BrunoV
First Borderlands game i´ve finished. It´s fun if you are looking for mindless shooting, that aspect of gameplay holds up pretty well and it´s for sure the best part of the game. Main quests can be entertaining and varied, side mission are pretty repetitive, and sadly necessary to stay properly leveled, from early on, and still the game gets a little stale in its second half.
The DLC is fun too, and pretty varied in terms of setting, but suffers from the same issues as the main game, expect more of the same when reaching them.
I get that the planet is mostly desert, but the look is just really bland and unappealing. The cell shaded look is compelling enough, but it lacks color and personality, which i´m pretty sure the sequels fix this somewhat.
I too get that it´s presented as comedic, but i can´t remember laughing a single time throughout the more than 30 hours that this took to finish, your mileage may vary with this I guess.
The loot aspect felt a bit unncessary and over the top. Yes there are like a million different guns, but pretty much all of them feel good to use, are findable everywhere, and as long as you are properly leveled and are using a high level weapon (which I repeat, are very easy to find) you wont have a hard time playing and can forget about any other stat or buff or whatever. Maybe in higher difficulties this matters more, I played in normal and rarely found something i couldn´t get past by just equiping another gun I already had.
I played solo mostly, just tried out the multiplayer once and it seemed to be pretty fun, and it´s clearly set up so you can join up with friends easily, so maybe give that a shot.
Yes, I recommend it if you are looking for solid mindless shooting. It kept me engaged enough to finish both the main game and the DLC. Gave me 30+ hours of entertainment for basically nothing, so if you are curious and can find it cheap I say give it a try.
I´ve seen some reviewers saying that they had buggy experiences, honestly i cant remember encountering a single issue but I havent played the non "remastered" version so take my word with a pinch of salt.
I´m looking forward to playing Borderlands 2 now, as people seem to like that one more. If it retains the compelling elements and fixes the clunky stuff from this one I´m sure it´ll be a much better experience. Maybe try that one first if you aren´t convinced by this one.
The DLC is fun too, and pretty varied in terms of setting, but suffers from the same issues as the main game, expect more of the same when reaching them.
I get that the planet is mostly desert, but the look is just really bland and unappealing. The cell shaded look is compelling enough, but it lacks color and personality, which i´m pretty sure the sequels fix this somewhat.
I too get that it´s presented as comedic, but i can´t remember laughing a single time throughout the more than 30 hours that this took to finish, your mileage may vary with this I guess.
The loot aspect felt a bit unncessary and over the top. Yes there are like a million different guns, but pretty much all of them feel good to use, are findable everywhere, and as long as you are properly leveled and are using a high level weapon (which I repeat, are very easy to find) you wont have a hard time playing and can forget about any other stat or buff or whatever. Maybe in higher difficulties this matters more, I played in normal and rarely found something i couldn´t get past by just equiping another gun I already had.
I played solo mostly, just tried out the multiplayer once and it seemed to be pretty fun, and it´s clearly set up so you can join up with friends easily, so maybe give that a shot.
Yes, I recommend it if you are looking for solid mindless shooting. It kept me engaged enough to finish both the main game and the DLC. Gave me 30+ hours of entertainment for basically nothing, so if you are curious and can find it cheap I say give it a try.
I´ve seen some reviewers saying that they had buggy experiences, honestly i cant remember encountering a single issue but I havent played the non "remastered" version so take my word with a pinch of salt.
I´m looking forward to playing Borderlands 2 now, as people seem to like that one more. If it retains the compelling elements and fixes the clunky stuff from this one I´m sure it´ll be a much better experience. Maybe try that one first if you aren´t convinced by this one.
A real diamond in the rough. If you are even slightly interested in this game just do yourself a favor and play it. It´s not a perfect game, on the contrary, it´s a rather flawed one, but it´s an experience greater than the sum of its parts. A beautiful story told rather oddly, the pacing is off and is rather disjointed by nature of its release and its structure. The movie is pretty good and should have been bundled with the game somehow, the short anime series can be found on Youtube and is a great introduction to the best aspect of this game and what has hooked me so. The main cast. I would just die for these boys.
