Zero Punctuation: Borderlands 2
- Thread starter Yahtzee Croshaw
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I never had any issues with the end boss of the first other than running out of ammo. So I am wondering how they'll manage that. Haven't got to the endboss of BL2 yet, but I'm pretty sure I know what it is.lancar said:Overall, I like Borderlands 2At the very least, it's something to pass the time with until XCOM:EU comes out.
Somehow, they made the endboss even easier than in BL1, though. Not sure how they managed that.
I'm actually surprised he didn't like the story this time around...I thought it was pretty good.
*SPOILERS*
And while I'm sure this has already been mentioned by somebody, Wilhelm (the giant robot he mentioned) was purposefully easy in the story because Jack WANTED you to take the power core so he could lower Sanctuary's shields.
*SPOILERS*
And while I'm sure this has already been mentioned by somebody, Wilhelm (the giant robot he mentioned) was purposefully easy in the story because Jack WANTED you to take the power core so he could lower Sanctuary's shields.
Your aim in both the games depends on the gun you use. When they say a massive variety of guns they mean it. Each gun manufacturer in the game has its own strengths or weaknesses that you have to figure out. For example, in the first game if you want to run in and spray bullets everywhere you go with a vladof because of their high rate of fire, but if you want to stay back and get headshots you pick a jakobs or a hyperion for their good accuracy and damage. If you try to snipe with a vladof you'll miss a lot because those guns have horrible accuracy.Icehearted said:
Yeah you can get some skills to make that vladof gun more accurate, but in the end you'll still be missing a lot because that gun has inherently bad accuracy.
Also i have never ever grinded in either of the games and i managed to do finish everything without much trouble. Any stat other than gun stats aren't that important.
Borderlands is the definition of style over substance. Beneath all the colourful characters and pretty visuals lies a shallow, manipulative item grind, boring and repetitive fetch quests copy-pasted a thousand times over, and one of the least interesting character progression systems ever. It's not like anything about the game is especially bad, or not functional, but rather it's about as superficial and unengaging as possible. Played five minutes of Borderlands, you've played the whole game.
Oh wait, there are a few things that suck. Lack of active skills to use, level-scaled damage, poor shooting mechanics and really wonky hitboxes. So there we go.
Oh wait, there are a few things that suck. Lack of active skills to use, level-scaled damage, poor shooting mechanics and really wonky hitboxes. So there we go.
Yep, exactly the same impression I got from TB's video and bits and piece of uncut footage. Seems like a polished skinner box at best.
Surprised he didn't rage at the cars more.
Easily the worst thing I've come across so far is a timed mission where driving is required, it was absolutely dreadful since the car handles like complete and total ass. I'd say it's gotten worse, it feels worse to me, but that's probably just faulty memory. Either way, hit a slight bump in the road in you do a complete 180. I cannot believe that didn't get fixed, or made less shit at least, it's been left practically untouched.
Yeah, my major problem with the game so far is that it's just too iterative, like, so utterly safe. The envelope just hasn't been pushed even a remote amount, like everything this game does better it does one thing worse, badass ranks are good, terrible timed missions where using the shitty car handling is required, absolutely abhorrent.
Easily the worst thing I've come across so far is a timed mission where driving is required, it was absolutely dreadful since the car handles like complete and total ass. I'd say it's gotten worse, it feels worse to me, but that's probably just faulty memory. Either way, hit a slight bump in the road in you do a complete 180. I cannot believe that didn't get fixed, or made less shit at least, it's been left practically untouched.
Yeah, my major problem with the game so far is that it's just too iterative, like, so utterly safe. The envelope just hasn't been pushed even a remote amount, like everything this game does better it does one thing worse, badass ranks are good, terrible timed missions where using the shitty car handling is required, absolutely abhorrent.
I think it's a legimate point. Not everybody has people to play with that you can trust.PsychedelicDiamond said:
Sure, I can play with some randoms, but then they may accept a quest or something when i'm waiting till the end of the game so the reward will be max level.
Anyways, it seems yahtzee didn't realize ammo and money is picked up by walking over it now.
