Author Topic: Revisiting Borderlands 1 (Read 3243 times)

Eel O'Brian · « **on:** May 18, 2014, 11:10:50 PM »

Picked up the GOTY of this to play with my fiance (she heard me playing BL2 on the Vita and thought it sounded fun/funny).

Man, I forgot what a grindy, unfun chore this game was. With two people, especially one who's just learning how to play FPS games, it is nothing but boring frustration. I mean, dumping whole SMG magazines into common enemies like Psychos and still not killing them. We were in the quest were you have to find the sniper rifle parts, and died a shitload making our way up the hill to the outpost. When we finally cleared it out, I couldn't find the last part, and I guess after a certain amount of time enemies reset, because the entire gang of bandits respawned right on top of us. Like, three of them blinking into existence right beside me and killing me before I could get my bearings. What cheap horseshit. After dying a couple of times she turned to me and said "This feels like work." Then I remembered forcing myself to finish it way back when it came out, and how I was really hesitant to play BL2 because of it (Prole gifted it to me on Steam). Thankfully BL2 fixes some of that shit, like better progression and a better/funnier/actual story to boot. BL1 is just a turd.

DCharlieJP · « **Reply #1 on:** May 18, 2014, 11:16:15 PM »

Quote

Man, I forgot what a grindy, unfun chore this game was.

yeah, it is so up and down that it becomes very unfun. The early stages are a complete pain, then it gets easier, then rock hard, then easy....

Eel O'Brian · « **Reply #2 on:** May 18, 2014, 11:23:24 PM »

There are some tough parts in BL2, but nothing like that hair-pulling Bonehead fight they dump on you right at the beginning of the first game. It definitely swings too hard back and forth. I'm taking it back and getting the BL2 GOTY instead, I think she'll have a lot more fun/laughs with that.

benjipwns · « **Reply #3 on:** May 18, 2014, 11:31:10 PM »

Bone Head is poorly placed, he's right around the corner from Fyrestone but you have to go through Skag Gully a couple times and kill Nine Toes and Scar before you're really leveled up enough to dent him.

Eel O'Brian · « **Reply #4 on:** May 18, 2014, 11:35:49 PM »

Yeah, we did all the available missions before we tackled him (which didn't take very long) and he was still tough as shit. I camped in that building at the end of the hideout and chipped away at him for about two minutes before I took him down, and I was level 10. It's just too tough a game for her as a beginner, and with the enemy bullet sponge boost when you have more than one player I was getting bored/frustrated covering for her and trying to keep my own ass from constantly dropping. I think the second is much more balanced when it comes to that, and eases you into things more.

benjipwns · « **Reply #5 on:** May 18, 2014, 11:48:22 PM »

Oh yeah, I forgot about the multiplayer boost being insane to where you basically have to be overleveled.

Back shortly after release I tried taking him down at like level five or something by climbing up in Fyrestone and sniping. There's some platforms that overlook his whole area, but level five isn't enough to do more than plink at him for hours.

Not too long ago I almost did another solo run through since I had never played the game with Roland, and was just speed running since I knew everything and you can totally blow through up to Sledge's Safehouse in like an hour. It still has to bog down like mad once you get to the Rust Commons I imagine.

pilonv1 · « **Reply #6 on:** May 19, 2014, 08:15:24 AM »

I played it for a few hours by myself, I'm sure there's some fun in multiplayer but it was so dull it tainted the series for me.

Himu · « **Reply #7 on:** May 19, 2014, 10:29:45 AM »

Shit game. 2's improvements over 1 are vast.

Stoney Mason · « **Reply #8 on:** May 19, 2014, 10:47:38 AM »

The first borderlands was definitely a grind. The story was not fun. Always struck me as odd that Jeff from Giant Bomb seemed to have such disdain for the sequel when I found the first to be such a mess.

Joe Molotov · « **Reply #9 on:** May 19, 2014, 11:04:12 AM »

I could just never get into the first Borderlands; I put ~15 hours into it, but it never really grabbed me. I put close to 80 hours into Borderlands 2.

a slime appears · « **Reply #10 on:** May 19, 2014, 11:20:07 AM »

I played Borderlands 1 to completion with Demi and I had a really fun time. Sure the gameplay isn't anything to write home about but it was a decent enough shooter with a well designed RPG stat system. I tried playing it by myself and it was a dreadfully boring game. It's designed to be a multi-only experience.

I tried to like Borderlands 2 but for me it was too much of the same and I was already really bored by the settings and characters (also really put off by the try-hard writing). It's clearly a superior game but I don't think enough changed to make it compelling enough for me to get into.

cool breeze · « **Reply #11 on:** May 19, 2014, 11:21:27 AM »

Quote from: pilonv1 on May 19, 2014, 08:15:24 AM

I played it for a few hours by myself, I'm sure there's some fun in multiplayer but it was so dull it tainted the series for me.

yeah, I tried to get into borderlands 2 two or three times because of the praise around here. but the unskippable slow start brings back bad memories of borderlands, like claptrap, and I can't make it past an hour to see if it's improved.

chronovore · « **Reply #12 on:** May 19, 2014, 08:03:16 PM »

I'm still playing this, having started it in 2012 in local split screen with my brother-in-law! We occasionally go back to it on XBL, and spend the first 15 minutes trying to remember what we are doing, where we're supposed to do it, and which bumper is grenade and which is special-ability. Fast-Travel is a PITA, as it's never clear where I'm supposed to turn in any given Mission.