What this game does so well is put you in the shoes of a group of friends, trying to have some fun along the way in a path filled of adversities, and it manages to build such a complete picture of these characters as fully formed people as I have rarely seen achieved in other games. It´s the sense of having embarked on a journey, having seen them grow and evolve together, what makes this game such a memorable experience.
The open world element and its design, just most level design in general, and combat as well, is rather simplistic, and it will depend on how much you enjoy each of these aspects how much you´ll want to engage with the side content, and later end game. The world is quite beautiful but rather empty and traversing it is quite a pain after a while. Dungeons look great and each have a distinct and epic style but are rather linear and end up feeling too similar after having completed a couple. Combat is an interesting aspect, it´s extremely simple, constantly looking to reach epic heights, but it mostly ends up feeling janky, unpolished and uninteresting. There´s nothing epic about pressing one button and the enemies being damage sponges. Side content can become dull very quick once you notice that side-quests are just checking things off lists and doing chores for non-characters. The “epicness” though comes from the visuals and the music. It still looks gorgeous in every level, the art design is wonderful, and the sense of scale it manages to convey is outstanding. The musical score is just on another level altogether.
The DLC “episodes” are must plays. I wish they had found the way to better integrate them into the main game in this “Royal” or “Windows” editions. Other than that, they serve as condensed and streamlined scenarios that showcase the best things the main game has to offer all while further developing these wonderful characters and their stories.
I nearly cried at the end. Highest praise I can give.
What this game does so well is put you in the shoes of a group of friends, trying to have some fun along the way in a path filled of adversities, and it manages to build such a complete picture of these characters as fully formed people as I have rarely seen achieved in other games. It´s the sense of having embarked on a journey, having seen them grow and evolve together, what makes this game such a memorable experience.
The open world element and its design, just most level design in general, and combat as well, is rather simplistic, and it will depend on how much you enjoy each of these aspects how much you´ll want to engage with the side content, and later end game. The world is quite beautiful but rather empty and traversing it is quite a pain after a while. Dungeons look great and each have a distinct and epic style but are rather linear and end up feeling too similar after having completed a couple. Combat is an interesting aspect, it´s extremely simple, constantly looking to reach epic heights, but it mostly ends up feeling janky, unpolished and uninteresting. There´s nothing epic about pressing one button and the enemies being damage sponges. Side content can become dull very quick once you notice that side-quests are just checking things off lists and doing chores for non-characters. The “epicness” though comes from the visuals and the music. It still looks gorgeous in every level, the art design is wonderful, and the sense of scale it manages to convey is outstanding. The musical score is just on another level altogether.
The DLC “episodes” are must plays. I wish they had found the way to better integrate them into the main game in this “Royal” or “Windows” editions. Other than that, they serve as condensed and streamlined scenarios that showcase the best things the main game has to offer all while further developing these wonderful characters and their stories.
I nearly cried at the end. Highest praise I can give.
2013
As a modern urban city sandbox this is still pretty much unmatched. The city just makes sense as a space, it´s interactive, it´s populated, it really feels alive and most importantly it is fun to traverse and explore. There´s a crazy number of activities to partake in, you are sure to find something interesting there, and the famous GTA mayhem is as fun as ever. The shooting is ok, standard third person cover action, nothing special there. The driving is simply excellent, you are going to be driving a lot in this game, and it manages to always be engaging.
I’m not as fond of the story sadly. The main trio is very well realized and compliment each other wonderfully. All the systems introduced to make playing with three characters at once while also making them feel like individual characters work flawlessly. It´s just the narrative and its structure that doesn´t quite feel as polished as the other elements of the game. The plot is technically moving along, but it doesn’t feel like it goes anywhere or that there is any reason behind the things that are happening. It lacks some major end goal or evolution in its characters and story that leaves it feeling aimless and similar to doing a set of chores. I can’t help but compare it to Red Dead Redemption 2, which I believe is a way better game in pretty much every sense, where there always was something to look ahead for, plenty of unexpected surprises, and honestly, the strength of the writing and characters held up any sequences that might feel a bit lackluster in comparison. Here it seems like they are hiding behind the irreverent tone and jokey satire to not really develop much of anything, and the comedy and satire are not nearly as solid as they should be to carry the momentum all by themselves. It starts strong, but it just becomes more of the same as it goes along, never really surprising the player nor justifying itself. I also played a bunch of the side missions and while they have some interesting moments, they don’t really amount to much sadly.
