Crunching the RPG Numbers

Borderlands 2

In today’s edition of Did You See This Wednesday, we’re going to be talking about RPGs.

As goofy as it sounds, one of my favorite parts about any RPG is watching my damage number creep up as I progress through the game. Whether this number is ratcheting upward through new equipment or because I’ve hit a new level seems to matter little — what matters is that sweet, sweet damage total. I get kind of addicted to it. This is most evident in Borderlands 2 (which we’ll be streaming tonight), a game that bombards you with more numbers than a Mathletics competition, both in and out of combat. Continue reading Crunching the RPG Numbers

GamerSushi on Twitch.Tv!

Twitch_Logo_Black

Sushians! As part of our new content spree of 2013 (which we’ve honorably dubbed as “Year of the Sushi” around these parts), we’ve started up our very own GamerSushi Twitch TV channel.

Last night I streamed the second half of Hotline Miami as a bit of a test, and a few of you joined and hung out for a little bit. And right now, Nick and I are streaming some Borderlands 2. Obviously if you see this a bit later, you’ll have missed out on the fun, but we’re working on some kind of loose schedule when we’ll be streaming some different games.

So yeah, join in on the fun. Year of the Sushi!

Update: All done playing now, but you can find the play session after the jump! Continue reading GamerSushi on Twitch.Tv!

The GamerSushi Show, Ep 55: Sick Cast

the gamersushi show

It’s been a while, but we’re back. In the month since we’ve been gone a lot has happened, such as Disney buying LucasFilm and a whole bunch of games coming out. We managed to cover a lot of it, leading to what has to be our longest cast in a while.

Nick is absent yet again, but you have the regular crew, albeit with a couple of us fighting off coughing fits at several points. Eddy just plain forgets that he can mute himself, so in a couple spots you’ll hear him coughing or chomping on a cough drop. It’s not too bad, but I’ve decided to christen the cast in his honor.

You know how it goes by now, being veterans of our show. Listen, rate and be excellent to each other. We’ll see you soon!

0:00 – 2:43 Intro
2:44 – 20:12 Disney buys LucasFilm
20:13 – 26:08 Halo 4
26:09 – 30:52 Wii U
30:53 – 41:53 Assassin’s Creed 3
41:54 – 50:26 XCOM: Enemy Unknown
50:27 – 51:14 Dishonored
51:15 – 56:54 RE6 and Borderlands 2
56:55 – 59:04 Over/Under Recap
59:05 – 1:00:53 Outro

The GamerSushi Show, Ep 54: We’re So, So Sorry

the gamersushi show ep 54 resident evil 6

It’s been a few weeks, faithful listeners, but we’re back. It’s kind of hard to get a balance going once we start the podcast again, but we’ll probably be back up to weekly casts right before we go on another break. C’est la vie, non?

In this episode we’ve got some apologizing to do around Resident Evil 6, which is apparently the worst game ever. Seriously, we’re really sorry about how much time we devoted to this game over the past year.

We also talk about Cliffy B and the BioWare Doctors leaving the industry which evolves into a talk of whether there are anymore big name people left beyond the standards (Newell, Miamoto and the like). It’s a really cool talk about the state of the industry and how faceless it’s become in some ways.

We also talk about Borderlands 2 (nee Bonerhands) for a while and then we chat about our most anticipated games for the rest of the year.

So! You know how it goes. Listen, rate, and please accept our apologies.

0:00 – 1:33 Intro
1:33 – 14:25 Resident Evil 6
14:26 – 17:17 Over/Under Checkup
17:18 – 31:10 Cliffy B and the BioWare Docs
31:11 – 40:42 Borderlands 2
40:43 – 53:00 Most anticipated game of the rest of 2012
53:00 – 54:45 Outro

Review: Borderlands 2

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2009’s Borderlands was an interesting animal back when it released. A mishmash of RPG and FPS with a lot of loot thrown in, it stayed aloft mostly on a wing and a prayer. It was a little bland in its environmental design, the story lacked any real payoff, and it was too easy to break the various classes available to you. That said, it was fresh and unique and had an excellent crop of post-release DLC to keep it in people’s minds.

