Quick Poll on Total Hours Played

Borderlands 3 Borderlands 3 General Discussion
#21

@WxndaBread Pretty much everything @Justern said is true. BL1 is still a really good game despite its flaws. I do recommend the original version over the remaster. I own a physical copy of the 360 BL1 and I still play it. I did buy the remastered version for Xbone, but I don’t think I like it as much. There are just a lot of minor differences, basically. The Remastered version runs better on Xbone if that is a consideration. There are still 360 multiplayer lobbies that get regular play, which is kinda cool. I would assume that you should still be able to get a physical copy of BL1 if you are on console or I know the original should be available on Steam.

So yeah, BL1 feels like a 12 year old game. But it’s still a very fun experience.

TL;DR - The worst Borderlands game is still really amazing. Despite all the complaints on the forums (myself included), the BL franchise’s fanbase is kinda spoiled for riches. I feel like that’s actually fairly objective too - there aren’t too many franchises where the entire scope of work is as good as it is with BL. I play a lot of franchise games, and I truly believe that.

8 Likes
#22

Hard for me to remember the hours. I first played Borderlands when it came out and i never played the DCL until last year or so when the remaster thing came out. but even then in total is low.

BL2 I probably had the most hours with all the heroes I had. And I say had because well my info got deleted and i lost all the guys I had made. Oddly enough, the only thing to have survived at the time was the guardian points. So yay for being level 1, but all bonuses were like at 15%.

Pre sequel had similar things. but it was played for a while.

BL3 is all i have been playing these past several months. I think combined with all the heroes and time spent playing them, its not a lot per se. But its increasing.

never played Tales (not fond of a point and click game).

#23

Agreed. BL2 was my first, so I knew what I was getting into when I got BL1, and ended up really liking it still. It’s the first game in the series, so I can be way more forgiving of its flaws. There is a good core game in there despite the bad stuff.

1 Like
#24

As with most things in life, it is going to depend on preferences, including what you enjoy out of a looter-shooter. I had the good fortune to start my franchise experience with the original Borderlands game and had a blast with it. I had also never played a looter-shooter before, so I had no basis of comparison to color my experience with pre-existing expectations. I will still go back to BL1 every once in awhile for fun.

So how good is it compared to the others…? Does it really matter? I recommend trying it for a few hours on its own merit. It was the first game to create the hybrid FPS/RPG Looter-Shooter and defined the genre (at least, this is what i have always been led to believe). So if you are fan of the franchise, your experience will not be complete if you never play it. Furthermore, playing it through might give you a deeper perspective of the entire franchise.

2 Likes
#25

I bought BL1 on day 1 and played it several hours a day most days, until BL2 came out. Played every character but mostly Roland and Lilith, did every DLC and tons of couch co-op with my brother. The game was amazing, really felt ahead of its time, with great humor and fantastic weapons.
I pre-ordered BL2, TPS and BL3 and I’ve put thousands ohours into each, I think, with less co-op and more solo play over time. I’ve definitely played more TPS than any of the others, and I’d say it easily beat BL2 in many regards and still beat BL3 in many ways, too. Its my favourite, even if its not the most popular, and I wish it’d gotten more hype and support, especially with DLCs.
BL3 would have been my new favourite, but there’s been too many problems by gearbox that put me off and drove me away from the game. I’ve played it a lot, but I don’t know how much longer I’ll keep going and I don’t plan on getting wonderlands or BL4 until they hit sales, if at all. Decisions like mayhem 2.0, half-arsed DLCs and lack of fixes, plus the whole games-as-service thing with too many level cap increases and way too many mini-events based on mindless farming, plus limited time content, it just made me dislike BL3 more than any other game in the series.

I picked up tales for free, and put off playing it for months, as the format didn’t appeal, but as soon as I started I was hooked and played the whole thing. Easily some of the best story and characters in the series.
I also had a free trial on BL1 GOTY, for a weekend (I think), a while back, and managed to replay most of the main story and a bunch of side missions. I loved going back to it, but a big part of that is nostalgia. If you get it without having played it before, treat it as an old game and don’t expect to get blown away. It’ll probably impress you, but overall it has flaws. I’d still recommend it though. Every game in the series seems to excel over the others in something, so if you play them all you can get an idea of what future games could be, if they used all that history and improved on it (something BL3 often failed at).

