Both games drive home that the political squabbles are actually meaningless in the gran scheme of things. In both games the Dragon is absent for most of them, taking a background role. Instead a new character is build up as the antagonist and the game focus on the political backstabbing and a fake monarch as an enemy. And then the Dragon's reappearance just shows how pointless their effort were and marks the jump into the real important element of the plot: the eternal cycle and the role of both the Arisen and the Dragon. DD2 seems to be written though as if you already played the first game, so it doesn't convey this as well as the first game, but the parallels are painfully obvious to anyone who played the first game.
There is also the impression that the game wants to ruse the Dragon fight, as if saying "you know already the deal". It could be in part poor writing by the developers, but the thing is, the Dragon itself actually wants it to end already, as in, in character, the Dragon seems sick tired of the cycle and is urging you to either destroy the cycle or get over it already. The exact opposite of the original Dragon, who instead hints at the nature of the world, but is very much following his role. Another point of difference between the Dragons is that, even if they sound similar, they have different voice actors, they are, for all purposes not even the same character.
Another problem is that the game suffered issues with the translation, so it muddles the ending and makes it harder to understand. At first I didn't quite get it and though they had retconned the mythos, but after seeing a post online pointing out this differences, the game seems to actually be a full on sequel regarding the plot, which the ending being hinted both in base DD1 and in the True Daimon fight in DD:DA.
Source of the post pointing out mistraslations
The gist of it is, King Rothais is the last Seneschal, who refused to kill itself but also to fulfill his role and pass down the mantle. He calls himself king in the game due to the new translator team not doing their work and using the same title as the first game. This is what could confuse, as it was easy to assume that the Pathfinder was the Seneschal, when he, in fact, isn't.
The Pathfinder is the Will that instated the cycle in the first place, and his form is that of the final dragon. His existence is hinted by the Seneschal in DD1; he states that he knows not if there is a god or what is the origin of the cycle, and even his title, Seneschal, means "one who watch over and manage the state of a lord", said lord being the Pathfinder. You actually fight the Pathfinder in DD:DA as the True Daimon, the face on Daimon's chest is that of the final dragon and you can see his body going back to the Rift after defeating Daimon, not being truly dead. He had continue the cycle despite what the Arisen did in DD1, just creating a new seneschal. That is until Rothais decided to rebel and never let anyone else take the title, meaning that every single Arisen since then had died trying or given up. The Pathfinder is sending more Arisen to kill Rothais, and is implied that he expected you to kill Rothias to gain power, as Rothias himself is surprised when he sees you and realizes that you aren't there to kill him. The Dragon is also rebeling, and that is why the Gigantus is sent to punish him, as is stated to be its role. The cycle is then truly finished in DD2 after you kill the Pathfinder.
Or it could be all a retcon, who knows.
