10 Times Video Games Knew They Were Being Annoying

7: Dragon Age II Characters Don’t Get Out Much

There’s a reason Dragon Age II protagonist Hawke is the Champion of Kirkwall and not the Champion of Thedas.

We can boil a lot of the game’s curious shortcomings down to the fact that it’s a retelling from Varric but our central heroes do spend almost all of their time in the coastal city of Kirkwall. The game received criticism for featuring pretty repetitive environments, to which some players said Varric likely didn’t bother to paint out the details for every warehouse.

Maybe that’s a little generous but another criticism was the fact that you rarely get to set foot outside of Kirkwall. It’s clearly where all the action is but players were disappointed in being restricted to one city after spending the first game exploring all of Ferelden.

BioWare are no strangers to making fun of themselves, however, and this became extra clear in the DLC entitled Mark of the Assassin.

The DLC takes players outside the city limits to an Orlesian estate where they’re tasked with helping a new friend steal a precious relic. In an entertaining aside that shows BioWare are fully aware of both irritating fan gripes, Merril will tell Hawke “It's so exciting to be out of Kirkwall. It seems like we haven't left there in ages.”

Hawke replies “We do seem to spend a ridiculous amount of time in the city.” Then Merril adds, “I needed this break. I was starting to think every part of Kirkwall looked alike.”

Dragon Age II may have a Kirkwall-centric and repetitive environment problem but at least BioWare absolutely knows about it.