Speaking of Borderlands 2

[Josh]

Tell me I'm not the only one wading through the gore on Pandora.

[Batman]

Okay. You're not the only one who waded through the gore on Pandora.

[Dark Silver]

PLayed it.

I'm meh on it..really. The gun stuff is SLIGHTLY better than in BL1, but the gameplay is still samey samey.

IT's a FPS Diablo, and I've stopped playing it.

But thenagain, I'm also the guy who stopped playing Dishonored because it feels like a too-samey but STEAMPunk-ish DEus Ex

[Josh]

Okay. You're not the only one who waded through the gore on Pandora.

Thanks Bats, I feel vindicated now.

PLayed it.

I'm meh on it..really. The gun stuff is SLIGHTLY better than in BL1, but the gameplay is still samey samey.

IT's a FPS Diablo, and I've stopped playing it.

But thenagain, I'm also the guy who stopped playing Dishonored because it feels like a too-samey but STEAMPunk-ish DEus Ex

A lot like the first one, the opening levels don't inspire. I was honestly disappointed with the first three areas. But then it really picked up for me.

I just love the feel of the world. What's kind of funny about 2 is that it's precisely what a lot of people wish for with failed sequels. "If they just updated the engine and touched it up so it's modern it'd be fine."

Well, that's this game. The only big change is the Badass ranks, which is great for the OCD among the customer base. But past that, you wander around and you kill shit and you accumulate cool guns and you experience a story.

I have to say, though... after the Soldier class in the first one being a stone bitch to play solo, the Commando class rocking out in this one is a nice change of pace. The turret is fucking deadly. Not too sold on the Gunzerker, haven't tried the other classes yet.

[Derek Thunder]

Axton was my character of choice for my first play-through, that turret was a pretty darn useful thing to have (especially with the talent that makes it launch rockets). Right now I'm playing through as Maya, but I screwed up the game by wasting time on that arena fight in The Fridge. I'm now level 25 doing level 18 quests >:(

Generally speaking this game was a big improvement on the first. The plot was interesting, the ending didn't suck nearly as hard, there were a lot of fun little character moments, and the environments were more varied.

[Josh]

Axton was my character of choice for my first play-through, that turret was a pretty darn useful thing to have (especially with the talent that makes it launch rockets). Right now I'm playing through as Maya, but I screwed up the game by wasting time on that arena fight in The Fridge. I'm now level 25 doing level 18 quests >:(

Generally speaking this game was a big improvement on the first. The plot was interesting, the ending didn't suck nearly as hard, there were a lot of fun little character moments, and the environments were more varied.

A man of taste, style and class emerges.

Haven't reached the ending yet. I paused midstream to go back through and find all the goofy little accomplishments, which has the secondary benefit of racking me up huge gobs of achievements with weapons I generally don't use as much. And there is just so... much... game.

[Josh]

Heh. So I've gone back to the Wildlife Preserve, and I've managed to die stupidly three times in the same spot in the harbor.

First, a grenade blasted me into the Water of Instant Death.

Then, well, I was standing by the boat sniping and started to strafe right without realizing I was right next to the Water of Instant Death.

Then I learned that the boundary line for the Water of Instant Death applies to the air as well, because I hopped on a container being loaded by the crane from the boat to the holding cell where they were keeping the stalkers, figuring it'd be a cool ride even if it didn't put me anywhere special.

Crane rises... rises... rises. Stops. I'm hanging out up there all "Hey, I can see my fucking house from here!"

Then it starts to pivot and... DEATH.

[Josh]

Oh wait you need to ride the crane to get to the vault symbol. What killed me...

FIVE FUCKING TIMES

...was a clipping error.

[Dark Silver]

Yeah, there's several clipping errors in the game

Could have used more polish on that end.....but meh. It's annoying when they have the clipping errors IN THE MIDDLE OF A JUMPING PUZZLE

[Josh]

That was the first one I've come across, but man it had me fucking puzzled for a bit there. Considering that the error occurred when you snuggle up to the pulley and the hints had said that you could fall off the crate, so the automatic thing to do is move toward the middle.

Once I figured it out, it's easy. But damn was it an expensive lesson.

Ah well, low funding issues are what lootable enemies were made for.

[Josh]

Whelp, having finished first playthrough and first DLC I have this to say:

Much like the first one, the first couple of levels are pretty bland, at least to my tastes. However, it really kicks up after that. Now, bear in mind that my favorite level in the old game was the Jakobs Island DLC, which was available from the time I started playing and I always got in there relatively early because I loved it. In this one, the first level that grabbed me like Jakobs Island was the Caustic Caverns, which were so fucking alien and hostile and therefore FUN FUN FUN.

I mean, constantly being swarmed by giant-sized killer insects and giant heavily armored crystal monsters while trying not to land in pools of flesh-eating acid? That's just getting back to my roots!

End boss was... okay, I cheesed it by using my superheavy rocket launcher that fires on a ballistic arc, basically lobbing mortar shells from behind the safety of the shield and traipsing back to the vending machines whenever ammo would run low. I'd expect there would be far more of an adrenaline-pounding fight if one didn't cheese it that way, but I was in a hurry to get done so I could, y'know, sleep.

First DLC was pretty cool. Definitely pays off in the treasure department, the hovercraft were fun and all.

However, the issue with installed DLC eating some of your achievements (typically the 'find on the map' achievements in my experience) really sucks and I hope they fix that very very soon.

Overall, had a blast. Haven't tried it multiplayer yet, though I have a buddy that I'm lining up for at least dual runs soon. That was where the last game really shined for me, and I figure this game'll be very similar. Also some of the achievements seem damn near impossible to solo, specifically the time-based ones. So hopefully we'll have some fun with that.

Five stars, really liked this game. It definitely made me entirely forget about ME 3.