********BORDERLANDS discussion thread*******

[McRhea]

It's like Rainbow Six Vegas... with 17 million guns.

It's like Diablo 2, Torchlight, Dungeon Seige 1 and 2, or Titans Quest (take your pick) with GUNSSSS. And in first person. Borderlands is a First Person LOOTER.

That's it. You run around shooting things, not because you want to advance the story, or because it's a compelling cinematic experience (COD4/5/6), but because you're looking for BETTER GUNSSSS that go PEW PEW PEW better than your old guns.

If you don't like loot hunting games set in a sandbox world with no one to hold your hand and tell you where to go, then don't play this game. Go play a linear corridor shooter like Modern Warfare 1/2, Gears of War 1/2 instead.

If you get bored easily without the game constantly showing you where to go next and who to shoot, don't play Borderlands.

Borderlands = Sandbox game with lots and lots of loot (guns mainly). The story is not the main point of the game, it's the item finding.

First Person Looter. Got it? The "RPG" part of Borderlands is that they added loot to find. And GOD DAMN if it isn't exactly what I wanted to play for years. This game F'n rocks.

You can have your linear corridor shooters. I'll take sandbox games, thank you.

 

[McRhea]

Too long? if anything the game should be longer. And it is far from boring playing with multiple people unless you're all very very bad.

Some people don't like sandbox style games where the primary focus is finding items. That's all.

I hate linear games like Modern Warfare 1 and 2, so I avoid those types of games. Simple. To each his own.

 

[nitromullet]

So what's it like, then? Like WOW that's an FPS? Never played that either. Am I like trying to be a level 45 Orc or something? But at the same time - it's mostly a shooter.

It is really sort of unique in that it mixes elements from other games, but doesn't really outright rip a single game off.

The character customization elements are about as deep as Bioshock, meaning 'not very deep'. You basically get to spend a few points towards certain attributes. Where you spend your points does have an impact on how effective your character will be at certain things, but you can reset these points for a fee. So, you can try out different builds.

The RPG facet to the game is also minimal. You have NPCs that talk to you, but you don't talk back to them or make decisions. You just accept the quest and move on. There is more 'banter' in STALKER than there is in Borderlands.

Stats... The game is pretty gear dependent. There are a number of posts about the game being easy or hard, with no real consensus. IMO, the reason for this is because the difficulty depends on how good your gun is.

Quests... You do have a quest log, but for me it been more of a way to find way points on the map than a 'quest' per se. There isn't a whole lot of depth to the quests, and so far I haven't had any quests that require anything beyond 'kill this', 'get that', or 'flip these switches'. Everything is pretty clearly marked too.

 

[PhatoseAlpha]

You know, as much as this game seemed like a great idea in theory, I'm not so thrilled with it in execution.

It's strange - Borderlands goes on about it's millions of guns, but in terms of actual variety, it feels vastly inferior to Fallout 3. While there are plenty of modifiers, almost none of them change the way you actually use the weapon. The few that do function in a way that makes them feel different tend to be too ineffective to be viable.

 

[nitromullet]

You know, as much as this game seemed like a great idea in theory, I'm not so thrilled with it in execution.

It's strange - Borderlands goes on about it's millions of guns, but in terms of actual variety, it feels vastly inferior to Fallout 3. While there are plenty of modifiers, almost none of them change the way you actually use the weapon. The few that do function in a way that makes them feel different tend to be too ineffective to be viable.

Well, you have a lot of crappy guns that drop, a few decent ones every now and then, and then occasionally you get an awesome one that you use until the next awesome one drops. Basically, most are just 'filler', as I'm pretty sure most of us expected.

 

[Ackmed]

Borderlands is a First Person LOOTER.

Probably the best description I have heard yet.

I am not a RPG kinda guy. Never played them, unless you count Zelda, Dead Space and S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Never played Diablo, Mass Effect, or anything inbetween. But I am really digging this game.

