Lostconfused said:
Really my previous post is all over place and i should have thought it through more. But I was agreeing with Conman. The first game could have been played entirely without a HUD but since most people didn't play it that way they found it too repetitive and boring. Well that and the whole preparation part for the assassination wasn't explianed well and a lot of people missed that one as well. So with the 2nd game now it was made to be more entertaining with the HUD on but now its missing some the things you need to play without a HUD. Which is a step down from the first game.
I know, and it was fun playing without a HUD in the first game, but they literally changed the entire gameplay structure of the game. It's actually very rare to see in a sequel.
Playing without a HUD in AC1 was possible because there was very little you could ultimately do, overall, beyond the main quest. Missions were very limited and identical in nature - every single assassination went through the same steps, so once you learned it once it was just about repeating it.
This time around, there's a lot more variety in both the things you can do in the world, and in the assassinations themselves, so more interface feedback to the player in terms of icons and such is a lot more beneficial now than in AC1.
I do wish there was a way to turn the glow/shimmer off, though, like you could with Bioshock.
Lostconfused said:
Edit: But I also think its the architecture and the lay out of the cities, some of them are a lot less distinct now and have less landmarks and reference points for navigation.
I feel the complete opposite, honestly. I've been seeing a lot more unique landmarks in AC2, and the different cities both look and feel very different, much moreso in my view than in the first. They're also a lot more organic in their design and atmosphere - they feel lived-in this time around.
I suppose it may depend on how familiar you are with Renaissance architecture. It's been a while since I studied it, but a lot of the landmarks in the game are visually reminiscent to me.