Borderlands Pre-Sequel: Story Gets a 1 out of 5

[LarsInCharge]

The problem with prequels, and things of that nature, is that continuity is probably going to get sacrificed somewhere along the way, unless you planned it out from the beginning (which Borderlands didn't). And while I love playing the game (taking a break at the moment), the story is not just the weakest in BL history, but one of the worst in video games over the last couple years.

The reason: a MASSIVE gaping plot hole nebula opened firstly by the invasion by Dahl against the Hyperion station. They took over the systems, and locked Jack out, so you have to escape at the start of the game.

Okay. Doesn't Jack have someone for this exact purpose? Someone with permanent access to the Hyperion mainframe, and whose siren powers allow them to control any tech she is connected to? Someone Jack has a paternal bond with?

ANGEL.

Okay, maybe she's not with Jack yet. Nope, she's been with Jack since his wife died (as told in Borderlands 2)

Okay, maybe she isn't hooked up to the chair yet. Wrong again, she's later using her powers to look up THE VERY FOUR CHARACTERS YOU PLAY IN THIS GAME.

The point above hits another hard spot. The game is supposed to be Jack turning from a well-intentioned guy with a douchey personality to the dictator from BL2. Yet arguably his most psychotic moment was strapping Angel into that chair, and since she is using that in this game... his most evil moment already happened.

This isn't including the presence of Lilith and Roland, who don't seem to recall being in the story that ATHENA IS TELLING LILITH AS THE FRAMEWORK FOR THE GAME.

The story entirely blows everything established out of an airlock for plot convenience, and it shows.

Am I wrong? Did I misinterpret something? Different theory?

 

[GloatingSwine]

Man, trying to shoehorn "story" elements into Blands 2 was one of the worst things about it.

Blands was fun when it was you wandering around Pandora doing odd jobs for random psychopaths and the story was an excuse for why you wanted to kill things for loot.

Trying to drama it up in blands 2 led to some of its more annoying parts like when your mission hub just buggers off without you, to a dearth of sidequests (starting the feud for Ellie was the only really fun chain) and probably the way the levelling process dragged out, really bad when all the levels just give you passives and aren't very interesting (the other was the screwy drop rate, probably to make you chase gold keys, but it felt like worthwhile gun drops were too few and far between).

If what you criticise in blands is the story, then it should only be in the context that everything else is great and then you don't need a story.

"story" made blands 2 worse than blands.

 

[momijirabbit]

Wow.
A single plot hole ruins the entire games story.

No, it doesn't.
Borderlands 2 was a minefield of Plot holes and I still love the story of it.
The Pre-sequel has some but they don't completely kill the game like you seem to be saying.

"story" made blands 2 worse than blands.

Also Borderlands 1 was awful.
Really bad.
Like "Worst game I have ever played" levels of bad.

 

[SSJBlastoise]

Yeah, nah. I enjoyed the story and I really can't see how you think it's worse than Borderlands 1 which basically consisted of "there's a vault, go find it".

Potential spoilers for the pre sequel and 2 below

Also, I have an issue with some of your plot holes. Didn't Angel only get really powerful after being pumped with eridium which seems like it occurs in between the pre sequel and 2? During the first she could only really open doors from what I recall so she wouldn't really be all that helpful if someone had complete control over Helios like Zarpedon. Also, Zarpedon having that Eridian guardian would sure as hell help stop a lot of attempts at stopping her.

Also, Jack had access to Angel because she is his daughter and finding info on the vault hunters wouldn't necessarily require special powers. In the 1 and 2 people other than sirens managed to get info about the vault hunters without much trouble. I'm not sure why you'd think she'd need to be strapped to Jack's device to do this. Angel would have done this for Jack because she would have trusted her father not because he forced her. He only became insane at the end of the pre sequel.

I'll admit Lilith and Roland appearing on Elpis is a bit wierd but at it started off alright because they wanted to know why the new vault hunters joined Jack and trusted him and what happened when they weren't there. Would have made more sense if it was just Moxxi scheming to kill Jack and Roland and Lilith weren't on Elpis at all.

 

[LarsInCharge]

Wow.
A single plot hole ruins the entire games story.

