Well obviously most of the Final Fantasies aren't connected so I played those out of order. They're not really sequels though, right? I can understand why people skipped right to AC II. AC I was a pile of trout which is disappointing because The Crusades were far more interesting of a time than the Italian Renaissance imo.

Playing MEI before MEII is sacrilege. That game needs to play in order otherwise your choices in MEI are just arbitrary.