Claustrophobia

[night kelp]

I find that sor's gameplay formula is at its absolute best when elements of the game are bouncing off of each-other. A fight starts out in a bar and that leads to the whole place burning down. A thief steals an important item from you, and immediately runs off into an area you can't enter, giving you a new and completely diegetic problem to solve. You're backed into a corner by police due to some unlucky building placement and have to use an item to escape.
The thing is, the more space between buildings, npcs, and quests, the less likely it is for them to collide into each-other. This is a problem sor had, actually. Houses always had spaces between them and generally, if there was a problem, the player could always just go around it. The map is strictly grid based and only in later levels like downtown and uptown did these dynamic systems regularly start playing off one another.

Overall, I found that sor2's world was too empty, and too spaced out. I want buildings crammed together, I want dead-end alleys, I want emergent and interesting level design. I also want chaos. I want the game to surprise me, even when it's unfair. I want random unexpected bullshit to hit me when I least expect it. And I want to be forced to think on my feet, and rewarded for improvising to meet impossible odds.

[wheat night]

Yeah cities are often weirdly shaped. Making weirdly shaped chunks would be how this may be solved. That and the algorithm with how close buildings are placed together.

[hearty solstice]

I am for having denser cities in general, but I'd like if it also had a development area that's sparce with like workers and slum-dwellers, so you can still buy an open plot of land to make however you want

[round depot]

I like the idea of having most cities be densely populated, but it might be nice to include certain areas —maybe wealthier neighborhoods— where the blocks are spaced out more like they are today.