Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel review

[Neon Ignition]

Interesting that no-one has started a thread on this yet. Given I'm thinking of pushing on with Destiny and plenty else is out, coupled with having only finished BL2 a few months ago I'm thinking of shelving this till later but I did start it up this morning and give it a quick blast to see what's new.

So far? Nothing really. I remember an interview with Gearbox from a while back where they basically said they'd reached the memory limit on Borderlands 2 which meant they were unable to continue doing DLC for it, which is where this spin-off was born from as it would allow them to keep producing content whilst the third game stayed in development. This is very apparent right from the off. You have an opening video which is right along the same lines as the first two games with the bus travelling through the desert and enemies etc all in tow. However, they latch onto a rising rocket and the spaceward journey continues upward as the rocket heads the H base over Pandora's moon as seen in the last game. You play as one of four class characters who follow the development of Jack as he slowly becomes the Handsome Jack that BL2 players will be familiar with. Unless you're very familiar with the mechanics and fancy making it awkward for yourself you only really have three classes to choose from as the Claptrap class is effectively a joke class, identified by a random effect skill. I've gone for BL2 boss Wilhelm. The game then opens on the Moon surface as you follow a blue Claptrap through a facility to save Jack.

The second game felt like a refinement of the first whereas this is very much the same, like an expansion pack. Menu's etc are all the same. Visually, it seems to be the same deal but others should be able to confirm if any improvements have been made. I played the first two games on PS3, this time I have the PC version with everything set on full and the framerate locked at 120fps so it looks a lot better in terms of sharpness, texture load in, frames, particle effects etc. I imagine it's the same deal as 2 though.

If you're up for more Borderlands after BL2 and it's DLC then you really can't go wrong but if anything new is on the cards I'm yet to see it.

[Mayhem]

So far, with about 6-7 hours gameplay behind me...

+ Oxygen requirements aren't as annoying as I'd thought they'd be.
+ Loot is seemingly a bit better than BL2, seeing more than just whites and greens most of the time.
+ Moonstones (this game's Eridium) is easier to find.

- Couple of the vehicle jumps have been pretty tight, and not a fan of lots of air jump puzzles.
- Less Fast Travel stations.
- Humour has yet to really kick off like it was in BL2, most of it coming from Jack (quip about Moxxi and her "secret exits" hah).

[eastyy]

i am just thinking lots of accents in this game can tell was done by 2k australia and a lot of references to australia in it and a few really over the top english accents to

heard two dlc characters were a character called the baroness and the other jack (clone of handsome jack )

[Mayhem]

Yes, you can tell a fair few of the accents are Aussie heh... although the dev team obviously watch British culture because there's a few references in there too (Blackadder and other classic sitcoms for starters).

[PeteJ]

Only a few hours in playing on Coop. I've only just finished BL2 for the first time so it just feels like I've kept going. It really is the same thing again.

Low grav, oxygen meters, jump pads, freeze guns and whatnot all add very little to the game. Best addition is the auto pickup of ammo & money, but that only works in low grav sections, not when in doors.

[Bassman]

I must admit to finding the game difficult at times. Borderlands 2 had its moments of difficulty, but with care progression was fairly straightforward, though some areas seemed more difficult than others. This game seems to try to throw a lot at you at once which seems to encourage "Fight for your Life" as a matter of course. It is as if the game is trying to make co-op the order of the day.

I like the Boderlands games, but this game seems to have raised the difficulty a notch or two. I dread to think what UVHM will be like.

I was a little taken aback to see that the backpack has again been limited to 27. A minor inconvenience when it comes to collecting weapons for the Grinder (one of my current missions with Nisha).

I have so far tried Nisha (Lv 11), Wilhelm (Lv 10) and Claptrap (Lv 7). All have got to town. Wilhelm, so far, seems to be the easiest character to use. Claptrap, on the other hands seems to be somewhat annoying at times.

I shall persevere...

[Brad]

Playing this on pc. Still love it. It's not as good as 2 but it's more borderlands so I'm happy.

[Brad]

This is brilliant actually. Still has that great feeling you get when a really nice weapon comes along, or a shield or class mod. My skill tree is fun (Gladiator). I'm going down a melee tree so I put my impenetrable shield up and start hacking at the biggest thing on the screen; The boss hits me with big attacks, each attack adds to my shield power. I hack away at the boss which causes it to bleed and the bleeding spits out health for our party. Boss takes 50% more damage while it's bleeding. When my shield depletes it gets thrown at the boss causing damage equal to the amount of damage it blocked while he was attacking me. My class mod gives me a chance of not using up grenade ammo if I chuck a grenade whilst I'm jumping. Also, when I stomp (after being airborne) I cause a singularity that draws enemies to me so combining those two is fun!

