Borderlands 2 impressions

[Benedict]

So I just picked up Borderlands 2, and I figured... you know, it's been a while since I actually sat down and did some writing about a game, might as well get back into the habit while I've got something to be excited about. I'm gonna take some notes and things while I play through this bad boy. There's a lot to love about this game, so yeah! But, like, is this the right board? User Reviews I figured was more like, actual straight-up finished reviews instead of kinda-sorta liveblogging impressions, so this can be here for now, maybe.

First thing that happens is a beautiful callback to the skag getting run over in the opening to Borderlands 1, and a sweet cutscene wherein everyone fights and kills a whole lot of robots. Welcome, Vault Hunters! To your doom! Now, see, you meet this Handsome Jack fellow pretty early on, and it becomes immediately obvious that he is the coolest dude ever. Like, why don't we get to play as him? And ride our pony made of diamonds named Butt Stallion around, shooting dudes with explosive rounds made of money? Seriously, this guy is badass!

Which brings me to an issue that's already starting to bug me, and that's the liberal application of the phrase "badass". I mean, badass is a badass word, I really like it, and it's great for describing things of significant buttkickitude. And, really, I ordinarily wouldn't hesitate to use the phrase to refer to anything on Pandora, because "badass" seems to be its driving visual aesthetic! But, see, that's the point. To paraphrase Syndrome, when everyone's badass, no one will be. It's just... okay! We get it! Everything here is over-the-top radical, the slick murdering all the time is mega cool, but... you don't need to keep reminding us! There's Badass enemies (callback to the first game, where it was clever), and Badass Ranks and Badass Points and Badass Tokens for Pete's sake, and even like this cyborg gentleman adventurer type who you'd think would be above that kind of language! You don't pull that kind of thing off as well as Jake English does, Sir Hammerlock. Just... it's like the game's friggin' catchphrase and I'm already getting sick of it because I know everything is badass, thank you Captain Obvious!

That aside, I'm really liking the writing in Borderlands 2 so far. There's loads more dialogue than the original, and everything's straight up hilarious. I'm even starting to not loathe Claptrap, which surprised me. His insufferable demeanor is played for laughs, and good laughs they are. Personal favorite: "If I sound pleased about this, it's only because my programmers made this my default tone of voice! I'm actually quite depressed!" Claptrap is comedy gold and I can't not love him this time around.

Onto the guns! Goodness gracious, now, there are a lot of them. Tediore guns explode now? That's pretty cool. The gear I've encountered in this first area (I logged off right after killing Flynt and getting Claptrap's boat) has been pretty nice, but there's a little issue you'd think they'd have fixed after the last game. When you hover over a gun, and it compares its stats to your weapons, it compares to to your current weapon, so if you've got like a cruddy sniper rifle and you hover over some sick new repeater pistol, it'll be like "this gun does less damage than the one you have!" But like, really shouldn't it compare prospective guns to your favored gun of the same type? It's almost always comparing apples to oranges, and a faster and more useful comparison interface would be a big help.

also why is all the money suddenly like two or three bucks per drop, like did pandora suddenly experience massive deflation or what???

Anyway writing about this is making me want to go play it some more, so I'm off! Gonna, like, shoot some more dudes, probably. That's what this game is about, right? Shooting dudes? Pretty sure I've got that straight at least.

 

[Brendan Stepladder]

You still like Handsome Jack? Reminds me of my carefree days of the tundra.

He wears a mask. I'm not talking literally.

 

[Cavan]

Been there done that, just going through the motions. A lazy game undeserving of the ridiculous hype and praise it's gotten. The game is a hard 5/10, a very lazy sequel. Adds no quality, merely quantity

I would disagree, saying that there is not one thing from the first game that hasn't been improved. In some areas quite significantly. It's still largely the same formula, but since when has that been a justification for it as laziness?