6 Likes
#26

The fact that 40% (at time of writing) of people voted they never played Tales hurts my soul extensively.

5 Likes
#27

Well, the poll did not include “I am a bastard and watched the whole thing on Youtube” option.

Fun fact: the only game in the franchise, that I did not use “the toolz” for is BL3. Great combat loop and accessible loot are the reasons why I played the 3rd game the most.

3 Likes
#28

I made operator errors when I clicked on Tales and Pre-Sequel, so ignore those. I could have sworn that I was clicking on the BL3 poll, but I messed up TWICE. Need more coffee from Lorelei.

Update: Fixed. Thanks for all of the replies.

#29

Everyone who clicked (Didn’t play) on Tales of the Borderlands need to have a sticker beside there name so I never confuse a real BL fan with them :upside_down_face:

#30

LOL. Correct me if I am wrong, but I thought that as long as I keep the polls open, people can go back and change them as many times as they want.

2 Likes
#31

This is correct. I changed one of my votes yesterday.

2 Likes
#32

Clicking “Show Vote” lets you change your selection. You have to do it separately for each poll.

5 Likes
#33

I don’t normally feel guilty about my indulgences, but when I consider just how much time I have spent playing the Borderlands franchise on the whole, I gotta admit a little self-consciousness. Way too much time. But I do love it LOL

5 Likes
#34

Thank you. That worked.

1 Like
#35

Let’s see, as a primarily single-player participant my Borderlands Franchise Resume clocks in as follows:

Borderlands 1 - started on XBox 360 with GOTY, moved to PC with Steam and GOTY, and eventually picked up GOTY Enhanced - total 600+ hours. Still occasionally go back and play, sometimes for nostalgia, sometimes simply because it is still a fun game to play on its own merit (especially the three storyline DLCs: The Zombie Island of Dr. Ned, The Secret Armory of General Knox and Claptrap’s New Robot Revolution).

Borderlands 2 - 2100+ hours on Steam. Love this game the most. Love the storyline and characters (PCs and NPCs alike) enough that replays are part of the endgame experience for me. Will now occasionally go back and play when the mood strikes me. I would pay money to have them revamp this game to include the Zero G mechanics from TPS and most of the mechanics and gameplay from BL3 (but not Mayhem or Anointments).

Borderlands: TPS - 300+ hours on Steam. Love this game also, but it is too damn short. I still occasionally return to it when I want a BL2 fix but are more in the mood for jump pads and flying. I wish I could port my BL2 characters into it, that would be a blast. I would otherwise pay for more narrative/mission content DLC (another full-blown storyline or even a set of “headhunter-like” packs, though with closer to 5 missions and a raid boss/secret boss for each).

Borderlands 3 - 600+ hours on Steam, much of which was spent farming last year (and a fair amount of that happened during Loot the Universe). I feel that the game play for this entry is the best in the franchise (Mayhem 2.0 and Anointments notwithstanding), although I would like to have seen jump pads and OZ kits. But I also feel that the role play is the worst and that keeps me from enjoying replays enough to dedicate as much time as I have for BL2.

Tales from the Borderlands - 69 minutes total on Steam (I made it through Chapter 2 of Episode 1, and that was back in 2015). I bought all 5 episodes to show my support back when the company was still a going concern. But I just could not get into the format after playing the fast-paced looter shooters from the rest of the franchise. Might go back someday and complete the whole thing, but it is not on my priority list.

1 Like
#36

You missing out with Tales! I know it different and the sections where you move around picking up cash/interacting with stuff kinda suck. But the story is amazing and I often go back to watch my favourite parts.

#37

Bl1 200 and a bit hours
Bl2 200 and a bit hours.
Bl TPS, less than 60. Doing 2 playthroughs and trying to see what kind of endgame it has. Discovering there is no endgame whatsoever, so never touched it again.
Bl3 coming up to 500 hours almost.

