That’s why I think Borderlands The Fallen works so well (#1 book). It isn’t a magnificent read by any means but it captures the essence and feeling of Borderlands 1 so well.
Here we have a family of nobodies trying to settle on Pandora to get away from the chaotic rest of the galaxy and the scrupulous corporations and find fortunes, on Pandora, to make a living. Of course with the creatures, Psycho gangs and said corporations this doesn’t pans out.
And at the end, the supposed Eridian treasure is actually a crashed space ship from a different unknown alien race.
Add Roland and several familiar places and you got a pretty decent read for every Borderlands 1 fan.
*Edit: It’s not canon but it also doesn’t contradicts anything.
Nah, that was easily one of the peaks on the franchise in terms of humor, that was setup from episode 1 with Rhys playfully using finger guns to that Hyperion minion. It was over the top and ridiculous, but nowhere near as cringe as the “Wow double rainbow” or other meme references in 2 and TPS.
I do like the Talon of God and BUNKER segments of the game in BL2, although I do think the way they took out Mordy and Brick for the last segment was very anticlimactic and forced, it could’ve been handled better.
Even with BL3’s QoL, the whole endgame of BL2 would need a complete rework for me to like it over BL3.
Slag removed completely, over half of the raid bosses would need to be revamped (their fights are either badly designed or lackluster), no need to repeat the Peak 10 times just to reach OP10, heavily increase EXP gain so you don’t end up your third playthrough at just lvl 55-56 having to grind for levels then farm for weapons (rinse and repeat until lvl 80), increase legendary droprate as a whole beyond single digits, reducing the scaling of weapons so they don’t become useless every few levels, rework damage from minions/enemies so you aren’t on constant health gate (making shields fairly useless), rebalance of mission rewards and higher tier rarities (legendaries, pearls…) so that a blue you get on a quest isn’t the meta weapon for every character and raids/high level enemies are worth farming…
TVHM BL2 was the peak of the game, but UVHM+OP would need a complete rework for me to consider playing, even if they make an eventual remake with BL3’s mechanics.
Unpopular opinion, but I would rather farm for anointments than farm for specific parts. Their powers/build diversity are easier to understand and (as of now) can be rerolled. I would let it slide if you could actually change/customize parts though, a system like that has been long overdue.
They aren’t “hard” per say, they’re just better balanced difficulty wise than the other games. BL2 is difficult for the wrong reasons and BL3 is fairly easy aside from the hardest raid in the game unless you use self imposed rules. BL1 and TPS, besides a few rocky parts here and there, offer the best balanced experience in terms of difficulty.
The core design is mostly the same, but the raw gameplay is on another different level entirely.
The gun design is vastly improved over the (relatively bland) brands in BL1 or the over the top gimmicks that make certain manufacturers weapon types worthless in BL2/TPS (cough Assault Rifles cough Bandit cough most Torgue weapons that feel like ■■■■ cough overly gimmicky pearl/seraph weapons cough), the movement of your character makes the non-stop action feel more exciting and fast paced, the QoL features makes the relatively slow moments go by faster so you can get back right into the action once again, vehicles are better handled (not by much, but better) so it relatively makes the driving sections less painful than they were in other games… it’s really a combination of various things that makes the experience vastly different and, if you’re a gameplay enthusiast, it is hard going back to a clearly much inferior system for just slightly improved writing of a story you already know how it ends or jokes in which you already know what the punchline is.
BL2’s peaks with the campaign (and arguarbly Tiny Tina’s Assault of Dragon Keep) and fumbles in the higher levels of gameplay, BL3 starts slow and gets better after you finish the campaign and only goes up from there when your moment to moment combat experience isn’t interrupted by the narrative design.
They’re both different beasts with different designs philosophies.
This so much. The environments and gameplay are so awesome it’s just sad how just exploring the maps in endgame and mobbing makes the game 300% more fun for me.
Crazy, how if BL3’s writing would be much better it would have no problem at all, sitting next to the other games but so it drags it waaaay down to the bottom of the list.
*Yes finger guns was one of the best parts of TftB.
You may be on to something, every corner of Bl2 is filled with good feelings, so even knowing it by heart it is still pleasant to revisit time to time.
On a bl3 map ok it s more shiny ok the gameplay is a bit more advanced but where are the feelings?
What I enjoy in videogame is being immersed in an universe and I think bl2 did it the best . Tales did it pretty well too, bl3 not so much.
Thelandhar
("Klytus I'm bored. What plaything can you offer me today?" - Ming the Merciless)
#29
Anyone feel like talking weapon manufacturers?
I actually do not have a favorite manufacturer (or set of manufacturers) in terms of overall weapons. Instead, I tend to gravitate towards specific guns and grenades that seem fun or match my playstyle. So, my choices on manufacturers were based more on role-play sensibilities than on gameplay mechanics.
