After being confirmed by just about every gaming site in existence (thanks to Eurogamer’s diligent journalism) Gearbox Software and 2K Games acknowledged that Borderlands, the gun-porn heavy FPS RPG, is getting a sequel in early 2012.
There was a bit of a kerfuffle over this reveal earlier today with Gearbox boss Randy Pitchford saying that the premature confirmations were more down to “shoddy journalism” than anything else (it couldn’t be that the sites messed up your careful marketing plan, could it?). Inside baseball aside, I’m kind of excited that this game is getting a sequel and I can’t wait to see what’s going to be changed.
Borderlands 2 will take place on Pandora, which is kind of a bummer in my eyes because of how boring looking the planet was in the original, but there’s nothing saying that the majority of the planet was represented by the last game. The game will also feature brand new characters and a bajillion more crazy weapons.
There’s not much else being revealed right now until the Game Informer story hits, so I’m going to open the floor to you guys. What do you want from Borderlands 2? What do you think the new classes will be like? What would you change about the loot system, the level progression and the story? Go!
Source – Borderlands 2
I’d like to see some new environments, I know the garbage dump look was part of the design choice, but I think Gearbox needs to mix it up a bit this time. They certainly don’t have to go all the way to the Skyrim end of the spectrum but a little more variety would be nice.
Otherwise its just the little things that need to be fixed up. Like an easier way of comparing between guns, especially in stores. Like having actual conversations with NPC’s rather than having everything told in a mission box.
A little more life in the world. Like I know it’s supposed to be a hellscape of death, but maybe like outlaw towns or something, something like Red Dead Redemption where a shootout could start at any moment.
All I really need out of a borderlands sequel is borderlands 1 with better environments more guns and a better story that keeps the same humor that made me enjoy every minute I spent playing it.
Some of the locales could have been a little more lively, like the city/town of Haven, but for the most part, I wasn’t bothered by the “blasted-out wasteland” style of the world. Some of the locations were a bit drab, but there were also places like “Krom’s Canyon” that were really inspired. I think someone else here has already mentioned how Borderlands reminds them of Oddworld: Stranger’s Wrath and I wholeheartedly agree.
Some new weapon types might be fun as well; maybe crossbows or melee weapons?
From a nuts and bolts standpoint, I’d love to see some kind of scoring system like FEAR 3 uses integrated with the leveling mechanics. I thought I would find FEAR 3’s scoring annoying, but it’s actually pretty fun and it encourages you to experiment with different play styles.
Other than that, I hope they take the “if it ain’t broke” philosophy into consideration. Borderlands was the best “loot whore” game I’ve played since the original Diablo.
My only major complaint is that it isn’t nearly as fun as a single player experience. Playing it alone, Borderlands feels a little unbalanced and repetitive. Soloing really limits what each character type can do from a tactical standpoint, forcing you to play a style that isn’t necessarily conducive to their skill sets. Having just one other player opens the gameplay up so much that it almost feels like another game. The Siren’s phasewalk ability, for example, is 10 times more useful when you have someone to provide cover fire and you can use it to flank enemies and catch them in a cross fire.
I’m not sure how you fix this problem. The game is clearly designed with multiplayer in mind and I think most people have played it as such so I don’t know if I should even call it a “problem.”
Yeah I agree with everything stated here. More diverse environments, and as someone said, more life. I mean, it’s supposed to be this ravaged landscape, but I still think you can do things to show that it’s still a breathing world. Random encounters a la Red Dead would be very cool. And I think the towns should have a bit more life as well. There were always like 4 shops but only 3 people that exist in any given place. Not very convincing. Keep everything else the same, though, and I’ll be good. I don’t even care about a story.
I know it’s been said a thousand times before, but Borderlands 2 NEEDS better environments. I want to see greens and blues and pretty much anything but craggy grey and dusty tan. Honestly, I got to the Deserts in Borderlands 1 (right after leaving the first area) and I’m like, “Ugh, REALLY? I’m tired of looking of this dead planet.” That, and the vehicle combat was, ehh, just kinda annoying.
There was no reason for Pandora to be destoryed and desolate. In Fallout, there’s a good reason for the world to be full of greys and greens; the world was decimated by nukes. Pandora could be brimming with life and color, and it would make the player more interested in exploring Pandora on the way to finding that secret treasure. Also, they could have named it something other than Pandora. Honestly. It doesn’t even mean anything at this point.
I’d also like to see the weapons feel more diverse, even if there are fewer total combinations. It’s better in general for there to be fewer weapons that each fit a certain combat role and feel different. And each weapon category should have more variety in bodies, so that one Assault Rifle can look a lot different from another one other than just a different scope or magazine. Even if there were just three Assault Rifle models instead of the one model, it’d make it more fun to hold and fire that new weapon. For example, I’d prefer deciding between models as different as an M4, an AK-47, and a Steyr AUG, and then each variation and attachment for each weapon would make it fire and recoil and sound noticeably unique. In Borderlands 1, I was just using the same old Assault Rifle and Shotgun, and while there were differences in operation and whatnot, it still felt and looked too similar.
I’m still probably not gonna pick it up, since I only borrowed Borderlands 1 from a friend, but if he gets it, I’ll try to check BL2 out.
I played the game alone, and I know I missed 80% of what the game was supposed to be. Why not a /little/ bit of story so that if no one else is on or awake I can still enjoy myself, instead of feeling like I’m in a world filled by a single omnipresent robot and wasteland dummies.
It was also pretty easy once you found some powerful guns. There were a few guns I kept very early in the game and every “sweet” gun I found afterwards didn’t compare to the ones I already had. Made looting a little stale.