I would make the case the Borderlands 2 Retconned the most enduring parts of lore, regarding Sirens and Eridians, that have carried through the game that may not have even been implied in Borderlands 1. The Mining company lore and infighting was the strongest lore component in BL1, with the Vault and Eridian origins being under-developed and the Siren lore untouched completely. They seemed to exist as a backdoor way of including a Magic oriented class for players to use. Borderlands 2 elevated them to a twin pillar in the overarching lore of the series with the Eridians and the Vaults.
This was possibly my favorite sequence in any Borderlands game. I was cracking up, and got myself wasted because of it.
Borderlands and Portal are the only FPS type games I play, so the difference between 1, 2, TPS, and 3 is pretty pronounced.
Between 1 and 2 the change in the fluidity of the animations of enemies and the naturally wider FOV enhanced gameplay quite a bit. Add to that the advancements in how Action Skills could be deployed or recalled, and the depth of the actual skill trees, augmentations of skills, and Melee overrides.
TPS’s low gravity and air control, and the ability to boost and slam also added to the feel of the game. The upgrades to pet classes gave us more control over how they functioned, leading directly into BL3’s options.
BL3 took all the above and added Handling. It’s easy to overlook the impact character walk and run speed variations between weapon types influenced play loops. In the past the speed of animations was something that mainly impacted reload speed and action skill deployment in previous games. Now the different weapon classes have a certain amount of Heft they lacked in the other games.
Adding alternate firing modes on top of that, tracking dart mechanics, and sticky projectiles gave us more control and variation to how we applied damage with guns. Instead of it just being a factor or shooting an enemy with a body shot or a crit, or the ground in front of them to generate a AOE, or chucking, there are a handful of new ways to use the weapons we have, without even bringing anointments into play (which are an evolution of the Glitch Rarity and Luneshine weapons).
Add to all that Sliding, being able to attack while sliding, and being able to go from midjump to climbing or mantling can save you from an errant hop off a cliff. Being able to transport when you get stuck on an out of bounds ledge with no way to get back into the playable area without dying is such a bonus.
Being able to hijack vehicles and the advancements in the vehicle customization with weapons and propulsion is also a fun change that makes the game more immersive, even if the damage scaling with vehicles is really out of whack.
See above for some of my thoughts on that.
I think you’re mistaking what my intent was, which I think colored their response. It’s not which game is most difficult, it’s which game had the most appealing balance of challenge/ difficulty. Not “How hard was it to survive?” and more “How fun was it to play while trying to survive?”
