carralpha

Levelord, on 16 September 2012 - 01:35 PM, said:

When the thread was made, thehotsung asked for a comparison between the accessible areas of GW2 and Skyrim. Most of the people here have compared the playable areas, like he asked. I don't think anyone has skewed any results out of fanboyism - if he'd asked to compare the whole continent of Tyria to Tamriel, or the whole planet of Tyria to Nirn, we'd have done that. If he'd asked to compare the playable area in GW2 to the playable area in WoW, we'd have done that (even though WoW is much bigger than GW2 no matter how you cut it).

You see a comparison in playable area (as opposed to total world area) to be unfair. I think it can be a valid question, since the playable area is what you play in when you buy the game. Of course comparing worlds can be an interesting discussion as well, but just because we're answering the OP's specific question I don't think that makes us fanboys.

Levelord, on 16 September 2012 - 07:26 AM, said:

What you compare depends on what you're looking for. Now correct me if I'm wrong, but what the OP seems to be asking is "Is the world I play in when I buy Guild Wars 2 bigger or smaller than the world I play in if I play Skyrim?" which would mean we're comparing the playable portion of GW2 (100 km²) to the playable portion of Skyrim (37.1 km²).

The trouble with comparing Tamriel (which I believe is just over 300 km²) to the whole of Tyria (which is around 400 km², since only a quarter is playable in Guild Wars 2) is that you're counting a whole load of stuff that for gameplay purposes you'll never see. It doesn't mean it's a pointless comparison, just that I don't think it's what the OP is looking for.

Edit: Here's a picture which illustrates the comparison between GW2 and Skyrim.

thehotsung, on 16 September 2012 - 06:52 AM, said:

Probably smaller, but I've never played Just Cause 2. I also don't think there's any in-game measuring system (like the 1-inch range units in GW2 or the 57.6 m cells used in Skyrim), so it'd be hard to know exactly how they compare.

I worked out GW2's size as just over 100 square km (here). Skyrim's area is apparently 37.1 square km (here). That seems to be a win for GW2.

Syncline, on 12 September 2012 - 09:48 AM, said:

I'd be interested in seeing this comparison. I'm not saying you're wrong, but according to this Azeroth pre-BC is 200 square km and according to my (perhaps not very accurate) calculations Tyria is 100 square km. But then again I'd never want a world which was twice as big if 75% of it was filled by static quest hubs and mobs which just stood around.