[360, PS3] Borderlands

[RancidLunchmeat]

Exactly why I still haven't played it, NRP.

I might try it out some this weekend, but I doubt I'll be spending too much time in it. Yes, you can say I wasted $10, but I wanted it check it out, see how the "bank" works, etc.

It's also supposed to be horrifically time consuming because the chances to save your game are few and far between (which is how any modern game adjusts its difficulty level - remove or limit save points).

 

[RobertR1]

Hit level 50 yesterday with Scott and at the last stage for our 2nd play through. I heard the 3rd playthough is where you get epic weapon drops so we'll try a bit of that to see if it's really true. However, our current weapons are quite nice. Scott has a killer SMG and I have an awesome Sniper rifle. Haven't come across any "wow!" AR's though. Just looking for one of those now.

 

[Scott_Arm]

None of the guns I have are "orange" items. I think they're either green or blue. I'm hoping there will be some really crazy stuff coming third play.

 

[RancidLunchmeat]

I think I'm lvl 47 or so, the 2nd play through isn't giving me any exp and everything dies incredibly easy so far (still early on..) funny, even those skags were kicking my ass at lvl 37 or so, but after doing ZI on the 2nd play through... 10 levels later and everything just melts in front of my Hellfire SMG or Volcano Sniper, they're both orange.

Oh.. and I bought the Hellfire SMG from a machine for like 300k. Best 300k I've ever spent!

What are your shields like? I've finally got one that has 900 or so shield with slow health reg, thats the best I've found so far. The 2nd best was probably a 500 or so with 30% health boost. I've found some that give off 'wave of fire' or 'inferno of fire' when depleted but I'd rather have more shield points than some doomsday device self-destruct mode.

 

[Scott_Arm]

On 2nd play, skip all of the side quests and follow the main quest line. Once you get to the 2nd half you can rack up experience very quickly. Is it old haven or new haven that's full of those armoured soldiers? In that area, I went from level 48-49 to almost 50 in a span of probably 45 minutes, and that's after I switched my skill points and dropped my exp bonus skills.

 

[RancidLunchmeat]

The Crimson Lance are in Old Haven, yeah that's really the toughest part of the game. I'll prob do as you suggest and just go main storyline this time.

I've read that some of those side quest bosses special weapons are great, but on walkthrough 2.5 (after you beat the 2nd walkthrough, there's no actual 3rd play through).

I'll have to check, I think I dropped my exp bonus skill as well, but I'm not sure.

And I can't believe you didn't find any great orange or better weapons in Old Haven on the second play through, that's where people normally get all their best stuff from what I've read.

 

[NRP]

Robert and Scott,
I want in on your 3rd playthrough. I'm currently dicking around in my 2nd playthrough trying to get my level up (45 currently), so I should be able to hang with you guys. Supposedly, more players = better loot. So far, except for my seriously badass pistol, I've only found weapons that are incremental upgrades. I haven't even found any for sale that seem worth a crap.

Why are the 2nd playthrough enemy levels higher in the DLC than the regular game?

 

[Scott_Arm]

Robert and Scott,
I want in on your 3rd playthrough. I'm currently dicking around in my 2nd playthrough trying to get my level up (45 currently), so I should be able to hang with you guys. Supposedly, more players = better loot. So far, except for my seriously badass pistol, I've only found weapons that are incremental upgrades. I haven't even found any for sale that seem worth a crap.

Why are the 2nd playthrough enemy levels higher in the DLC than the regular game?

Yeah, there is no third play through. You can just keep revisiting areas to kill the spawns and they've leveled up to 50+. Get your hands on the arena DLC and jump in with me and Robert.

 

[NRP]

I've completed ZI twice now, and I can say that all of the best weapons I've found/purchased have been in ZI (Jakobs Lumber Mill, specifically). I've not really come accoss any epic wepons in the regular game.

ZI (1st DLC) is badass, and I highly recommend it to everyone.

 

[corduroygt]

I got the platinum and since I'm level capped at 50 now, there's not much more incentive to play the game. If Gearbox is smart, they'll add DLC to unlock higher levels and some different weapons than the stuff we have, all weapons seem to be just more of the same. It looks like I'll be costing one new game sale to Gearbox since I'm planning to sell my copy. I also think they can turn Borderlands into a MMO with just a bit more work and a much bigger world map.

 

[Silent_Buddha]

Nod, I think they should have done something similar to Diablo II where reaching the max level (99 in the case of Diablo II) was difficult (unless you use high level buddies to help you level, and even then efforts were made to nerf that). Easy enough to get to a decent level, then increasing harder to gain each additional level, thus always dangling a carrot and giving you something to look forward to.

