I may have mentioned before that I enjoy Borderlands 2. I may have mentioned something along the lines of being a little addicted to Borderlands 2. You probably don't get the scale to which I threw myself into this game. It's so bad I'm embarrassed* to talk about it. Really, I shouldn't even be admitting to it. Am I creating strong enough picture? No?
Right. I got sooooo into this game that I spent three fucking weeks looking for the rarest weapon in the game. I found the bloody thing and then Gearbox did their Loot Hunt** month and for a glorious day one boss enemy dropped the weapon one hundred percent of the time, and now I have a bunch of them.
This doesn't even cover the HUNDREDS of hours looking for other slightly less rare, but still hard to obtain weapons. I give one word to people who might know: Norfleet. I'll now give you two words: fucking Norfleet.
Anyway. Now that I've given you some idea the extent to which I let this game take over my life, I'm going to go through a few things about the game since it's coming to the end of it's very long cycle†. Is it a review, is it an overview, is it me taking an opportunity to whine about things I don't like about the game? Who can say? I present this little essay and I'll let you, demented reader, make up your own confused, confused mind.
I'm pretty heavily into the game is what I'm trying to get across to you.
Let's start with what Gearbox got right with Borderlands 2, shall we? From the outset it's a pretty game. The overexposed opening reminds those of us who played the first game just how unforgiving the planet of Pandora is. Each of the playable characters is distinct and quirky, as you would expect from a game as quirky as this. Once you're knee-deep in the game you're presented with bleak environments and amusing new enemies in wonderful cel-shaded-fi. Lovely.
We also get to meet the two characters that eased us into the first game: Angel and Claptrap. There are too many spoilers when it comes to Angel, so let's not bother with her. Claptrap, I perversely find a lot more likeable than in the first game. I know he's supposed to be a really irritating character and he was much more annoying in the first game. In Borderlands 2 he's just kind of tragic and everyone hates him, even though he turns out to be incredibly useful. Maybe it's my sympathy for the underdog, dunno.
The story is coherent, which is always a plus in an FPS. I'm staring directly at you COD. It doesn't suffer being lost quite as much as in the first game, though there's so many side quests to do, there's still that drift and you can sense it on the periphery of you consciousness. But there are so many amusing asides and so much funny dialogue, you don't actually notice too much and by the time you might be in a position to notice, you're too busy killing baddies to really care. Which, mostly, is the point of a game like this.
That brings us to the extra content. So much of it. A good lot of it I haven't indulged in because it's in the form of skins and heads. I mean they're cheap and all, but I can't get terribly excited enough to fork over the money to buy them. It's a clever way to grab a few extra quid without people feeling like they're being squeezed, even though they are a little bit, not a full squeeze of the testicles‡ just a little pull of the sac.
What I have paid for are the DLC campaign add-ons , and largely I've been happy with what I've handed money over for. You get a few extra hours of gameplay for about eight quid. Can't complain even when they don't quite measure up to the main quest, though I was very pleased with the Tiny Tina DLC, which was huge for an add-on. And then there are the other bits, like the extra characters, level upgrades and the Head Hunter packs. That adds up to a lot of extra stuff. And we consumers do like our extra stuff, unless it's hot coffee in the crotch, we're not so keen on that.
The whole package is crammed full of references. Brimming over, dammit. I like me a good old reference, and this kept me amused, I'll tell you. There were so many references I didn't even know them all – not that I'm some kind of pop culture guru, it's just amazing the breadth of things they pulled in. There's even one I'm sure no one's copped to and that's from the Torgue DLC with one of the gangs called the Burners, looking very similar to a faction in the game Rage called the Scorchers, even having a thing about bikes. Am I seeing things? Hmmm.
There is a lot to like in this game. Perhaps not enough to take it to the insane extremes I've gone to in playing it, but a fun game all the same.
Of course, it isn't all good. I wouldn't have written this if it were a fannish look at what makes it work. You're not getting off that lightly, oh no. I have things I want to say and I want to suggest. As if anyone from Gearbox is going to read this. Just like Dean Koontz is never even going to be aware of my open letter. It's all just honking in the dark.
I'll not bother with bugs and glitches and things, because you could write a book about them. Borderlands 2 isn't quite as bug-ridden as, say, Fallout: New Vegas, but it has its fair share.
What I am going to say, is repeat what a guy who goes by the Youtube user name Morningafterkill observed about Gearbox's handling of the game: they don't seem to know how to handle it. The first Borderlands felt slight and experimental and it almost feels like they were throwing stuff at to see what worked. This extends into the DLCs for the first game which were kind of messy and, in the case of the Mad Moxxi DLC, was just badly put together. Yes they hit the right notes with some parts of campaign add-ons, but you could feel they were kind of winging it. For all that Gearbox addressed a lot things to improve the experience of Borderlands 2, there's the niggling feeling of not being sure what to do with it.
Sure their blogs make it seem like they have everything well in hand, but when you look at certain things, you start to see cracks. It was most illustrated for me when someone on their forum asked a question about one of the big mechanics of the game and the developer who answered essentially explained the point of the mechanic and then said it wasn't desirable§. Bit of an odd thing to do when you should be in control of the game. Their last couple of non-Borderlands games have been embarrassing failures and it makes you wonder how good they are at producing games.
