Borderlands 3 trailer looks boring?

Worgen

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Ok, so on a number of game sites including this one I've been seeing people saying that Borderlands 3 looks safe or they were expecting something more from it or something like that. But my question is, what were they expecting? I mean Borderlands 3 can't really get too good graphics, its got a really specific aesthetic style that is unique to it, so they can't really change that. It a looter shooter so the gameplay isn't going to change that drastically. They could ditch the old cast of characters but then you run into the issue of having to make a full new cast which will inevitable be compared to the old cast and probably hated on for not being as good no matter what. So really, whats the problem? None of the articles really seem to get into the problem, they just say there is one.
 

Silent Protagonist

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When compared to the marketing material for the previous entries in the series, this trailer is definitely very lacking. It just doesn't have the punch or fun that other trailers have had and just doesn't represent the character of the series. Everything just seems very generic and muted. The only things it showed us the were new were walking gun and that it will take place on multiple planets(though even that probably won't be functionally any different than the different sections/levels on a single planet). It seems like they should have come out of the gate a little harder with the first trailer.
undeadsuitor said:
Borderlands didn't exactly leave the public eye on a positive foot. What with the telltale game being good but average (and with no follow up as the company secretly burned to the ground) and the pre-sequel being good, but mired in some pre gamergate controversy since it had a few gay and other nonstandard characters that people naturally fought back against (because creative freedom you see) as well as that whole thing with that one writer dude
I honestly don't remember there being much controversy at the time(not that there wasn't just that I didn't personally witness it) but I do remember feeling Janey Springs was very poorly written. I mean, I'm pretty sure Borderlands has more characters that are established to be gay or bi than characters that are established to be exclusively heterosexual(if there even are any), but Janey is the only one I thought was poorly executed. At first they give her so many good character hooks like the being sad about the death of her girlfriend, being a scrapper, writing children's books, etc but then seem to decide that her only character trait is aggressively hitting on women who are often very clearly not interested. I'd actual challenge anyone to play the first hour of the game and count the number of times she uses the exact phrase "I'm not into guys" before you reach Concordia. I think the exact number may change depending on which class you are using. The writers of those games usually did LGBT representation very well but they really seemed to miss the mark with Laney.
 

Silent Protagonist

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undeadsuitor said:
honestly she's a pretty good litmus test considering none of her dialog is outrageous...for a male character. We're simply used to men being abhorrent admirers of female characters.
It's funny because I thought almost the exact same thing but came to almost the opposite conclusion. That while in this case because she is a female character her borderline stalking and aggressive flirting is supposed to make her cute and endearing, but if a male character did it they would be considered a creepy chauvinistic pig that the audience is supposed to love to hate. I'm genuinely amused that we both did the "would this be considered acceptable if the character was the opposite gender" test and came to two radically different conclusions. I thought that behavior would be reviled if it were done by a male character and disliked the character because of it, where as you thought it would be accepted if it were a male character and thought the character was progressive because of it. I still found it discouraging that her sexuality was the only thing the writers focused on for her for most of the game. The other major characters that are gay don't have this problem so I'm not sure what made the writers short circuit on her.
 

B-Cell_v1legacy

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obviously it looks boring. infact borderlands 2 was one of the most boring game i have played last gen. terrible shooting and bulletsponges enemies make it worse. plus cant stand this cartoonish graphics and theme.
 

McElroy

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Silent Protagonist said:
Anthony Burch, the head writer of BL2 and TPS told (in an interview or something), that he sprinkled LGB-representation in the games because he thought it would be nice if that world (28th century) simply treated same-sex relationships as completely normal. So normal that even Handsome Jack wouldn't insult anyone's sexuality because it's on the level of an odd-numbered shoe size to him. And so there was definitely an agenda behind it, though a rather benign one. I say 'was' since Burch isn't writing in BL3.
 