Took me a while to figure out the leveling. I tried to get the mine key, at level 11... that didnt work out so well. Its a level 14 mission. I couldnt kill all the guys, ran out of ammo, and then out of money buying more ammo. I was so annoyed. Then I realized my level/weapons werent good enough. Leveled up, went back in and whiped them all clean.

Havent played online, trying not to "cheat" and level up easy. Im only level 20 Siren, about 12 hours in. Ive wasted a lot of time trying to do things I couldnt, by being too low. Now I know better though.

 

[PhatoseAlpha]

Well, you have a lot of crappy guns that drop, a few decent ones every now and then, and then occasionally you get an awesome one that you use until the next awesome one drops. Basically, most are just 'filler', as I'm pretty sure most of us expected.

I expected lots of filler, yeah.

Just somehow expected awesome to go beyond statistics, and to actually feel like they were functionally different. Revolvers firing guided gyrojets, bounding bullets, shotguns that fire timed adhesive explosives. Continuous lasers, anything really that allows you to alter your tactics some.

Even the best stuff I've ever found functions identically to the crap. Occasionally it's different crap, a revolver that acts like a shotgun or a shotgun that functions like a rocket launcher. But weapons that do something beyond the base are pretty much all the alien stuff, and unfortunately the low damage and high recharge times keep those unused.

 

[HeXploiT]

Probably the best description I have heard yet.

I am not a RPG kinda guy. Never played them, unless you count Zelda, Dead Space and S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Never played Diablo, Mass Effect, or anything inbetween. But I am really digging this game.

Took me a while to figure out the leveling. I tried to get the mine key, at level 11... that didnt work out so well. Its a level 14 mission. I couldnt kill all the guys, ran out of ammo, and then out of money buying more ammo. I was so annoyed. Then I realized my level/weapons werent good enough. Leveled up, went back in and whiped them all clean.

Havent played online, trying not to "cheat" and level up easy. Im only level 20 Siren, about 12 hours in. Ive wasted a lot of time trying to do things I couldnt, by being too low. Now I know better though.

I'm actually enjoying the ability to take on higher level quests & baddies.
Always felt that many rpg's were lame like that. This is more like the real world where you don't take on the stronger foes until you're ready.
It took me nearly a dozen tries to defeat level 11 Bonehead when I was level 7 but it was worth it.

 

[gorcorps]

Havent played online, trying not to "cheat" and level up easy. Im only level 20 Siren, about 12 hours in. Ive wasted a lot of time trying to do things I couldnt, by being too low. Now I know better though.

How is playing the game the way it's meant to be (multiplayer) cheating? It was designed that way, and avoiding it is ruining the best part of the game. The game gets a lot harder with more people so it's not cheating at all.

 

[Ackmed]

I quoted cheat, because I couldnt think of a word other than that, but its not really what I wanted to say.

If you play with a higher level player, you get leveled up so fast. A friend of mine played with his brother, who is level 50.. and got leveled up from 7 to 13 in the same minute he said. Just seems kinda cheap. But then its hard to play online with the same level of people too.

 

[Hopeless]

Well if you are stuck with an old gun and haven't been able to replace it, you could chest farm in New Haven. There are 5 weapon chests in that town, not counting the secret one.

Now come on, you can't just drop a tease about a secret chest and not give some info about it.

 

[McRhea]

I quoted cheat, because I couldnt think of a word other than that, but its not really what I wanted to say.

If you play with a higher level player, you get leveled up so fast. A friend of mine played with his brother, who is level 50.. and got leveled up from 7 to 13 in the same minute he said. Just seems kinda cheap. But then its hard to play online with the same level of people too.

Yeah, definitely don't get powerleveled until you've beaten the game yourself. Powerleveling is great to just get a new character through Playthrough 1 as quick as possible so you can start Playthrough 2 (which is where the game REALLY becomes fun I think). But if it's your first time through the game, it'll just ruin the experience.

