I've noticed Assassin's Creed II has gotten a much warmer reception than the first game does, so I thought I'd ask a few questions. First, do I really need to play through the first game to play this one? I just don't want to waste my time if the game is mediocre unless I really have to. Also, please tell me what improvements are made in this go around or just what makes it a great game in general...I am a history buff so the time period is definitely one of the things compelling me to buy it, I'd just like to hear everyone elses thoughts about it.

It's very good.

In short: Dual Hidden Blades

Long version: It has a better setting, better story, much more variety in missions and more badass ways to assassinate people. You can buy armor and other upgrades too (you earn money in this one). There's a ton of collectibles and side missions. You even get your own little town to renovate! It's probably the longest non-JRPG single player game this gen. And it's just damn fun to climb stuff.

I wanted to kill myself playing the first one. it took me along time to beat that cause I could only play it a few minutes at a time. soooo boring and repetitive.

ACII is a million times better. I'm really enjoying this game so far. I like the fact you can buy weapons, spend your money on armor or on your villa, etc. it just seems more solid and realistic. plus it doesn't have the same missions over and over again.

ACII - awesome so far (I got it for christmas and only played it a few hours but still great).

It's good, but it could still use improvement.

Compared to the first game, however, it was a nice step up.

---

I'd say you should try to find video walkthroughs or just see if you can read the story of the first game on Wikipedia. The sequel picks up directly after the first one so you'd need to know about the events so you can follow the story more easily.

Many of the flaws of the first game have been fixed in the sequel. The main missions of the story have variety and aren't the same 'do 3 tasks and then kill target, rinse and repeat' crap like the first game. Ezio is a more interesting character that I found myself caring more about than Altair. The dialog and cutscenes have a better flow compared to the first game where I found myself spinning around in circles (you can move around in dialog segments, but you're restricted to a limited area to move about in) because it was so boring to watch Altair just stand there talking about the mission with another character.