 

[The Goat Tsar]

Which brings me to an issue that's already starting to bug me, and that's the liberal application of the phrase "badass". I mean, badass is a badass word, I really like it, and it's great for describing things of significant buttkickitude. And, really, I ordinarily wouldn't hesitate to use the phrase to refer to anything on Pandora, because "badass" seems to be its driving visual aesthetic! But, see, that's the point. To paraphrase Syndrome, when everyone's badass, no one will be. It's just... okay! We get it! Everything here is over-the-top radical, the slick murdering all the time is mega cool, but... you don't need to keep reminding us! There's Badass enemies (callback to the first game, where it was clever), and Badass Ranks and Badass Points and Badass Tokens for Pete's sake, and even like this cyborg gentleman adventurer type who you'd think would be above that kind of language! You don't pull that kind of thing off as well as Jake English does, Sir Hammerlock. Just... it's like the game's friggin' catchphrase and I'm already getting sick of it because I know everything is badass, thank you Captain Obvious!

Don't worry. Badass is used significantly less after you get on Claptrap's boat. Only Sir Hammerlock really uses it a lot because he's dapper and it's supposed to be funny.

 

[Smeggs]

My own impressions:

1. They don't make you slog through an incredibly slow start like the first game, and instead chuck you right into action fighting Bullymongs and bandits alike.

2. Your characters actually feel like they have more personality now. Some people may not have liked the little backstory audiologs. I did.

3. Holy shit, I actually like and enjoy having Clap-Trap around in this game. He's funny and adorable, as opposed to attempting to be funny abnd outright annoying like the majority of the first games.

4. There's actually a purpose to fighting other bosses in the game now, other than "Because there's a bounty, derp-derp-derp..."

5. I have noticed that guns are now varied much better. It took me a full four hours before I found a pistol similar to one I already had equipped. Most others had elemental damage, varying mag size and reload speeds, yadda, yadda. I have an AR that fires rockets, an pistol that fires four rounds a shot, and a shotgun that only has one shot a mag, but does 57x12 damage with that single shot. Basically kills anything at my level if I score a headshot at close quarters.

6. The NPC characters actually show personality this time around. Handsome Jack is actually a known threat who continually annoys you throughout the adventure. As far as I've gotten, Roland actually has some character now, rather than being a token black guy and token military guy.

7. Dialogue overall is just better.

Not very good impressions...

1. Driving is possibly even more terrible in this game. It just seems like with the speed your buggy can go, you don't have enough room for it. I'm sure it's got a great deal to do with user error, but I'm psitive a large chunk of my constant catching on random shit is caused by the mechanics.

2. Starting to redo quests again...first I hunted Bullymongs for Hammerlock for his hat decoration, then in Sanctuary I hunted more Bullymongs for another quest for Hammerlock. Still, the dialogue in the latter was very amusing. Anybody who has played the mission will remember, "Boner Farts."

3. The story still feels somewhat disjointed.

4. Natural hazards like Stinging Cacti deal too much damage for how easy they are to smack yourself into.

5. WHY is there no dodge roll in the game? When a Bullymong leaps through the air to smash my face I should have some way to doge out of the way quickly. Or maybe there is, and I'm just an idiot and have not discovered it yet.

6. I've noticed a number of map bugs in the game, i.e. enemies becoming stuck in hillsides.

 

[Cavan]

What significant gameplay additions are there?
World organization?
Obvious Graphical improvements?

The game is certainly not bad, but I think Im justified in saying that gearbox are resting on their laurels in this one. Here's an example... look at Bioshock 1 vs 2, that is the perfect definitions of a lazy sequel. Now look at Bioshock infinite vs 2; that is the definition of an innovative game worth playing.

Firstly: I said that things had been 'improved'.
Secondly: What has been added is a significantly larger map, more diverse quests, a silly amount more guns, more enemy types. In short: scale has been added. Like how torchlight 2 is a perfectly valid sequel which also adds significant scale and polish to an otherwise established formula. It doesn't need to start adding in dozens of new concepts or gimmicks to be justified.