No, it doesn't.
Borderlands 2 was a minefield of Plot holes and I still love the story of it.
The Pre-sequel has some but they don't completely kill the game like you seem to be saying.

"story" made blands 2 worse than blands.

Also Borderlands 1 was awful.
Really bad.
Like "Worst game I have ever played" levels of bad.

With all the massive holes, it makes me not care about world building like BL2 did. It contradicts all of the lore it already established, so what's the point?

Yeah, nah. I enjoyed the story and I really can't see how you think it's worse than Borderlands 1 which basically consisted of "there's a vault, go find it".

Potential spoilers for the pre sequel and 2 below

Also, I have an issue with some of your plot holes. Didn't Angel only get really powerful after being pumped with eridium which seems like it occurs in between the pre sequel and 2? During the first she could only really open doors from what I recall so she wouldn't really be all that helpful if someone had complete control over Helios like Zarpedon. Also, Zarpedon having that Eridian guardian would sure as hell help stop a lot of attempts at stopping her.

Also, Jack had access to Angel because she is his daughter and finding info on the vault hunters wouldn't necessarily require special powers. In the 1 and 2 people other than sirens managed to get info about the vault hunters without much trouble. I'm not sure why you'd think she'd need to be strapped to Jack's device to do this. Angel would have done this for Jack because she would have trusted her father not because he forced her. He only became insane at the end of the pre sequel.

I'll admit Lilith and Roland appearing on Elpis is a bit wierd but at it started off alright because they wanted to know why the new vault hunters joined Jack and trusted him and what happened when they weren't there. Would have made more sense if it was just Moxxi scheming to kill Jack and Roland and Lilith weren't on Elpis at all.

Angel became MORE powerful after eridium exposure (and eridium showed up right after the Destroyer was killed), but her powers have always been that "Phase Shift" allows her to control any and all machines that she is connected to (how she hijacks the loaders and the catch-a-ride in BL2). Considering she was only 10 when Jack strapped her to the machine, and this is post BL1 (when she was an adult).

 

[SSJBlastoise]

Angel became MORE powerful after eridium exposure (and eridium showed up right after the Destroyer was killed), but her powers have always been that "Phase Shift" allows her to control any and all machines that she is connected to (how she hijacks the loaders and the catch-a-ride in BL2). Considering she was only 10 when Jack strapped her to the machine, and this is post BL1 (when she was an adult).

You'll have to forgive me but can you tell me where in Borderlands 2 it mentions she has been strapped to the device since being 10? It may have been in an ECHO that I missed. Even then, she only did small things in 1 and it was only in 2 where she used her powers for bigger things.

You've also got to remember there is that Eridian guardian that appeared at the end of the pre sequel (obviously a part of one of the DLCs). He seemed to want to protect Jack from getting to the vault and considering he looks quite powerful I doubt it would be hard for him to stop a siren from hacking into the station.

If anything I think the guardian raises the biggest question; why the hell was he not present at the vault to prevent Jack from opening it. He clearly didn't want it opened and at the end even acknowledges that they will need to be prepared for Jack so why didn't he try doing more to stop him.

 

[LarsInCharge]

Angel became MORE powerful after eridium exposure (and eridium showed up right after the Destroyer was killed), but her powers have always been that "Phase Shift" allows her to control any and all machines that she is connected to (how she hijacks the loaders and the catch-a-ride in BL2). Considering she was only 10 when Jack strapped her to the machine, and this is post BL1 (when she was an adult).

You'll have to forgive me but can you tell me where in Borderlands 2 it mentions she has been strapped to the device since being 10? It may have been in an ECHO that I missed. Even then, she only did small things in 1 and it was only in 2 where she used her powers for bigger things.

You've also got to remember there is that Eridian guardian that appeared at the end of the pre sequel (obviously a part of one of the DLCs). He seemed to want to protect Jack from getting to the vault and considering he looks quite powerful I doubt it would be hard for him to stop a siren from hacking into the station.

If anything I think the guardian raises the biggest question; why the hell was he not present at the vault to prevent Jack from opening it. He clearly didn't want it opened and at the end even acknowledges that they will need to be prepared for Jack so why didn't he try doing more to stop him.

