Gaming Borderlands 2 preview

http://www.bit-tech.net/gaming/pc/2012/07/13/borderlands-2-preview/1

 

The original Boarderlands had a lot going for it - the art style, weapons, co-op. It's just that the storyline/quests were so tedious and dull that that I eventually just gave up with it and from the sounds of things it's more of the same, which is a shame because if they could have nailed a few more good game mechanicals it could have been so much more.

 

Borderlands was an awesome game - I found the storyline and quests to be very engaging, which is why I've played the game through at least 5 times.

The second installment looks amazing

 

I enjoyed the first but its best not to think too critically about why. I'll probably pick up the sequel and some point.

 

OK, I agreed with everything Joe said about the Call of Duty series a few weeks ago, but now...

Joe, you are starting to sound too negative and jaded. Skyrim is a bunch of fetch quests for f**ks sake, but you liked that didn't you? Fetch quests are in EVERY RPG, so you can't use it as a club to bash Borderlands 2.

If I ignore the fact that you seem hacked off at fetch quests, I get the impression that Borderlands 2 is a worthy successor to the original (which I loved) and is therefore safe for me to pre-order.

EDIT after 1m: My criticism of the tone of the article isn't at its own criticism of Borderlands 2, as that is what is good about Bit-Tech, there is little of the PR parrotting of other sites.

 

Every rpg and mmo ever made has fetch quests they are a love or hate thing

Enough if I'm honest

Borderlands in 4 player co op was awesome, gun pawn as you put it is why most love it. They are also committed to worth while dlc the 3 expanansion packs all added to the game in some way or another unlike cods weapon packs which do nothing at all.

Can't think of many who paid a blind bit of attention to the story I've beaten the game twice with every character class as 4 player co op and I still couldnt tell you much of the story.

 

A good preview then? People that liked the first game will likely be into the second one even though the problems are still there.

I enjoyed the first game even though the issues were pretty obvious so I'll likely buy this one too.

 

The first game was fun, but it got very samey after a while. This just seems like more of the same. *yawn*

 

Completed the first many times over, can't wait for this.

The word you're looking for is moreish, without the hyphen. (http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/moreish)

 

I got so many hours of fun out of the first game and its dlc, so it looks like this might end up being an early, full price purchase. That doesn't happen very often, hope I don't end up kicking myself.

 

Looks like WoW

 

Borderlands 1 on PC was very underwhelming, having to make a gamespy account to play online was annoying and the game interface for interacting with shops and your inventory were horrible, using the shortcut keys didn't help much either. The fact that the last boss was pretty much a copy and paste of the final boss from half-life opposing force (which I thought was actually a much more exciting battle) was horrible too. There was no payoff in the story or the characters and all the other NPC's just stood there and handed out quests for the most part. I love gearbox, they've made some great games but their going to have to do A LOT of work to even get me to think about picking up borderlands 2 at launch. It felt like too much of a grind. I've got a group of friends who are in love with borderlands, they think it's the best thing since sliced bread but IDK how someone could play that game on a console with all that fuzzy texture-ness and popup. At least on the PC you could sorta up the graphics and get rid of some of that but it still wasn't a PRETTY game by any means and the story telling was just the same old "listen to audio-diaries". The quest givers didn't even read the whole quest text to you! It didn't feel like a gearbox quality game I guess is what I'm trying to say.

 

Looking forward to this game so much, there's not many shooters out there that are just fun and imaginative. Too many military shooters. In fact I might just book annual leave over Sep.

 

I liked tanis though, if she was a more central character who you actually could follow around, the game would be 1000x's better.

 

That 's not issue, it's the fact 75% of quests in Borderlands 1 were fetch quests, and this one isn't shaping up to be any different, except there are fetch quests within fetch quests.

 

A) I didn't review Skyrim.
2) Just because I say fetch quests are a flaw and Borderlands has flaws, doesn't mean I think the game is wholly rubbish.
ii) Yes, I can use over-convention to a damaging trope as a club to bash a game - so long as I'm consistent in using it to bash all games which use that trope in a similarly damaging way.

 

Not 'every' RPG has fetch quests, but most do

 

A) I didn't accuse you of reviewing Skyrim, I asked if you liked it. IME most people liked/loved Skyrim in spite of some glaring flaws, one of which was the fetch quests.
2) Then you didn't say very much about what you did like about it.
iii) Fair enough, but your preview was about how much you didn't like fetch quests and the emptiness of gun porn (or porn in general?), and nothing about much else. Not much of a preview because in the end I didn't find out too much about Borderlands 2.

I re-read the article just in case I missed the point of it. I don't think I did, but I'm willing to be on the other side of opinion.
I must say that you don't seem like a Borderlands person (which is OK), and I think I will get more enjoyment out of it.
A) I won't mind the fetch quests because they are a means to generate action and take you to new areas and meet new people/enemies.
2) I won't mind the lack of material rewards because the guns AREN'T the rewards. The plot, the situations, the characters and the dialogue in Borderlands are the rewards. The fact there are 870 gazillion guns will be of little interest to me, though I know they will be to others. Whatever floats their boats.
iii) Haters gonna hate, right? It's a big old mad world full of big old crazy people with subjective tastes.

I had composed a pithy response about fetch quests and real life when I had a horrible and terrifying moment of self-awareness. F**k me if my life wasn't a bunch of fetch quests linked together. Where's that Hyperion 15-round self-eliminator when I need it?

 

So many previews are fluff pieces that feed the publisher's PR hype machine in exchange for early access. Thank you, Joe, for calling it like you see it. I originally came to Bit-tech for the modding community, but this kind of honesty is why I've started reading the gaming updates, too.

 

+1