Game of the Month #20 (September) - Borderlands series

From Wikipedia:

Borderlands is a series of action role-playing first-person shooter video games in a space western/science fantasy setting, developed by Gearbox Software and published by 2K Games for multiple platforms.

The series consists of three games, each with multiple downloadable content packs: Borderlands (2009), Borderlands 2 (2012) and Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel! (by 2K Australia, 2014). A future Borderlands game was announced in January 2015 with no published release date. Several spin-offs have also been released, including Tales from the Borderlands, an episodic graphic adventure game by Telltale Games.

The series has received critical acclaim and commercial success for its loot-driven multiplayer co-op gameplay and its sense of humor.

This month you've got your choice of 3 shooters and/or a less reflex-intensive point-n-click (if you're still itching for that after last month). What's everybody planning on playing?

I'm gonna start with Borderlands The Pre-Sequel, and if I have some time left after that I might go for Borderlands 1.
On a side note, I highly recommend Tales from the Borderlands for those who have played at least one Borderlands game (although it's not mandatory) and haven't tried it yet. It's my favorite Telltale series after The Walking Dead.

Tales was great. amazing opening credits sequences. played BL1 with my roommate years ago. when i moved in with a new roommate earlier last year we bought the handsome jack collection with intention of playing it and i think picked it up once for about 45 minutes and never went back (he's never home and not a big gamer anyways). would love to play BL2 and DLC but not sure i see it happening. think this month might be The Witcher 3: Blood & Wine DLC.

eek!

i need more gamer friends to play this type of stuff with!!

I'm gonna start with Borderlands The Pre-Sequel, and if I have some time left after that I might go for Borderlands 1.
On a side note, I highly recommend Tales from the Borderlands for those who have played at least one Borderlands game (although it's not mandatory) and haven't tried it yet. It's my favorite Telltale series after The Walking Dead.

I actually thought Tales from the Borderlands completely blows The Walking Dead out of the water. The only other thing they've done that's any competition for it is The Wolf Among Us.

I actually thought Tales from the Borderlands completely blows The Walking Dead out of the water. The only other thing they've done that's any competition for it is The Wolf Among Us.

True, that's most people's opinion, but I personally did not like The Wolf Among Us that much (although it WAS great and interesting, hope they make a S2!)... at least we can agree that Tales from the Borderlands is a strong series from Telltale, one of the best if not THE best!

Just a reminder that the Borderland series (1, 2 and Pre-Sequel) are currently on sale on Steam until Thursday so if anyone wanted to join this month but didn't have a / the games, now's a good chance.

I'll probably play the first one because I've been interested in playing the series for a while. But got so many games atm so probably won't play the others this month.

That steam sale has good timing, managed to pick up the triple pack so I suppose I'll work my way through the pre-sequel first due to its length.

That steam sale has good timing, managed to pick up the triple pack so I suppose I'll work my way through the pre-sequel first due to its length.

You'll miss out on a lot of references to the first two games in terms of what's going on and who characters are if you care about that stuff, and going back to play the first game after either BL2 or TPS is kind of rough on PC considering how janky it was. Up to you though. Gameplay-wise TPS is arguably the best in the series in a lot of ways, so it definitely has that going for it.

I'm waiting for my copy of the trilogy to come in. I played the first two with my (now EX) brother-in-law back when both of them were new and really loved them (or at the very lest, liked them), and I've waited for an excuse to own them.

Just got to Dahls Headlands lvl 20, enjoying the game a lot. But gets a little bit too easy once you find a magnum/revolver <.< I wreckd every single monster once I got one.

Annnnnd I just finished Borderlands The Pre-Sequel! It took ~25 hours, I did all of the main missions + all of the side missions EXCEPT the raid boss side mission (because you need friends!) and the Z8N-TP side mission (because I found it too tedious). Overall, I must say, I'm glad I gave this game a second chance (I played it for around ~19 hours a while ago and found it pretty hard towards the end, though that changed during this playthrough due to the oh-so-overpowered E-Gun).

As the name suggests, it's a ''Pre-Sequel'' to Borderlands 1, which means it will give you some backstory on what happened between the original Borderlands and Borderlands 2, hence why I would recommend playing Borderlands 2 before The Pre-Sequel if you ever plan on playing both. If I had to compare it with Borderlands 2, I would say that they are pretty similar, though TPS does add some new things. Story-wise, I preferred The Pre-Sequel a bit more over Borderlands 2, though the latter has much more content and awesome DLCs. In short, if you liked Borderlands 2, do try this one out.

I must say, the Borderlands series is, to me, the perfect way to unwind after a bad/hard day. It's exciting and yet relaxing at the same time. It's not too challenging, at least not for the first half of the game, and when the game does give you challenge, it's, in my opinion, at a right amount if you know what to do and how to handle the enemies. I mean, who doesn't like to shoot things with a wide variety of weapons and damage types? The series is also known for its humor, I think it's a nice little touch. Plus, the characters are sooo lovely and unique, and from my point of view, the cartoon-ish visuals give a lighthearted atmosphere to the game, which I like (although I have heard that the first Borderlands game was more serious overall).

