In the beginning of AC1 it does seem to be fairly tacked on. With that said it does become an integral part of the whole story and starts to make a lot more sense later on. If you really want to know what's going on be sure to find all the little hidden things in the game (Save for those flags, they can go fuck themselves, and yes I did manage to get all of them).

The future part is a LOT more important in AC2 and the eventual AC3.

As for your worries, yes the Sci-Fi story does eventually pay off, and amazingly well later on.

You should have asked people before buying I'm afraid. AC1 was a mess. Apart from the incredibly repetitive nature of the side quests, it was clear from early on that the developers were unable to really get the stealth nature of the game working. This is why as you go on you'll find that you are not so much an assassin as a terminator. You have to wade through countless sword fights using the same counter attack key combo repeatedly (don't try and be inventive, parry, counter, that's it). This is proven by the fact that the last 2 kills are not even attempted to be stealth, they are a fight with about 30 swordsmen directly.

As Sielle has said, the plot itself becomes more relevant as time goes on. It is revealed more in AC2.

AC2 fixed these issues and is 100 times better than AC1. There you actually get to be an assassin, and you actually can / must sneak about.

Yes AC1 is decent and looks fantastic but AC2 is really a much better game. Too bad it came with horrible DRM (must be connected to the Web at all times). I agree that the way you exit AC1 was terrible and clumsy. It's UI design that simply wasn't tested and apparantly was designed by a complete retard. But you got it cheap from Steam so enjoy the good parts and ignore the rest.

Played AC1 on a friend's PS3 when it came out. While I know a lot of people didn't quite get into it, I did. I loved that game. Got AC2 for PC on release. A bit overpriced considering it wasn't really new in a sense, with 360 and PS3 versions being out for a half year before PC version. Clearly better than the first by the way.

Bought a PS3 few months ago but after dealing with that crap DRM from AC2 I just passed on AC-Brotherhood and I'll do the same for AC3. I'll get them when they're dirt cheap and on a promotion or something. Ubisoft won't get any serious money from me any time soon. And they were one of my favorite game companies.

And yeah, the sci-fi gets to play a bigger part in AC2. And most importantly the sci-fi part it the one that let's you play in different time periods and settings which I find rather cool.

AC1 wasn't a bad game, it was just repetitive and the stealth aspect wasn't really very well thought out. I remember large parts of the game where I'd be found out and have a really hard time going incognito because just about every time I'd lose them I'd be found again before I could hide.

AC2 was in pretty much every way a better game, I loved getting that special equipment, even if it was a huge pain.

You don't need to be online to play them on the PS3.... also, keep in mind that you could also just rent them.

I didn't mind the whole exiting thing, and I thought the sci-fi thing was cool. True, the game wasn't perfect, and toward the end the fights got somewhat tedious, but overall, it wasn't that bad.

Doomsday, last of an alien race, 2012. That's it.

Trying to exit AC1 can be a bit weird. Alt+F4 works fine though. There's no manual save.

I enjoyed AC1 for what its worth. AC2 throws a lot of new stuff at you but at its core there's not all that much different and it comes with its own buggy/wtf ideas.

At least in AC1, when you beat a man he stays dead. In AC2 they bring out that old chestnut of beating a guy to death and then letting him escape during a cutscene. At least 3 times.

At this point I'm glad I didn't pay that much of it, as it was a bundle sale. I do think the game is interesting though, so I guess I will be playing it through at some point or another.

Yeah, I know. I meant it as the principle of it. "Screw me once shame on you, screw me twice shame on me" type of deal. And I prefer most my games on the PC. I have a controller anyway.

Well what I was getting at is that you could play the games without paying Ubisoft a cent.... legally at that.

I know that if one makes a share group for Assassin's Creed 2 with 4 other persons one can own a copy of AC2 with the DLC for a grand total of six dollars, that is cheaper than a single rental here. Totally worth it.

The sci-fi wrapper is there to explain video game aspects like the life bar and controls. You are playing a video game in the story, and thus it explains why it works as a video game. The same team leaders did the same thing in Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time with the prince telling a story and so on. This was all explained during the game's release period.

I actually like the modern day narrative, personally. I also liked the game a lot, though I prize immersion and walking around in cool cities higher than many other gamers.