Three years later, Gearbox is taking another crack at it. With more polish, more PC options and even more guns, does Borderlands 2 hold even more for gamers or does it deserve to be sold as vendor trash? Continue reading Review: Borderlands 2

GamerSushi Asks: What Are You Playing?

ftl game

Games, guys. Games. Well, more accurately Borderlands 2 and some other stuff, but still. The big season is picking back up and there’s already too many damn things to play. I can’t keep track of it all, so I thought I would make a handy dandy post so you guys can write down the titles current spinning in your console or taking up your hard drive.

The top of the list for me is Borderlands 2, and I’m already in the new game + mode, or “True Vault Hunter”. Yes, Axton and I are going through that game again and the loot you get on the second run through is just insane. There’s an old World of Warcraft joke “green is the new purple” and that’s very apropos here. Just as an aside, the Commando is so much better than the Soldier from the first Borderlands. Having a turret that is able to rotate 360 degrees is a godsend.

Other than that I’ve been playing some FTL (including the ill-fated Flight of The Sushian), Black Mesa and Battlefield 3. I picked up Spec Ops: The Line for super cheap and I’m excited to start that. I also need to finish Mark of the Ninja and I have Sleeping Dogs waiting in the wings, so yeah. A lot of stuff.

What have you guys been playing? Any of the above games or something different?

Borderlands 2 Roll Call!

borderlands 2 impressions

It’s been a little quiet around these parts for the last couple of days, but I bet you all know why: Borderlands 2, Gearbox’s follow-up to 2009’s FPS loot-fest, dropped at 9pm on Monday for me and I’ve been spending my evenings playing it since.

So far I’m having a lot of fun with it, as I really like the new Commando class (although useful assault rifles are still hard to come by for me) and the game is freaking gorgeous on my new PC. There’s a ton of customization options available to PC players, which is nice after the abortive console port of the first Borderlands. I am have screen-tearing issues occasionally, but I think that might have something to do with my settings.

Shooting-wise Borderlands 2 feels much improved over the workman-like mechanics of the first game and so far the promise of even more crazy guns is being fulfilled. My favorite weapons at this juncture are the ones that you throw like a grenade when they’re empty (complete with explosion) only to have a new one materialize in your hands. The writing is also a lot better and it feels like there might be an actual story this time. The game never stops talking to you though, as there’s always one person on your radio, jawing to you about this and that.

Now that I’ve given my thoughts about it, who here is playing Borderlands 2? What do you think of it so far? Which system did you get it for?

Poll: Most Anticipated September Release

Well, it’s here: The Fall of 2012. This is the time of year when things get a little cray cray. After the doldrums of summer finally subsided last month with Sleeping Dogs and Darksiders 2, this is season of the big dogs. It’s a little leaner than last year but there are still some blockbusters forthcoming, most notably, Borderlands 2. I know many of the GamerSushi staff are drooling at the chance to shoot thousands upon thousands of skags again. I am little more reserved on it, but I will probably pick it up at some point, after the dust from my backlog as cleared.

I know Torchlight II will be a popular choice for many, possibly as a change of pace from Diablo III. Sports fans will have to choose between hockey or the Beautiful Game as depicted in FIFA 13. I know Mists of Pandaria might draw some more WoW fans back into the fray for one last gasp, but I’ve heard that it has turned others off with its resemblance to Kung-Fu Panda. Hit the comments and let me know which side your bread is buttered.

Poll: Most Anticipated September Release?

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Borderlands 2 Will Judge How Badass You Actually Are

borderlands 2 badass ranks, customizable skins, golden chests

Guys, we are getting actual news™ out of San Deigo Comic Con, and I am so excited. I thought that we were going to be dead in the water until September, but I’m glad to have been proven wrong.

