So I'll actually need that link in order to read the article you mention.

But just going by what you said about it, I think I agree with the article, at least in terms of Desmond's story being the "core." The way I see it, so far it has been used just as a framing device, but what is the point of a framing device if it doesn't become important at some point? Assassins Creed could have just as easily been a series of games about various assassins throughout history, connected only by the myths each generation has about the previous one (such as Ezio working to unlock the fabled armor of Altair, and then someone later trying to unlock some magical artifact of Ezio's, and so on). That would have worked just fine, I think, so I refuse to believe that Desmond was introduced just for the sake of having the screen read "Desynchronized" rather than "Game Over" when you die.

So Desmond is the glue that holds the disparate pieces of the game together, and the way I see it the series has always been about learning and training via the Animus to prepare Desmond for the real conflict to come. The issue is that as of a little over halfway through Assassins Creed 2, Desmond hasn't appeared all that much, and we still know very little of the world he lives in. I see it as sort of parallel to the Name of the Wind books. You have Kvothe telling his story, but you also know that there is an older Kvothe sitting in an inn in a messed up world, and keep wondering how things got to this point. That suspense is why the books are so good, imo, because you are looking forward to learning more about his exploits in the short-term, but have the long-term goal of seeing how things got to that end state too. Desmond's story doesn't have that hook though, it just seems kind of bland and poorly formed. As of this moment I don't even know why anyone is bothering with Desmond to begin with, though I can guess it is because his ancestors are all the important Assassins throughout history. But that's just a guess. The game never makes clear why he is so special or important, so he just stays boring and bland, which is a problem.

What you said about Brotherhood and Revelations is promising though. Depending on their prices and if I actually get through this game, I will have to pick them up, because the Eden and Desmond stuff does interest me a lot (even if I can't help feeling like it's all very black and white with the Assassins perfect good guys and the Templars responsible for seemingly everything bad ever).