The total package of what Borderlands is, is what brings me back. The unique artistic vision, FPS RPG, bleak and truly dark backdrop against which hilarious points of light shine through, one of the most interesting villains in entertainment, a rich story, unsolved mysteries, amazing and fluid combat… this game offers so much! The ultimate, however, is enough variable content (parts system, Digistruct Peak variable spawns, sheer numbers of zones and bosses) to make it possible to keep returning without being bored.
12 Likes
For me its farming and getting loot, and helping my friends farm, doing dlc’s with my friends, etc.
3 Likes
Ditto to what everyone else wrote. Although this may fall under “replayability” mentioned by others above, all other games seem to follow the same formula…follow this path, kill this creature, get this item as a reward, etc. Once you’ve completed the game, there is no reason to play it again.
4 Likes
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Replayability.
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I can play it solo, I can play online co-op, I can play couch co-op. PLEASE, for the love of all that is holy, don’t make the next Borderlands game multiplayer or online only.
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The cartoonish, unique, “completely different from every other FPS out there” visuals and gameplay. Keep it. Cherish it. This game series should scream FUN, in every way.
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Characters aren’t just “empty shells”. They have different personalities, backstories and voices. I feel it actually draws you in a lot more than any nameless, bland characters that are supposed to be empty vessels for you as a player. I don’t wanna be me in these games. I wanna be Axton. I wanna be Zer0. I wanna be Maya. I wanna be Krieg. Also, the game tells a complete story. Characters change. The world changes. Gameplay favors the story, not the other way around.
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The sense of humor and self awareness. The worst thing that could happen to Borderlands is becoming just another grim, gritty, realistic and all too serious FPS.
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Movie references, specially when it comes to genre mashups. What made me notice Borderlands was that it looked like Mad Max crossed with spaghetti westerns and dashes of pulpy sci-fi. It’s like a blend of my favorite things. I just love how cinematic it is.
9 Likes
For me, it’s many things. I think, at its core, Borderlands most attractive aspect is this paradigm of insane complexity that is somehow balanced and coalesced into interchangeable, infinitely repeatable gameplay that can be shared with others. Whether that sharing with others is actual co-op, Twich, YouTube, or here on Gearbox Forums, the players talk about the game and their experience with it together. It may take patches, add-ons, DLC, and millions of hours of testing, both by players and devs, but Borderlands makes nuanced intricacies work in an addictive way. It defined and exemplified an entirely new genre of video games, the FPSRPG, in a way that hadn’t been done before or since.
You have 3 things:
- Gear
- Classes
- Community
I’m not discounting all of the other great stuff that makes Borderlands Borderlands. The story arc. The mind boggling sci-fi, backwater prison colony, exploited planet setting. The sometimes complex and hilariously loveable/hateable, albeit, sometimes one-dimensional NPCs. The playable characters that make their class synonymous with that character’s name (Sal the Gunzerker, Kreig the Psycho, Maya the Siren, etc.). The enemies that tell a crazy backstory simply by the sight of them and the dialogue/sound effects they make. They childish comedy that’s somehow redeemable by the hidden nuances and references to pop culture and history. The immersive themes and score. All those things are great and invaluable to the brand. And I’m sure Gearbox will do right by its legacy in that regard.
The formula of gear + class + community = gameplay…
is what I find most appealing. The way the loot system and character building create the user’s experience, and then sharing that experience with others, is what is valuable about this game. Just read what all of the lurkers that are still here are talking about. We talk about how different loot does different things with different classes/characters in crazy sometimes unthought of ways. We have played this game the better part of a decade and still finds way to make it fun, exciting, and new. If that were cheapened in any way, like making it PvP or online only, it would not have kept me playing. It’s one of a kind. That is Borderlands and what keeps me coming back to it.
9 Likes
The feeling like, “I don’t think we’re in Kansas anymore, Toto.” There is a pervading sense of suspense as you enter familiar-type environments like, say, desert or forest, you see things that your mind tells you are correct and appropriate. A vast wasteland before you, you can imagine this as some sort of post-cataclysmic event location. It’s Fyrestone or the Dust, yeah, I’ve seen towns kinda like that way out in the desert. For a moment you feel a bit of confidence in this adventure, you even may feel a slight and temporary level of comfort…. except…it’s Borderlands. You know that somewhere, right around that rock maybe, or even lurking in that dark hole something waits.