[Bassman]

Jad some issues with Deadlift on TVHM. Eventually hiding and sniping the ordinary enemies until they were gone and then taking shots at Deadlift when (relatively) safe to do so. Using a Boomtrap Claptrap (after intitial dislike of the type with a different tree). So on the last shot of the magazine on my Sniper (1700 or so damage) I got a critical of 25,000 (with the tree bonus - 50,000 on normal enemies) on his backpack which wiped it out after which it didn't take long,

The legendary situation seems a lot better than B2. I have bought a fair number from the Vending Machines and Ijawira has dropped a number of (admittedly rather useless) Lv27-29 Legendary Rocket launchers. I also went to Stanton's Lever to pull the legendary Laser from the stone. The Excalib*****d. Fortunately it is at your current level. It has a very good chance of freezing enemies and Criticals appear to be near 100% on that.

For anyone that missed out on the Deadlift (Undeadlift) Shotgun there is a Shift Code for it (you get it at your current level. Check out the Orcz Golden Key site...

http://orcz.com/Borderlands_Pre-Sequel:_Shift_Codes

The 20 Gold Key Code that came out the other day appears to still be active which meant I had 48 keys (with another 3 to enter now).

[Mayhem]

I'm currently playing as Wilhelm, and I nuked Deadlift on TVHM into the middle of next week. But then, I rather knew what to expect from the battle the second time around, so it was anti element damage Oz kit, the best shock laser I could find, a Fatale with 30% chance to ignore shields (!) and a Badaboom all rolling out. Plus massive damage boosts in the skill tree from having both Wolf and Saint out. No problems. Then again, I was level 34 going into the battle having farmed Iwajira a bit in NVHM and ground some new legendaries, including said Fatale. That thing is superb. Purple shock lasers with the word "eel" in them are the dog's danglies too.

Yeah, the legendary drop rate is a little better than BL2, also helped by seeing more oranges in the machines by comparison, and the ability to reasonably farm and grind new orange weapons. Oddly enough, it then makes superb non-weapons such as 3DDI.E, Shooting Star and The Sham at even more of a premium. Oh boy, I found an 84% Sham in a vending machine at level 22, and it lasted me until the end of NVHM and into the opening of TVHM. Even more so that is also absorbs lasers hah hah! I think I'll be passing that one onto my Nisha when she reaches that level.

Not gone to pull Excalibastard from the stone yet. I might do just to check it out and see what it's like, prior to level 50. I'll have other characters, including Nisha, to get it at level 50, or whatever the level cap goes up to eventually.

What format you playing on Bassman? I've not done the Sub Level 13 missions on NVHM yet because I'd like the cheevo for completing them with four people. If you're on 360, then you could possibly help out, if we both run split screen with two controllers heh.

[Bassman]

I am on 360 as RogsR34UK. I presume you can run a Guest on split screen and still be online. So far i have only used split screen to level up some characters on my "silver" account. I used that Guardian Side Mission to get a Claptrap to Level 23.

I found a 3001.E from a machine which I rather like. I also bought a Reogenator (Lv 23) which I made rather good use of, though it didn't have a particularly high percentage. I bought a Shooting Star as well.

My Excalib... is Lv 34. I'll get a Lv 50 on one of the other other characters. I have a Lv 27 Nisha. Claptrap is Lv 37. I am looking forward to trying the Jack Clone on Tuesday (I bought the Season Pass).

I did Sub Level 13 with my Claptrap, but I could probably use Nisha for it,.

I've twice missed out on Nukems in the Vending Machines in Concordia due to lack of funds. The first was around 250K and yesterday there was a Lv 35 at around 640K. I couldn't scrape together the last 60K or so. It did 14,300 damage and would have been useful for Felicity. I did a few rounds with Iwajira to get some extra cash together and now have about 700K. Maybe a Lv 37 Nukem will turn up!

At least the vending machines now have stuff around your level regardless of your current mission level. A definite improvement over B2.

The only lasers I really like are the Min Min Lighter (bought from a Vending Machine) which is something of an acquired taste but seems very effective. The Excalib... is good as well with its freezing. I also like those laser "shotguns" that do ???x6 damage. The Miss Moxxi one is also rather useful with its health restoration property.

I bought a couple of legendary Grenade Mods and found a Lv 14 Homing Bonus Package (I was using a Lv 14 Rolling Thunder) in the Robot factory. Dropped by an oridinary enemy I think. The other mod I bought is a Fire one and though it doesn't do much damage (no multiplier), but puts out a fair number of duplicates. Best used in a confined space though.

[Mayhem]

I've added you as a friend, hopefully we can hook up at some point and get the cheevo for Sub Level 13. And yes, you should be able to run split screen with a guest account and still go online if you have Gold. I'll give it a try here also when I can to make sure.