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Worgen said:
Ok, so on a number of game sites including this one I've been seeing people saying that Borderlands 3 looks safe or they were expecting something more from it or something like that. But my question is, what were they expecting? I mean Borderlands 3 can't really get too good graphics, its got a really specific aesthetic style that is unique to it, so they can't really change that. It a looter shooter so the gameplay isn't going to change that drastically. They could ditch the old cast of characters but then you run into the issue of having to make a full new cast which will inevitable be compared to the old cast and probably hated on for not being as good no matter what. So really, whats the problem? None of the articles really seem to get into the problem, they just say there is one.
The game looks fine to me so far, and I'm not even a fan of the series. Borderlands never grabbed me, but I would play it any day over the countless COD clones that came out last gen. I am a big lover of cel-shading as well, and I'm glad they didn't get rid of it. I swear that game journalists and gamers have gotten so spoiled by graphics that daring to not "improve or innovate them", because it doesn't look "realistic" enough. Fuck you, it's a videogame, not a live-action movie. If you want realism, go outside. I know Gearbox screwed up a lot, so people have a reason to be skeptical. If Randy or GB screw this game up, they're pretty much done and whatever good will they seem to have left is gone.

undeadsuitor said:
Borderlands didn't exactly leave the public eye on a positive foot. What with the telltale game being good but average (and with no follow up as the company secretly burned to the ground) and the pre-sequel being good, but mired in some pre gamergate controversy since it had a few gay and other nonstandard characters that people naturally fought back against (because creative freedom you see) as well as that whole thing with that one writer dude


The trailer itself wasn't too impressive at first glance either, since it was a developer announcement trailer more concerned with telling you a new game was coming out than selling itself.

But honestly I liked it. The new landscapes and playable areas look great and varied. And they seem to have brought literally everyone back for the final so it should be packed full of good characters.
I don't remember much controversy from that either, but then again, I tried staying away from the gamergate/anti-gamergate bullshit as much as possible. Staying away being the operative words. If certain fans or non-fans alike are still hung up about it; all I have to say is y'all are bitches.
 

Silent Protagonist

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undeadsuitor said:
Silent Protagonist said:
The other major characters that are gay don't have this problem so I'm not sure what made the writers short circuit on her.
The other major characters who are gay have only one or two lines relating to their sexualities is why. Even Athena, Springs eventual wife, has hers only come up when Springs is involved. Cause of the wife thing. Claiming that gay characters are only done "right" when they don't mention it at all isn't exactly a new thing on the internet.

I also never claimed whether Spring's treatment of other women was acceptable or not. Hell, like I said there's plenty of examples of male characters drooling over female characters in the series. And when it comes to specifically Springs, the characters in their interactions with her barely tolerate her during the first few missions that make up every detractors knowledge of her personality (ever wondered why everyone brings up the dead girlfriend and childrens books from her literal first missions but no one mentions.....everything else?)
The reason no one mentions anything else is because there isn't anything else. She starts off having a lot of potentially fun personality and plot hooks but none of them are ever used again and instead she just becomes a stock drooling over every women they encounter character. She doesn't even pop up a lot for the rest of the story. Contrast her against Hammerlock. His missions frequently mention, involve, or are even centered on an ex-boyfriend or two. He is very much a gay man and the game isn't exactly subtle about that fact. Yet that isn't the only thing he is characterized by. He has his whole gentleman hunter thing going, the toll hunting such dangerous creatures has taken on him with his extensive cybernetic prostheses, and even just the way he interacts with Claptrap. I'm not saying LGBT characters need to hidden for them to be good. I just think there is a better middle ground between confirmed gay in a tweet and using the exact phrase "I'm not in to guys" something like 14 times in 45 minutes of gameplay. Honestly go back and play the first section of the game. Make a drinking game out of it. Don't count any of the times she mentions or alludes to being gay in any other way, just the exact phrase "I'm not into guys". Insert futurama meme of the robot-devil saying "You just can't have your characters announce how they feel. That makes me feel angry".
 

Neurotic Void Melody

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haven't watched it yet, and I still agree with them. that's just down to taste though. and distaste for gearbox as a whole

am not bitter about Tales from the Borderlands' one-off brilliance falling to obscurity and off-hand references, not at all, no siree! not. at. all.
 

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Silent Protagonist said:
When compared to the marketing material for the previous entries in the series, this trailer is definitely very lacking. It just doesn't have the punch or fun that other trailers have had and just doesn't represent the character of the series. Everything just seems very generic and muted. The only things it showed us the were new were walking gun and that it will take place on multiple planets(though even that probably won't be functionally any different than the different sections/levels on a single planet). It seems like they should have come out of the gate a little harder with the first trailer.
What makes the Borderlands 3 trailer more safe and ''generic'' than this Borderlands 2 trailer?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kKVf5feSMEg

The only fun thing this trailer had was Claptrap dancing at the end. Feels to me like people expected something completely different from Borderlands 2 but at the same time the exact same things from Borderlands 2. Doesn't make much sense to me.
 

Samtemdo8_v1legacy

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Never really cared for the Borderlands franchise.

