Does Octopath 1 has better story than 2?

I wanted to play this game for very long and just last month, I found out that both were available in Xbox gamepass so I subscribed and went straight to playing Octopath Traveller 1.

Within the first few hours of playing Octopath 1, I already fell in love with its mechanics, battle system, and most specially the motivation of each character. It satisfied my cravings for a good JRPG. However, since I do not have a portable pc or console aside from a Nintendo Switch, I can't play Octopath Traveller 1 unless I buy an actual copy of the game. So I checked online to see which is the better buy: 1 or 2. Most forums said that 2 is better 1 in all aspects specially the story of each character. So I ended up buying Octopath Traveller 2.

Now, I'm 60hrs+ in and I am greatly disappointed. It is true that 2 is quite superior in terms of animation and gameplay but the story and characters SUCK. And I mean it really SUCK. I am playing it with Japanese audio and English text. Now, I don't know if it is because of the inaccurate translation but each character has weak motivation and their stories do not really make sense. Like for instance, Spoiler alert: Malaya was a figment of Castti's memory but how tf did Malaya physically helped Castti to carry and heal the guy at the beginning of her story? Also, what made Trosseu (villain) suddenly insane? It just doesn't make sense. It's the same thing with Agnea's motivation which is simply to become a "star" which is an okay motivation but it wasn't as strong of a motivation as Primrose's (from Octopath Traveller 1) which was to find and take revenge to the people who killed her father. She also became a dancer (prostitute?) because it was the only way she know to find the people who have killed her dad.

So now, I'm disappointed and torn if I should buy a copy of Octopath Traveller 1 or not. Is 1 better that 2 in terms of storytelling? Please need help.