Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel

Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel

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snuffy

Original Poster:

9,660 posts

283 months

Friday 17th October 2014
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I've just started playing this..hmm, it's okay. More of the same really. Having said that, I like simple shooters with not much thinking involved (I have to think enough at work !).


snuffy

Original Poster:

9,660 posts

283 months

Saturday 18th October 2014
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It really is just more of the same. First boss level and it's bang, dead. Respawn. Bang, dead. Respawn. Bag, dead. Then off to find a trainer. Infinite shields and heath. Now at least it's playable.

Baryonyx

17,990 posts

158 months

Sunday 19th October 2014
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I was a bit sceptical when I loaded it up for the first time.

The first thing that hit me was that, whilst the art style looks fantastic and colourful as always, the engine looks it's age now. There are some sharp lines and jagged edges dotted around, and some texture pop. It's staggering really, that this game has only came out on last generation consoles. It's all BL2 tech, so a little upscale would have been nice and had it been available for the Xbox One, I would have bought it for that. It really is time the PS3 and Xbox 360 were left to die a graceful death, with attention being focused on the new consoles.

I've been playing as Claptrap, and it seems clear that the developers were concerned that a lot of players would go for him. His balancing is a bit odd, probably because if they made him play like a normal character, everyone would want to play as him and the other three would be left in the cold. He does have the benefit of not suffocating when he runs out of o2, and can use o2 to power his booster jets like the other character, so that is a pretty obvious benefit (especially since suffocation damage scales). He doesn't fit any typical shooter RPG class archetype, more like he is a wildcard/critroll type. Using the subroutines, you're assigned random bonuses to certain weapon types and debuffs to other classes passively, with no apparent way of swapping it over. Similarly, his special skills are either deadly or dire. The skill description itself says that it's not a stable programme and that it can have unexpected results, despite doing a realtime assessment of your tactical situation at the moment you activate the skill. It doesn't always come up with the goods though, as facing the first boss (a brute with high HP who fights in an arena of platforms connected by Sonic-esque jump pads) and having been killed a couple of times, I really needed it to come up trumps - instead it gave me the melee spree, locking me out from my ranged weapons and sending me scurrying as the boss shot me from miles away.


That said, I've only just beaten the first boss and Borderlands games take a couple of hours to progress into the position where they feel amazing. Once you start unlocking the good weapons and building up your character to your preference, then it becomes unmissable.


Much like Fallout New Vegas, it's noticeably the same engine and presentation, but the core gameplay is good and that is what matters. However, much like with the Fallout series, I am most excited about what the new generation of tech is going to bring for the series. The Pre-Sequel however, is at least much better than Destiny!

Oh, and when you're playing, look up at the skybox, it's a work of art!

snuffy

Original Poster:

9,660 posts

283 months

Sunday 19th October 2014
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I did assume a lot of people would play as Claptrap, which is a fair assumption. I'm playing as Wilhelm. The first boss level annoyed me to death (literally). Up until then it's fairly easy, then you just keep getting killed. I did read one way to kill the boss but I could never get close enough to try it. I've I'd not have cheated I'd have given up. I know it's not supposed to be easy, but if they make it too hard then you'll just give up.

Jinx

11,345 posts

259 months

Monday 20th October 2014
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Spent all day Friday playing as Clap trap - and yes it's more BL2 with (mainly) low gravity. Great fun, plenty of humour (the shot gun that speaks is entertaining) but functionally and graphically no different from BL2 (which wasn't much of a change from BL1). Admittedly on the PC this isn't such a bad thing (1920x1200 with all the details up to max, AA16x and FXAA) - so can't complain.
The gun crusher adds an extra element (previous games you'd just leave the guns lying around unless you were low on cash) and you do need to do a lot more side missions to succeed in the boss fights.
Perhaps should have waited for the price to drop a bit but it was good to play on launch day (UK) and not suffer huge bugs and server access problems (EA take note).

