Bring up the “Dragon Age” franchise, and you’re going to get a lot of opinions yelled at you on the internet. Plenty of folks will scream bloody murder that only the first installment matters, but those people are wrong.

The much-maligned “Dragon Age 2” is, to this day, the best in the series — warts and all.

But what about the rushed ending? What of the reused assets? Or the ding-dang action-based combat? Yes, I know. I’m well aware of the flaws and design choices that infuriate the masses. I don’t care.

Back in the early 2010s, BioWare was cranking out video games. The lengthy “Awakening” expansion for the first game released in March of 2010, and just twelve months later, we had “Dragon Age 2.” And considering the extremely compressed timeline, it’s shocking how coherent it ended up being.

But as easy as it is to explain away the shortcomings all day, that’s not what I want to do with this piece. Instead, I want to explain exactly why I love it.

Most importantly, the companions take center stage. Not only is there plenty of entertaining one-on-one content with the likes of Isabela and Anders, but you really feel like your crew members have fleshed-out lives — especially regarding their relationships with other NPCs.

The Merrill-Isabela friendship is an all-timer, and I will die on this hill.

While we are certainly forced to revisit the same locations too many times, there is something to be said for telling a story in a single city. I have a much better feel for the intricacies of Kirkwall than I do any of the other locations in the other games. It’s no surprise that I’m also a “Disco Elysium” diehard, right? Sue me.

Role-playing purists might not care for it, but the fact that Hawke isn’t a tabula rasa is wildly appealing to me. You can influence how this character interacts with the world, but the writers got to have much more control this time around — less left to the imagination.

Plus, the fact that the player character is voiced makes them more impactful. I couldn’t give a damn about The Warden, but Hawke sticks with me all these years later.

I would be remiss if I failed to mention that this game has a reasonable control scheme on console, and that alone makes it easier to recommend over the original game. “Origins” is fine on keyboard and mouse, but the controller interface is an unrelenting nightmare. “DA 2’s” control scheme still holds up to this day.

When all is said and done, I’d probably rather replay this game than any other BioWare release. If you’ve been putting off trying it, now is the time to let go and let Andraste. Let the chanting begin.

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Image credit: “Dragon Age 2,” BioWare