I like the loot system, and the visuals are cool, but the enemies are kind of annoying and AI is inconsistent.

MrAngryFace · « **Reply #13 on:** May 20, 2014, 02:24:03 AM »

Borderlands 1: stupidly praised
Borderlands 2: unfairly bashed because OMG TINY TINA (outrage)

Eel O'Brian · « **Reply #14 on:** May 20, 2014, 08:02:38 AM »

She's liking BL2 much more, we got up to level 6 and killed MidgeMong last night. She still has some problems like forgetting to look down and getting stuck on scenery, and standing in place during gunfights, but she's catching on pretty quick.

Human Snorenado · « **Reply #15 on:** May 20, 2014, 09:24:21 AM »

Somebody is sad he never got to see Butt Stallion

Rufus · « **Reply #16 on:** May 20, 2014, 09:34:38 AM »

Some stuff was funny. The insane babbling from the psychos, for instance. But for the most part I'm with Esch. The "it's so random and wacky" nonsense got tiring quick.

Human Snorenado · « **Reply #17 on:** May 20, 2014, 09:45:04 AM »

I never actually beat the game, but I did put about 40 hours into it. It's good fun, and it is REALLY rare for a shooter to keep my attention for that long. I never found the humor shit to be annoying or too much, but obviously ymmv.

demi · « **Reply #18 on:** May 20, 2014, 09:49:05 AM »

I'd like to play through the DLC with someone for Borderlands 2.

Preferably on "True Vault Hunter" mode (aka NG+) for some better loot.

Eel O'Brian · « **Reply #19 on:** May 20, 2014, 12:30:38 PM »

maybe they'll put some coli emotes in the next one

BobFromPikeCreek · « **Reply #20 on:** May 20, 2014, 12:45:33 PM »

BL2 is a better game mechanically, but I can't handle the reddit/meme-bomb writing/sense of humor.

And fuck Tiny Tina.

BobFromPikeCreek · « **Reply #21 on:** May 20, 2014, 12:47:38 PM »

C. None of the above

Human Snorenado · « **Reply #22 on:** May 20, 2014, 12:51:20 PM »

You know, if I were Mandark, this is when I'd use my search engine kung fu to find posts from y'all bitches lamenting the seriousness of modern gaming and the dearth of humor. Cause I'm sure they're out there.

BobFromPikeCreek · « **Reply #23 on:** May 20, 2014, 12:56:03 PM »

I'm turned off by try-hard. BL2 tries just as hard to be cooky as any military shooter tries to be SERIOUS BUSINESS.

cool breeze · « **Reply #24 on:** May 20, 2014, 01:01:37 PM »

saints row series is funny without being obnoxious. I guess that's a matter of taste too but saints row has actual jokes with setups and payoffs.

Eel O'Brian · « **Reply #25 on:** May 20, 2014, 01:03:43 PM »

Not a fan of Tiny Tina, really, but other than that I laughed aloud several times playing BL2. Anyway, different strokes and all, but it is puzzling that so many people on a message board that is pretty much a dick-themed amusement park find BL2 humor too much.

a slime appears · « **Reply #26 on:** May 20, 2014, 05:23:23 PM »

Quote from: Eel O'Brian on May 20, 2014, 01:03:43 PM

Anyway, different strokes and all, but it is puzzling that so many people on a message board that is pretty much a dick-themed amusement park find BL2 humor too much.

For me it's a combination of playing too much BL1 and thus being over exposed to the characters/story and also feeling the writing was just trying too hard to be edgy and self-aware with poorly presented jokes. Being ridiculous for the sake of it doesn't really do it for me unless it's woven into the fabric of the game (see Saints Row 3/4 or South Park). Now I don't hold my gripes about the sub-par writing* against the game, since I do think it's clearly superior to the first one, but I wish I didn't bother with BL1 and just went straight to 2.

spoiler (click to show/hide)

* I play Metal Gear games. I have become hardened like military-grade steel against the cutting edge of sub-par dialog.

[close]

chronovore · « **Reply #27 on:** May 20, 2014, 11:31:42 PM »

I finished that main game, and read that it would auto-pop the Achievement for the first area's tasks being completely-completed, so I did that... and then realized I'll still have to go through the missions for all the other areas. So I'm going to try reloading my first play through again. :'(

benjipwns · « **Reply #28 on:** May 21, 2014, 12:28:32 AM »

I don't know about all the achievements but I think you can get a lot of the visit [area] and boss ones by just fast traveling back to the location/killing them again. (Assuming it's a boss that respawns obviously.)

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Author Topic: Revisiting Borderlands 1 (Read 3243 times)