Borderlands 2 Love? Hate? Meh? *Spoilers*

[Guy Humual]

Vincent Takeda wrote:

I probably wouldnt have showed up in here if the thread were titled 'Borderlands 2: I love it and if you do too join me in the thread so we can jointly spew our multifaceted love of it...

Turns out 'meh' is even in the title of the thread... I also probably wouldnt have posted if I didnt have a very specific feeling about borderlands 2... But I very specifically feel meh about it, having specifically checked it out on the recomendation of one of my buddies at the gaming table...

The fact that it's a steam game probably moves it to a meh minus...

I wont say i've been drawn to the conversation per se... I'm drawn to posting when a thread asks me how I feel, particularly when I have a strong feeling, and that strong feeling is listed in the options on the thread title ^_^

That strong feeling happens to be 'strongly meh'... what can I say.

I'll defend your rights to not like the game Vincent, I'll freely admit that it's not for everyone, but I'd just like to point out that it's not really a steam game, there are other ways to get and download it I believe, but steam just happens to be the most convenient for me.

Also, if I might ask, what classes have you played? A friend of mine tried the game and hated it . . . then I found out he'd been playing the assassin, which is the most boring class in the game IMO. Zero looks cool but he's not the character I'd sell the game with.

[Rynjin]

Why is a game being a Steam game a "minus"?

[Guy Humual]

I think part of the problem is that steam needs to be running for it to work. Steam is a drain on resources and that's hard on slower running machines.

[Rynjin]

Well to be quite honest most modern games (which Borderlands 2 is) are hard on slower running machines. Especially when you factor in that it's designed primarily to be a co-op experience.

[Mikaze]

Tels wrote:

Since you've done Perfectly Peaceful, have you found the Easter Egg at the end of the rail track where the cart for Minecract Mischief is? If not, make sure to explore the rocks around that area.

Hahaha, yes! And DAMMIT one of them managed to sneak up on me in this game too. I actually felt more paranoid in that little area than anywhere else in the game. Just constantly looking over my shoulder...

Quote:

By the way, how'd you feel about the outcome of the A Train to Catch mission (and installing the power core)?

Spoiler:

It honestly felt like a trap was coming, but it was a believable one unlike most of the times you see this sort of thing. I didn't see the Angel thing coming though.

Sanctuary's escape was an awesome moment though. From Scooter's "CATCH A RIIIIIIIIIDE" to that exchange between Jack, Roland, and Lilith("Sup."), I couldn't help but grin ear to ear. Before realizing I was accidentally stranded...

Angel's transmissions immediately afterwards were unexpectedly sad. "We're not friends any more, are we?"

Currently doing that huge bunch of missions you get after getting back to Sanctuary. Currently in the middle of the Hodunk/Zaford feud.

So far, it seems like vehicular combat just turned into an incredibly easy game now that I have the Bandit Technical. Using both weapons head-on feels like a hot knife through butter.

Also, it really says something about Pandora when someone can trick you into murdering someone with a mortar and she still comes across as one of the nicest people on the planet.

[Vincent Takeda]

Steam doesnt chew into the resources on my machine. I've got a nearly top of the line rig. I just have a distaste for steam. Part of the problem might have been that I too was playing assassins (I tend to me more a stealth/camper/creeper/sniper type in the few FPS games that I have liked... So that might be part of it, but I tend to enjoy that kind of impunity and it wasnt enough for me this time around, even though I love how its handled with a decoy instead of just invisibility...

I know the publisher really went the extra mile to crank up the personality humor... Just didnt grab me for some reason.

[Guy Humual]

I'd really recommend playing as soldier or gunzerker. Zero's power is more of an escape plan then an offensive ability, and seeing as the game really doesn't have a stealth aspect playing someone like Anton or Salvador should be mandatory for anyone unfamiliar with the franchise.

As to steam, my only complaint is that it's a drain on my cash. I almost never buy new games but steam has been bundling games with the preorder so I preorder bioshock infinite and get the original bioshock plus X-Com enemy unknown, plus a bunch of hats for team fortress, all for the same price as the as the game off the shelf. Then they've also been bundling old titles for a low price, like the other day they had a rockstar sale where I got GTA:V, plus LA Noire, plus Max pain 3, none of which I've played before, for one low price. I love steam.

[Mikaze]

Tannis ECHOs:

Props to Colleen Clinkenbeard for that performance. Tannis recouting her torture had me equally torn between laughing and feeling sad.

