Anyone planning on buying Borderlands (360 or PC)

[SirFozzie]

I am reading what everyone has to say about thie game and the people around it, and between four player co-op, and a fallout like atmosphere combined with customizable vehicles, I definitely want to get involved

I'm thinking about getting the PC verison, I think Steam has a special price for the 4-pack verson of Borderlands.. but everything that I'm seeing just fills me with Wow.. (like the fact that the game's creative boss, Mike Neumann said that if you bought the game on day one could prove it to him, he'd not only play for a time with you and drop off a loot bag.

He didn't expect how much interest he'd get.. over 200 people took him up on the offer, and he's working through the list and giving everyone goodies and playing with them for an hour or so :)

Metacritic gives the game an 8.4 rating, I assume it's going to be even better on PC

[Mustang]

I picked it up today for the 360. I won't be playing it until the little one goes down for the night though.


After struggling mightly with Demon's Souls, I just wanted a game where I could kill stuff and see some level of progress in the game. :)

[SirFozzie]

well, Mustang, you have to tell us how it is!

[Vince, Pt. II]

I'm planning on getting the PC version. Because I'm awesome at planning, I went to Best Buy yesterday, then again today, and was disappointed both days. What the hell is with having a different street date for the PC version? Also, what the hell is with pushing it back 3 days, even though vendors already have them?

[SirFozzie]

BTW, the Pre-Release deal on Steam (game releases on the 26th, when this ends) is the following:

$44.99 for single copies
$134.97 (Something like $34.50 each) for the four pack.


Would there be interest in going for the four pack? (you would need steam)

[aran]

Count me in for the PC version!

[thesloppy]

I've probably got about 12 hours into the 360 version (solo), and it's a good time. The gameplay itself is nothing revolutionary, but if you're a loot hoarder in most games, you'll likely love it. As mentioned by almost all reviews/hype essentially it plays like Fallout 3 with a much lighter plot, world design, production values, etc, but also with a much deeper (and random) loot system that is more like a roguelike/Diablo. I'm having a blast, but it also seems like the kind of game that could be like crack for two weeks, and then I'll never touch it again.

[aran]

SirFozzie and others interested in playing the game MP: what are your steam IDs? Mine is evizaer.

[SirFozzie]

SirFozzie is mine.

We still need two others Once we get that (I'll buy the 4-pack of the game on faith that the money will come in, via paypal, if that's no problem?)

[aran]

Or I can buy you a game of equal value and gift it to you on steam. I've had a shaky past with paypal, though I think I'll probably be able to go that route.

[Mustang]

The game is 1 part Fallout, 1 part Diablo, 1 part A Scanner Darkly and 1 part Quentin Tarantino.

(The backdrop is like Fallout, a Diablo type loot system, A Scanner Darkly Graphics and then the display of new characters reminds me of Quentin Tarantino movies.. a think he did that type of 'entrance' in Resevoir Dogs and Inglorious Basterds if I remember right.)

Definitely nothing revolutionary, but it is a good escape.

[Honolulu_Blue]

I picked this game up on a whim last night for the 360. A friend of mine came over and we played it for about 7 hours. I think we made it to about 13th level or so.

I agree with Mustang about it being 1 part Fallout and 1 part Diablo. (I think the display for new characters was used by Guy Ritchie. Tarantino might have done it for "Inglorious Basterds" (haven't seen it), but didn't use the technique in "Reservoir Dogs").

Anyway, it's pretty much as advertised. You get quests, run around, kill things, complete the quests, and get rewards. There are a ton of guns, some of which are pretty fun.

The world is pretty barren. Other than people you buy things from and get missions from, there have yet to be any other NPCs. The rest are villains.

The re-spawning thing can get a bit annoying. Pretty much every time you leave the city you have to kill the same set of skags (lizard-dog like things with long tongues) and same group of raiders. It also becomes an issue with some missions. When you die you get re-spawned back at a certain check point for the mission. You re-spawn with the ammo you had when you died. Depending on the timing, you may have to fight the same villains you already killed again. We ran into this problem with the last mission we played. This giant roid-rage psycho kept killing us. The more often we tried, eventually guys started to re-spawn which further depleted our ammo.

The AI isn't super great, but some of the shootouts we had were pretty fun and we were able to use some tactics that worked.

We had a great time with it. I am not sure how much appeal it'd have as a single player game, but it's possible.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

LOL.....is this the third or fourth Borderlands discussion that has been started?

[aran]

I started a thread about it and got shouted down and pointed to the video game thread. The video game thread's discussion was like five posts long before the thread moved on to some other topic.

This is really the only thread that people are using to discuss this game now.

