In the first few games the metaplot was fantastic
In the first few games: Fantastic? No. Serviceable,
at best.
Ironically it was still better than the main plot by comparison – which is damning with faint praise – , since the meta-plot was little more than a crutch to explain why there were invisible walls to prevent you from exploring the world, linear plot without reactivity and other limitations.
The main plot of the first few games was so bad, it was consistently cringeworthy and stupid, without any self-awareness, the historical inaccuracies so offensively atrocious and daft it beggars belief, and the main plot seemed a satire of extremely stupid dudebro adventure games written by discount-Frenchies on coke.
I guess that made the meta-plot look good by comparison. AC2 is a game that starts out with West Side Story, has quotes like "It's-a-me! Mario!" and has you in mêlée combat with the Pope and his magical
papal staff.
The stupid was laid on thick and only the most ignorant NPCs unironically claim any historicity with this juvenile and low-information fantasy schlock.
When the games became open world and started to incorporate RPG elements, the meta-plot lost all purpose and has been an albatross on the series ever since.
The current-year female multicultural POC "protagonist" of the meta plot has nothing to do with that. It would be as stupid and as redundant with that insufferable twat Desmond. No, it's albatross because it serves no purpose anymore and only distracts from the main strength of the games today, i.e. that they are open world fantasy RPGs set in historical times. To be torn out of that into a meta-plot at random, is a fundamental game design flaw.