#i am generally anti open world dragon age but honestly society of da2 was just a tiny open world so you actually got a sense of the city's

[villainanders]

literally always thinking about the chantry explosion changing kirkwall's coastline i get why people don't like it but i think it owns. hightown is built on the top of cliffs that were mined to the point of structural instability by tevinter slaves, mining tunnels abandoned until ferelden refugees were forced to take shelter there because they had also been abandoned by kirkwall. kirkwall's past and present sins are directly beneath their feet and the chantry and the nobility continue to ignore it. its admittedly a deeply on the nose geographical metaphor for hightown to not only look over lowtown but exist on top of darktown, but the concept of the cliffs of hightown coming crumbling down because the site of kirkwall's past atrocities built the foundation for the seat of power of their present atrocities? the fact that the man who destroyed hightown had lived under their feet for 7 years? that rocks! it's sexy it's cathartic it's delicious i just wish we had gotten a better sense of it in the game and not just from some dev saying shit