Worth it for singleplayer?

Battleborn Battleborn General Discussion
#15

It is quite possible to play alone, yes. However, not all heroes have that viability and some will need help just because they’re weak. There are a few that are designed specifically to be used with others as well that you won’t be able to play.

If you’re okay with a limited roster, and that the characters you want to play as you might not even be able to play as. There’s going to be that limitation until they look into sorting that out for PvE (if they ever do).

If you’re okay with that, then you’ll have fun with Battleborn no matter what you buy it on, I can assure you of that. Just keep in mind that there may be a character you really want to play as that you just won’t be able to use.

One weird example is Benedict. The first mission, The Algorithm, comes to a screeching halt with him because they made the utterly nutterly (and truly bizarre) choice to give Geoff damn near explosive immunity. And all the damage Benedict does is explosive.

There are design choices like that that I really question, but most of the things that just leave me scratching my head are balance related like that, and it’s where most of my personal hand-wringing comes from as I think it’s detrimental.

Ultimately, in an ideal world, they’d have separate balancing for PvP and PvE, and then they’d ensure that every character is viable solo in PvE. So it’d be like Borderlands. Ours isn’t such an ideal world, though. So… something to keep in mind.

It might be worth sitting on your hands for now and seeing if they do something about the questionable issues with PvE balancing, and if they do, then jumping on the game.

Because what I will say is that Battleborn is an amazingly fun game. I haven’t had quite this much fun with anything in a while, but I absolutely know I wouldn’t be having nearly as much fun if I wasn’t playing it with my partner. I’ve tried soloing various missions, and the results weren’t desirable. It bothers me, because in my heart of hearts, I would want to recommend this game without hesitation.

In many ways, Battleborn is an ideal game for me. I just do have reservations that I cannot ignore.

So, TL;DR: If you’re okay with a number of the heroes being completely unviable for solo play, with some of them even being specifically designed to stop you from doing that, then you might have fun. If you’re tired of dry storylines, lifeless characters, and uninspired science-fiction then you’re going to have a lot of fun because Battleborn excels in these areas. I do recommend Battleborn, but not without caveats.

#16

The game isn’t in a very good place, but it’s far from being in a bad place.
I won’t lie though : if you’re here for the story campaign only, and play without a group, you probably won’t like it. At all. It’s poor, ultra repetitive, half-baked in its current form ( putting big hopes on missions DLC ! ). It’s just not very fun. I will always see the PvE mode as the unexpected component of Battleborn that still manages to give it an edge over the competition.

The humour is also really there, great writing and great universe !
In short, it would be Borderlands, but without the length and depth of Borderlands. Just the writing quality.

The game shine when played multi - and while I don’t see the point of playing PvE alone as it gets immensily repeatitive after a while, PvP is where the action is at. Some people seem to be enjoying themselves playing PvE exclusively, though - but always in groups.

#17

@wolrajh

Honestly, that only really applies to the missions that aren’t raids. And even then, I think that the dialogue always makes it worth it.

Battleborn has absolutely, hands down, the best robots. They’ve managed to top CL4P-TP and Loader-bot with the sentries. I bloody love the sentries. So the sentries can really make the non-raid missions workable for me.

Though if I’m going to be honest, I think they would’ve been better off making two separate games. A PvE game along the lines of Borderlands but with levels instead of an open world, and all the heroes to add diversity, and later a PvP game completely detached from it with its own balancing and content.

The way everything is mooshed together may be at the heart of what’s wrong with Battleborn.

#18

If you are hard-pressed to play by yourself and you are on PC, here is why I would say wait:

  • There really isn’t a story, like Borderlands had a story. Just 8 set pieces or singular missions. These are kind of a slog to go through alone as I think they were designed to be played as 5 person co-op team.

  • The drop rates are terrible. And one of the few the reasons to go through one of those 8 missions again is to farm legendary loot from bosses. But each mission takes 25-35 minutes with no save point. And you probably ended up with trash.

  • It can’t be denied. The PC player base is very low. 895 steam players last night.

HOWEVER. As someone who played 800+ hours of BL2 solo, this is the first game I have ever played co-op, and have been playing a lot of PVP lately and it is super fun. I played some public matches with some randoms who turned out to be cool folks and have been teaming up with them every night.

If you think this may interest you, give the game a shot. It’s got some great character designs and is very well written. I swore I wouldn’t play PVP, but once I got some experience and got decent, it has been a lot of fun. But item #3 above still applies – the low player count. Waiting for a match can take a while, depending on where you are.

Hope this helps.

#19

…This…I currently have 351 hours into Story mode with Random peeps and at times friends.
I have no interest in PvP, which I do believe is my right.

#20

[quote=“Warhawg01, post:18, topic:1509088”]
There really isn’t a story, like Borderlands had a story.[/quote]

I’d contest the idea that, say, Borderlands 2 had a story. The story was basically “Bad fascist man is being bad and fascist on Pandora, making army to take over Universe. Must stop bad man.” and nothing more.

It’s really the dialogue that makes Borderlands compelling as a story, but then, Battleborn really comes through in the dialogue department as well.