Too grindy for my tastes. Never make First Person Shooters Grindy and numbers dependent please.
 

Saelune

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Trailers are bad anyways. Borderlands 3 is coming out, that's all I need to know. If you're not excited, you either never played BL1 or 2, or you didn't like them, in which case, BL3 isn't for you.

If you haven't played the first 2, go play them. If you have and didn't like them, then you're not going to like the 3rd, nor should you.
 

B-Cell_v1legacy

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BabyfartsMcgeezaks said:
Silent Protagonist said:
When compared to the marketing material for the previous entries in the series, this trailer is definitely very lacking. It just doesn't have the punch or fun that other trailers have had and just doesn't represent the character of the series. Everything just seems very generic and muted. The only things it showed us the were new were walking gun and that it will take place on multiple planets(though even that probably won't be functionally any different than the different sections/levels on a single planet). It seems like they should have come out of the gate a little harder with the first trailer.
What makes the Borderlands 3 trailer more safe and ''generic'' than this Borderlands 2 trailer?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kKVf5feSMEg

The only fun thing this trailer had was Claptrap dancing at the end. Feels to me like people expected something completely different from Borderlands 2 but at the same time the exact same things from Borderlands 2. Doesn't make much sense to me.
2 wrong didnot make one right. borderlands 3 looks boring like borderlands 2 was.

I just cant believe people spent 50 hours into borderlands when i couldnot spent half hour without getting bored.
 
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Adam Jensen said:
It looks like Borderlands to me. All I care about.
This. Just this.

As long as there's no egregious microtransactions or loot box bullshit, I'm going to be on Pandora (and those other worlds) day 1 making friends with a billion weapons that shoot corrosive/lightning/fire at stuff.

God I missed this series.

B-Cell said:
I just cant believe people spent 50 hours into borderlands when i couldnot spent half hour without getting bored.
People have different tastes in shooters.

I happen to absolutely love slowly making a build that does awesome stuff, and trying to cleverly utilize my Class Ability to radically shift the tide of battle.

The completely bonkers guns, fun aesthetic, endless search for fun new loot, as well as the frantic mayhem of being ambushed by a flood of enemies plus 2-3 Badass level threats just captivates me like few shooters have.

It's not quite "nonstop action barrage" like Doom, but it hits a different kind of need for me.
 

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B-Cell said:
2 wrong didnot make one right. borderlands 3 looks boring like borderlands 2 was.

I just cant believe people spent 50 hours into borderlands when i couldnot spent half hour without getting bored.
Yes, yes, you've made it quite clear that you don't like Borderlands, in multiple threads. Now, are you going to keep parroting those same thoughts or actually contribute something to the discussion?

OT: I don't think it necessarily looks boring, just unremarkable. I feel like it didn't really show us anything we haven't seen before. Yay for more cel-shaded Mad Max stylings, scrapyards, the same vehicles, bandits in masks etc. I just don't feel like the trailer showed us anything it could have, considering the note the series previously left. I mean, we've seen everything Pandora's got to offer at this point. The ending of BL2 clearly implied the next adventure would take place on other worlds, but there's only a glimpse of that in the trailer with the neon-lit megacity.

But again, it's just the first trailer, and this is the exact reason I don't watch trailers for anything anymore. I'll wait and see.
 

Specter Von Baren

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My only real problem is that the characters look more like Borderlands 1's. What drew me to Borderlands 2 was the more interesting and unique character designs. On the other hand, the environments look to be WAY more varied than the previous two games.
 

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B-Cell said:
BabyfartsMcgeezaks said:
Silent Protagonist said:
When compared to the marketing material for the previous entries in the series, this trailer is definitely very lacking. It just doesn't have the punch or fun that other trailers have had and just doesn't represent the character of the series. Everything just seems very generic and muted. The only things it showed us the were new were walking gun and that it will take place on multiple planets(though even that probably won't be functionally any different than the different sections/levels on a single planet). It seems like they should have come out of the gate a little harder with the first trailer.
What makes the Borderlands 3 trailer more safe and ''generic'' than this Borderlands 2 trailer?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kKVf5feSMEg

The only fun thing this trailer had was Claptrap dancing at the end. Feels to me like people expected something completely different from Borderlands 2 but at the same time the exact same things from Borderlands 2. Doesn't make much sense to me.
2 wrong didnot make one right. borderlands 3 looks boring like borderlands 2 was.

I just cant believe people spent 50 hours into borderlands when i couldnot spent half hour without getting bored.
No one cars what you think, bcell.