What waits for you is an ill-defined combination of known and unknown. It’s a ice tossing beast with ape-like arms. Oh, ok, it’s just a pterodactyl…like…thing… that DIVEBOMBS ME. Or, it’s a machine constructed from our childhood nightmares. Non-sentient things that appear to be constructed of metal scraps or maybe car parts that singlemindedly attack us… oh wait, there’s Yet ANOTHER level of these things… well engineered, durable, smarter…. Enter the loader class. Cripers, some of them fly and they can REPAIR EACH OTHER, WTF?
Borderlands keeps you right at that edge. You’re not comfortable, your not confidently strolling along looking for pretty prizes, you are in the Borderlands. You need to keep your head on a swivel and your gear ready. It’s like Salvador Dali’s version of Kansas… only much, much better.
7 Likes
Beautifully summed up.
2 Likes
You too man
The Darkness in the TTAoDK DLC in Hatred’s Shadow, which incidentally makes me yell, “CHARLIE MURPHY!” Every time I see the name and health bar when looking at it.
Excacly.
2 Likes
Parts system for loot.
This is something unique to borderlands. You can strip away the art style, the writing, and RNG in loot but you still have the parts system. I played other loot shooters where items were standalone single piece with RNG, but never have I seen actually visual parts constructed to create something. It is like using Lego to create your guns, no game has this.
Writing style can come and go, the art style will evolve and adapt, the class skill tree can change, progression and endgame can be different from game to game, but at its core if you remove the parts system…there is no Borderlands.
I am actually surprise they haven’t use this tech or other things like parts system for generating enemies, different limbs and torso combinations? Oh hell parts system for the vehicles.
4 Likes
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It is good, and especially since many of the accessories also have different appearances. There’s an incredible amount of detail in this game when you start looking closely (eg take a look at the KerBlaster someone posted in the “What did you do…” thread recently.)
One of the things I like about Fallout 4 is the ability to change up weapons and armour. When I do that, I can’t help wondering if the designer of the weapons bench had played Borderlands and thought, “Wouldn’t it be neat if you could change up the parts on these things for yourself?”
2 Likes
What I like about the part system is that they managed to make all the parts visually distinct enough to tell them apart easily while keeping them themed to the manufacturers. Bandit and Hyperion parts, for example, look different, from each other, but still thematically match parts from the same manufacturer (in name and appearance).
I am hoping BL3 lets us get our “hands” on these parts in some way (crafting, swapping, grinding, purchasing, whatever) other than only letting the weapon generation system play with them.
7 Likes
that’s hilarious. I just watched the movie that meme came from.
1 Like
1: SO MUCH LOOT!
2: TORGUE!!! (and similar crazy characters [ahem shooty mcShootFace]
3: fun for all skill levels, and the ability to mix skill levels in a raid party
-3a: Raid parties! (I know other games have raids, but BL does them best [loot presentation and mechanics especially])
4: There’s a story; and a good one at that (PS: thanks for making the pre-sequel more chatty 
)
5: appearance: it’s cartoony, but the pretty factor is still dialed up to 11 (also, thanks for PhysX implementation) … I do sometimes just go places and pan the camera forever… even when big things are trying to kill me
Oh, and 5a: so many different types of pew pew: not only does basically every ammo mod have a different decal, but every gun sounds different too
6 Likes
Possibly the best dialogue in any game? It’s gonna be hard for anyone to recreate that story, Jack made that game and everything that evolved around it was on par with perfect.
Personally…i expect the next one to be very different. It all came together very nicely in B2, so if B3 is anywhere near as good, I’ll be happy.
JUST MAKE SURE TINA AND TORGUE ARE KICKING ASS!!
8 Likes
The first thing that made me download the PS plus “free” version was the cellshaded, cartoony style. I like games with that kind of look.
