Game is good if you're into jrpg. Story is good, character is great, soundtrack and the world is good as well. Advise to download the japanese voice over which is free, so you will play it as it is meant to be. If not you'll play the game with British voice actors which doesn't really go well, mood also not right. I tried both and compare for the first 3 hours.

You can play the game without playing the first one. But there is some relation to the first game, just a little but important. Won't tell in details because pretty much spoiler. You can just watch a summary video of the first game if you don't wanna play the first game, for some of the reference. It doesn't effect anything if you don't play the first, and you can just skip it if you want. Consider it a little bonus for those who played the first game, and nothing much is lost for those who doesn't.