As I've Been Playing DA2 The Last Couple Of Nights, The Comparisons Between It And VG Can't Help But

As I've been playing DA2 the last couple of nights, the comparisons between it and VG can't help but arise, and I think one of the biggest for me is Kirkwall itself.

Sometimes when VG critical assholes show up, I see defenders say “well it went through dev hell and they really only had 3 years to do what they had to do,” as if in apology for many of the complaints that arise. Except that if that's true, my god look what they gave us just in the environments alone. Not just how beautiful they look (I'm constantly blown away by the Necropolis, Treviso, and especially Arlathan). It's how, in appropriate settings, they're peppered with people who have dialogue that doesn't endlessly loop, some of which with you can interact, some faction-specific.

DA2 is constantly held up in comparison as a game which went through similar dev hell, and Kirkwall feels... Empty. It's supposed to be chock full of refugees, and it just isn't.

I always happy to run through Dock Town or Treviso, blighted or not, to hear what's going on, to see the street performers, to get the latest news, to hear how people feel about current events. The areas feel populated and fleshed out. If you're overlooking the poor and unhoused in VG, you're doing it deliberately.

This isn't an indictment against DA2 so much as positivity towards VG. We shouldn't have to feel like we need to make excuses like “they only had x many years to really develop this game-” however many years they supposedly had, just in the environments alone, nevermind combat, companions, dialogue, romances, and the overarching story, we were given something really beautiful.

I'm never not going to grin when trotting through a city and suddenly catching a minstrel picking out “Sera Was Never” to a tiny crowd of listeners.