Well one problem as steam crashed out but it only lasted a few minutes.


Mastodon2

13,818 posts

164 months

Monday 20th October 2014
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I'm really looking forward to this. Despite the old graphical engine, or the fact that it was not developed for the Xbox One, it will still be amazing because Borderlands has the one thing that Destiny didn't - fun, engaging gameplay and character. Whereas Destiny thought it could rip off BL's loot horde style, except it had boring loot and a flavourless game world.

Naturally, I will be playing as Cl4ptr4p, even if he isn't the strongest class, because he is a brilliant game personality and one of the most memorable and enjoyable game characters of the last few years.

Nom de ploom

4,890 posts

173 months

Tuesday 21st October 2014
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I really liked BL2 it was quirky and fun and it wasn't overly complicated - you could dip in and out do the odd side mission etc...

graduating to badass mode made things alot more difficult and I really needed the golden key codes.

what was the mp like?

I thought claptrap was an annoying twunt tbh so probably won't play as him, anyways I need to drive another 3,000 miles on GT6 for the platinum trophy before I move on to pastures new.


JonRB

74,395 posts

271 months

Tuesday 21st October 2014
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I loved the first Borderlands because it was fresh and quirky.

BL2 was ok, but felt rather too much "more of the same" for me. I made it to the end of the main game (barely) but didn't bother with the DLCs. I also got rather upset with they nerfed The Bee shield because it was the only thing that made the game playable in single player mode (for me) and I somewhat lost interest after that.

I probably won't bother with this as it sounds like yet more of the same.

Aphex

2,160 posts

199 months

Tuesday 21st October 2014
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Feels very buggy on PC to me, almost like they didn't put as much effort in as they did for 2.

Hoping for a patch quite soon

Baryonyx

17,990 posts

158 months

Tuesday 21st October 2014
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Luckily it's very stable on consoles. I've put a good few hours in so far and had no issues.

I wish they would explain the Claptrap skills a bit more. Mainly because there are so many skills that make adjustments to stats through the subroutine system that are never really explained. Like, you put a point into the gun subroutine skill and passively get bonuses and nerfs to various weapon classes. But then you put a point into the melee subroutine stack and now you get nerfs for guns and boosts for melee. But are they always active? Or only when the system randomly picks a subroutine to run? I'm pumping skill points into my build but aside from minor stat boosts which come as part of the levelling up situation, I feel like I'm getting nothing back.

And I could complain at length about the amount of hand holding earlier on in the game. Only once you've met Moxxi and completed the rooftop mission for her does the game start to feel like Borderlands, since it gives you some freedom back and you can go out on your own, and it takes a couple of hours to get to that point. Then, you start getting some great weapons, you do some side missions and get into some firefights and stop fighting endless waves of Kraggons, and then, yes, the game starts to feel fantastic.



I love Borderlands.

FunkyNige

8,859 posts

274 months

Tuesday 21st October 2014
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Aphex said:
Feels very buggy on PC to me, almost like they didn't put as much effort in as they did for 2.

Hoping for a patch quite soon
That's not good to hear, my usual gaming buddies and me played BL2 (and all the DLC) to death so were really looking forward to the pre-sequel but bad experiences with newly released games (Rome 2, I'm looking at you) meant we plan to wait until the first patch before diving into this one.
We also plan to play 2 games - one with the characters we actually want to play and one with all 3 of us playing as Claptrap, wup wup wup wup...

Jinx

11,345 posts

259 months

Wednesday 22nd October 2014
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Aphex said:
Feels very buggy on PC to me, almost like they didn't put as much effort in as they did for 2.

Hoping for a patch quite soon
What bugs are you experiencing - I haven't noticed any so far?

Aphex

2,160 posts

199 months

Wednesday 22nd October 2014
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Jinx said:
What bugs are you experiencing - I haven't noticed any so far?
Black screen, boss doorway issues, bosses/npcs disappearing into the floor etc.