Too many games now days in these types of situations will just get the player to max level ASAP and then hope they stay interested purely based on item collection, which I think is pure failure.

Would love to have seen for example that it was easy in Borderlands to hit 30-35 (so basically easy first playthrough). Then after that each additional level required basically twice (if not more) the effort of the previous level with the level cap being 60-70. Although they'd need to add either more skills or more skill levels.

So for example, easy progress up to 35. Enough to finish first playthrough easily and have a solid base for your character concept. Then level 35 takes the same effort as say 30-35 did combined. And Level 36 takes twice what 35 took, etc... At that point it's more about just having something to look forward to and tweaking your character, versus building up to be able to do everything you want to be able to do.

Something Diablo II did quite well, but nothing else has really been able to replicate. Too many games just want people to get to the end rather than savoring the journey.

Regards,
SB

 

[deathindustrial]

Too many games just want people to get to the end rather than savoring the journey.

It takes what, at least 60 to 75 hours of gameplay to get to level 50 if not more? Personally, I have two characters around level 47 so have not even hit the level cap myself and have a lot more hours in the game than that I think.

Seems like savouring the journey to me.

=)

Cheers

 

[RancidLunchmeat]

Yeah, I'd have to say this game wasn't too quick for me, but I did every single side quest as they came available and didn't just go straight for the story line. I finished around level 35 or so, and the later missions were pretty tough, requiring use of health packs and everything! LOL

The 2nd play through was killing me, until I jumped into ZI and was able to XP up some levels because you can pick off the zombies from a safe distance. Takes forever that way, though!

 

[Silent_Buddha]

Heh, I guess I'm one of those rare ones that doesn't mind putting 500+ hours (Diablo II, /me shakes head) into a compelling game. Then again that only happened because it was one of the most played LAN games at our LAN gaming sessions. And that was due almost entirely to the fact that it took a LONG time to get to really high levels combined with the constant quest for better items, gems, and runes to create runewords.

There just hasn't been anything even remotely as good as Diablo II when it game to this type of gaming, IMO. Well, Hellgate: London may have if it hadn't been so god-awfully buggy, but even they wimped out with a relatively low max level and how relatively easy it was to get to max level. But at least they had socketing, weapon disassembly to gain parts to socket, etc.

Regards,
SB

 

[corduroygt]

I'm with Silent Buddha here as Diablo 2 was my favorite game for a long time, I loved playing coop with my cousin and set the enemy numbers to 8 player coop to level up even faster and get more of a challenge, we played until 2006 I was a necromancer, loved that class. Titan Quest just wasn't the same, the different classes didn't feel different enough for starters.
Besides Diablo, one can look at Demon's Souls or Might&Magic 6 for some good leveling RPG's that seem to take a very long time to attain.
Pro tip: If you're not happy with your class and want to get a new one, play the split screen with your new character and other high level character. You will get the first 15 levels in 30 minutes or less when your main char is killing level 35-40 monsters and the other newbie character is just sitting there. That's how I got the trophies that required using the special ability of each class (that you don't get until level 5) very quickly.

 

[RancidLunchmeat]

That's how I got the trophies that required using the special ability of each class (that you don't get until level 5) very quickly.

If you do it that way do you skip the damn bus ride? I've only played through one second character, and while I didn't mind spending the time to get to level five, that damn bus ride was killing me.

 

[Silent_Buddha]

If you do it that way do you skip the damn bus ride? I've only played through one second character, and while I didn't mind spending the time to get to level five, that damn bus ride was killing me.

Hehe, yeah that's annoying. So what I ended up doing is made 4 characters while cooking dinner once time. Just start it, go cook food, come back and save. Start another char, cook some more, save. Since the game allows you to respec at anytime (not a fan of respecs, BOOO, but understand why people like it), there's zero reason to create more than 1 of each char.

Regards,
SB

 

[corduroygt]

When you start a split screen game, you can either choose an existing character or a new character along with your level 36 main character in playthrough 2. You don't get to watch the bus scene that way.

 

[BoardBonobo]

I hate midgets, especially psycho ones in fetish masks...

 

[NRP]

I started a second character, a soldier. After a couple hours, I'm at level 16. It's amazing how much smoother it goes when you know what the hell you're doing.

I've already found a couple decent snipers (relative to my level), so I'm wondering if your character type affects the type of weapons you come across?

I'm at the point where I have to go in and fight Sledge, and I'm worried. My turret and bullet damage are maxed out, but once the turret craps out, I think I'm going to have a hard time with him. I seem to remember he has a shield, and I don't really have any weapons for that.