:lol: "the gold standard of timing-based melee combat"? Demon's Souls came out in 2009.
Where did you get the impression I was calling AC derivative of Arkham?? I literally said the opposite. The Arkham games are the gold standard of something for sure, but not anything gameplay-related.
Demon's Souls has a different style of combat, and yes, it is the gold standard of that style.
And Arkham is certainly the gold standard of timing (or rhythm) style of combat. You've made it quite clear you dislike the Arkham games so I'll leave you to continue your Quixotic struggle on this point.
Assassin's Creed is not Metal Gear Solid stealth, it's Tenchu stealth, i.e. hack-and-slash stealth (not to compare AC, which is garbage, to MGS or Tenchu, which are great). AC's "stealth" is: sneak around until you get caught, then do boring combat. Or, once you can't stand how boring the combat is, run away from the enemies and hide to avoid the punishment of having to play the game's boring combat.
You glossed right over a key point. Run away from the enemies, using the movement-in-space aspect of the game. The running and climbing was, is, an integral point of what made the Assassin's Creed games work. Assassin's Creed wasn't just stealth, it wasn't just combat, it wasn't just movement--it was all of them. The combat wasn't as good as some other games, but it was competent, the stealth was simpler than some other games, but it was solid, and the movement was as good as anything up to that point. The complaints about the first Assassin's Creed game, at the time, weren't related to those three elements, they were related to the lack of variety in things to do that used those elements.
Of course, we've been talking about Odyssey, the latest Assassin's Creed game. The movement mechanics work really well, but they're no longer designed around. No need to do fun parkour running. No need to carefully pick climbing routes. (Also no accidentally back-leaping off of a wall to your death.) The stealth is still there, but far simplified. No more social stealth. No more wide variety of hiding spots. Though using cover and sight lines is probably done as well or better than any of the classic games. (Also no more staying close enough to overhear someone but not being able to actually overhear them because you need to just barely stay in range in order to not be spotted.) No more responding to a visual cue with the proper button response at the right time to get through a combat. (Also, no more responding to a visual cue with the proper button response at the right time to get through a combat again. And again. And again.) These changes are why some, like agentghost above, say it's not really an Assassin's Creed game.