I think the only Borderlands game that’s had anything coming close to a story is the Pre-Sequel, and even then that’s pushing the definition of story a bit. More of a guiding account of events than anything.

#21

I think you might enjoy it, but if you are worried about some of the current issues that exist in the game, especially those relating to PC, then I would wait a bit before getting it. Drop by the forums every week to see what the latest hotfixes are (and content patches when those come out) just to see how things are shaping up. I would definitely recommend the game, but if you have worries about any of the current issues then I would also recommend that you wait. If you’re not worried about anything then just jump right in and enjoy. :slight_smile:

#22

Frakin’ love the robots. The IAs and robots are so, so good ! And the bad guys too, obviously.

Nah really the writing is super great, but once you did all the missions like 20 times each, you mostly have heard them all :stuck_out_tongue:
And if someone’s looking for gameplay above all, well… At least we can switcch characters to get different experience, but as you pointed out ( and I totally agree ) some aren’t viable. Or, well, everyone can finish a mission, but it may be considerably harder and more frustrating !

Maybe, honestly. It’s not really that I do not enjoy PvE myself, it’s more being pressed into it AND the ultra poor drop rates of items for PvP. Would I have got more luck at getting legendaries and be able to vary a bit in the missions, I may have be okay with it. I understand people dislike the PvP only challenges, and they are indeed often quite bad, but I feel that mostly, lore challenges are quite bland. My favorite is still Addonexus from Phoebe because it’s the only one that ask for a bit of thinking beforehand. I’d LOVE some challenges the kind of Borderlands would do ( like, kill the guy before he is killed by the door in PreSequel ). Which kinda means, indeed, separate challenges for PvE and PvP. Would sound quite logical. I’d prefer that to separated balancing :wink:

#23

It is your right, of course. I do not wish to sound condescendant or insulting, it’s hard to convey that I’m just merely surprised and a bit admirative that people like it sooo much they’d spend hours on it. On Borderlands, it made sense, but here I don’t know…

#24

Nyahhhhh I think “what makes sense” in a virtual game is open to the recipient/player. Like in WoW where one player hoards gold, the other is hardcore in PvP, the other just collects mounts, ect…
WoW is my favourite example that the gamer makes out of it what he likes most.

Though I agree, the story missions in BB are sequences and are not as deep as in BL.

To @Bravepotato did you played MassEffect? To be specific MassEffect-3 multiplayer? If you enjoyed this style of gameplay you´ll love the story missions in BB as well.
(Just watch some videos about ME-multiplayer, and imagine instead of a small map you´ve a mission along path in a big environment with more complex challenges and bossfights.)

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#25

Sure, BL2 wasn’t Citizen Kane or anything, but at least its story was a linear 15 or so chapters. In Battleborn, unless you are playing private matches, you can’t even play the missions in order. You’re at the mercy of the groups’ vote. That’s to say if there even is a correct order. And if there isn’t, then it sure isn’t a story.

I’m with you on the dialogue, though. Excellent.

#26

No, I never played Mass Effect. Sorry.

#27

Nothing to apologize^^ Though I highly recommend the ME-trilogy. As big fan of Sci-Fi this game is one of my very favourites.

Maybe you could give us a short list of titles you enjoyed playing, so the people here can compare and better say if BB would be game you like :slight_smile:

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#28

I tried, but… not my cup of tea. But i played a few Sci-Fi games (Deus Ex 1 and HR, Satellite Reign, System Shock 2, Half Life, all Fallout games, Dead Space, Kotor…) yeah, I know, few titles, I’m more a Jrpg player.

#30

I play on PC, and I love Battleborn. I constantly run random PVP and PVE and I have never come across anybody who is extremely negative or pessimistic about the game or its future. The only place I do in fact come across that behavior and/or general attitude is here on the forums… Way to make assumptions, and give horrible feedback to OP who seems to genuinely be asking for decent feedback.

To the OP, yes, personally I believe it’s very worth it even if you want to only play solo. Give multiplayer a chance and I think you’ll find it worth it, as well.

#31

No, I’ts ok. If they are honest, I really appreciate any feedback, both positive and negative.
Just there is no reason to start a console vs pc war here.

#32

I get where you’re coming from. In addition to some of the gameplay benefits of solo players (you can take your time with gear / loot, screw up and no one sees you, cats can jump on the keyboard and you have time to sort it out) I understand when people feel anxious about having others join games. Especially when people in the community are often negative and needlessly aggressive.

Battelborn has an OK community for the most part though so I think you have a good chance of meeting nice people if you venture into coop!

In terms of single player campaign, I do find it more fun in coop because the writing and story are really fun and it’s great to share that with people. But I’ve also had a lot of fun doing them solo. I would say, it’s not as fun to solo as Borderlands, but you could still get a lot of enjoyment out of a super game.

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#33

It might be good to wait and see if there will be any significant updates to the game soon, especially with the way things have been going.

#34

What are you talking about? PVE queue is still OK.

#35

That’s a good part of BB - you don’t really need to deal with people (on normal difficulty). The game is designed to be played (and replayed) in a group of random strangers, most of the time your team-mates don’t much differ from AI bots (if they were in story mode). You all have one objective, you all play to do it. It’s very simple.