To wrap up, I truly enjoyed Borderlands 2 and The Pre-Sequel and I do recommend trying this series out if it sounds like your cup of tea. I, for one, will be playing the Pre-Sequel DLCs, and if I do have some time left by the end of the month, jump into the first Borderlands.

Enjoy!

Annnnnd I just finished Borderlands The Pre-Sequel! It took ~25 hours, I did all of the main missions + all of the side missions EXCEPT the raid boss side mission (because you need friends!) and the Z8N-TP side mission (because I found it too tedious). Overall, I must say, I'm glad I gave this game a second chance (I played it for around ~19 hours a while ago and found it pretty hard towards the end, though that changed during this playthrough due to the oh-so-overpowered E-Gun).

As the name suggests, it's a ''Pre-Sequel'' to Borderlands 1, which means it will give you some backstory on what happened between the original Borderlands and Borderlands 2, hence why I would recommend playing Borderlands 2 before The Pre-Sequel if you ever plan on playing both. If I had to compare it with Borderlands 2, I would say that they are pretty similar, though TPS does add some new things. Story-wise, I preferred The Pre-Sequel a bit more over Borderlands 2, though the latter has much more content and awesome DLCs. In short, if you liked Borderlands 2, do try this one out.

I must say, the Borderlands series is, to me, the perfect way to unwind after a bad/hard day. It's exciting and yet relaxing at the same time. It's not too challenging, at least not for the first half of the game, and when the game does give you challenge, it's, in my opinion, at a right amount if you know what to do and how to handle the enemies. I mean, who doesn't like to shoot things with a wide variety of weapons and damage types? The series is also known for its humor, I think it's a nice little touch. Plus, the characters are sooo lovely and unique, and from my point of view, the cartoon-ish visuals give a lighthearted atmosphere to the game, which I like (although I have heard that the first Borderlands game was more serious overall).

To wrap up, I truly enjoyed Borderlands 2 and The Pre-Sequel and I do recommend trying this series out if it sounds like your cup of tea. I, for one, will be playing the Pre-Sequel DLCs, and if I do have some time left by the end of the month, jump into the first Borderlands.

Enjoy!

I, for one, will be playing the Pre-Sequel DLCs

That's what I really should be doing this month. I kind of needed a break after playing so much BL2 at the end of last year and then rushing through the whole campaign of TPS immediately afterward, but I never got back to it. The arena ones I started are vaguely ok-ish if you're really into that sort of thing, but I'm really looking forward to Claptastic Voyage because a lot of people have said it's possibly the best DLC in the entire franchise, or at least up there with TTAoDK.

Also of note, Tales from the Borderlands is on sale currently for $6.24 in the Humble Bundle store, as well as the other Borderlands games which are 75% off, in case anyone missed the previous Steam sale

I'm playing the first Borderlands and having an okay time with it. The scaling is really strange, though... At times I seem to be a level or two under all the quests available, and other time all the quests are three or four levels under me, making certain patched really hard and other patches really easy. I love the constant tactical decision-making of switching out guns when bigger and better ones come along, but weapon accuracy seems really off. Like how I can have a sniper rifle with 96% accuracy trained directly on the head of an unmoving target and manage to miss four out of five shots.

So I mean it's fun enough, but I'm not blown away. Kinda just want to get it over with so I can start Borderlands 2, which I've heard improves on pretty much everything.

I'm playing the first Borderlands and having an okay time with it. The scaling is really strange, though... At times I seem to be a level or two under all the quests available, and other time all the quests are three or four levels under me, making certain patched really hard and other patches really easy. I love the constant tactical decision-making of switching out guns when bigger and better ones come along, but weapon accuracy seems really off. Like how I can have a sniper rifle with 96% accuracy trained directly on the head of an unmoving target and manage to miss four out of five shots.

So I mean it's fun enough, but I'm not blown away. Kinda just want to get it over with so I can start Borderlands 2, which I've heard improves on pretty much everything.

Sniper rifles are garbage in the first game. Depending on which random barrel they have, the card can show good accuracy while the weapon itself is useless. There are ones that don't suck, but they're in the minority. That's definitely something that's much better in the latter games.

Sniper rifles are garbage in the first game. Depending on which random barrel they have, the card can show good accuracy while the weapon itself is useless. There are ones that don't suck, but they're in the minority. That's definitely something that's much better in the latter games.

My Snipers seem to not work if you're aiming though bars or under an overhang. I can hit the body just fine but if I try to hit the head, the bars or overhang will catch the bullet everytime. Other then that, I've had little trouble with them aside from the above mentioned troubles every so often.

My problem seems to be that I don't like a lot of the guns. I'll normally pick up a gun, not like the way it fires or that it's stats are different, and keep it to sell. Some of the guns seem to be good enough to switch out, but since the game has a Bazillion guns, there are going to be a ton that aren't good (or at lest I don't think are good).