Never liked the approach or feel of either, must agree that it's one of those terrible "meh" games. Not bad enough to hate, not good enough to like, just plain boring mediocrity
Neither did I. That's why I'm surprised they managed to make this one even easier.Assassin Xaero said:I never had any issues with the end boss of the first other than running out of ammo. So I am wondering how they'll manage that. Haven't got to the endboss of BL2 yet, but I'm pretty sure I know what it is.lancar said:Overall, I like Borderlands 2
Somehow, they made the endboss even easier than in BL1, though. Not sure how they managed that.
Seriously.LifeMakesMeLOL said:
Really the complaint should have been how blindingly obvious the trap was. Yeah - let's take this power-core from the badguy's pet robot and stick it the thing that allows our city to not be obliterated. I'm sure there's no way that could backfire on us ....
If you find the driving to be an issue it means you're playing on a console, because steering with your mouse is hands-down the best driving ever introduced in-game. They got it right in BL and only improved upon it here, the driving is perfect and could easily stand on it's own for another DLC ala Knoxx.
As far as the rest of it - this game is as close to a perfect game (particularly gameplay hours per $) as we've seen for some time...since 2009 if I'm not mistaken.
That this sell-out hipster hates it is all the proof you should need to know it's worth playing...then playing some more.
I used to find this sort of thing cute, but half-clever contrarians are a dime-a-dozen these days, and if I wanted to hear this "it sucks...because it's popular" drivel I'll just walk down to my local coffeehouse.
The game has a few flaws (mostly in weapon functionality - they look amazing, but a few are almost useless. Good thing there's a thousand more to choose from nearby) but the gameplay, writing, combat, everything is mostly solid.
If you dislike this game...well, you may just not know games as well as you could.
As far as the rest of it - this game is as close to a perfect game (particularly gameplay hours per $) as we've seen for some time...since 2009 if I'm not mistaken.
That this sell-out hipster hates it is all the proof you should need to know it's worth playing...then playing some more.
I used to find this sort of thing cute, but half-clever contrarians are a dime-a-dozen these days, and if I wanted to hear this "it sucks...because it's popular" drivel I'll just walk down to my local coffeehouse.
The game has a few flaws (mostly in weapon functionality - they look amazing, but a few are almost useless. Good thing there's a thousand more to choose from nearby) but the gameplay, writing, combat, everything is mostly solid.
If you dislike this game...well, you may just not know games as well as you could.
I didn't really think this was a review, it was just Yahtzee bitching about everything. Well he is which is own, or however that saying goes. But seriously Yahtzee, this game was good it was funny, it was amazing, and it was a complete overhaul of the original. I feel as if he didn't even go past getting to Sanctuary till he dropped the game and decided to write this review. Come on Yahtzee, you need redo this because you had some sort of hatred to the first.
Well, whatever, worst review by Yahtzee ever.
Well, whatever, worst review by Yahtzee ever.
Yahtzee, I have to give you props. For the first time since the e3 round up episode, I laughed. Board...erlands.......
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..... 2
lol. More of this please. Those over-the-top metaphors you make aren't nearly as funny as just good old-fashioned comic timing.
.,....
..... 2
lol. More of this please. Those over-the-top metaphors you make aren't nearly as funny as just good old-fashioned comic timing.
I liked the original Borderlands. It was average.
Yahtzee blames the game for something which is his own fault: backtracking. If he wasn't a n00b, he could remember what quests were in an area and complete them all. The fact he does check where quests are and just follows wherever the nav marker points him tells us he hasn't even touched the UI. The GUI is fine in Borderlands, yahtzee's just showing his laziness/fogeyness.
The problem I've had with all of these Loot! style games from Diablo to Amalur and all those in-between is it becomes pure grind. Combat, even at the highest levels of difficulty, is easy enough to handle and lacks in variety enough that you scarcely have to think: the same build, abilities, and tactics are optimum for nearly the whole game. After running through combat on auto-pilot you're punished with the chore of having to sort through your inevitably overloaded inventory, selling all the crap, and swapping out the rare 1 or 2 things that're better than what you already have.
These games need to require the player use different tactics in different engagements. Having many ways to kill enemies is less impactful if they all work nearly every fight. In Borderlands for ex, you may have one of your mapped guns emphasize acid to counter high-armor enemies. Switching guns does not change gameplay: you're still aiming and shooting as before. To make it more dramatic they could make enemies immune to certain types of damage like AD&D foes requiring magic weapons or (counter-intuitively) normal weapons to kill them. Remember in BG2 when a group of spellcasters would require you utilize spells which disrupted casting to defeat them? Even the ME series having certain health-bars (like shields) immune to certain abilities may require you go through a specific sequence of abilities each fight (energy drain, singularity, warp) if you're not 1hk sniping everyone as an inflitrator which requires atleast some decision making in matching the bar colors to your ability type.
