The problem with the first one was that those sidequests were incredibly repetitive, and the "collect all the flags" or whatever had absolutely no point.

Here, if you want to collect those things, you can (and be rewarded), and if you don't want to, you can ignore them. I never tried getting all the feathers, for instance.

I like the Subject 16 memory hacks, though.

Money won't be an issue by midgame, I'd say.

I think you'll find that AC2 fixes a lot of the problems of the first game. I can see how you'd find it slow to start off, but it sounds like you're going to be hitting the meat soon enough.