BL2: First impressions

[Binnatics]

Ohboy Ohboy Ohboy..... a few more minutes and.... BOOM! Headshot!!! :-() :-() >:D

Congratulations Jim on the Job!!! That's great! :-X :) Don't worry leaving us with the thugs in Pandora, we'll keep them busy while you're absent  :-D

I was surprised that my retail version was activated through Steam again, making it a "Steam-account-related-exclusive" game. Not that I worry about that since for me everything is working out fine through Steam, I just hope it won't be a downer for others :-\\

This game has its first plus already: The retail pack design is simple, recognizable and promising 8)

[PZ]

Can't wait to read your impressions!  :-X

[Fiach]

Just a heads up.

When you buy the first release of the game, you get a code called Premiere Club, it contains a number of things, the guns are pretty good apparently, but there is a KEY.

It opens a very distinctive treasure chest. From what I can gather, the stuff in the chest will level up with your character as long as you dont open it, once you open it, the items stay at that level.

So, if you want some decent stuff later on, its probably best to wait.

I dont know this for certain, but I have read of people upset that they opened it too early (low level), so it's something worth looking into, if its of concern to you.

[Art Blade]

cheers Fiach, I'll keep that in mind  :-X :)

[Binnatics]

Thanx for the tip Fiach. I'll be patient :-()

Had my first bit of headshot-fun in this bay sir Hammerlot sends you to do stuff.

I chose the sword-guy called Zero, he seems most the same as the Mordecai in BD1. He's a nice character. Fast, good with sniping, guns and melee.
Most creatures seem faster this time, so no time to lock and aim much, just straight action. I like that ;D

Story is simple: There happened to be another vault, with new treasures. And of course we are sent in to take the stuff before the bad guys (Handsome Jack?? And his robotic army??) take over :-X :)

I completely forgot the time looking for nice weapons. I was very satisfied with my first sniper rifle that Sir Hammerlot gave me. It's accurate and gives nice 'criticals' all the time ;)

[Art Blade]

Nice :) Can't wait to get my grubby greedy mitts on that title  >:D

Any chance of getting a few screenshots, mate?

[Fiach]

I only played one quest for Sir H, clear the pond and the place with the electrical barricade. I got a nice Fire element revolver from the yeti type creatures, which made short w@&k of anything I encountered after that.

To me the monsters seem more "in your face", aggressive than before and the gfx seem more..."realistic" or "solid" looking while still cartoonish.

Binn, did you get the premiere club guns, (not the chest ones) and whats the other stuff like Vault Hunter's Relic, Gearbox Gunpack, and new Mechromancer class?

[Binnatics]

Euhhh... :-[... did not check that out yet Fiach.

I have to additional pieces of paper with my retail package that contain a code behind a scratch-bar. I guess I'll have to unlock them through steam, but yesterday I was too excited to take time and do that stuff. And in fact, today it's kind of the same. I HAVE TO produce some CRITICALS before doing anything else :-D

I totally agree on the 'in your face' monsters and your notes on the gfx quality. I'm nicely surprised with the visual quality :-X 8)

[Jim di Griz]

Cheers Binn - all is going well and at least I can keep abreast of what you all discover in the meantime.

Talking of which, has anyone got the Hyperion Energizing Bane yet?

What the f@#k, Borderlands?

Reminds me of the Timesplitters unlockable cheat option to give kiddies' warplay sounds for all weapons (peow, peow.) Borderlands 2 has taken that a fine step forward though. So watch out for it online, you are warned  ;)

[Art Blade]

omfg 

[Jim di Griz]

"Reload!" 

[fragger]

Sounds like a war party of Apaches on the attack

[Binnatics]

Oh man, What a great game!!

I've come to sanctuary and there I assigned to a few side missions and followed the main story. One side mission in particular was amazing, the one where you have to kill the "Assassins" to relief Sanctuary of their threat. You get the mission through the job-board inside Sanctuary. Roland tells you to go to their hideout, what looks like an old factory. In there, you'll meet 4 or five assassins; one at a time. They all have special abilities, like for example they are very good at close range fighting with shotguns. An extra side-achievement then is to kill the guy with a shotgun. Another guy is very good at melee attacks; and yes, you are asked to do the job using melee as well ;D
You get some nice weapons from the fallen assassins and if I remember it right you'll also find some Eridium inside the factory. Eridium is good for the, sort of, upgrade shop. Remember the wasted guy in the scrapjard with the bad temper? I'm not sure what's his name again but he made it up to a fine upgrade shop in Sanctuary where you can buy the stuff you usually would get when repairing / saving a hurt Claptrap.
You can also obtain magazine upgrades, so that you an carry more firepower >:D

New to this game is 'the bank'. A place where you can store guns, shields or other useful stuff you usually carry round in your backpack. Here you can store up to 8, maybe more items in a safe in Roland's house. And there's also a claptrap that offers you another 'bank' that has inter-character-playthrough functionality. You can store stuff there being Nero, and on another playthrough where you deside to be the Gunserker you can get what Nero stored away for you ^-^ :-X
Nice out of the box thinking, all in favour of many hours of pure joy :-X :)
What's also new is that, being in a vehicle, you can grab the loot that falls of fallen enemies and out of these dusty waste piles of various animals you fight. That is a great advantage. Weapons and shields, however, still require you to come ouyt of your ride, since they occupy space in your inventory; maybe you didn't want to pick them up ;)

Besides cool new features this game is so good because of what's the same as in BD1. I am so happy that there's still the same type of story: Vault > hunters > bad guys > fights. That's it. No bullshit, just straight fun. And that's the same when we speak of gameplay, hud options, upgrade systems etc. etc. It gives you that nice feeling of coming back home in Pandora the way you left it; it feels natural from the first moment on. Of course there have been some minor changes, like a new way of upgrading your new character and weapons have different functionalities, there's also a new way of frustrating your enemies besides corrosive, electric and flammable effects; now there's Slag. It sticks to your enemy and works like mud; they're temporarily busy with getting the dirt off their faces. It has a bit of the same effect as waht some spiderants use to spit at you. By the way, the spiderants have evolved into some nasty enemies. Man I had a good fight with them!!! I was glad that I could lead them into a "raging mutant" or two from a nearby stronghold, so that they were busy with each other. Otherwise it would have been a certain death form me :o

I'm totally into the game allready and hope to read about other's adventures. Oh, and as soon as you fire up the PC version, we should try to meet in a coop game ;) I guess sharing the fun makes the game even better :-X ^-^

[Fiach]

So...the games a bit crap then?.....

Y'know I read on some forums where people say stuff like " Borderlands...yeah I tried that, it was boring, you just run around killing stuff..." It always gives me a wtf? moment :)

Glad you're having a blast mate :)

[Art Blade]

good one, Fiach, that "a bit crap" bit made me chuckle :-X :-()

Nice first impressions, Binnatics. You describe what I want to see: keeping beloved principles and sticking to basics known from BL1 and only add to that in a fitting way. And they seem to have taken care of little nuisances. By the way, "the Bank" was introduced with one of the DLCs for BL1 and it is good to know that they made it part of the vanilla game now. :) Man, I will have to wait a few more days until I get my version. And I am really excited already  :)

[Art Blade]

I'm still excited about getting my copy of the game. Soon. Any time now. Could be tomorrow.. could be next week.. who knows..  :'( The guy who's supposed to have my copy has fallen ill and not yet recovered.

[Fiach]

Your mate is playing it and just pretending to be ill, crikey Art, you are so gullible, ask him to get you a copy of the My Little Pony game and I bet you get it the next day  :D

>:D

[Art Blade]

 

I talked to him today. I was about to tell him that I'd beat him up so hard that his offspring would be born with two black eyes if he didn't get well soon but it wasn't necessary, he'll be back this Thursday. :)

[Fiach]

I talked to him today. I was about to tell him that I'd beat him up so hard that his offspring would be born with two black eyes if he didn't get well soon but it wasn't necessary, he'll be back this Thursday. :)

Better hope there is no DLC released on thursday...just sayin'  >:D

[Art Blade]

 

[PZ]

  :-X

[Fiach]

Oh dear....poor Art.....   :'(

http://www.destructoid.com/review-borderlands-2-captain-scarlett-dlc-236782.phtml

>:D

[Art Blade]

not only a DLC released yesterday, they even named a Character after me:

the eponymous booty belongs to one Captain Blade

[PZ]

  :-X

[Fiach]

So, I went to d/l the pirate pack and there was also another d/l (free) available.

It was the Mechromancer "character".

now, I already had downloaded the Mechromancer "pack" which I got for free with my preorder, Anyone know the difference between these packs?

I havent played the game, so I dont know if the mech character was already available to play before this new 87mb character that I got this morning.

Any shedding of light would be appreciated. :)