Borderlands 2 "gameplay blowout"

Stigmata

The Freeman
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Really it's only ~6 minutes of gameplay alongside an interview with Steve Gibson (Gearbox VP), but it's actual gameplay, extended sequences at that. And I think it looks fantastic. It seems like Gearbox have taken the community's response to the original to heart, and there have been a lot of improvements just to the basic feel of controlling your character and participating in combat. Anyway this is the video, and definitely watch it in 1080p of course:


[edit] RPS has a hands-on preview that gets deeper into details about co-op, NPCs, and missions.
 
Put around 250 hours into the first game, was a lot of fun. I only had two major gripes that occasionally spoiled the experience.

1. When playing coop games it is common for people to drop in-and-out of the experience at regular intervals, sometimes only two of you will be online in an evening, but all four of you will be available at the weekend. It was extremely easy in Borderlands to lock each other out of the experience, by completing missions at different times.

The only reasonable way around it was to have several different characters for different combinations of friends and even then there was a LOT of backtracking to catch people up. It is a problem that exists in most coop RPG's and MMO's, and one that I feel works against the cooperative experience.

2. The writing was awful. I know its a personal gripe and I know the game was deliberately being juvenile, but I think the game could really benefit from some funnier dialogue or just adding alternative dialogue for multiple play-throughs. There are only so many times you can listen to scooter shouting about his mother's "girly parts" before you want to shove a power-drill through your own eye socket.

Everything else I have seen is pretty great and thank god they have dropped Gamespy!
 
So hyped about this game it's unreal! This, next to Portal 2 last year, has been my most anticipated game in recent years. Things like Mass Effect and CoD and AC games don't really do it for me. I prefer a bit of humour in my games so Borderlands was perfect for me.

Also.... I think I just pee'd a little.... o_O
 
In the video one of the things they talk about is how if you were level 15 and you had a friend who was 10, you couldn't play together because you've already completed the quests that they haven't, and I guess Borderlands 2 is set up such that you can "reset" quests you've completed. But if you're level 15, doing level 10 quests, isn't it just going to be a ****ing cakewalk?
 
If it's anything like Borderlands, quests are set at the level of the host.
 
I'm really looking forward to playing this. After completing Borderlands in co-op five times over, this should be even better.
 
Everyone always says "You'll like Borderlands if you have friends to play it with". I wonder if they've made the single player experience better this time. I appreciate the way it's crafted with co-op in mind, but I don't want to buy the sequel and end up getting bored because none of my friends play it.
 
I think it'll be a lot more fun soloing this time. Quests are structured as multi-tiered adventures instead of cookie-cutter fetch/collect/kill missions, and the basic gameplay seems less annoyingly floaty and ropey. And NPCs are (apparently) actual animated, moving, shooting characters instead of background art with a backstory, and some can join you on quests.
 
Thank GOD they are changing up the quests, they were so boring in the first game and probably the reason I never reached the end.

Despite that, I really did like Borderlands, and I'm super excited for this one. The guns look amazing once again.
 
I love it how Gearbox really focused on the essential problems and flaws of Borderlands to make the sequel fantastic.
 
Everyone always says "You'll like Borderlands if you have friends to play it with". I wonder if they've made the single player experience better this time. I appreciate the way it's crafted with co-op in mind, but I don't want to buy the sequel and end up getting bored because none of my friends play it.
I played it both ways with B1 and found it equally enjoyable on my own as with my bros. Best part was, I didn't have to share loot, LOL. Even though I'm pretty sure I got my Pearlescent Serpens in Co-Op cause I was like "NO F*CK YOU, DIBS."
 
Most of the pearlescent guns were pants anyway. Give me a good Pestilent Defiler and a Combustion Hellfire, and I don't really need much else.
 
Mine was awesome. I also had a total boner for corrosive weapons and it was X4.

Soldier class was awesome for getting all the elemental effects going. Shoot corrosive, plonk the turret out with fire and throw shock grenades. Watch the numbers flyyyyy.
 
I'm playing Borderlands for the first time now (two playthroughs with Roland, Lilith, and midway through the second with Mordecai). I've never played it with other people, and I think it's great. When this sequel comes out, I may try some co-op.
 
Managed to play this at PAX, after waiting in line for like 3 hours. Really excited to get it when it comes out.
 
I had a 4x Corrosive pistol with Mordecai and was deadly with it (can't remember exactly the name of it, but pretty sure it was a defiler)....

Never got the chance to co-op with my friends as they got the game months before me so had tailed off when I started, so I had to make do with drop in co-op games with randoms... and hated it.... the lack of 'co-op' and high level of 'every man for themselves' made it completely pointless. When BL2 comes out, i'll make sure I get a co-op going with actual friends.

So hyped for this though...
 