If any of you played the original Borderlands, then you may remember the challenges the game presented you with as little notifications that popped up and then quickly went away. It was a small distraction, but most of us probably never paid attention to them beacause they weren’t that well integrated. Borderlands 2 looks to change that with Badass Ranks, which will incentivize players to complete challenges by giving them new ways to beef up their stats.

For every Badass Rank you’ll get tokens, and those tokens can be used to improve your character in various ways. The best part is, improvements gained from the ranks carry over your account, meaning that if you give one character +10% to health regeneration or something, every subsequent character you create will have that ability. It’s a great way to promote replaying the game without feeling like you’re starting from square one every time. Of course, purists can turn off both Badass ranks and the buffs if they so desire. Badass Ranks sound like an awesome addition, but that’s not all. Continue reading Borderlands 2 Will Judge How Badass You Actually Are

Borderlands 2 Promises Pimped-Out PC Version

borderlands 2 pc version

If you’re like me and you played the original Borderlands on the PC then you were probably disappointed by how much the game reeked of “console-itis”. The signs of a hasty port were everywhere and the game suffered for it. With a new Borderlands on the horizon, Gearbox decided to kick their PC support into overdrive and threw up a love-letter from everybody’s favorite (sarcasm) robot Claptrap, listing the features that will be in the PC version of Borderlands 2.

While this is a very nice gesture on behalf of Gearbox (and I hope they carry all this over to their other release this year, Aliens: Colonial Marines) it just strikes me as how odd it is that features that should be included on the PC SKUs of games like FOV sliders and offline LAN support are now considered to be extras by the developers. If anything demonstrates how far down the chain PC gaming is in terms of priority these days, it’s this.

Sure, a lot of the items on the list are things that PC gamers take for granted, but we just don’t get that kind of support these days. Usually these things are added in by mods, so at least Gearbox is taking the time to add that to the game.

What do you guys think of Borderland 2’s promised PC version? Does it get your engine running? What do you think of these features now being considered “bonuses” of a kind? Go!

Source – Borderlands 2 website

Borderlands 2 Trailer is 96.5 Percent More WUBWUB

Borderlands was a really interesting game when it came out, a hybrid of RPG, FPS and open-world game with a good bit of loot-craziness thrown in. Even with bajillions of guns, there were a few issues with the game, most notably the somewhat stale environments (would you like desert, garbage dump, or garbage dump in the desert?) and the most nonsensical ending in the history of video games. Secret robot assassins aside, Borderlands did well enough to warrant a sequel and the release date trailer dropped today, revealing the four main characters and adding a bit of the old dubstep.

Borderlands 2 is looking really fun, and if you put WUB WUB over anything there’s a good chance I’ll buy it. The new characters look pretty neat, and the enemy variety looks like it has expanded beyond skags and bandits. Color me excited, which I believe in loot parlance is purple. What say you? Does this trailer catch your fancy? Borderlands 2 launches September 18 in the US and the 21 in the rest of the world.

The GamerSushi Show, Ep 33: Crafting Stars

Look at that, two weeks in a row. My, we are on something of a streak. In fact, you might even say that we are streaking. Just throwing that out there.

In this edition of the podcast, Jeff and Anthony acted like divas and stormed off the set, leaving myself, Nick and Mitch to discuss things all by our lonesome. We basically used this time to talk about all the things we can’t normally talk about with those two bozos around, which really means we spend a good chunk of time talking about StarCraft 2. It gets… fairly in depth at a couple of points, so hopefully you like that kind of thing. I know I do.

We also took the three-man opportunity to play a game we’ve never been able to play before on the podcast – a real-time edition of GameCop Versus LameCop, with each of us swapping roles as we see fit. I think the results are particularly entertaining, and hopefully you do, too. You will either love it or turn the podcast off and throw it from your window.

**Also a big shout out to Temp0, who’s song, “All I do is Stim” we stole for the outro this week. Check him out on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Soundcloud.**

So, check it out. Rate a thing. And enjoy. Continue reading The GamerSushi Show, Ep 33: Crafting Stars

Borderlands 2 is Announced, What do You Want in the Sequel?

borderlands 2 confirmed

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