I chose Jakobs, Maliwan and Atlas. Jakobs because I love the whole western theme to their style. I still have fond memories of The Zombie Island of Dr. Ned with the Jakobs Cove vending machines and Claptraps. And I love that they carried that forward into BL3 and Eden-6. And yes, they make some good weapons across most if not all of the games. I chose Maliwan simply because of the elemental factor. As a result of BL3, I hate the actual Maliwan corporation, but I will still use their guns because of the elemental damage. Atlas I picked because I missed having it available in BL2 and TPS and I like the idea of a “comeback kid” sort of theme, plus I enjoyed them as the bad guys in the original Borderlands (The Secret Armory of General Knox, anyone?).
Although I love the Torgue character, and could have added Torgue to the list, the company screwed over Mr. Torgue in The Horrible Hunger of the Ravenous Wattle Gobbler BL2 Headhunter Pack DLC. So nertz to them as a whole, though I still like some of their weapons. Unkempt Harold is one of my favorite BL2 weapons.
The only manufacturer that I have any real feelings about gameplay wise is the COV. I dislike their weapons gimmick in general (I did not like using the Bandit guns from BL2 very much either, though they got points for role-play). I would rather have the original Eridian weapons back, only as legendaries or pearlescents or something. I think all Eridian weapons should be a tier above most if not all of the human-made ones, otherwise what is the point of chasing after alien vaults (and committing untold resources to do it) for comparable or lesser technology?
The others I do not mind, and I will use them on a case-by-case basis. I just have no particular attachment to them thematically.
Generally I don t have a strong preference concerning manufacturers I m more about the specific feel of each particular weapon regardless the brand. I like Rockets launchers and I like Mr Torgue so I answered Torgue as the focus is EXPLOSIONS.
In Arm race situation is different as you actually have to play with white weapons and their usability varies wildly depending on manufacturer, here there is no doubt I prefer Maliwan for the awesome elemental effects
i will say if borderlands 2 had bl3 movement
and would perhaps nerf OP lvls down a notch maybe even add radiation and cryo to the mix it might be a super cool and redone version
like, imagine having all elements even slag, in a game that doesnt make slag meta
then imagine adding a few takedowns
cuz thats the things i liked about bl3… the 1 takedown that wasnt stupid
the new elements,
movement.
@Thelandhar I picked Jakobs as my favorite manufacturer and that kinda applies across all of the games. I love the BL1 and BL3 Skullmashers (I didn’t like the BL2 one as much), I love the BL2 and BL3 Jakobs shotguns, the Gatling Gun and Bekah from BL2 (and the Bekah from BL3, although not as much). The Maggie is amazing in BL3. The Bessie from BL1. Just so many good ones.
I really love that they doubled down on the way that Jakobs is so crit-focused in BL3. The ricochet on crit mechanic is just so cool and interesting to me and it opens up lots of interesting play opportunities with gear and skills.
2 Likes
Thelandhar
("Klytus I'm bored. What plaything can you offer me today?" - Ming the Merciless)
#34
I did not realize that Tales had multiple intro songs, otherwise I would have included all five. Unfortunately, I cannot alter the poll at this point. I also would have created a ranked poll if I knew of an easy way to do that.
My favorite Borderlands intro song is “Ain’t No Rest for the Wicked”, with “Short Change Hero” a close second. I believe that these two songs capture the essence of the whole space-western, anti-hero theme. Two other, non-Borderlands affiliated songs that I think have a similar sound and feel would be Beck’s “Loser” and Butt Hole Surfer’s “Pepper”. I wish that GBX had commissioned all of their Borderlands songs to have a similar sound and vibe as these four. All the other Borderlands intro songs I can do without as I do not feel they align with the core essence of the original space-western theme of the franchise.
A bit surprised how low Put It On The Line is on the poll, but I guess it doesn’t have the nostalgia/history previous intros had. Was a big fan of BL3’s intro song 'cause it had both high energy and calm moments, which combined with the lyrics made it feel VERY Borderlands-esque; helped that it was made for the game, I suppose.
Honestly might be alone in this but I think I’d have more love for BL1 and BL2’s intros if the songs were swapped- or at least tonally swapped. Ain’t No Rest For The Wicked was just a bit too high energy to me, considering we were just looking at our Vault Hunters riding a bus. And Short Change Hero was too low energy for a full blown firefight on a high speed train.
They definitely tap into that Folky Hip Hop vibe. I think Gorillaz “Clint Eastwood” is probably the best song to ever do that. Beck’s “E-Pro” would be a good one but I think another game already used it.
Gorillaz are weirdly perfect for Borderlands. Every time I farmed something in Borderlands 2 I muted the game and listened to a best of cd of them. It just fits perfectly, especially Clint Eastwood.
In my opinion the contrast between the music and action give off an interesting feeling each time: impending storm in Bl 1 and just a typical VH day in Bl2
I wasn’t a fan of “Short Change Hero’ the minor key down tempo vibe may have evoked a tinge of a western vibe, but Borderlands isn’t a moody western, it’s a rollicking romp. ”Ain’t No Rest…” Is a bright major key tune, but it’s still mid tempo and relatively laid back.
There intros honestly remind me of an old school Hip Hop classic, and I think breaking from the rock and pop and just embracing it would have been fun for BL2 and hit a tonal home run:
