2. Dramatis Personae
The first entry in the series gave us Altair, an inscrutable and steadfast man who was the result of a union between the clash of cultures he finds himself caught in. Here, we get acquainted with Ezio Auditore da Firenze, a headstrong, snarky young man determined to seek justice for his loved ones. Over the virtual quarter-century we follow him through, we cant help but become attached to him, our paragon through whom we experience the world and his epic journey for redemption and salvation. Ill throw my hands up here and admit that at a certain point I just kind of stopped paying attention to the plot; not because Im anti-intellectual far from it but simply because it felt like the story was trying to be too convoluted for its own good (and with this series, thats saying something). Instead, I found my solace in connecting with the cast. From Ezios own family his endearing sister Claudia and stalwart uncle Mario to the sly thief Rosa, to legendary genius visionary Leonardo da Vinci himself, ACII boasts a cast who its fair to say many grew fond of, people whose trials and tribulations captivated and saddened us; or, in the case of the cabal of villains, reviled and relished in executing. It is a credit to the Ubisoft writing team that they created such memorable and meaningful characters with which to populate this world, with whom we shared so many grand adventures. Of course, one could make the argument that the cities themselves are the real characters of the story. In which case