of what they did to Ridd|ck: Dark Athena or Half Life: Source.