I would also hesitate if I were you, considering you haven't played Bioshock Infinite and are simply arbitrarily rewarding it based equally off hype; as you think Borderlands 2 is.

 

[Cavan]

Well Im an extremely good judge of quality if i do say so myself, it may sound pompous and it is, but that doesnt make it any less true. I dont hold anything against people who enjoy Border 2, but what I would like to see is the industry to want more from itself, to evolve itself into an art form by achieving greater and greater heights. Greater Quality is what separates True Art from fun little time waster, which encapsulates greater quantity. BL2 doesn't push the envelope in any meaningful way, and while that may not have been it's goal, Im a little bit sick at how much money goes into stagnating the medium instead of advancing it.

You're right, it does sound pompous.

All I have to say is that I'm sure worried at how stagnant that 'more or less unique fps with rpg random loot franchise' is making the industry :/.

 

[Blade_125]

Been there done that, just going through the motions. A lazy game undeserving of the ridiculous hype and praise it's gotten. The game is a hard 5/10, a very lazy sequel. Adds no quality, merely quantity

And yet you paid $60 for the game.

I'm sorry to hear it didn't live up to your expectations of buying at release.

 

[Vanitas likes Bubbles]

As someone who completely hated the first one, all I can say is "Holy fuck is this game a million times better". It even had a tear jerking moment involving a bird (I won't spoil it for anyone).

The only thing I can say I hate is how the game feels like it's trying to force me to play co-op.

Overall it's a brilliant game that improves on many of the faults the first game had.

 

[William Dickbringer]

The game is certainly not bad, but I think Im justified in saying that gearbox are resting on their laurels in this one. Here's an example... look at Bioshock 1 vs 2, that is the perfect definitions of a lazy sequel. Now look at Bioshock infinite vs 2; that is the definition of an innovative game worth playing.

but here's the thing bioshock 1 was what was considered to all a good game then bioshock two was meh it came off as an obvious cash cause there was no improvement and the only thing it had going for it was "play as a big daddy"
however borderlands 1 and 2 are different you feel the difference like they took their tme and listened to our comments we wanted more biomes? boom we got it. We wanted more enemies? boom we got it. we wanted more balance? boom we got it.
also can't we have our games where we play for fun not just for story? sure I love playing spec ops the line and witcher 2 for their story but sometimes I like to pop in saints row the third and have some fun there's room for both it's not damaging to games just like how summer blockbuster action movies don't damage the oscar films

 

[Rasor]

Why do people complain about sequels being similar?
Is that not the reason people were excited for this, more Borderlands?
They have expanded and improved nearly every mechanic in the game and the main concern is that it's still the same. Yet, is that not what we should expect? (#Retorical_Questions)
If it did not feel like the previous game that would be a much a bigger concern, I expected more borderlands and I'm happy with how the game turned out.

I'd like to put forward that the people who did not enjoy the first Borderlands, or merely put up with it, are the ones upset by the hype of the sequel because they expected something more than the last game.
And that's fine if you don't like it, just don't expect that if a sequel to a game you're not keen on is being hyped up that the game will be changed to suit your tastes.

 

[William Dickbringer]

The game is certainly not bad, but I think Im justified in saying that gearbox are resting on their laurels in this one. Here's an example... look at Bioshock 1 vs 2, that is the perfect definitions of a lazy sequel. Now look at Bioshock infinite vs 2; that is the definition of an innovative game worth playing.

but here's the thing bioshock 1 was what was considered to all a good game then bioshock two was meh it came off as an obvious cash cause there was no improvement and the only thing it had going for it was "play as a big daddy"
however borderlands 1 and 2 are different you feel the difference like they took their tme and listened to our comments we wanted more biomes? boom we got it. We wanted more enemies? boom we got it. we wanted more balance? boom we got it.
also can't we have our games where we play for fun not just for story? sure I love playing spec ops the line and witcher 2 for their story but sometimes I like to pop in saints row the third and have some fun there's room for both it's not damaging to games just like how summer blockbuster action movies don't damage the oscar films

You misunderstand me, Im merely advocating quality in diversity. A game without a story that advances the medium is starcraft 2, there is no other rts like it, it is completely unique within it's genre. And yes I realize it has a story but imo the campaign is absolutely irrelevant, starcraft is multiplayer.

