This and That

This and That -- Optional Activities that Apply to Synchronization

As the previous Sequence ends and this one begins you will overhear some conversation from the real world as you re-enter the Animus Safety Zone (the beach).  Completing Sequence 2 has the effect of opening new areas for you -- basically everything except for the Arsenal, which is opened later as part of the story.  This introduces a few side-quests and some other opportunities that you should do before resuming the story.

You can do this in any order, but I strongly recommend that you do the following in this order:

-- Re-open the Bank in the Marketplace and check your balance -- withdraw any funds in it.
-- Re-open the shops in the marketplace
-- Visit the Blacksmith and get your armor repaired, and purchase the Leather Bracers
-- Move through the entire city and activate all of the Vantage Points
-- Re-open all of the remaining shops in the district not locked down
-- Liberate the Templar Dens and then re-open the shops that each unlocks
-- Grab all of the Treasure Chests you encounter
-- Grab all of the Data Fragments you encounter

You should make an effort to visit the Heralds between re-opening shops so you never allow your notoriety to reach a point that the Templar attack one of your Dens -- but you will have to complete an additional three Den Defenses later, so if you decide you want to combine those with the process of completing this part, by all means go ahead and do that!

Generally speaking you should be able to re-open three businesses (including Banks) without the notoriety going all the way red.  Then simply hit a Herald, run far enough away to reset it, and hit it again to remove the notoriety.

Re-opening the Banks adds to your maximum limit for deposits, and of course re-opening the shops increases the amount of money that gets deposited every 20 minutes.  I know I mentioned this before and I do not mean to harp on it, but you should make opening the Banks and Shops and hitting the Vantage Points a priority now.  You can resume the story after you do this, but do it because you really will find the massive income a benefit.

Unlocking the Shops and Landmarks is an Ends of its Own

The reason it is a benefit is that the landmarks -- and there are a bunch -- that you have to unlock cost a LOT of money, as does the book collection, weapons, armor, and the like.  So ensuring that you have a viable income as early in the game as possible is simply a good idea.

Some gamers think that the amount of income that you gain from the Landmarks is completely disproportionate to the cost -- that may well be true, but as you must access some of these to gain access to other parts of the game and gain full Synchronization, there really is no choice...  Besides once you get your income above 20K / 20 Minutes the time you spend in playing through the Faction Missions alone will get you the funds needed to unlock them all.When all is said and done, a few hours worth of effort will net you an income of well over 20K coins every 20 minutes, and a deposit cap of 120K in your Bank.  While more is clearly better, 20K every 20 minutes should work out very nicely -- just remember to empty your Bank whenever it gets close to the cap, right?  With all of that accomplished it is time to do the other optional items on our list -- the Faction Quests!A word about the Faction Quests -- you need to complete these both because it is required for full Synchronization and because some of them gain skills or unlock the ability to unlock certain Achievements -- and if you are going to play through the game anyway, you may as well get the rewards that are part of the process. 

You could just wait on these and do them after you complete the story mode, but to be honest here that is not a good idea, simply because on their own they can be a bit tedious, time-consuming, and frustrating.  But when you combine them with the process of unlocking the income-generating properties you are accomplishing several things at the same time, and in so doing making the process both more bearable and giving it a more rewarding feel.  The decision is yours, of course, but I recommend that you do them in the order laid out here rather than waiting.