[Vince, Pt. II]

I can get behind the 4-pack idea. I don't know if my PayPal account is still active (I had an identity theft issue a year or so ago and shut down most everything), but if that doesn't work I'm happy to mail a check.

[SirFozzie]

Ok, just need one more... :)

[SirFozzie]

Aran and Vince: I bought the game, just to be sure we'd get it. PM me for paypal info or my address

I still have one copy of the game to "give" (I'll need $33.50). Let me know who's interested.

[Vince, Pt. II]

I'll take the 4th copy, I owe my cousin a favor anyways, and he's going to get the game. PM sent.

[Mustang]

I'm not a fan of the split screen multiplayer. We tried it last night and I don't like that when you need to look at your inventory or character, you have to use the right stick to scroll up and down to get the full picture.

[Honolulu_Blue]

I'm not a fan of the split screen multiplayer. We tried it last night and I don't like that when you need to look at your inventory or character, you have to use the right stick to scroll up and down to get the full picture.

I did find that to be a little odd as well.

That said, I love split-screen co-op. I wish more games had it, especially 4 player. I have a good group of friends and we love getting together, drinking beers, and playing co-op games like this.

The only time I'll ever play this game is via split-screen. No real interest in playing it alone and I don't have my 360 hooked up to the internet.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Having now played this for a while I think the most obvious flaw I've found so far is the respawning of boss characters you've already killed. Mr. "You Woke the Wronnnnng Dog" shouldn't be magically reappearing everytime I go through that area afaic. I don't play enough shooters to know if that's common or not but it shouldn't be IMO.

Tried out the local mp with my son last night, the split screen scrolling annoyed me but I'm not sure if it was avoidable either, at least not short of resizing your info displays down to unreadable size.

[Vince, Pt. II]

This is frustrating. When are they going to "release" the game? I've got it all pre-loaded and everything, and since I'm home all day from work with a busted ankle, I was hoping to give the game a spin...it's been a while since I've been this excited about a video game.

[Mustang]

Having now played this for a while I think the most obvious flaw I've found so far is the respawning of boss characters you've already killed. Mr. "You Woke the Wronnnnng Dog" shouldn't be magically reappearing everytime I go through that area afaic. I don't play enough shooters to know if that's common or not but it shouldn't be IMO.


Most shooters are pretty linear so, you are advancing forward in the story line. When you are in the current area of the story, things don't respawn like this. Open games like Fallout they do, but they spread out over the land.

Games like Diablo, they respawn like Borderlands and because Borderlands isn't that big, you get these packed together respawned groups. It does get a little tedious in Borderlands that is for certain. Wish they would have had much lower level creatures ignore you like World of Warcraft. No reason a lvl 2 pup should be trying to take on a level 12 guy.

[Qwikshot]

Having an absolute blast playing this game, I think there are some nods to Fallout (the bobblehead), the retro-vibe, and it does the desolation nicely.

I don't mind the respawn too much, got out into the real desert and the game allows a lot of forgiveness if you run into big trouble. I did some battles where I would respawn and get back in time to eliminate a boss who was just wandering around

--sidenote: it is so much better that that when you die you don't retrigger the boss battle, I like that it's already triggered and it is your job to still take him down...

I hate the driving part, it should be fun but its not.

[JonInMiddleGA]

This is frustrating. When are they going to "release" the game? I've got it all pre-loaded and everything, and since I'm home all day from work with a busted ankle, I was hoping to give the game a spin...it's been a while since I've been this excited about a video game.

Saw this snippet in a thread at Borderlands General Discussion - Gearbox Software Community (http://gbxforums.gearboxsoftware.com/forumdisplay.php?f=72)

From the thread on the 2K Forums it appears that the game isn't unlocked until 1PM PST.

[JonInMiddleGA]

No reason a lvl 2 pup should be trying to take on a level 12 guy.

To some extent I think that's kind of in there, as I've started seeing some pups turn tail & run from me as my level finally gets into double digits.

One thing for sure, leveling seems to be a lot faster when playing in co-op mode than single player. I think I went up 4 levels in just one mission & even with more/bigger enemies due to the 2 players, I was getting less than half the kills so unless the XP is given to both players regardless of the kill shot then it's definitely a lot faster.

[Honolulu_Blue]

To some extent I think that's kind of in there, as I've started seeing some pups turn tail & run from me as my level finally gets into double digits.

One thing for sure, leveling seems to be a lot faster when playing in co-op mode than single player. I think I went up 4 levels in just one mission & even with more/bigger enemies due to the 2 players, I was getting less than half the kills so unless the XP is given to both players regardless of the kill shot then it's definitely a lot faster.