Puts the whole “I am bored with bl3” into perspective. Apparently I’ve played it more in 15 months then Bl1 and Bl2 over their entire content spans… So I went in hard and strong and played it intensively, but then I’m bored with it quickly. Makes sense.

Still, all of Bl combined can’t even touch cod4, and all cods and battlefields together don’t even come close to League of Legends. Ah, simpler times without kids running through the house :).

2 Likes
#38

BL1: YLODed my P3 mid game so I had to start from scratch. Imported gamesaves from P3 to P4.

BL2: Maya mained it to death on P3, then continued on once the Handsome collection was released.

BL3: Leveled up 4 VHs, then took a 6 month break (hoping GB was done tinkering with it.)

#39

ive played bl 1 on one character for 2 weeks and 3 days playtime alone( xbox) ONE character
ive played more on steam for like another 100 hours maybe
the 2 weeks n 3 days i remember cuz for me back then it was actually pretty long
so 400-500 hours total on xbox 360

bl2 on xbox also a few hundred hours
on pc its 500ish hours at least

bl3 is 350ish hours

rly barely touched pre sequel cuz i got bored

#40

OK, I will :smiley: Seriously, I absolutely respect your opinion. Here’s my equally personal view.

I came to BL1, back in 2010, as a FPS player. I had (and have) no problem with a minimal storyline. My endgame was playing a game again at a harder difficulty. I just wanted combat situations that gave me choice and freedom as to how I tackle them. That said, I’ve always liked a “gimmick” that makes you different and gives you an edge. That might be “slo-mo” in FEAR or the Grav Gun in H-L2.

So when I discovered BL1, it was pretty well perfect. I got ever-changing weapons to adapt to, multiple difficulty levels, multiple characters to change up the gameplay and a whole set of “gimmicks” in the form of skills. I didn’t notice, nor care about, the weak storyline. I was used to games like Blood and Painkiller. How much the characters talk or have a “personality” doesn’t affect my enjoyment of the game. To me the characters are a collection of skills I can use in combat.

And, for me, it’s the skills that set BL1 apart. They are almost powerful enough to use without guns. Lil can just melt things by walking by them. Sal can let Blood do the work. Brick can punch everthing to death the moment he gets Berserk. Roland, not so much but 3 out of 4 is not bad :slightly_smiling_face: I agree skills get a bit distorted, for good or bad, once you get into PT2.5 but up to the level cap, for which they were designed, they’re great.

My favourite characters, across the franchise, are Lil, Brick, Krieg and Amara precisely because of their dominant skills and lack of reliance on guns. But farming gear bores me and I have no interest in endgame.

Again, I’ll disagree about (some of) the DLCs :smiley: DLC1 was a remarkably good zombie game and you can diiscover the genesis of Borderlands humour. DLC2 was great for us shooters. I’ve played through 20 rounders on more than one occasion. That’s testing :slightly_smiling_face: DLC3 was considered one of the best game DLCs ever, on it’s release. It gave us the Armo(u)ry and Crawmerax. DLC4 was a weak afterthought but at least you got the Gift Shop :smiley: My view might be a little distorted because I always play the DLCs at PT2.5 when they present a more serious challenge.

Over the years, Borderlands has moved away from being a straight FPS and moved more towards its RPG elements. BL2 got the balance right and it is my favourite in the series. TPS and BL3 have moved too far to RPG/MMO/games-as-a-service for my taste. Though there is some great FPS gameplay in both of them, when they let you get on with it!

So, in answer to WxndaBread’s question, I ask some questions in return. Do you need state-of-the-art graphics to enjoy a game or is it secondary to gameplay? Do you need your avatar to be given a character or do you prefer to give your avatar a character? Can you do without a grand story or prefer not to have endless exposition and cut scenes? Most importantly, do you come to the game primarily as a role player or a “shooter”? If your answer is always “the latter” then I’m sure you will get some enjoyment from the original Borderlands.

6 Likes