It's a fascinating concept to be in the position to want to defend a game from its own developer. I actually liked the narrowing of focus after the wide-ended nature of the first couple of chapters. Colour me strange, but I also liked the dungeon crawling found in the latter part of the game very much.
I agree with JDR that it's nice and humbling to see an openly critical minded approach from developers.

Am doubly enthusiastic about Risen 2 and its great potential. It's great to read that they've had a budget to hopefully support their vision for a game that they think will exceed the original.