We saw in EPII a couple of fights between the villain Margulis and hero Jin.

In case you need reminding...
Margulis vs. Jin
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SLxe2knWI8Q

Margulis vs. Jin 2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tPd1Bymwr9M

Who do you think was better in those fights?

Maybe it's just the fact Margulis is more aggressive than Jin but it seems like he dominates both of the fights. Jin rallies back but Margulis continually is pushing him into very rushed defense like when he manage dto take Jin's sword in the second fight and when he hurt Jin in the first fight.

Well it's hard to say, but it was clever of Jin to make use of the shattered floor. I think Jin (or Margulis) said that Margulis was the best of Jin's grandfathers students. But perhaps over time Jin's skill were a bit sharpened because he seems to come out victorious in their last battle. (I assume it was 1 on 1 story wise. Otherwise Margulis would have had to be been quite good to fight 6 E.S. at once.)

Margulis is indeed much more aggressive, which I think is exactly what makes Jin the better fighter. The part where he should have just been able to slice Jin in pieces when he managed to take away his sword, Jin instead counters with his bare hands and gets the sword back. Margulis seems to want too much, too fast. On the other hand, Jin seems to calculate each move carefully (while Margulis just seems to pull off his most powerful attacks, hoping to do as much damage as possible).

So I'm going with Jin here. Though that's mostly for the 2nd battle. In the 1st one I think Jin was still lacking skills somewhat. But that was in the past, in present time Jin is imo the better one.

I'm pretty much in agreement with Xerno.

To add, in Episode 3, I will go through some spoiler material.

Wasn't Margulis concidered the better student by Jin's grandfather?
If so I think the quote means that he had a good eye in seeing potential in Jin. But I seem to recall that the old man concidered Margulis the better student back in the day.

I don't know for certain if that's actually true. It seems that he was probably the stronger of the two, but since Jin hadn't matured or developed enough, he wasn't able to use his potential.

Jin was clearly the better fighter in both matches, but what are those powers they use. Margulis seems to use some kind of Fire Art while Jin uses Ice. I kinda wish they went into more detail about their fighting styles. But the fights were awesome nonetheless.

I replayed the game just a few days ago and this exact question came into my mind too. If you pay attention to their backstories from all the games, Margulis was the better student, but from Margulis' perspective it seems as though Jin was the favored student between the two. There's a good bit of evidence that appears to say that Jin is the better one of the two. In episode III, if you talk to a guard I think it is, they talk about a pilot they call the 'Torquise Blade' and how he is so skilled that he can cut a AWGS in half outside of his craft. Then they mention how he's stronger than the Colonel (Margulis). The Torquise Blade is of course Jin and if you played Episode II you know the scene this 'rumor' came from. I think it's just one of the things designers put in to try to hint at who is supposed to be better.

Their first fight in Episode II is a strange one to me. Margulis IS obliviously the better fighter in this one, keeping his balance and pressing the attack. Jin loses his footing multiple times and is constantly on the defensive, even losing his weapon in the process. Sure, he gets it back in a very cool manner, but his was a desperation move that could have just as easily killed him. However, we later see a wound which SEEMS to have been given by Margulis in the fight, but Jin says 'it's from earlier' leading me to believe him. His personality isn't one where he would try to deny that someone managed to wound him. I think the people that made this scene probably forgot to show his wound until toward the end of the fight (Episode II was poorly done in all kinds of manners, so it wouldn't surprise me), or maybe it was a wound that opened up further after the Colonel's attack. Either way, it's a way of saying Jin was handicapped in the fight.

But as mentioned by others, Jin is a calm fighter, which is probably why his grandfather favored him (along with their relations of course), whereas Margulis is arrogant and hotheaded, which is the only reason why he lost the fight in the first video. So I'd say that overall, Jin is the better of the two, though the videos certainly don't make it very clear.

hm well i remember those two fights well. lets see...both of them are definate masters of swordsmanship. and like wien said before Margulis is fire and Jin is ice two constrasts. lol but of course Jin is goin to win both times. and he's definatly better because i would say he's a bit more calm about the whole situation that Margulis is.