Templars are rough, though, and can very easily break your attempts to hold. I've gotten myself killed numerous times attempting to manipulate them that way. They die best using counterattacks since those are one-hit kills (though they can be hard to pull off against them too). And I guess I shouldn't say that, because killing them outright via stealth is obviously the best option, heh. I've managed to get a lot of them that way, actually. Even just running in with the hidden blade and doing a high profile strike leap has worked a couple times.
Counterattacks are definitely my favorite option when I'm really under the gun, though. I almost always manage to pull off a few before making a mistake and getting whacked by someone, so that nearly always drops the number of baddies down to a more manageable level thus far when there's a really huge group. Too, throwing isn't necessarily all that important against standard guys, but it's a very good way to put one out of commission for a second since nobody else seems to hit you when you're in the middle of a throw, and they usually stay down long enough for you to dispatch one of their buddies. Not to mention chucking guys off rooftops, which is invaluable (as even if they don't die from the fall, like if they hit a ledge or something, it nearly always takes them a good while to get back up to you), and of course throwing them into merchant stalls which counts as an instant kill and can take out more than one guy at once if there are several close enough.
I'm not yet very adept at weapon switching, so you guys have me beat there. I rarely seem able to swap weapons quickly without losing track of what I'm doing and taking a hit or two. I generally just stick to one sword or the other at this point. Also Cobra, you don't use the throwing knives as the secondary sword, it's actually another sword. I was confused at first because I got a sword from Al Mualim in one of the cutscenes, but I was like... hey, I already have a sword. I didn't realize there were two, and I was confused as to why I didn't seem to yet have throwing knives even though I thought that's what the fourth weapon was supposed to be. Turns out there's five: fists, hidden blade, long blade, short blade, and throwing knives. It's a completely useless bit of information since you know the mechanics of it already, but I just thought I'd clarify just for flavor since it confused me at first, heh.
And thanks for the reminder about the missing flags. I think I got the flags that were down there, but I should check again to be sure. It would be a good place to eliminate first, anyway.
Lastly, because I'm thinking of it... does anybody else find it slightly infuriating that (not really a spoiler, but...)
you can't climb all over the Masyaf fortress? It looks like there's all these places to climb, but I spent forever trying to find a way up and got nowhere. I'm only assuming that there's no way up because I tried so hard, though I don't know it as fact yet.
