First I was happy to hear that more Borderlands were in the pipeline.
Then it all crashed when I heard it was a prequel.
Let me get this out of the way, I still play BL2 because it is a better game in that all the mechanics are better refined and there is much, much, much more content than BL1, but I still enjoy BL1 more than it's sequel because it has a better atmosphere and the writing is great (note: the plot is generic and cliche, but the writing for the game and the world built through the text boxes in the quests is solid).
Here's the thing: I do not like Anthony Burch. He is a funny guy, but after playing through BL2 and then comparing the creative differences between himself and the former creative team of the original Borderlands, I think he was a horrible choice for the job of lead writer. I've seen his Destructoid pieces and his HAWP video series, and I think he is funny - but his forte is in writing snappy, witty dialogue - not black comedy or satire with a hint of randomness as was the case in the first Borderlands which founded the series.
I could go into greater detail, but I'm getting derailed. The point is that he does not understand the world built by the first Borderlands or how to write for it. Moving on:
The whole "BL2 PREQUEL" thing has only consolidated my opinion that he is an amateur. Athena from Armory of general Knoxx? Wilhelm, that one incredibly anticlimatic boss that you could wipe the floor with with a tiny corrosive pistol? The Sheriff of Lynchwood? This seems like an amateurs' fallacy that by including as many characters from both the old games and whatever minor characters he could find after a full night of browsing the BL Wiki and then giving them all plot lines connecting to the sequel, he's "world building". I think this is just scraping the bottom of the barrel due to a lack of creativity. This is the writing equivalent to someone in the music scene namedropping several obscure bands to show everyone how "indy", knowledgeable, or how fine their tastes in music are. In this case, Andy threw in an old BL character from the first game and some horribly characterized enemies from his own game to show that he can competently write for the franchise and bridge the gap between the first game as well that he can adapt and annex the works of the first dev team into his own.
If this was just some large DLC trying to tie in and fill some plot gaps his writing created in BL2, this would be fine, but using such a flimsy premise to launch a full-on prequel? I'm skeptical if it will be good. Oh, granted - I'm sure the gameplay itself will be even better than the last two BLs, but the atmosphere and writing (and guns, can't forget about the crazy amount of guns in BL1) that made me a fan in the first place? I expect that to suffer as long as Burch holds the pen.
It's actually a shame, I was hoping Tales From The Borderlands, which were being penned by Telltale Games was going to be a sign that somebody at Gearbox had the common sense and taste to see how bad he fucked up BL2's writing and wanted to sneak the pen away from him until they could find the original devs to write BL3 or any main BL game instead.
Seriously, I cringed hard when I heard the details from the news feed. Way to kill my anticipation.