Normal Torks can drop the Bonus Package, which is how I got the level 9 one on my Nisha that I'm still using even though I'm now level 16. That's probably how you got yours in the robot factory, plenty of Torks there. As said, she'll get the Sham eventually that my Wilhelm still has. Showdown skill is a bit insane, especially as I bought a mod to boost the duration of it for each kill, and adds 22% damage to pistols. SMG type pistol with cryo I have, let the full clip BUUUUUUUURRRRRRNNNN!

I tried the Min Min, didn't like it at all. The Splitters and the Eel shocks are better, but my Fatale is still creaming more enemies. Eventually I'll have to give it up (or grind a new one), but still good for now, even 5 levels below my currently character level. And yes, the Moxxi shock laser you are given is excellent, that carried me almost towards the end of normal playthrough.

And I agree, having the vending machines match your level regardless of what playthrough you are on and where you are in the story IS a definite improvement. Along with seeing more oranges offered in there. I've got a Celestial Lawbringer mod waiting to be used to that I bought from a machine when playing as Wilhelm, level 24 I think. I have ground a Nukem in the past in TPS, but I prefer the Badaboom from trying both in BL2.

[Bassman]

I used the Min Min lighter (Lv 20) for a fair few levels. I made good use of it against the Guardians at the end of Normal. Seemed pretty effective.

I also bought one of those ZX-1's (or whatever its called). Wasn't too impressed and stuck with the Lighter. The Lighter I used in preference to the Moxxi Laser as it was higher level.

I liked the Badaboom in B2. I have yet to see one of those.

I haven't managed to get a Legendary Class Mod yet.

I seem to be happier with the bolt action (for that read slow) Sniper Rifles compared to B2. The 50K Criticals with Clappy on the last bullet in the magazine is rather useful.

I have made a lot of use of the Darksiders to grind levels as they seem to go up after every Storey Mission. Clappy at Lv 37 having got the Robot Mission next on TVHM is getting 1200+ Exp from the three mini bosses there.

[Mayhem]

I had ZX1 drop from Zarpedon (AND the Bulwark actually) and didn't think much of it either. C'est la vie. Bulwark was a lot better, until I then picked a Sham out of a vending machine. Don't know if it's meant to absorb lasers too (the text is the same as BL2, it says bullets) but I consider that a boost to an already stonewall necessity shield for characters such as Nisha and Athena. Although Athena arguably is better with the Shooting Star but only if you're going heavy melee. My brother isn't, as he's playing her currently, he's going down the left with the shield, which has some excellent team benefits when we play together. So the 34% absorb shield he has currently works well enough.

I ground a Badaboom from the Thingys dropped by Iwajira, still doing me alright even though Wilhelm is up to level 36 now. Don't tend to have it equipped unless I know I'm coming up against something big though, the four weapons are an Eel, Fatale, Bullpup (hooray for another glitch!) and Blowfly currently.

Only found one Legendary mod, and it was the one I mentioned from the vending machine. Would like one for Wilhelm, may have to think about farming it back in NVHM. Perhaps. I like the boosts on the purple mod I have currently, especially the decent health regen for when Saint isn't out.

Haven't really used snipers much at all in TPS to be honest, they seem a little lacking compared, and many situations don't require it. Unless that's just because I prefer to be in your face shooting you to death heh.

(I did play Brick in BL1 and Sal/Zero in BL2!)

[Bassman]

Clappy is rather good. I carry a couple of CLass Mods. One gives Team Ammo Regen of 0.8 and a small Health Boost (best I have seen so far) and another with a Team Health Regen of 17.9 (I think) and a good Health Boost. With my equipment I think my Shield is around 3600 and Health 4500 unless I use the Health Regen Class Mod in which case Health is almost 6000. Not too bad for level 37. I'll have to check to see if there are Legendary versions of those. Clappy currently has a Purple Adaptive with 54%, around Lv 36 or so.

May have to try that Grind thing with the (disappointing) Thingy if I can get some more...

My best (highest naturally levelled) characters on BL2 were a Lv 63 Psycho and a Lv 62 (or so) Mechro. I did try some Lv 72 characters to see how they would fare!

I prefer Snipers. Quite useful in TVHM taking out the hoardes at a distance!

I have that Sniper equipped, a 680 or so damage Assault Rifle, the Excalib... and a Laser "Shotgun" (198x6 I think) with Fire damage. My grenade mod is a purple Homing Cryo Transfusion of around Lv 35. For Oz Kit I mostly use the 3001.E (though I carry another couple - one with some Health Regen and the other with a Damage Boost for full O2... very useful with Clappy not needing the stuff). The 0.8 Ammo Regen Class Mod just about holds its own with that set up though the "Shotgun" does get through ammo fairly rapidly. I quicky dumped one weapon (laser?) I found which used 7 ammo per shot! Useful with the regen when moving between checkpoints.