I think both XP and money are divided pretty much equally between players playing co-op.

Driving is hard. I got better at it as the game progressed, but I was never all that great. I kept running into things.

[Mustang]

Driving is hard. I got better at it as the game progressed, but I was never all that great. I kept running into things.

Driving is odd just because you use both of the sticks. Normally I just park it somewhere and then just start blowing stuff up.

[Vince, Pt. II]

Blah. Now it says that it's 100% ready...but when you launch it says "This game is currently unavailable." I'm cranky and injured damn it, let me play my game.

[aran]

Restart steam. I had the same issue and a restart seems to have fixed it. If you want to play with me and fozzie, friend me on steam (my steam name is evizaer).

[DataKing]

If anybody's playing on Xbox Live, feel free to send me a shout sometime. Gamertag is DataKing1. Currently have a level 26 soldier.

[Vince, Pt. II]

Friend request pending. Feel free to add my cousin, he's Kivo - we're probably going to be playing together, but I don't think either of us will have a problem going 4-way.

Damn, this decrypting files thing is slow :(

[Mustang]

I'm kerg01 on 360 although, only have a level 12 hunter. Although, if I played online it would give me a reason to get the smirk skill.

[Mustang]

I don't think either of us will have a problem going 4-way.
(

Kinky.

That is 8 thumbs to go around.

[ageofquarrel]

Hey looking for people to play with 360 gamertag is ageofquarrel80 and I have it on steam is djb12xu

[RainMaker]

Having now played this for a while I think the most obvious flaw I've found so far is the respawning of boss characters you've already killed. Mr. "You Woke the Wronnnnng Dog" shouldn't be magically reappearing everytime I go through that area afaic. I don't play enough shooters to know if that's common or not but it shouldn't be IMO.

Tried out the local mp with my son last night, the split screen scrolling annoyed me but I'm not sure if it was avoidable either, at least not short of resizing your info displays down to unreadable size.
I don't think it's common. I do think they did it on purpose as I'm fairly certain I've read previews that stated how you could replay things over and over.

My only gripe so far is the driving. Don't understand why some developers make fun parts of the game a fucking chore.

[thesloppy]

I guess I should count myself lucky that I don't really have any problem with the driving (on the 360). I had a bear of a time the first time I got in a vehicle, when I was trying to 'steer' it with the sticks, before I realized you have to kind of treat it like a mouse (basically your vehicle follows the cursor), and since then I've had no real irks.....although I still agree that they certainly could've used a better driving control setup.

[thesloppy]

Here's what I want to know:

What's everybody's current favorite piece(s) of loot? I'll jot down the details of mine next time I flick it on.

[Axxon]

I'm kerg01 on 360 although, only have a level 12 hunter. Although, if I played online it would give me a reason to get the smirk skill.

I just added you as a friend. My highest character is a level 8 hunter. Maybe we can either keep these characters or start a new game since we're so low level and we can diversify our skillset. Let me know.

[Axxon]

dola, anyone else wanting to play a low level game my tag is Axxon44

[Vince, Pt. II]

I just shut it down for now, about to take on the first driving in the game. Overall reactions so far...
The game is definitely fun. It's got the frenetic pace of an FPS with the fun twist of being able to pick and choose your weapons and find upgrades at every turn.
I'm still trying to get a feel for what specs I want on my weapons of choice (my toon is currently a level 10 Hunter), but it's fun testing things out.
So far, very early on, it seems that they have developed a nice balance between different bad guys - in Skag Gulch you have multiple different types of Skag, and certain of them require far different strategies to defeat. If they can maintain that variety throughout the game (I'm doubtful of that), it could be epic.
The game seems a touch too easy - outside of the one time I overextended myself early, it's been a cakewalk. I don't know how much of that is my class and the fact that I found an 86 Damage Sniper Rifle very early on, but I wouldn't mind more difficulty than this.
It sucks that so far I have been unable to get a private multiplayer server up (SirFozzie and I tried back and forth a few times this afternoon, but kept getting "Cannot Connect to the Server" errors), but I'd imagine their servers are completely slammed today. I can't wait to try MP out.

[aran]

If you feel like playing later tonight, Vince, I'll be on steam. Just send me a message.

[Vince, Pt. II]

Sounds good - I don't know if we'll be able to other than a public game, but then again it's been hours since Fozzie and my cousin and I tried. I'll look you up if I get back online.

[thesloppy]

The game seems a touch too easy - outside of the one time I overextended myself early, it's been a cakewalk. I don't know how much of that is my class and the fact that I found an 86 Damage Sniper Rifle very early on, but I wouldn't mind more difficulty than this.

