Most notable improvement
What improvement is most profound for you? For me it's the ability to save more then one game. It's priceless! I can have one game for going back and finding things etc...and another I can play through over and over again without having to worry about that. Nice improvement Ubi and THANK YOU!
Oh, and no need to list all of the improvements you like, just the one (limit it to one for now so we don't end up with paragraphs..lol) most striking to you.
The depth, complexity and amazingness(word?) of the whole subject 16 "sub"story (glyphs, the truth) and everything else in the database is what I (so far, only on sequence 4) found to be most striking.
Oh, and no need to list all of the improvements you like, just the one (limit it to one for now so we don't end up with paragraphs..lol) most striking to you.
Hey, that's a shot at me, isn't it? 
I couldn't really pick just one. To me, it's more the combination of the improvements that impresses, rather than individual things on their own.
I'm not very far into the game yet but one improvement has jumped out at me. You can now enter fight mode and keep the Hidden Blade equipped. In AC1 you always had to switch back to the Hidden Blade if you wanted to do counters with it.
^ Agreed. That's really good. I don't like that you can't do air assassinations straight away tho. Also I've loved stealing guards weapons.
I've only finished 2 memory blocks since I just got it last night, but I love the fact that the sword (and probably the other stabbing weapons too, I haven't tried) can do a 1 hit kill on guards that aren't facing you. I always griped about that in the last game.
"When you have to kill a man, it costs nothing to be polite."- Winston Churchhill
"Kill a man, and you are an assassin. Kill millions of men, and you are a conqueror. Kill everyone, and you
I've only finished 2 memory blocks since I just got it last night, but I love the fact that the sword (and probably the other stabbing weapons too, I haven't tried) can do a 1 hit kill on guards that aren't facing you. I always griped about that in the last game.
I also love this feature. Whenever I have mercs, I just walk around and stab the guards in the back with my sword. 
The hammers and maces are nasty with their one-hit kills from behind... well, actually, they're not one hit kills, but they're still nasty.
My personal favourite is swimming, it's so freaking nice. In the first game i found it hard to believe that a higly trained assassin who could kill a person in so many ways couldnt even swim.
according to the online manual for AC2, it was an Animus bug which did not allow Altair to swim, not history itself.
http://assassinscreed.com/assassins-creed-2/manual/ps3
Check section 1.4.3 about Swimming, look at the handwritten note. The notes are missing from at least my print version of the manual, I don't know about other people.
"When you have to kill a man, it costs nothing to be polite."- Winston Churchhill
"Kill a man, and you are an assassin. Kill millions of men, and you are a conqueror. Kill everyone, and you
according to the online manual for AC2, it was an Animus bug which did not allow Altair to swim, not history itself.http://assassinscreed.com/assassins-creed-2/manual/ps3
Check section 1.4.3 about Swimming, look at the handwritten note. The notes are missing from at least my print version of the manual, I don't know about other people.
I never read that thing to be honest
I read the one for the first game, but not the second one until now.
"When you have to kill a man, it costs nothing to be polite."- Winston Churchhill
"Kill a man, and you are an assassin. Kill millions of men, and you are a conqueror. Kill everyone, and you
well i never really read any of them too busy playing the game xP
lilkody wrote:
Oh, and no need to list all of the improvements you like, just the one (limit it to one for now so we don't end up with paragraphs..lol) most striking to you.Hey, that's a shot at me, isn't it?
I couldn't really pick just one. To me, it's more the combination of the improvements that impresses, rather than individual things on their own.
You know it sweetheart 
My notable improvement from the first game to the second would have to be the backstabbing "stealth" kills, although they're not necessarily stealthy.
You can just use the hidden blade for a stealthy kill in any of the games. I think the other weapons are used that way to start fights.
The biggest improvement?
Well, the combat is still laggy with that God-awful mandatory lockon. The economy is redundant and tiresome. Tons of clipping, popping, and lag. No complex depth in story.
Let's hope that all changes in ACIII.