One of the ECHOs in the Arid Flats during the quest you get to learn Jack's history. In the third ECHO for the quest, you can hear a clearly child Angel crying not to be put in the chair while Jack forces her into it. If it jogs your memory, number 5 on that quest is where he strangles Mr. Tassiter.

The guardian is just a mess as well, again likely setting up a DLC later which seems stupid.

 

[SSJBlastoise]

One of the ECHOs in the Arid Flats during the quest you get to learn Jack's history. In the third ECHO for the quest, you can hear a clearly child Angel crying not to be put in the chair while Jack forces her into it. If it jogs your memory, number 5 on that quest is where he strangles Mr. Tassiter.

The guardian is just a mess as well, again likely setting up a DLC later which seems stupid.

Fair enough then, I stand corrected. They didn't really help themselves though by making it try to fit in between 1 and 2. I still don't agree with the story being horrible though, I felt it was pretty solid but things like these obviously differ between people.

 

[Netrigan]

I know there's an Angel audio cameo in TPS. Mostly just a "yeah, this is in there somewhere" kind of thing. Exactly how. Who knows, but it would be easy enough to throw in some techno-babble to explain how Jack got cut off from her during these events.

Anyway, my take on it is cemented by Moxxi's reaction late in the game. Jack is a villain. Jack has always been a villain. He's just really good at justifying his behavior to himself and is always trying to make himself out to be the hero. TPS just sees him before he gets a taste for killing and gives him a semi-heroic task. This is even reflected in his choice of Vault Hunters as he picks two completely amoral killers, one robot completely under his control, with Athena being the only honorable one of the bunch.

 

[Denamic]

This is even reflected in his choice of Vault Hunters as he picks two completely amoral killers, one robot completely under his control, with Athena being the only honorable one of the bunch.

Athena's loyal to her duty, but honorable? Eeeeh... That's really pushing it. She has a semblance of morals, but let's not forget she has no problem going on an almost genocidal killing spree if her contract demands it.

 

[Kopikatsu]

This is even reflected in his choice of Vault Hunters as he picks two completely amoral killers, one robot completely under his control, with Athena being the only honorable one of the bunch.

Athena's loyal to her duty, but honorable? Eeeeh... That's really pushing it. She has a semblance of morals, but let's not forget she has no problem going on an almost genocidal killing spree if her contract demands it.

Occasionally she'll burst into rather insane sounding laughter as one of her 'kill quotes' too.

But that's part of the framework of Borderlands, isn't it? That literally everybody is a psychopath.

 

[Netrigan]

This is even reflected in his choice of Vault Hunters as he picks two completely amoral killers, one robot completely under his control, with Athena being the only honorable one of the bunch.

Athena's loyal to her duty, but honorable? Eeeeh... That's really pushing it. She has a semblance of morals, but let's not forget she has no problem going on an almost genocidal killing spree if her contract demands it.

Honor really doesn't have anything to do with morals. It's more about having a code. That there are lines you do not cross.

Regardless, the point still stands. These are the people Handsome Jack chose. That says something about who he is and that something isn't nice. They're all people he thinks he can control and they're all completely ruthless. Athena is the one person he misjudged to a degree in that she's loyal to the mission, not the person giving it. She was never Handsome Jack's creature.

 

[Denamic]

Honor really doesn't have anything to do with morals. It's more about having a code. That there are lines you do not cross.

Well, that's just it. There are no lines she won't cross as long as her duty demands it. She'll do the most dishonorable things to fulfill her duty.

 

[Netrigan]

Honor really doesn't have anything to do with morals. It's more about having a code. That there are lines you do not cross.

Well, that's just it. There are no lines she won't cross as long as her duty demands it. She'll do the most dishonorable things to fulfill her duty.

Dishonorable by your standard. To her, she's not crossing any lines. To her, she's always within her Code of Conduct.

If you ever read Judge Dredd, Dredd is a completely honorable man. So honorable, he'd stop at nothing for the honor of The Law, including nuking another city. At one level, he's kind of noble, but on another, he's worse than everything he faces.

