I believe ACIII might have skipped over the teachings because if you're invested in the franchise you pretty much know that information already. Though it's not very beginner friendly, I think people who actually enjoyed it would decide to go back and play the previous ones. And correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't Achilles at least mention Altair and/or Ezio? We did at least see some of Achilles' teachings to Connor, but I get your frustration at the absence of lore.
AC4 I can agree with. It did feel like they focused less on the Pieces of Eden, that being said Edward was not that much of an Assassin to begin with. He was more concerned with being a pirate and protecting his friends and getting loot, the blood cube just happened to be a part of his story - or so I felt. Also his story was a prequel so to say, I read somewhere that the Kenways are sort of an exception to the Assassins order because they're more driven by personal goals and the Assassins' goals just happen to align with their personal goals.
Yes, Achilles did mention Ezio, albeit once. As for Altair, he was mentioned once in AC4, which is the maximum amount of lore we got.
Ubisoft is also guilty of false advertisement and nobody gave a shit because of "muh naval combat, muh Ezio-like character, muh pirates". They said he was a pirate trained by assassins, when he was really just a pirate who somehow had the abilities of an assassin (combat/free running) and the assassins merely gave him a few toys to play with. As for the personal goals regarding the Kenway family, I don't think that's entirely accurate. Connor had an urge for revenge but religiously supported the brotherhood over his desires.
Fair enough. I'll agree with the way they promoted Edward. I think one of the reasons people like him over Connor is because he's essentially Ezio 2.0. Not saying AC4 is a bad game, but i feel like the introduction to Roberts and the Blood Crystals was kind of late into the game.
How did you feel about Freedom Cry?
Must be why a lot of people don't like Altair either lol. Freedom Cry was alright. Adewale is much more Assassin like than Edward (since he's actually part of the Creed) but I feel it still suffers from some of the issues from the main game.