Much can be said about Ffh2. Most notably, yes, a lot of assets were 'borrowed' (At least I expanded my music selection to some new bands I don't regret at all). On the other hand it was a hugely ambitious project - creating 15? entirely different factions with their own unique units and game mechanics, new terrain, portals hellforming the terrain, adding a magic system, etc.
Massive Kudos to Kael for pulling that off as successfully as he did. On the other hand, he specifically wanted to work on the backstory, and it's pretty obvious mr. Wardell had very specific plans about that allready; it is quite understandable that didn't go further. That does not reflect badly on either of them.
Would the game profit from Kael's experience in other areas? Of course it would. He's been breathing FFh2 for years, and has wrestled with a lot of balance and pacing problems, and has some elegant solutions for them as well. But that's not what he offered, by the looks of it.
Now, for those that haven't played FFh2... do so. It's great. My personal favourite faction is the Calabim - the vampire lords.
