Everyone will have a different opinion on this.

All I know is, I loved taking screen shots in 1.0. There was so much breathtaking scenery (No, I never cared about the copy and paste). However, I have yet to take a single screenshot of ARR, nor have I desired to. However, I knew the quality was going to take a hit well before 1.0 shut down.

As for the cutscenes themselves, I agree with the op that they were better.