The characters drew me in shortly after starting. I liked claptraps sillyness, hammerlocks over the top poshiness and hey, Handsome Jack is just damn awesome. I’m a bit tired of some of his lines at this point and pay them no mind but they did keep me entertained for far more replays within a short time than relistening to NPC banter tends to do. The others are great too but those guys are the initial impression the game gives you of what to expect.
Going through NVHM and listening to everything and trying to complete challenges was fun and I found myself spending probably more hours trying to find vault symbols and other area challenges than spent actually completing missions at the end. While knowing what they are takes away some of the fun there are still challenges that I do on all characters while I’m around because I think they are just fun, rare things to do (like getting on top of the railroad in caustic caverns).
The actual replayability and fun of combat really didn’t grab me until much later in late TVHM / early UVHM. Most of the “WTF even is this gun” moments don’t come into play without farming that I had done none of at that point or they are quest rewards in DLC’s. I grabbed only 1, non-interesting legendary in 2 NVHM runs and I don’t think I got any more during my first TVHM run either (but can’t remember for sure). Once that side of the game opened up to me I spent HOURS just reading up on equipment on the wiki. I checked probably every red text equipment possible and who drops it and where.
Then when I went on to properly play UVHM all of that above stuff combined with the game being actually challenging and having a ton of skill points to play with just totally grabbed me. The ways different characters and builds handle different situations. What are their weak spots and how can I cover them? Where do they shine? What crazy gun do I want to wield with this combination of skills that I wish to play with?
This really only applies to BL2 for me. I tried BL1 afterwards and while I kinda like the game it just doesn’t have the atmosphere or handling that I love in BL2. TPS has good playable characters and handles nicely enough, being basically a BL2 clone, when it comes to gameplay but falls short on every other area IMO.
I have high hopes for BL3.
3 Likes
Borderlands is borderlands because of a few major things. Replayability, diversity, unique graphics, humor, and the community.
I’d say all the borderlands have countless hours of replayability (especially bl2 because of the vast amount of dlcs) which makes the games fun. You have 4 characters in the first, and 6 in the second and tps, giving you a total of 16 characters. Then, you can customize them in just about any way possible with just about an endless supply of different weapons, shield, coms, etc. which then can have different parts that affect them differently also. They is seriously no time in any borderlands where you can’t do anything.
Borderlands is just flat out different than most fps games, even inspiring the shoot and loot genre. Borderlands is still an fps, but they changed all of that when the first bl came out.
Even with the new Xbox showcasing 4K 60FPS, borderlands still uses that “comic book”/“cartoon” look to it’s enemies, maps, and guns. This makes the game especially unique to me because I don’t know of many games that use that art style to pull off a game as successful as the borderlands franchise has.
Borderlands is also just flat out hilarious. Sure, some of the characters are more funny/unfunny than others, but that’s what makes the game fun.
Borderlands is by far one of the best video games I’ve played. I started playing when I was 7, and I’ve loved it ever since. I’ve stuck with no game that long.
The community for borderlands is one of the best that I’ve seen. I’ve recently joined the forums and I was welcomed by people instantly. Most of the people that are in the community are there to help and share fun with others.
Using all of those things, borderlands has become of the best games to be made if my opinion. sure it’s not the best, no game is, but this game makes everything about playing video games much more fun.
6 Likes
Oh yeah, now that I thought about it I initially also got grabbed for a while by the trading section of these forums after I joined. It was a lot of fun and actually what got me into farming stuff in the first place so I guess I could include that as something that made me initially enjoy the game.
But I guess I can’t really say that it’s a thing that makes BL, well, BL for me since that side of the game is kinda unexplored what with there being no in-game trading hub and voldemort.exe. Still, I hope in the next installment it will become one of the things that make the game for me.
4 Likes
The writing. It created great characters that came across as real folks that you’d might want to hang out with, many of whom had a personal connection to the main protagonist (who just may be the best video game “villain” ever). The art style fits perfectly with the mood of the story and the game mechanics and the loot- as someone who gets a bit OCD about collecting at least one of everything (hey, you should have seen my Uncle Noah- talk about a collection fetish! 
). 99.9% of everything just works, making for a super fun and almost infinitely replayable game. It’s going to be hard to beat…
9 Likes