Dr. Zed's "Arms Dealer" mission was mildly frustrating up until I remembered that you could spawn two vehicles at once and teleport directly to your vehicle. :D

[Dal Selpher]

Borderlands 2 is on sale through Steam this weekend for 66% off. If you haven't jumped into the hilarious shoot-n-loot fun yet, this is a cheap way to do it!

[Slaunyeh]

Guy Humual wrote:

I'd really recommend playing as soldier or gunzerker. Zero's power is more of an escape plan then an offensive ability, and seeing as the game really doesn't have a stealth aspect playing someone like Anton or Salvador should be mandatory for anyone unfamiliar with the franchise.

I hated Salvador, and found Axton playable but kinda boring. My favourite was, by far, Zer0, though he got usurped by Gaige after she was unleashed.

And now I am giving Krieg a spin.

[Mikaze]

Just did the Wildlife Preserve.

I am so mad right now.

[Guy Humual]

Jack will do that to you :)

[Rynjin]

Mikaze wrote:

Just did the Wildlife Preserve.

I am so mad right now.

As I said upthread, I'm still mad.

Forever and until the end of time.

[Mikaze]

Oh he's a dead @#$%@#%$#@#$.

I have to admit though,

Spoiler:

Mordecai's "rain of death" moment afterwards was deeply satisfying. As was the revenge mission he gave me afterwards.

The story Roland and Lilith tell about Bloodwing afterwards was funny(because I know the bug they're referencing in the first game), heartwarming, and made me even sadder all at once.

Augh, that entire sequence was just a slow burning drama bomb for Mordecai players.

Also, I don't care if Rubi is a gun that shoots infinite Nyan Cats that deal ALL OF THE DAMAGE. There is no way I'm taking Moxxi's side over Mordecai's coming off of that previous mission.

(did get Moxxi's Good Touch though, and both laughed when realization struck and felt like I needed to wash my hands even if I knew where that controller had been)

Finally found Maya's logs while I was at the Preserve too. Huh, now my head choice feels even more right for that character.(have to wonder if the other Sirens(Lilith and Steele) had those Eridian tattoos running up to their heads as well)

Currently: Just won over the Slab King and "completed the set" so to speak. Currently pursuing some sort of cursed gun on some side missions.

edit-srsly though, Jack's a dead @#$%^&!@#$%^.

[Rynjin]

Spoiler:

My thoughts exactly.

Don't get me wrong, it was a well executed and dramatic moment, and the bits after it were all very good as well (Mordecai's "rain of death" reminded me of some rampages I had with my lovely girlfriend "Bessie" in the last game ;)), but all the hours I sunk into the last game I actually became pretty attached to the cute little bundle of deadly pixels.

"Jack is f&*&ing DEAD" was basically my mantra from then on out too.

*Sniffle*

[Mikaze]

Face McShooty's mission took a while.

[Voltron64]

Anybody here thinks that Handsome Jack's death went too quickly?

That he probably should have died in a manner reminiscent of this?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=EYt9AlsgPCo

[Guy Humual]

Not to spoil anything but I was pretty much pleased with how Jack checked out. Honestly I would have preferred a quicker death actually, had him go out like the no good puck that he was, but all things considered I rather liked the way things turned out. You essentially get to take everything away from him and defeat him both physically and mentally. I mean I hated the guy but extending his death doesn't make me feel better.

[Dal Selpher]

I started the Torgue DLC tonight. Holy crap. The dialogue in this game is hilarious!

[Mikaze]

If Torgue continues along the lines of his commercials in the main game, I will be very happy. :)

Beat the game a couple of days ago. The new Pathfinder releases(Chronicles of the Righteous WOO!) have been keeping me busy, but:

Where I had originally been doing every side-mission I could before moving on to the next main one, certain events pushed me towards gunning straight for the end.

Spoiler:

Angel and Roland man. ;_;

Fighting alongside Mordecai and Brick felt all kinds of bad. Thinking I was looking at a "EVERYONE FROM BORDERLANDS 1 DIES" scenario felt all kinds of bad. Having them back at the end was a relief.

Also, Mordecai and Bloodwing's baby + Roland's funeral. Right in the feels.

I have to say, I'm happy with how it turned out. The ending was satisfying. And that boss fight was quite the step up from the Destroyer.

Spoiler:

Jack's comeuppance couldn't have been any better IMO. Seeing him utterly broken down and full of nothing but (very well delivered) impotent rage, after everything he had done?

Man, I didn't even feel the need to do it myself. After all, the original Vault Hunters had been wronged a hell of a lot more than my character had and it had the extra bonus of showing Jack he wasn't worth my effort.