Without much variety in combat all these games offer to keep playing is new items. My friends who are self-professed "loot whores" play WoW to satiate that fix. I hate endless nit-picky inventory management, item collection, selling&buying. It makes me dread continued play b/c rather than having some quest end-state specific to my choices, like in Alpha Protocol, to look forward to I have chores as a quest reward.
Yahtzee blames the game for something which is his own fault: backtracking. If he wasn't a n00b, he could remember what quests were in an area and complete them all. The fact he does check where quests are and just follows wherever the nav marker points him tells us he hasn't even touched the UI. The GUI is fine in Borderlands, yahtzee's just showing his laziness/fogeyness.
The problem I've had with all of these Loot! style games from Diablo to Amalur and all those in-between is it becomes pure grind. Combat, even at the highest levels of difficulty, is easy enough to handle and lacks in variety enough that you scarcely have to think: the same build, abilities, and tactics are optimum for nearly the whole game. After running through combat on auto-pilot you're punished with the chore of having to sort through your inevitably overloaded inventory, selling all the crap, and swapping out the rare 1 or 2 things that're better than what you already have.
These games need to require the player use different tactics in different engagements. Having many ways to kill enemies is less impactful if they all work nearly every fight. In Borderlands for ex, you may have one of your mapped guns emphasize acid to counter high-armor enemies. Switching guns does not change gameplay: you're still aiming and shooting as before. To make it more dramatic they could make enemies immune to certain types of damage like AD&D foes requiring magic weapons or (counter-intuitively) normal weapons to kill them. Remember in BG2 when a group of spellcasters would require you utilize spells which disrupted casting to defeat them? Even the ME series having certain health-bars (like shields) immune to certain abilities may require you go through a specific sequence of abilities each fight (energy drain, singularity, warp) if you're not 1hk sniping everyone as an inflitrator which requires atleast some decision making in matching the bar colors to your ability type.
Without much variety in combat all these games offer to keep playing is new items. My friends who are self-professed "loot whores" play WoW to satiate that fix. I hate endless nit-picky inventory management, item collection, selling&buying. It makes me dread continued play b/c rather than having some quest end-state specific to my choices, like in Alpha Protocol, to look forward to I have chores as a quest reward.
I really liked the first Borderlands (played 100 hours; not nearly as crazy about it as some, but still), but then I played it in August and was bored stupid by it. I was confused, such a sharp change in opinion doesn't usually just happen to me out of nowhere. It's not like I've been playing many shooters or ARPGs lately to tire me out on the genre. I was worried but still kept my pre-order for Borderlands 2.
So far, it's been disappointing. I was expecting more significant changes, I guess. But that's what I get for ignoring the pre-launch gameplay and skill trees. While I recognized there was very little change from pre-release materials, I still plugged my fingers into my ears, closed my eyes and pretended it was going to be great.
Ranting, based on limited playtime, ahoy: The skill trees are only slightly less boring than they were in the original. The (4 main) characters are as lifeless as the original squad. Why is there only one active skill? We're not brain-dead. Couldn't you have added a toggle button, or a modifier button/key to use maybe 3 or so different abilities? Multiple abilities would be hard to balance? Who cares if they're balanced? The first game wasn't balanced and it was still fun. At least the art assets are awesome, and the few environments I've seen so far are cool. The dialogue is great--I <3 Anthony Burch's stuff. The loot is a bit better in the beginning. The gunplay feels a bit better in general. You still walk really slowly, but at least they seem to have made sprint quicker. Borderlands limited combat system once again demonstrates it's not versatile enough to have interesting boss fights. Boss fights need to be all about the spectacle in this game, because mechanically they're grey dish water. I mean, you can only 1) jump out of the way, 2) sprint out of the way (while losing sight of the boss and not being able to fire :/), 3) damage the boss. Mechanically, there's not much room for any tactics beyond: hope your health and shields last while you shoot them, don't stand in the fire, attempt to dodge the thing that's 8x faster than you, ration out weak minions to second wind yourself, I guess Zer0 can dodge with his ability. And all that was in the first game.