Even the Loot Hunt event had shades of this. Actually, more than shades. Huge big signs, telling us, "WE DON'T HAVE A FUCKING CLUE!" The first part of giving players the opportunity to find some rare items, yeah I can get behind that. It was a fantastic idea. Gets the interest again. But the added stuff, like buffing the game's weapons went a little awry. There were a handful of weapons that got good upgrades and then the rest just got tweaks, like the weapons known for having huge magazines getting an extra one ammo. One, in weapons that carry hundreds. A lack of awareness there, Gearbox. Lots of people were disappointed by that, but what was most disappointing was the inability for international players to help out with the targets. It was made clear from the start we couldn't get the prizes and no one was surprised, but when we couldn't even help out in the US players reach the goals, it felt a bit like the company couldn't give a shit about their overseas players. This might not be the case, but you feel that twinge, like non-US players aren't important. WE'RE PEOPLE TOO! And if it wasn't apathy, it gives even more this impression of not knowing their market reach. A tad strange, don't ya feel?
For the record the Loot Hunt is a great idea and wouldn't go amiss being part of the ongoing promotion of a third Borderlands game, and not just for other corporate sponsorship. Something other than the golden keys. Keep interest and maintain a cool connection with the fanbase, doing these events one weekend a month or something. See, I'm still trying to be positive in this sea of criticism.
They added a third playthrough to the game. It was designed to be very tough. The main problem you see with it, is it kinda broke the game. It's actually incredibly difficult to progress in this playthrough without specific weaponry, even with multiple players. In a game of 'a bazillion guns' it's a little strange you find only about a dozen weapons make doing it feasible§§. How much thought did they put into this mode that wrecks the notion of customisable characters? Probably not quite as much as they should have, as they added in regeneration to enemies that negates another major mechanic. I can't say that was well-thought out. It's one of the things the first game got right. You could go through any mode with gear that wasn't the rarest and have a good time making it through, even when it was quite challenging.
Then there's the tendency to aim to be annoying and frustrating with game mechanics. Yeah, they actually want to frustrate their player base with enemies. What the fuck? Going out of their way to make something so annoying it will make people rage-quit? Is that really a desirable goal for a game? I don't want to play a game to be frustrated and angered§§§. I want to have fun on a game for a few hours, not have the creators yank my fucking chain.
The rarities of equipment is all fucked up. It shouldn't take days or weeks to get certain weapons, no matter how good they are. Fighting a tough enemy for hours or one that has a fight time that's tediously strung out shouldn't yield rubbish and fucking consolation items. It's not rewarding. At the moment I'm trying to get weapons that only drop from enemies that only occasionally occur. Someone quoted these weapons have a drop rate of one-in-thirty. I started counting and as of writing this blog I've fought ninety of these enemies and not a one of these weapons has appeared, and some people have talked about fighting one or two hundred of these guys and only got one or two weapons. And remember these are rare enemies already! If you're going to have these things in the game give a fucking decent chance of a drop§§§§, because the enemy's rarity is going go on top of the item's rarity. I'm not some fancy mathematician, but even I can see that. It's clear most gamers aren't even going to encounter them, as they play through the game once and move on, such deeply buried items seem pointless, don't you think?
Players want to feel rewarded. It's something that Minecraft – a game Gearbox admire so much they have an entire section pay homage to it, including fighting enemies from Minecraft – understands all too well and though you can spend a long time doing something it never feels frustrating. Yes, Borderlands 2 is a very different game and that's my point, it's a fast-paced shooter that's repetitive enough with three playthroughs available, adding in sections that need to be done over and over and over and over and over and over§§§§§ for the item an enemy is supposed to drop takes away from that. S'not rewarding. Players want rewards not grinding chores. The slavish adherence to the RNG in the inevitable sequel§§§§§§ has to go and with it the mindless 'random is random' mantra.
And finally, probably more personal to me, but I've seen a few grumblings about it: ditch the fucking raid bosses. This convention of MMOs isn't required in a game like this and it feels like giving the single player or people playing splitscreen at a home a raw deal. I've told you my feelings on forcing people to play online – I'll give a hint: I don't think it's good. That's only part of it. Super powerful, can take a ridiculous amount of damage and, the cardinal sin, most possess unfair attacks you can't defend against marks all of these enemies. It doesn't fit in with the rhythm of the Borderlands games and, again, feel desperate, like Gearbox don't know what the hell's going on.
There you go, the good and the bad of a game I've spent far too long playing. There's more to love and more to get annoyed about, but I've rambled enough. Don't you people ever sleep!
* And mortifying. Don't forget mortifying.
** I think some people were pissed off that the super-rare weapon they'd spent ages looking for was now very easy to get a hold of. I thought it was only fair of Gearbox.
† By the time the final DLC comes out Gearbox will have been supporting the game for eighteen months. Quite amazing for an FPS when most other companies give up on a title after a year. Unless it's Insomniac games with Resistance 3 and they walked away after about months, the fucking wimps.
‡ Or ovaries. Whichever, it all adds up to the same.
§ I would link it, but I don't have time to dig through the forum to find the thread.
§§ Although the minority of really good players will claim this is nonsense. They're talking out of their arse.
§§§ It will likely happen anyway, but that's not the point. The creators of the game baiting the player that way is trollish to me.
§§§§ Yes, yes, they drop other rare items, but only at the top mode and the rare items aren't that good and, again feel like patronising consolation prizes. I don't want to be patronised any more than I want to be frustrated, man.
§§§§§ ...over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over...
§§§§§§ Because it will happen. They made too much money on it and had too many high-profile fuck-ups to not support the Borderlands universe with a second sequel.
Will
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