Certainly there is room in my mind for lazy games like borderlands 2, not all games can be genre pushing or medium advancing; the reality is that those games are really fucking hard to make, my only wish is that the industry would invest more time and effort into this riskier side of gaming. As it stands, the great majority of games that come out are safe sequels that are just more of the same.

while I don't like hearing it be called lazy (but our definitions our different) but I see where you're coming from I'd love risks to be taken too but at the same time I don't mind games being made like borderlands two because of this: it's improved and polished for the fans of that series in it's own rights it did what a sequel is suppose to do and that's fix flaws and improve an already established system which is why I find it good but if you don't find it good I understand but I feel it's a little harsh to call it bad

 

[Kopikatsu]

You still like Handsome Jack? Reminds me of my carefree days of the tundra.

He wears a mask. I'm not talking literally.

It's literal, too. Beating the game even gets you a cosmetic head piece, 'Handsome Jack's Mask'. The 'M' on his forehead is actually where the mask starts.

I really like Jack though. Even after that whole incident in Angel's AI Core when his attitude shifts. He kind of reminds me of a psychopathic Jack Splicer from Xaiolin Showdown.

 

[Benedict]

Haha, gosh, glchicks. Don't gotta be belligerent because someone likes a game that isn't super ultra deep medium-pushing stuff. The state of the industry is such that games focused on delivering a broadly appealing experience (read: fun) are favored by publishers. They sell better! And that's not great, but you've got to evaluate something on its merits rather than whether it pushes the envelope in a really specific direction you find worthwhile. You might disagree, but Borderlands 2 is really fun! It doesn't do anything that's fundamentally different from what its predecessor did, but its predecessor was pretty dang innovative in its own right- I think it deserved a sequel to improve on the concept and fix up the flaws. If anything, if a game like Borderlands 2 makes money, it sends a signal to investors that it's okay to take a chance on games that deviate from the familiar.

also ahahaha dude you can't just flat out say you're a good judge of quality i mean where do you even get off sayin that kind of thing

Anyway I played more Borderlands 2! Like four more hours of it, which I'm all like "ack my time" about. Really, what continues to be striking about BL2 as compared to the original is just how friggin' funny it is! Like, I haven't laughed this much at a game since, like, Portal 2. The writing is friggin' phenomenal, and I was pleasantly surprised when I arrived at the Sanctuary and found a thriving NPC populace that wasn't composed of the same two guys copy pasted a few times and mumbling "I hate this place"! Change of pace from New Haven. I spent a while just talking to everyone to hear what they had to say, and it really did a lot to elevate the setting above "Mad Max with aliens".

The enemy variety was also a nice addition. The original had, what? Spiderants, rakks, skags, the Crimson Lance, and like five types of bandit. I've encountered more than that in the first few hours of the game and it doesn't seem to be letting up soon. For example, this guy:

NO NO NO NO NO OH MY GOD NO WHERE IS HIS HEAD IS THAT HIS HEAD OH GOD KILL IT OH MY GOD SOMEBODY KILL IT FASTER AAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
so yeah there's a lot of things to shoot instead of not very many things to shoot

Encountering the characters from the last game was fun- letting them have dialogue outside of mid-battle gloating noises was a good call. I've yet to meet Brick and Mordecai, but still. There's definitely been a lot done to appeal to fans of the previous game, but it certainly doesn't just fall back on that- there is just so much STUFF in this game, huge quantities of unique content I've barely scratched the surface of. Quantity is quality in this sort of game- having a large variety of locations, foes, weapons etc is what gives a loot-driven RPG sorta game like this its appeal.