I've played four hours, and have since then been ignoring it. On a somewhat related note, I tried the demo for Torchlight 2 and was impressed with it (played the demo for 6 hours in a day xD). So, I picked that up. 15 hours in and I'm starting to glimpse the end of my interest. Maybe I'll reach 50 hours on this one, eventually. Torchlight the original became boring as a sponge after a collective 30 hours, but I'm sure the sequel will last a bit longer.
I've been buying a lot of games new this year--I still look for deals, like getting new releases for $35 on GreenManGaming)--and I've been not very enthused with any of them except Sleeping Dogs. Maybe I've died inside; I should check on that.
So far, it's been disappointing. I was expecting more significant changes, I guess. But that's what I get for ignoring the pre-launch gameplay and skill trees. While I recognized there was very little change from pre-release materials, I still plugged my fingers into my ears, closed my eyes and pretended it was going to be great.
Ranting, based on limited playtime, ahoy: The skill trees are only slightly less boring than they were in the original. The (4 main) characters are as lifeless as the original squad. Why is there only one active skill? We're not brain-dead. Couldn't you have added a toggle button, or a modifier button/key to use maybe 3 or so different abilities? Multiple abilities would be hard to balance? Who cares if they're balanced? The first game wasn't balanced and it was still fun. At least the art assets are awesome, and the few environments I've seen so far are cool. The dialogue is great--I <3 Anthony Burch's stuff. The loot is a bit better in the beginning. The gunplay feels a bit better in general. You still walk really slowly, but at least they seem to have made sprint quicker. Borderlands limited combat system once again demonstrates it's not versatile enough to have interesting boss fights. Boss fights need to be all about the spectacle in this game, because mechanically they're grey dish water. I mean, you can only 1) jump out of the way, 2) sprint out of the way (while losing sight of the boss and not being able to fire :/), 3) damage the boss. Mechanically, there's not much room for any tactics beyond: hope your health and shields last while you shoot them, don't stand in the fire, attempt to dodge the thing that's 8x faster than you, ration out weak minions to second wind yourself, I guess Zer0 can dodge with his ability. And all that was in the first game.
I've played four hours, and have since then been ignoring it. On a somewhat related note, I tried the demo for Torchlight 2 and was impressed with it (played the demo for 6 hours in a day xD). So, I picked that up. 15 hours in and I'm starting to glimpse the end of my interest. Maybe I'll reach 50 hours on this one, eventually. Torchlight the original became boring as a sponge after a collective 30 hours, but I'm sure the sequel will last a bit longer.
I've been buying a lot of games new this year--I still look for deals, like getting new releases for $35 on GreenManGaming)--and I've been not very enthused with any of them except Sleeping Dogs. Maybe I've died inside; I should check on that.
I'm not really surprised he didn't like it, but I definitely enjoyed watching and some of his complaints are very valid. Like the interface. I know they said they were going to improve it, but I think I actually would have preferred the old interface over the new one. Except for the mini map, that is definitely handy.
It is very much the first with more. In both in bad and good departments. The first was kind of boring and tough on a solo run. The second I feel managed to improve on some of the boring aspects, but there were also some points that were just sadistically brutal. Not the "Oh this just got challenging" bits that they were meant to be, nor the "If I don't plan this perfect I'll die" that some games which capitalize on difficulty do, but more of a plain outright "This can't really be done solo" sort of difficulty.
The vehicles probably handle bad, but for some strange reason I've always preferred games with awful vehicle handling. No clue why, I've just noticed the games where I liked the vehicles the most are always the games that get complaints about the crappy handling.
It is very much the first with more. In both in bad and good departments. The first was kind of boring and tough on a solo run. The second I feel managed to improve on some of the boring aspects, but there were also some points that were just sadistically brutal. Not the "Oh this just got challenging" bits that they were meant to be, nor the "If I don't plan this perfect I'll die" that some games which capitalize on difficulty do, but more of a plain outright "This can't really be done solo" sort of difficulty.
The vehicles probably handle bad, but for some strange reason I've always preferred games with awful vehicle handling. No clue why, I've just noticed the games where I liked the vehicles the most are always the games that get complaints about the crappy handling.