Edit: Changed my mind. I found the guns that I have a hard time choosing from. Also found out that there are Claptraps round that give you more inventory space which helps with carrying more guns.

Just beat Borderlands 1 took me 22 hours did most side quest but skipped a few. Only got 1 legendary sadface but then got 2 infinite weapons near the end which was pretty sweet.Overall glad I played it. Might do Borderlands 2 as well this month.

I finished the first one today, too. My Lilith was pretty OP by the end, so I could Phasewalk right by most encounters without even having to fight. The final boss was a total pushover. Probably going to start the second one tomorrow and intersperse some Tales from the Borderlands as I go. Might not get to the Pre-Sequel this month, but I'm fine with that--don't want to overdo it.

I finished the first one today, too. My Lilith was pretty OP by the end, so I could Phasewalk right by most encounters without even having to fight. The final boss was a total pushover. Probably going to start the second one tomorrow and intersperse some Tales from the Borderlands as I go. Might not get to the Pre-Sequel this month, but I'm fine with that--don't want to overdo it.

Nice I was planning on replaying it with Lillith since I like stealth characters. I played as soldier on my first with Roland.

If you need someone to play Borderlands 2 with message me if you want to do some multiplayer :)

Nice I was planning on replaying it with Lillith since I like stealth characters. I played as soldier on my first with Roland.

If you need someone to play Borderlands 2 with message me if you want to do some multiplayer :)

If you expect her to play like a stealth character in other games, you will be somewhat disappointed. If you don't mind that she's utterly broken and has more than one way to become ridiculously overpowered in entertaining ways instead you'll be all set.

Wew, so I just completed both the Holodome and the Claptastic Voyage DLCs for Borderlands TPS.

The Holodome DLC was okay, it's your classic ''arena'' kind of missions, though it gets repetitive if you do all rounds at once. I tried this DLC at around level 31, though it was too hard for me starting round 4-5, so I went ahead and did the whole Claptastic DLC which raised me to level 37, which made the rest of the rounds pretty easy. Still enjoyable to test out your weapons.

The Claptastic Voyage DLC was really great! I enjoyed the story, and, if you didn't like Claptrap already, this DLC will make you like him, especially towards the end. The levels were pretty interesting (they bring you back in time with memories!) and I had lots of fun with the new ''glitch rarity'' weapons, especially the unique ones (there are only two of them, but they are pretty amusing!).

Due to the large amount of games I currently want to play, I'll be moving on to other games for the rest of this month. Plus, I've had my share of Borderlands for this month!

Dang, I just played the Claptrap Birthday Bash mission in Borderlands 2 and that near broke my heart. Poor little guy.

Aside from that, I'd definitely say I'm enjoying B2 more than B1, but enemies just take WAAAAAY too many hits to go down and I'm pretty sure I've got decent weapons for where I am in the game. Might do some grinding and power-leveling to try and even the playing field. Also I way regret picking Gunzerker. Initially I chose him just so I could focus on gunplay but now that I've been doing that for a dozen or so hours I really wish I had a more tactical action skill.

Dang, I just played the Claptrap Birthday Bash mission in Borderlands 2 and that near broke my heart. Poor little guy.

Aside from that, I'd definitely say I'm enjoying B2 more than B1, but enemies just take WAAAAAY too many hits to go down and I'm pretty sure I've got decent weapons for where I am in the game. Might do some grinding and power-leveling to try and even the playing field. Also I way regret picking Gunzerker. Initially I chose him just so I could focus on gunplay but now that I've been doing that for a dozen or so hours I really wish I had a more tactical action skill.

Most stuff scales up in level with you, although areas do have minimum levels, possibly max levels, and there's definitely a cap of 35 for enemies and items in Normal. The scaling of stats by level is also way more aggressive than in BL1 (BL2 is exponential, and BL1 either had a much shallower curve or might've even been linear), so gear becomes obsolete more quickly. They backed off on that a bit in TPS.

I just picked up where I left off in the Holodome in TPS, and I've totally forgotten how to play the game/my character. I went with Athena despite her being one of the least interesting to me personality/story-wise because some of her skills are pretty entertaining. I'm built kind of like my Vanguard from ME2, dashing across rooms and shotgunning things point blank, at least when I'm not being incompetent and forgetting basic things like that I have grenades. I need to get used to this again after like six months of Grim Dawn. Heh.

Wrapped up BL2 last night after a full day of nearly nonstop playing. Once again, the final boss was easy to cheese but at least this time around it was a more interesting fight. My biggest question after beating it was "Why did I bother playing the first one?" Obviously there are references you'll miss out on in BL2 if you haven't played the original, but not so much that I wouldn't get what was going on. BL2 just does everything better... better story, better character development, better humor, more interesting/diverse missions, colors beyond brown and tan... and on and on. I still had some issues with BL2, but I totally understand why it's revered so highly as a modern classic.

Anyway, I'm a little too engorged on the shoot-n-loot genre right now so I'm going to pass on The Pre-Sequel for a while and instead play the Telltale series.