It really is a smaller game. However, CoE also has a lot of "hidden" content, like special rare encounters and interactions between some units and map sites. For the most part, however, it's just smaller and shorter.
That's a problem in the beginning of the game too, especially EA. :V
Giants with frost aura for example. Or troops which are fireball-throwing demons which turn into ethereal spirit forms if they "die," making them nigh-impossible to kill without massed magic (or fire bless).
I never really managed to get Yomi to work out all that well for me, honestly... The demons are ludicrously expensive, and although the chaos recruitment thing helps, I'm pretty sure that only has an effect on the "down payment", not the upkeep. And the upkeep will quickly soar to very unmanageable levels with a few troops... Also they can't hit a goddamn thing with those fireballs, haha.
When I *do* make them, I generally only go for Ao-Oni (which are absolute BEASTS in melee) and the, ah... Whatever the little ones are called. The little guys are basically the greatest lance catchers in the game and have ridiculous strength for their size, so they can actually smack down the expensive troops that're used to send them from form A to form B.
I've been trying desperately to find a strategy of bootstrapping them into blood magic, because I'm pretty sure Yomi's national spells can target non-oni demons, and having a horde of berserked, barkskinned imps sounds like a fun time to me.