I can't find the thread for Ac2, so I'm just gonna post my thoughts here.
Originally, I was planning to play Rogue to Odyssey first before the pre-Black Flag games as they aren't available for ps4. But then I saw the Ezio Collection in physical ps4 so I quickly picked it up especially its 3 games in 1. I also realized that the older games have less stellar graphics, smaller map and fewer side quests. I think its beneficial for me in the long run to finish the pre-bf games (well 2, B, R) before the newer games. I knew these games from the trailers back in the ps3 days. I was more familiar with the titles than Black Flag and I wanted to play them but somehow, I stopped playing videogames for a long time. So getting 3/5 of pre-Bf games was exciting, as I felt like I should have played them a long time ago.
So with the Ezio collection, I've started with Ac2. My biggest concern going into the game were the graphics and the controls. However I didn't expect the graphics of Ac2, to look quite dated. Like the ps4 port of Resident Evil 5 looks great to this day and the original version was released in 2009 same as Ac2. The quality of the graphics especially the cutscenes kinda put me off, and I was just like think of Gta. In my opinion, the Ps4 port of this looks worse. Like I don't even get why they changed the color grading. When I watched the ps3 walkthrough of this game, it looks so much better. The ps4 port, the graphics were sharpened too much, that it looked cheaper, dated and grainy, the grasses look bad and that reddish color grading is just the worst. So for me, it really ruined the experience. Sometimes, I laughed that the graphics looked so bad and I was just like why? Then the controls, I've struggled with the controls more than I expected to. Climbing wasn't smooth and in missions where I really needed to jump again and again because I was trying to chase someone or running away from someone then Ezio just jumped in the wrong direction or he held into the ledge and I had to start all over again. It was quite annoying. Also I didn't expect the map to have so much viewpoints, it was overkill. Like 74 viewpoints and the viewpoints were quite close to each other.
However, I liked that I got to play this especially people online were raving about this and calling it as the best Ac game. Even though I don't agree, its nice that I got to judge it for myself. I expected more present day scenes and it wasn't the case, there were like only 3 segments. I liked that you can ride the horse and the gondola. The renovation of the villa really motivated me to find the chests, especially renovating it would return me more money. Finding the chests is the one side quest I've completed other than finding the codex codes and synchronizing the viewpoints.
The story is okay but it wasn't leaps better than the story of Edward and Arno. I wasn't like omg best story ever. I liked the lead though. I liked da Vinci and the female thief. Though a lot of supporting characters were quite underdeveloped. The female thief, Ezio's alive family members and his other allies just disappeared. The lady from the Forti, I thought she was gonna be in the story longer and sequence 12 was a late addition to the ps3 version and sequences 12/13 felt tacked in when I completed them.
The main story missions were quite easy. I don't think I was killed during a mission maybe in the beginning I can't remember. The fights were easy but I didn't like the combat because you just have to smash the enemies again and again and the counter button rarely worked for me. There were some missions that were basically just a cutscene or conversation like the second to the last. I could have finished the game earlier like if I really wanted to as the missions were quite short in general. The ones that frustrated me are the training to blend, the flying machine, the missions where you need chase someone in the roof (and the contest where you need to run in the rooftops), not getting detected by anyone while trying to assassinate someone especially the one in the ship, which took me a freaking hour! But over all, this is an easy game with some annoying platforming/stealth missions.
The side quests, I didn't bother to do most of them especially I wasn't pleased with the graphics. I was quite lazy to find the feathers, I've only got like less than 20 and I thought it was the most pointless thing in the game. The tombs were an instant pass, as I don't want to go to the underground just to jump and fall again and again with the creepy atmosphere and that wearing Altair costume isn't important just like in Unity's legacy costumes. I skipped the races, beat ups, assassination contracts, the glyphs and courier as well. Though I have used all costume color schemes and I have bought all the armors, weapons and artworks.
I know 2 is such an acclaimed game in the series, but I have to say I liked Black Flag and Unity more as those games motivated to do most of the side stuffs. Here, I was quite rushing it just so I can move quickly to the next Ac game. I liked that I was able to experience it but the game wasn't fun and it wasn't even nice to look at. I also didn't like there are no variety to Ezio's costumes other than simple color schemes. The weapons aren't nice either and I hate that smoke bombs are limited to 3. I thought Black Flag was a cool game, Unity was pretty and the word I would use to describe Ac2 is dated. The ending of the main story wasn't good either, like I expected a better ending and it didn't really give me a good impression now that I've finished it.
Story: 7
Gameplay: 7
By the way, right after the credits rolled. I checked out the start of Brotherhood, and my God, the graphics look so much better and it doesn't look like it came out 1 year after Ac2. I'm stunned. So I'm kinda excited to play Brotherhood, especially it picked right up after Ac2 (I needed a continuation to Ac2's ending) and the weapons and ammunition are already available. I also heard its shorter and much easier.