One thing that caught me by surprise was the multiplayer component- I was just hanging out, doing this one mission where you need to kill a quartet of quirky assassins with specific weapons, and suddenly one of my Steam friends just dropped in on my game without warning! And suddenly all the enemies started kicking my ass, because he had just started a new character and dropped into my level 10+ mission, thereby boosting the enemy's strength while being functionally useless except as a distraction. I'm kind of ticked that the game would be set up such that allowing random people to drop in on your single player game would be the default, but we ended up having a good time anyway, so I can't rightly fault them there. Still, I can imagine such a thing leading to nasty complications, so they really shoulda made it obvious that that would happen and presented me directly with the option to disable it. (I'm assuming I can turn it off in the menus somewhere- if you can't lock people out I will have a totes legit grievance here.)

So yeah that's that for now, imma play s'more when it's not like 2AM.

 

[OldDirtyCrusty]

This is my first Borderlands trip and i`m having a great time so far. I just finished a three hour session with my girl and we both liked it. Since the splitscreen cuts off the text on the menus i just discovered the upgrade options at level six. I played Axton without his turret all the way and she missed out all the gunzerking. Next time those pesky bandits are going to bleed some more muhahahaha.

 

[Gorilla Gunk]

Just ran into what might be a sly reference to Yahtzee's review of the first game.

Remember how he said every mission was "Go into a junk yard and shoot Jason Voorhees in the face"? Well, in Thousand Cuts 9Which is pretty much a junk yard) there's, well I wouldn't call it a side quest, but there's the "friendly" psycho jumping around screaming "IN THE FACE! IN THE FACE!" Talking to him triggers a short mission with one objective: Shoot him in the face (He wants you to). When you do you complete the mission and get an achievement called "Well that was easy."

 

[Daystar Clarion]

Brilliant game, and improvement over the original in every way.

Jesper Kyd did a brilliant job with the soundtrack in this game, very good stuff.

The variations in level design is a breath of fresh air after the original.

Gun variation is through the roof. Love the fact I can have a bolt-action sniper rifle that uses a revolver cylinder for its ammo. Every time I reload that bad boy, I just squeel like a girl

 

[Blade_125]

Been there done that, just going through the motions. A lazy game undeserving of the ridiculous hype and praise it's gotten. The game is a hard 5/10, a very lazy sequel. Adds no quality, merely quantity

And yet you paid $60 for the game.

I'm sorry to hear it didn't live up to your expectations of buying at release.

I didn't pay for it or finish it, but i have played and seen enough of it to make a judgment call im satisfied with. Unless someone shows me something massive that I missed, my judgment remains. And before you call me a dirty pirate I played a friend's copy after he beat it.

Fair enough. You didn't mention that so I assumed you owned it.

Good for you then that you didn't waste your money on a game you don't like. I hate it when that happens.

 

[Goofguy]

It's more of the same but improved. Isn't that what a lot of us like in sequels? Trying to innovate your franchise can sometimes fall flat on its face (DA2). The fact that Gearbox took a proven formula and polished it in so many ways has made me very happy. Top notch game.

 

[McShizzle]

Been there done that, just going through the motions. A lazy game undeserving of the ridiculous hype and praise it's gotten. The game is a hard 5/10, a very lazy sequel. Adds no quality, merely quantity

I would disagree, saying that there is not one thing from the first game that hasn't been improved. In some areas quite significantly. It's still largely the same formula, but since when has that been a justification for it as laziness?

What significant gameplay additions are there?
World organization?
Obvious Graphical improvements?

The game is certainly not bad, but I think Im justified in saying that gearbox are resting on their laurels in this one. Here's an example... look at Bioshock 1 vs 2, that is the perfect definitions of a lazy sequel. Now look at Bioshock infinite vs 2; that is the definition of an innovative game worth playing.

Umm Bioshock Infinite is a reboot of a reboot. Just because something takes place in the sky instead of underwater or in space doesn't make it innovative. Infinite will have damn near the exact same story and mechanics. Try again.