Borderlands 2 Afterthoughts

I’ll be completely honest, I’ve been looking forward to writing my Afterthoughts of “Borderlands 2” much more than I did writing the actual review. For one thing, pretty much anyone who would be interested in the game knows what it’s about and knows that it’s full of as much badassery as one game can muster – and you didn’t need me to tell you that. On top of that, I try not to get too caught up on every little change made to the game and my opinion on it while writing the review but, being an opinionated nerd, I do have plenty of other notes and things I wanted to talk about.

Though I have a level 24 Commando and a level 23 Siren, I’m only on my first playthrough for each and have a long ways to go before I’ve maxed out either of them. For as much time as I’ve been playing, I still feel like I scratched the surface of this enormous game.

There may be spoilers below so read at your own risk.

There is no debate – the Commando class is best

-You heard me. Axton, the Commando, the spiritual successor to Roland’s Soldier class, is hands down the best class in the game. Why? Simple, really – dat turret. Axton’s turret is an absolute wrecking machine that none of the other action skills compare to. Though the other skills have their uses, the turret can function in similar ways to the other powers while easily remaining superior. It distracts enemies, damages them, is incredibly durable and can be upgraded to be even more devastating. Plus, you can even reclaim the turret once it’s made quick work of any nearby enemies (which it always does) to reduce its cooldown time.

I felt I had to stand up for Axton because one else on the internet will. Before the game came out, it seemed that everyone who was excited to play it was also really excited to play as Zer0. Or as Salvadore. And a few people were even stoked for Maya. But besides myself and a handful of others, it seemed hardly anyone was giving the Commando any respect. Even the devs don’t give him his due. Scattered throughout the game you can find wanted posters for each of the playable characters. Maya’s bounty - $720,000,000,000. Salvadore’s bounty - $99,000,000,000.99. Zer0’s bounty - $32,000,000,000. So what is Axton’s bounty? A measly $5,000,000,000! That’s just insulting, Gearbox.

Michael Mamaril is the man

-When I first got this game, I was wandering around, trying to familiarize myself with the main hub town, Sanctuary, when I happened across a character named Michael Mamaril. Since most NPCs in Sanctuary don’t have unique names, I decided to talk to him, thinking that he would offer some kind of quest. After greeting me, saying it was always good to meet another Vault Hunter like himself, he offered me the first purple weapon I had seen so far. I didn’t accept the gun right away, unsure of what kind of trickery Gearbox was trying to pull. Eventually I did take it – and that was that. Michael said he would be able to offer me something else if I ever found him again so I made it a point to seek him out every time I returned. He wasn’t always present (he seems to be around more often before Sanctuary takes flight) but when I did find him, whatever he offered me was undoubtedly one of the best items in my inventory.

Eventually, I started wondering what the deal was behind this apparently new face in the series who would willingly give up such sweet loot. As it turns out, the answer is a lot sadder but ultimately more touching than I had ever expected.

Michael Mamaril was a gamer and a huge fan of “Borderlands.” Because the world is a messed up place that doesn’t make sense sometimes, Michael was diagnosed with a terminal illness and passed away in 2011 when he was just 22. A friend of Michael’s contacted Gearbox and asked if series mascot Claptrap would read a short eulogy for Michael, which you can listen to here (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KuroFpcFq-c).

During the heart-felt speech, voice actor David Eddings promised that Michael would live on forever in the Borderlands and the developers did an astounding job memorializing their late fan. Gearbox could’ve just added a short note about Michael in the credits but instead went above and beyond anyone’s expectations and actually added Michael as a character in the game. And not just any character, but one who will freely give you some of the best loot you could find for nothing so that even people who don’t bother looking into the story behind Michael’s appearance in “Borderlands 2” will find themselves saying,  “I don’t know who this Michael Mamaril is, but he is the man!”

Gearbox managed to find a way to simultaneously honor one of their biggest fans while at the same time forever ensuring that even complete strangers will think that Michael Mamaril is pretty awesome.

Baby you can drive my Runner

-Though it isn’t available from the start, there is a new four-person vehicle to drive, the Bandit Technical. It’s a decent option to the traditional Runner and though it can seat everyone you’re playing with, its weapons leave a bit to be desired. While the Runner sports a machine gun or rocket launcher in the gunner seat, the Technical features a saw blade gun and a barrel launcher. The saw blades fly a bit slower than bullets and its hard to get used to leading enemies with it and though the barrel launcher is powerful it also suffers from accuracy issues. Plus the bigger frame of the Technical doesn’t provide the same maneuverability as a Runner. Don’t get me wrong, there’s nothing wrong with the Technical, I just prefer the Runner.

I propose a trade

-In the first “Borderlands,” if you played with others, it was inevitable that you would eventually pick up items better suited for someone else. Though that doesn’t happen as often anymore with the removal of gun proficiencies (see below), sooner or later someone will want something you’ve got. If you wanted to give items to another player, your only option would be to simply drop that item from your inventory so someone could pick it up.