Also not entirely sure I should be able to be hit so often with pistols from across the map. Seems the AI accuracy is a little too good

Jinx

11,345 posts

259 months

Wednesday 22nd October 2014
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Aphex said:
Black screen, boss doorway issues, bosses/npcs disappearing into the floor etc.

Also not entirely sure I should be able to be hit so often with pistols from across the map. Seems the AI accuracy is a little too good
AI accuracy is a nightmare (need to really find cover) - hadn't had any black screen issues myself. I had blamed the disappearing/reappearing enemies on lag issues but it could be something else - can't say the floor thing is any worse than previous BL games (generally found it happened with the "spawning" creatures rather than the usual enemies) .
Compared with an EA title launch weekend yikes BL2 preS was pretty good. Still haven't forgiven them for putting their name on Colonial Marines though.......

JonRB

74,395 posts

271 months

Wednesday 22nd October 2014
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Jinx said:
generally found it happened with the "spawning" creatures rather than the usual enemies)
That's the thing that really annoys me about the Borderlands series. When I secure an area, I expect it to stay secured (or, at the least, only very slowly repopulate). With Borderlands you turn your back for 5 mins and the spawn points are churning out opponents as if you had never been there. It all gets a bit tedious after a while.

Aphex

2,160 posts

199 months

Wednesday 22nd October 2014
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JonRB said:
That's the thing that really annoys me about the Borderlands series. When I secure an area, I expect it to stay secured (or, at the least, only very slowly repopulate). With Borderlands you turn your back for 5 mins and the spawn points are churning out opponents as if you had never been there. It all gets a bit tedious after a while.
Get your grind on for that loot!

Baryonyx

17,990 posts

158 months

Thursday 23rd October 2014
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JonRB said:
That's the thing that really annoys me about the Borderlands series. When I secure an area, I expect it to stay secured (or, at the least, only very slowly repopulate). With Borderlands you turn your back for 5 mins and the spawn points are churning out opponents as if you had never been there. It all gets a bit tedious after a while.
I quite like the fact that enemies respawn. It means there is always action to be had, but you can drive or run past and keep going if you don't want to stop.

Mastodon2

13,818 posts

164 months

Monday 27th October 2014
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I've just met the Deadlift boss, I think I'm going to need to get a level or two up over him, my guns can barely dent him and he shreds me like wet tissue paper. Annoying as well that just when you want a useful subroutine, Claptrap turns into a rubber duck or gets a melee routine which is useless against the boss.

MissChief

7,095 posts

167 months

Monday 27th October 2014
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If anyone is playing this on PC I'm happy to join in or to be joined. Steam name is the same as on the left.

Baryonyx

17,990 posts

158 months

Tuesday 28th October 2014
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Mastodon2 said:
I've just met the Deadlift boss, I think I'm going to need to get a level or two up over him, my guns can barely dent him and he shreds me like wet tissue paper. Annoying as well that just when you want a useful subroutine, Claptrap turns into a rubber duck or gets a melee routine which is useless against the boss.
The Subroutines are passive buffs given by skills you add to Claptrap as you go. His specials are action skills. But yeah, his stats are all over the place and are constantly changing. Like the weapon subroutines, can be more of an annoyance than anything when you've only got two weapon slots unlocked. I think because they knew Claptrap would be popular they've nerfed him a bit and made him a but of an auxiliary player for team games as a lot of his skills give team mates buffs.

However, I now have a pretty good ammo regen class mod equipped which is useful. It gives all team members ammo regen but importantly gives Claptrap the same benefit. Because Claptrap is often forced into running abilities that seriously hinder his damage output you need to be selective over your gear and crucially, use everything you can to cause damage. Shoot barrels, buttslam (great if your air pack has an elemental nova), throw grenades, shoot off air masks and hide after closing down an oxygen tent.