Sword, dragger or hidden blades?

[Leeroy]

Whats the trade off? Seems to me its all about preference and each weapon doesn't really seem to have an edge or a drawback. Unless I haven't picked up on it yet.

[Dummkopf]

I can't tell the difference between the sword or dagger aside from drastically different statistics such as the speed, damage, and deflection. There is about as much difference between them as there is between a mace and a sword.

The hidden blades seem to be able to one hit counter stronger enemies, but it also has to be timed more perfectly. I know that in Assassins Creed 1 the hidden blade would instant kill anything if you got the counter, but it was harder to get it.

[Dinerenblanc]

The hidden blades will kill every enemy aside from bosses after a single successful counter, but your timing has to be a little more precise to execute said counter. That's pretty much it.