"The world is deep, fully-realised, and more believable than Forgotten Realms or most other swords-and-sorcery settings" Better than the most well known D&D setting... How many lore books was there ? probably well over an hundred. Bah I wont bother anymore this time, the review is boring and soulless ironic as almost everything about POE lore was related to souls.
One good example of difference in world design between BG and PoE is comparison between Defiance Bay and Athkatla.
Lets take a look what lore says about the cities in question.
Athkatla is a large port town that rests a few miles south of the Cloud Peaks, a prominent mountainous region. It is located in the middle of the trade route between southern provinces such as
Calimshan, and northerly ones such as
Waterdeep. Because of this, it is by far the largest and busiest harbour in all of
Amn.
Defiance Bay, sitting at the edge of the ocean, forest, fertile farmland, and a river that runs from the coast to the
White March, the port city became Aedyr gateway to new frontier lands and the riches of
Eír Glanfath, teeming with colonist, adventurers and explorers from all over the region.
Sounds pretty similar right, now play both games and explore both cities and you will immediately see the difference.
Athkatla actually feels like a busy city packed with merchants, thiefs, adventurers and all manner of other people, where guilds fight at night for control of the streets, a city filled with dangers and opportunities.
For Defiance Bays lore says a lot but just like for the rest of the game shows very little. City feels more then half empty, no signs of colonist, adventurers and explorers or masses of refugees that game says they are there. As said in BG2 you can see power struggle at night while in PoE you are told there is one but little is actually seen.