However, you shouldn't completely discount Coop, it's the most fun. Someone else put it this way: "Borderlands is an awesome single player game, and a fuck awesome coop game." I couldn't have put it better myself.

Find some friends that are your level and go through the missions together, it's a blast. Save the powerleveling for after you've beaten the game the normal way.

 

[McRhea]

Now come on, you can't just drop a tease about a secret chest and not give some info about it.

Here's how you get to the secret chest area. Note that this guy doesn't get one of the white chests a little ways out of town behind a mound of trash.

The room will only open if you have the quest "Another piece of the puzzle" but have NOT done any part of it. Just have it in your quest log, and go back to New Haven.

Secret room part of the video starts at 1:19.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a28pUlbuIho

 

[Malak]

Now come on, you can't just drop a tease about a secret chest and not give some info about it.

There's also an easter egg in Treacher's Landing if blow up certain barrels in a certain order.

 

[Jschmuck2]

I wrote up a review on my new blogz0rs for BL:

http://www.singleplayerdeathmatch.com/

 

[Exterous]

Took me a while to figure out the leveling. I tried to get the mine key, at level 11... that didnt work out so well. Its a level 14 mission. I couldnt kill all the guys, ran out of ammo, and then out of money buying more ammo. I was so annoyed. Then I realized my level/weapons werent good enough. Leveled up, went back in and whiped them all clean.

Me too. I was going main quest to main quest and suddenly my guns couldn't do crap against my enemies. I finally did a few side quests and low and behold it got easier.

Of course after that I noticed the recommended level display when accepting quests

Do'h

 

[McRhea]

I wrote up a review on my new blogz0rs for BL:

http://www.singleplayerdeathmatch.com/

Nice review, funny stuff.

Mention that you can tweak the config files to fix some of the small problems yourself... like FOV, mouse smoothing, V sync, etc.

Thank god we're on PC so we CAN make those edits.

 

[Jschmuck2]

Nice review, funny stuff.

Mention that you can tweak the config files to fix some of the small problems yourself... like FOV, mouse smoothing, V sync, etc.

Thank god we're on PC so we CAN make those edits.

Done and done

 

[coldmeat]

K so I'm reading your review and it seems a lot of it is speculation. You haven't really played single player, yet you bash it and say it's a waste of time. All I've played is single player. You make it seem as if if you don't have friends that play the game as well, it's a waste of money and time. I hardly have any friends that game and none that bought this one, but I'm still having a good time playing it.

 

[Jschmuck2]

Good - I'm glad you're enjoying it I have played it single player and I will say that it doesn't hold a candle to multiplayer. You're missing out my friend.

 

[Gunslinger08]

I've played almost exclusively single player. None of my friends have the game yet and random online matches just turn into "who can ninja loot best."

 

[KeithP]

The skag are quickly taking on the status of the frogs in Daikatana. They should have spent some time coming up with more varied creatures.

Actually, they seem to have dealt with the creatures in the same way they have dealt with weapons. There are only a few basic styles with mostly cosmetic differences. Only occasionally do you come across a real difference that changes the game play.

While those two things bug me, overall I like the single player game. I haven't played multiplayer yet so I can't speak to that.

I like the intro song as well and bought it on iTunes.

-KeithP

 

[gorcorps]

Nice review, funny stuff.

Mention that you can tweak the config files to fix some of the small problems yourself... like FOV, mouse smoothing, V sync, etc.

Thank god we're on PC so we CAN make those edits.

Good thing you're on the PC so you can make those edits?

Those 'small problems' are only problems on the PC version. Good thing the consoles had a copy that works right WITHOUT having to tweak it yourself.

 

[Gunslinger08]

Just finished my first (and only) playthrough. Wow what a terrible ending.

 

[sthaznpride17]

I have been playing for the past week, and its a pretty awesome game. I'm curious, what kind of performance has everyone been getting from the game? I feel like my 4850 should be able to run it on max settings, but I'm getting low fps.