Cool Top Comment-

played fallout 3 390 hours oblivion 540 but when you compare it to my borderlands its not shit I've played borderlands 3000+ and counting almost everyday haven't played any game since 2010 longer than an hour besides Skyrim quit around 110 hours and I gotta say skyrim was a big disappointment oblivion was far better What attracts me to a game is endless potential an big entertaining world to give it too I don't like only playing a game just 10 hours and no game lasts longer than Borderlands
 
Speaking of Borderlands, does anyone have any tips for beating Crawermax in the General Knoxx expansion? That bastard wastes my lv.68 Roland with just a few hits every time. He's too fast to hit that one weak point from behind so I'll probably have to play co-op to beat him. I wonder if Borderlands2 is going to have a next to impossible super boss like this too. BTW the eridian goo gun is my favorite weapon of all time in the first game. I can kill just about any lv.70 Super bad in a few seconds with that gun. Well, anyone except for corrosive enemies and Crawermax that is. :p
 
Here's some gameplay footage of the Gunzerker and Siren.



It's looking pretty good. The various damage models on the enemies is really neat. I also like how every weapon has a unique look now. From the visual effects to its own set of animations. The combat also appears to be a bit faster paced. This should be a lot of fun in co-op.
 
I'm really impressed with the variety of weapon designs in these videos. I can only hope that it's just a fraction of what the game has to offer. Everything else looks great.
 
That's what they're promising. Each weapon manufacturer will have their own distinct look. This should be a good year for co-op centric players like me. Torchlight 2 is another one too look forward too. I also just got invited into the Firefall beta and that game is shaping up really nicely too.
 
How did you get the voucher? It shows up as just 20% off for me.

Would for sure get it at 45% off.

EDIT: Nevermind, figured it out. A great deal for sure.
 
Indeed, quite excited. It's looking much improved from the first.

Though, the "Gunzerker" seems to be a mind blowingly boring class from what I have seen. I don't understand what is exciting about, "your ability is to sometimes duel wield guns"

Also, the visuals are really, really, overwhelming in this one, I'll have to turn off some HUD elements if possible. They really overcompensated by thinking "You know, the first game was a little empty. I think we should add 5 different neon colors to the menu system", Jesus Christ.
 
Yeah the visuals are kinda crazy now, I suppose it fits the style of the game, but still.

My opinion on this hasn't changed much. Cooler gun system + better quest variety = very excited for this.
 
Though, the "Gunzerker" seems to be a mind blowingly boring class from what I have seen. I don't understand what is exciting about, "your ability is to sometimes duel wield guns"

The action skill does sound a bit meh, but is it any worse than Brick's or Modecai's from the first game? "You can punch stuff or you have a bird do a pathetic amount of damage to a target." The Borderlands Wikia has postings of the talent trees, all of which seem awesome, and even the Gunzerker one has some cool stuff to it. I don't think it will be nearly as boring/lousy as Brick was.
 
He can dual wield any two guns. Combine that with some of the other skills (like the one that autoreloads any inactive gun, and the ones that increase your gunzerking duration) and some of the weapons that get faster/more powerful the longer you fire for, and you basically become a massive bullet hose.
 
F*ck it. Axton is up my alley. Dual nuke-armed turrets by the end of his trees. I'm in.
 
F*ck it. Axton is up my alley. Dual nuke-armed turrets by the end of his trees. I'm in.

Yeah, I wasn't sure about Axton at all until I looked at his tree, and now I'm really ****ing excited about it. My only complaint is that the Siren gets the healing tree. I have something of an obsession with playing healer characters. But she looks kind of dull aside from that, I'm just not into the whole "phaselock" thing.
 
Since I played Roland in the last game I'm kinda looking for a change from the Soldier class. Zer0 looks like he could be a lot of fun, so long as it doesnt restrict the range of guns I can use.
 
I liked Brick's punching :( ...

But The Siren and Zero are probably my pick. I love elemental damage and the fact that her phaselock can supposedly pull people in, and turn enemies against each other. Zero has potential to be cool, but his "stealth" mechanic could transition really uninterestingly into this style of game.

I love anything with a turret ability, but to me deploying a turret in such a fast paced game always seemed like it would be tedious or ineffective since you move onto the next spot so quickly. I dunno, could be totally wrong.
 
From my experience in the last game, the turret recharged quickly enough that deploying it at the start of the fight meant it was off cooldown by the time you killed everyone in one area. Was also great for boss fights since they are normally confined to one area.
 
The action skill does sound a bit meh, but is it any worse than Brick's or Modecai's from the first game? "You can punch stuff or you have a bird do a pathetic amount of damage to a target.".

Hey, hey, if you followed the bird's (whatever it's name was) skill tree it became quite powerful and when maxed out it pretty much cleared the area for you, dealing significant damage to up to 7 targets (IIRC). It almost wasn't fun to use it at that point, because it was overpowered.
 
More gameplay!


This is the PC version.... being played with a 360 controller. But at least it's the PC version. The various Loader bots look like a hell of a lot of fun to fight, and - most importantly of all - the weapon textures appear to be much more detailed this time around. But more importantly, the difficulty is clearly much higher than before, and the game will require tactics beyond "be level 60 and have an elemental SMG or pistol".

So who's getting this? Myself, Derek, and Alex are going to be co-oping, and we'll need a fourth on release night.
 
Already got it from GreenmanGaming, my mind and body are ready.
 
Already got it from GreenmanGaming, my mind and body are ready.

As did I. Thanks to that GMG deal I convinced 2 local friends to get it as well. Can't wait to jump in next week!
 
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