While there wasn’t anything wrong with just dropping items, it was a bit…inelegant. “Borderlands 2” introduces a new system where you can trade all sorts of items between yourself and another player – even money. Now instead of having to read the stats of a weapon to your friends, you can open the trade menu and let him see it first hand. You can even duel for items through the trade menu, which I thought was a neat addition. Granted, dueling for items sounds like it would take the participation of the other player involved, since a loading screen conveyed it as "A teammate just ninja-grabbed some sweet loot? Open the trade screen and duel him for it!"  So like I said, it takes the participation of the other player and if he's the kind of jerk who swipes sweet loot before you can check it out, he probably is the kind of jerk who won't even open the trade screen, let alone give you a shot at his ill-gotten gains.

Baaaaaddddaaaassss

-As I mentioned above, gun proficiencies are no more. Though each class still features a few skills in their trees which pertain to specific weapon types, it’s not nearly as confining as the first game. Replacing the proficiencies are Badass Ranks which bring their own advantages. As in the first game, there is a large list of challenges to complete which earn you Badass Ranks (as opposed to generic XP). Challenges pertain to pretty much every action in the game – dealing certain types of damage, killing X amount of this enemy, opening crates, collecting weapons and lots more. After enough ranks, you earn a Token which grants you a small percentage upgrade to a stat like gun damage or recoil reduction. Though they might not seem substantial at first, enough time and ranks will lead to some nice bonuses to important stats. And you can even disable these additional perks if you want a bit more of a challenge. But the best part of Badass ranks is that your rank and stats are shared across all your characters, meaning the more characters you create, the more Badass potential you have.

A colorful cast of characters

-I know I talked about the writing and Handsome Jack in the review but I didn’t really touch on the other characters in “Borderlands 2,” which is a pretty egregious oversight considering how awesome most-to-all of them are. Many familiar faces like Marcus, Moxxi and Scooter make returns but there are even more outlandish characters who make the original cast seem normal by comparison. There’s Sir Hammerlock, the half-cyborg adventurer who generally sends you on missions where you seek all forms of Pandora’s wild-life – and kill them. There’s Tiny Tina, a 14-year-old hyper-active girl with a penchant for ridiculous slang and high explosives. And we can’t forget about Ellie, Scooter’s full-figured sister who runs a garage of her own in The Dust. The series’ trademark dark humor has been enhanced greatly with a healthy dose of juvenile humor as well, which I first noticed on an outhouse in a Bandit shantytown a sign reading “Dook hut, no fapping.”

Variety is the spice of life

-Though I played the original “Borderlands” to death, I’ll be the first to admit that it reused enemy designs and environments fairly regularly. You spent most of your time killing bandits or skags and there were only a few different types of enemies within each class of enemy. To make matters worse, the majority of the environments in which you killed these generic enemies were pretty generic themselves. Gearbox did an incredible job giving each area a look and feel of its own by diversifying the types and terrains in the landscapes and filled each with unique creatures and areas of relative safety. While some maps may force you to venture around on foot, other maps are large and wide open necessitating the use of a vehicle. And while the colorful, detailed landscapes are important additions, what you’ll really need to keep your eyes on are the deadlier enemies.

Being that “Borderlands 2” traverses a wider area of the planet Pandora, you’ll come across a much larger swath of its residents – most of whom will not be pleased to see you. For example, in the first game, the bandits were the same everywhere you went but now different areas feature different types of bandits, each with their own personalities. Like the Rat class of bandits who you typically see underground or in cave areas. Tunnel Rats, Thief Rats, and Lab Rats are the most common and most will also try to pick up dropped items and money if you don’t get to them first. This brand of bandits are completely different from the ones you’ll find in drier, desert areas like Nomads and Torturers who are much hardier and often carry shields. Enemies now can also have elemental properties without being classified a Badass and can even impart these properties onto smaller enemies.

But the biggest enhancement to the enemies you fight is the addition of evolving enemies. Certain types of baddies, like Goliaths and Vakrids, have the ability to change and become more powerful during a battle. Goliaths, for example, are large Bandit enemies that dual-wield guns and wear giant pots over their head. Scoring a critical hit on a Goliath will turn it into a Raging Goliath and cause it to drop its guns and pummel everything nearby with ferocious strength and speed – I once saw a Raging Goliath jump a few stories into the air to attack me, since there wasn’t anything closer to it on the ground. If the Raging Goliath manages to kill anything, it will become progressively stronger and harder to kill, changing into a Badass Raging Goliath, new Super Badass variety of enemies or worse (to be honest, I never usually let them get this far, so I’m not totally sure what comes next).

Vakrids are new insect enemies which always start out as Larval Vakrids but when they take damage, they will flee to a safer area and change into a cocoon. If the cocoon isn’t destroyed it will become the larger, stronger Adult Vakrid. These too can turn into Badass and Super Badass versions if not destroyed. Evolving enemies are huge issues that need to be addressed quickly on the battlefield or they can quickly become an overwhelming problem. I really love how the new enemy types and evolving enemies force you to change your strategy on the fly and keeps firefights from becoming dull or repetitive.