 

[Lightknight]

Ok, so because of a plot hole the game is the worst game ever for you?

Let me tell you a fun little story. I actually fucking bought E.T. on the Atari. Even back then when all games were vague large pixeled shapes it was particularly insane to just try and figure out how to play the game at all. I have absolutely no sympathy towards feelings that a single plot-hole makes a modern game somehow the worst thing ever. Not even close. (I'm just glad I didn't buy it until '89 where it was thrown into a pack of atari games)

If you absolutely must have a plausible explanation:

Consider this, that however DAHL got in and locked Jack out of the system was also a time that they locked Angel from having control of it too. She clearly isn't all powerful.

 

[Skratt]

The Borderlands franchise has always been, to put it mildly, light on story. Questions of why am I here, what is the mystery and why should I care, are all pretty much shoehorned into the game as an afterthought.

I'm not saying your are incorrect, but there are many other better story driven games to play than borderlands. I'm pretty sure the point of borderlands is shoot everything. If the story was something you could see on the screen, they'd probably have you fire some rockets at that too.

 

[Rayce Archer]

Obviously there's stuff Jack is holding back from the Vault Hunters in TPS. For instance, remember he had Angel trick the original vault hunters into opening the vault of the destroyer for him- this is born out in TPS since he has the eye of the destroyer, and is already conducting slag research (presumably the big purple blotch on Pandora is the Eridium Blight, pre-refinery construction. I don't think, just because Jack isn't full-on murderous at the start of TPS, we should consider him actually a good guy. He's still a calculating, greedy bastard, and I think his shift to full-on psycho is less a progressive transition and more revealing what was already there. Moxxie and the vault hunters making a preemptive strike just confirms what he already alludes to in the game: that he thinks Pandora is a shithole full of awful scum who all deserve a good lasering. He as much as says that's why he built the damn thing, so presumably he would have invaded Pandora with Athena and company had a robot army not come his way- hell, Nisha and Wilhelm DID help him.

 

[kilenem]

Well my best defense would be Borderlands 2 starts off with a Plot hole and adds more over time. Jack waste a train every time a vault hunter comes to Pandora. Why was Willham so week even though he kicked the original vault hunters butt. That is explained latter but not in the game. How did Jack or Roland die sense they would have access to the new you station.

Also Blands 1 has a small plot hole where a clap trap unit goes up stairs.

The game isn't made to be taken that serious.

 

[DoPo]

Why was Willham so week even though he kicked the original vault hunters butt. That is explained latter but not in the game.

Umm, it is explained in game. Pretty much immediately after the boss fight.

Spoiler

JACK TRICKED YOU! How did you not notice that? It is spelled out incredibly obviously...I'm pretty sure it was also directly stated, too, but even if it wasn't, it was never a "plot hole" of any sort, let's analyse:

Jack keeps mocking you and taunting you about having a "secret plan" from pretty much the very beginning of the game. When you finally get sent to get rob the train, youmeet and fight Wilhelm, to the mixed cheer and dismay of the others. And you get his power cell as Angel suggests. Only when you get to the town and plug it in, Jack has Angel take over all defences and lower all shields. He directly tells you this was his entire plan from the beginning - the one he has been taunting you with for all this time.

How is it not clear that you beating Wilhelm a set up by Jack? If you hadn't plugged that part, Angel wouldn't have been able to phase shift into controlling Sancuary. If you died you can't really get Wilhelm's cell to Sanctuary, now can you? And by getting it from him, you are MORE likely to just blindly stick it in there.

Jack has repeatedly shown he is resourceful, smart and lays long term plans and doesn't shy away from sacrificing some resources if he's going to get a bigger benefit out of it.

There is definitely nothing strange, uncharacteristic, or requiring extra explanation in-game there. I don't know how you manage to miss it.

 

[Netrigan]

The Borderlands franchise has always been, to put it mildly, light on story. Questions of why am I here, what is the mystery and why should I care, are all pretty much shoehorned into the game as an afterthought.

It's designed to be a co-op game and I think they hit a sweet spot of just enough story to give me a reason to care... and not so much story that I get bored with the cutscenes on my 18th playthrough.