I´m not even remotely interested in trying out the Online component.
Amazing city sandbox, not so great story, you probably have already played this, so you know it already.
I’m not as fond of the story sadly. The main trio is very well realized and compliment each other wonderfully. All the systems introduced to make playing with three characters at once while also making them feel like individual characters work flawlessly. It´s just the narrative and its structure that doesn´t quite feel as polished as the other elements of the game. The plot is technically moving along, but it doesn’t feel like it goes anywhere or that there is any reason behind the things that are happening. It lacks some major end goal or evolution in its characters and story that leaves it feeling aimless and similar to doing a set of chores. I can’t help but compare it to Red Dead Redemption 2, which I believe is a way better game in pretty much every sense, where there always was something to look ahead for, plenty of unexpected surprises, and honestly, the strength of the writing and characters held up any sequences that might feel a bit lackluster in comparison. Here it seems like they are hiding behind the irreverent tone and jokey satire to not really develop much of anything, and the comedy and satire are not nearly as solid as they should be to carry the momentum all by themselves. It starts strong, but it just becomes more of the same as it goes along, never really surprising the player nor justifying itself. I also played a bunch of the side missions and while they have some interesting moments, they don’t really amount to much sadly.
I´m not even remotely interested in trying out the Online component.
Amazing city sandbox, not so great story, you probably have already played this, so you know it already.
Truly a perfect game. It has easily risen among my favorite games of all time, and clearly among the best RPGs I´ve ever played, and probably will ever have the opportunity to play. It may sound hyperbolic, but I have rarely encountered such a profound piece of interactive art. This will stick with me for a long time, and I´m already looking forward to revisiting this one for years to come, to explore and toy with the different options and outcomes of the game, or to simply appreciate this world for a while longer.
An extremely bizarre, weird, smart, hilarious, original, political, sincere experience. The quality of writing here is pretty much unmatched in the medium. The art style is gorgeous, the voice acting is outstanding, and the score will be played on loop by myself for years to come. What else can you ask for?
I would die for Kim Kitsuragi.
An extremely bizarre, weird, smart, hilarious, original, political, sincere experience. The quality of writing here is pretty much unmatched in the medium. The art style is gorgeous, the voice acting is outstanding, and the score will be played on loop by myself for years to come. What else can you ask for?
I would die for Kim Kitsuragi.
2015
A fascinating game experiment. I believe calling it more of an interactive movie rather than a videogame is justified. I first played this game around the time it originally released and was being showered with praise, so I already knew what the central reveal was this time around. But still, there were many details I didn´t remember, and was surprised by how many little things I had yet to discover.
The best way I´ve found to appreciate the game is to truly try and engage with it. Get a notebook and a pen out, put your detective cap on, and start taking notes. This is something I didn´t do the first time around, opting instead to just try a bunch of stuff and later look up a list of keywords online, which I don´t think it´s a bad option if you are just looking to clear out the last few remaining and rather inconsequential video clips. But there´s nothing that will get you into it more than paying attention and really experience it like I believe it was intended to be experienced.
There´s a real freedom in the limitations that the game imposes on you. It´s fairly easy to just discover what would be considered the ending of the story right at the beginning of your first play session, but you´ll be wrong to think that this ruins the experience somehow, you should follow the breadcrumbs, in every direction you want, and uncover piece by piece not just a mystery or a twist but a fascinating and inventively told story.
The best way I´ve found to appreciate the game is to truly try and engage with it. Get a notebook and a pen out, put your detective cap on, and start taking notes. This is something I didn´t do the first time around, opting instead to just try a bunch of stuff and later look up a list of keywords online, which I don´t think it´s a bad option if you are just looking to clear out the last few remaining and rather inconsequential video clips. But there´s nothing that will get you into it more than paying attention and really experience it like I believe it was intended to be experienced.
There´s a real freedom in the limitations that the game imposes on you. It´s fairly easy to just discover what would be considered the ending of the story right at the beginning of your first play session, but you´ll be wrong to think that this ruins the experience somehow, you should follow the breadcrumbs, in every direction you want, and uncover piece by piece not just a mystery or a twist but a fascinating and inventively told story.