Handsome Jack’s Flying Robot Circus

-Did that title work? I’m not in love with it. Regardless…I like Jack’s robot death machines so much I thought I’d give them their own section outside the entry above (and not just because that one was running a bit long). As the head of the Hyperion Corporation and the main bad guy, Handsome Jack needed to have a fighting force that was as identifiable as his giant H-shaped space station. Rather than just give him an army of expendable faceless humans who would be on par with the Crimson Lance from the first game, Gearbox opted to equip Jack with a never-ending tide of relentless, emotionless killing machines. You can blow the robots apart, taking off arms and legs but until they’re down for good, they’ll keep coming at you like Terminators. But these guys have a leg up on Terminators because when they’re injured, they display a repair beacon and a nimble flying machine called a Surveyor will cruise in a repair the injured bot.

Usually these bots only inhabit Hyperion controlled areas but when Jack feels like being dramatic, he will launch down volleys of robots from his space station. And when dropping giant, killer robots on your head isn’t enough, you’ll come face to face with a Constructor. Constructors, while massive, well-armored enemies in themselves, are named that for a reason as they can create new enemies on the fly as well as launch auto-turrets and fire missiles to protect itself. They’re incredibly tough to bring down, especially since they can create new enemies to replace ones you’ve killed and forces you to take your attention off any Surveyors repairing damaged bots. Jack’s robot army is incredibly dangerous enemies and add tons variety to the combat.

  

Zingers

-Highly considering getting the season pass. The pass costs $30 and is said to include four upcoming DLC packs which should all, allegedly, be released by next summer. Since each DLC is going to be $10 by itself, spend a little now to get more later on. Which is great because…

-Gearbox has not only released the Mechromancer class earlier than expected, but they have also already announced the first DLC, titled “Captain Scarlett and her Pirate’s Booty,” which has been given a release date of Oct. 16. The new area has been described by Gearbox President Randy Pitchford as being a large, dry area “more like Tatooine than an ocean” that also features a bandit occupied area known as Oasis. This DLC pack is also said to add a new vehicle – the Sand Skiff (think those little ships that traveled next to Jabba the Hut’s barge) – as well as a new currency called “seraph crystals,” though no word on what you’ll be able to purchase with them. I’m pretty blown away that Gearbox has not only released the Mechromancer early but that its first announced DLC pack is only days away from coming out. Gearbox definitely knows how to give their fans their money’s worth – and how to keep them coming back.

-You can’t keep health packs in your inventory anymore, which is kinda lame. There are more opportunities to pick up health vials now and more chances to add some aspect of health regeneration to your character but it’s not the same.

-Once you reach Sanctuary you’ll have access to numerous stores, a space to store weapons as well as a method to share items between all your created characters. Not only that but you can spend some time and money on the slot machines in Moxxi’s bar. For a price, dependent on your level, you can take a spin for a chance to win weapons, money and Eridium making them a great time waster if you’re a gambling man. Though, they do shoot out live grenades at you if you line up three Bandit masks, so play at your own risk. So far I’ve gotten some pretty sweet loot out of these machines, lots of blues, some purples but no oranges yet for me. A friend scored an orange gun when we were playing once, but that was the only time I’ve seen it happen so far.

-Flying enemies add lots of variety to the combat. I mentioned the robot Repair Surveyors and bandits also have flying contraptions of their own called Buzzards. Though they can get a bit annoying and overwhelming, if you aren’t prepared to face them, they are a welcome addition to the series’ stable of enemies. It’d be great if we could pilot a flying vehicle ourselves, but I’m not holding out hope.

-E-Tech turns regular weaponry into crazy, over-powered versions of its original self. I’ve seen assault rifles that shoot lasers, shotguns that shoot balls of fire and I’m sure that’s just the beginning.

-I didn’t think this would be a problem but I’ve run out of use for Eridium. After buying every SDU that Crazy Earl has to offer, I keep picking up Eridium (on my travels or from the slot machines) but there’s nothing that I can do with it anymore. It’d be cool if Gearbox eventually added additional uses for the stuff but I’m not holding my breath.

-There’s a day/night cycle though the time of day is rarely important. I’ve come across maybe one mission where the time of day mattered and even then it was just for bonus XP (if I completed a certain mission at night).

-Rocket launchers actually are worthwhile in this game. If you played enough of the first game, you undoubtedly came to realize that rocket launchers were surprisingly useless. They didn’t seem to do much damage, their explosions didn’t seem to bother or stagger enemies and they somehow seemed to lack any noticeable splash damage. Their ineffectiveness was also part of the reason most people avoided Brick. Such is not the case anymore. It’s weird, but I almost find them to be too effective and tend not to keep one hotkeyed unless I know I’m going to be fighting an extremely resilient enemy.

-Make sure you check everything – and I mean everything. It won’t happen often but if you’re diligent enough in your exploration, you can sometimes turn up rare weapons in refuse piles or tiny containers.

-Though this problem isn’t as bad or prevalent as it was in the first game, some missions still contain elements of manufactured length – missions where you’re required to return to a different area to “turn in” the mission, only to be told it’s the first part of a multi-part mission that will have you going back and forth between the same areas, completing similar tasks. Like I said, it’s not as it was in the first game, but the fact that you’re still subjected to these dull, back-and-forth affairs is a bit annoying.