The name of the achievement/trophy you get afterwards just sealed the deal. :D

Art design + spoiler:

I really liked the "virtual representations = live actress/flesh and blood characters = in-game models" approach. It really works with the feel of this series.

Other boss fights:

Also, BNK3R was a ridiculously fun fight. Hell, the entire push up to that point with freaking bandit air support having your back was "one of those moments".

Trying out some other characters now before going back and finishing the side missions and moving on to the DLC campaigns. Salvador seems to be a good stress relief-type character. Gaige's abilities have me very interested but damn playing her makes me nervous. The Anarchy ability just sings to me, but I habitually reload. Always. Restraining that instinct and having to be super careful when picking stuff up is going to make me a nervous wreck. I've already lost my full 150 stacks a few times already. The ammo shortener and using Jakobs shotguns and revolvers seems to be helping there though, at least when building them up.

Currently running over skags and bonerfarts again.

[Tels]

Mikaze wrote:

If Torgue continues along the lines of his commercials in the main game, I will be very happy. :)

Torgue's dialogue is just as good as his commercials.

[Mikaze]

Oh JOY. :D

Just remembered the word I should have used earlier. Catharsis. Borderlands 2 delivered it.

[Guy Humual]

Jack really made this game for me. Personally I think he's one of the best villains since GLaDOS, although as I said before I wouldn't quite put him on the same level as that crazy computer, but that character made the game for me (despite the horrible cut scene that allowed him to get away with . . . well, murder).

[Slaunyeh]

Mikaze wrote:

The Anarchy ability just sings to me, but I habitually reload. Always.

Some of us have unbound the reload button, just to be safe. :)

[Dal Selpher]

Slaunyeh wrote:

Mikaze wrote:

The Anarchy ability just sings to me, but I habitually reload. Always.

Some of us have unbound the reload button, just to be safe. :)

I use a shotgun with a clip size of 4 that spends 4 ammo per shot. No accidental reloads and FAST anarchy acquisition! Yay!

[Zhangar]

The accidental reloads stop being a problem once you're high enough level to pick up Discord - you lose only 1 or 2 stacks a second while gaining health regen and a huge accuracy bonus.

Now, actually dying, that's a real pain in the ass.

The Torgue DLC is great. The Captain Scarlett DLC and the Big Game Hunt DLC are pretty good, as well.

[Dal Selpher]

I'm probably half-wayish through the Torgue DLC and I have one thing to say.

Spoiler:

Friggin' Dirigible!

[Tels]

I am eagerly awaiting the next DLC. Tiny Tina's Assault on Dragon Keep sets the vault hunters up in a game of Bunkers and Bad***es (parody of D&D). Tiny Tiny is the Bunker Master and she brings all her crazy to the table. There are some videos on YouTube that give some previews of the campaign but also include spoilers for the main campaign as well. Anyone who has made the assault on Control Core Angel will be fine.

[Mikaze]

Dal Selpher wrote:

Slaunyeh wrote:

Mikaze wrote:

The Anarchy ability just sings to me, but I habitually reload. Always.

Some of us have unbound the reload button, just to be safe. :)

I use a shotgun with a clip size of 4 that spends 4 ammo per shot. No accidental reloads and FAST anarchy acquisition! Yay!

I had started doing something along those lines. Gaige has taught me to love Jakobs shotguns and handguns to say the least.

Her fighting style is just wonderfully stupid. Gotta love it when the rational thing to do when being divebombed by Rakk is to shoot the ground. I love having dependable ricochet shots as a dependable tactic now when fighting chield-carriers.

All that and having Gaige herself saying exactly what was on my mind when going up to 400 stacks for the first time...

"This is actually stupid now!"

"You're breaking the game, dude!"

"GOD HELP YOU ALL IF I ACTUALLY HIT SOMETHING!"

It's stuff like that that makes this game hit those same joy centers in my brain that Team Fortress 2 does. :)

(also, in love with this entire soundtrack. I'm sad that the Boom-Bewm/Captain Flynt song isn't on the official soundtrack, but man, that Lynchwood track...)

[Mikaze]

Also:

A Meat Bicycle Made For Two

[Rynjin]

Krieg is best character.

[Hama]

Honestly? Meh. I thought it would blow me away just like numero uno, but i quickly grew bored with it.

[Tels]

Hama wrote:

Honestly? Meh. I thought it would blow me away just like numero uno, but i quickly grew bored with it.

Any reason why?

[Hama]

Just didn't wow me. There was nothing special or fresh except the handsome jack.

