I really liked the first chapter of SoU with its investigative vibe. Tracking down the kobolds in the blinding snow, finding out what became of them.
It's true that the subsequent chapters weren't as interesting, but they were still better than OC.
That's true, the first chapter wasn't bad. I might be selling it short because I thought it ended weakly by having the fights against the final chapter enemies come down to using a unique item.
But I still think the OC was better than SoU. It was inconsistent and chock full of filler, but there were some good parts. Generally, the problem with OC was blandness. SoU went too far in the other direction, and ended up too gimmicky, especially the characters - the dwarven wizard mentor and half-orc barbarian/sorceror companion were standouts in this.