[Xzaral]

So my friend convinced me to pick this up yesterday for the 360. After some technical issues, I only played for a short while, getting up to Knuckle Dragger (I think that's the first boss monster thing). I was playing the Gunzerker at the time.

So a question for those better in the know, can someone give me a run down of the classes? It looks like there's some downloadable ones too, is that right? It would be appreciated.

[Guy Humual]

Well with the basic game you have the commando and with the downloadable content there's the mechromancer. Both are fire support, with the ability to summon a gun turret or a robot respectively.

With the basic game there's the assassin, who has the ability to cloak and place a decoy in his place. He's good at dealing massive damage to single targets but it pretty weak against multiple targets.

with the basic game there's the siren and she's got crowd control as well as being the closest thing to a healer the game gets.

With the basic game there's the gunzerker and with the downloadable content there's the Psycho. Both deal and can absorb a lot of damage. The gunzerker is better at range while the psycho deals tons of melee damage.

If you like Clerics or Bards I'd go with the siren, if you like fighters or barbarians play the gunzerker or psycho, if you like rogues the assassin is kind of like that (it's the worst class in the game IMO), and although not entirely accurate comparison the commando and mechromancer are more like conjurors or summoners. Hope that helps.

[Xzaral]

My decision was made at robot. Everything else just reinforced it.

[Guy Humual]

Gaige (the Mercromancer) is one of my favorite characters. She also has an anarchy skill tree that's really fun to play with.

[Xzaral]

Played for a few hours now. Seems kinda fun. Definitely glad I went Mechromancer. The robot is just wonderful!

Problem I'm facing now is that when I was about 8ish, my friends dragged me into a higher level quest area and powered me up to level 15. And without the actual play experience, I'm not so sure what to do with my talents at this point. You mentioned Anarchy so I started down that tree but not sure what powers are good to take. Is there a recommneded website that helps breakdown some builds, get me a starting point on where to go? Would be appreciated!

[Dal Selpher]

Every site I've ever seen that discusses the builds, pretty much exclusively just gives you a peek at the max level build.

The Borderlands 2 Official Site has a skill calculator you can play around with though.

As Gaige, I'd recommend not going into the Order Chaos tree right away. While you're learning her, I'd point you toward the Best Friends Forever tree. Get to the 3rd tier Upshot Robot skill so you can lean on Deathtrap for longer and longer and at that point you should be pretty comfortable with how Gaige plays.

Respecing at Quick Change Stations is dirt cheap though, so never be afraid to reallocate your skill points!

[Xzaral]

I remember seeing Anarchy up above, went right to it, lol. I'll try respeccing next time I play, see how it goes. Thanks for the advice!!

[Guy Humual]

actually I'd recommend buying "anarchy" and then pretty much forgetting about that tree until higher level. Buying stuff like "close enough" stacks pretty well with anarchy and you don't really need to be deeply invested in the tree to benefit from the high damage potential. Also, if you don't like how your character is turning out you can always reset the character and reinvest your skills.

[Rynjin]

Don't worry about the skills all that much. For a modest fee you can respec all your points at any customization station.

Which is actually one of the things I don't like about BL2. Not the respeccing, the fact that they moved the customization/respeccing out of the New-U stations and made it a separate machine. And then made them so they're only in a few select spots.

[Mikaze]

that feeling when you have 400 stacks of Anarchy and forget that you equipped a rocket launcher to one of your slots to test it out earlier

"Hey, my assault rifle is bigger and boxier than I remem-OH DAMMIT"

[Andrea1]

Rumored on the TVtropes site is that the BL people will be thinking up more character types to play.

[Mikaze]

would totally play a member of the Baha family

an old crazy prospector is fine too

[Tels]

Been playing Tiny Tina's Assault on Dragon Keep a little today with some friends. So far, I'm enjoying it. The fights are interesting and difficult, and I'm playing a 49 Psycho in a friend's 40 level game, and having some trouble with certain enemies.

Here's a tip Explosive > Skeletons.

[Mikaze]

Re: Tiny Tina's Assault on Dragon Keep ending

Spoiler:

Dammit, it got to me.

;_;

[Sunderstone]

Nice surprise when I logged into Steam last night and saw that my original season pass covered the new DLC.
Last of Us owns me at the moment with Bioshock Infinite on deck, Tina will have to wait a bit longer. :)

[Slaunyeh]

Sunderstone wrote:

Nice surprise when I logged into Steam last night and saw that my original season pass covered the new DLC.

Last of Us owns me at the moment with Bioshock Infinite on deck, Tina will have to wait a bit longer. :)

Yes, I believe this is the last of the season pass DLCs?