I'm up to lvl 32 solo, and it remains pretty easy throughout. If you do some/most of the subquests, your character will always be a level or two above that of the areas/quests you're taking on, which gives you a pretty substantial advantage when dealing AND taking damage. When you get quests they show you the level recommended, and their gauge of the difficulty, and if you DO stick to quests around your level they can be pretty challenging....but it requires you to restrict yourself kinda, as the gameplay/loot system encourages you (or at least me) to do every quest, and search every nook and cranny, but if you do TOO much of that you'll always be too overpowered in terms of level and firepower, which makes the game less enjoyable. I hear multiplayer ramps up the number of enemies and difficulty, so maybe that's the way to do it.

[Vince, Pt. II]

Doing the Bladeseed whatever quest as a level 8 (recommended level 10) was probably the most fun I had outside of the Nine-Toes encounter so far. Those packs of Skag that were all higher level than me were intense, especially the Badass Skag. I need to remember that I have grenades and that I can throw my bird at them.

[thesloppy]

What's everybody's current favorite piece(s) of loot?

TCX243 GLORIOUS MACHINE GUN
Damage - 77
Accuracy - 84.6
Fire Rate - 7.6
Magazine - 64
+40 Magazine Size
+50% Recoil Reduction
2.1 x Weapon Zoom

I've been relying on this thing for pretty much the last 12 levels. It's big ass clip, combined with the soldier class mod I'm using that regenerates ammo, lets me pump out a nearly endless stream of bullets. Most importantly, it's scoped, which makes it useful from mid-distance and even a serviceable sniping weapon. I've found plenty of stuff that sounded better 'on paper', but in 90% of situations, this is still my weapon of choice.

[DataKing]

I've got a nice scoped machine gun on my soldier too, and I have to agree with you those make great weapons for the soldier class when combined with an ammo-regen class mod. Earlier on I was worried about ammo in some circumstances, but not anymore. The turret is nice and all, but I think the ammo regen and increased magazine capacities are my favorite soldier attributes thus far.

I found some pretty sweet weapons yesterday, including my first two "gold" items. I'll have to remember to post the stats here.

[Vince, Pt. II]

So the whole "you died! Kill someone to get a second wind!" thing is pretty sweet. Today, while fighting in Sledge's Storehouse, I managed to knock that huge psycho guy down to about 10% health when he blew me up. He then charged me, and just as everything faded to black, I got a Sniper Rifle-headshot for the kill. That was intense :)

[Vince, Pt. II]

Oh, and the difficulty has increased a touch - when I'm stuck indoors, my sniper rifle is not nearly as effective, and hordes of enemies can easily overwhelm me if I get cute. It's still not difficult, but much more than the mind-numbingly easy first part was.

[DataKing]

The difficulty does tend to ramp up, at least a little bit. And for close-quarters fighting, a shotgun with a good rate of fire (1.3 or higher) is your best friend in the whole wide world. I actually had a revolver for a while with a shotgun-like spread effect...that thing was sweet.

[thesloppy]

I actually had a revolver for a while with a shotgun-like spread effect...that thing was sweet.

I have a SMG like that, it shoots 4 shots at a time, with acid. It's long distance accuracy sucks balls though, even with a scope. I've also been carrying around a terrible shotgun for the last 25 levels that does 119x9(!) damage, but the magazine only carries two shots...that thing turns every battle into a clusterfuck, as I charge people, try and blow off their head twice, and then run away in the opposite direction, reloading.

[Vince, Pt. II]

I've discovered the beauty of shotguns - I've stumbled upon a 55(x11) damage shotgun that is amazing for blowing up Skag. Combined with my flaming revolver and explosive sniper rifle, I'm a walking killing machine.

[EagleFan]

How is everyone liking this? Took advantage of the BB buy 2 get 1 and picked this up for the 360 in the mix.

[Eaglesfan27]

How is everyone liking this? Took advantage of the BB buy 2 get 1 and picked this up for the 360 in the mix.

And are any of you playing solo? Debating whether to get the deal and include this as well.

[thesloppy]

How is everyone liking this? Took advantage of the BB buy 2 get 1 and picked this up for the 360 in the mix.

I'm having a ton of fun. It has it's niggles, but ultimately it's exactly as advertised, a post-apocalyptic shooter with not much plot and tons of loot. FWIW I'm usually not much of a FPS fan, but this game has kept me interested with the loot mechanic, keeping me searching for just one more gun. And the variety of weapons/mods makes you change combat styles constantly, unlike most shooters where I tend to find a favorite gun and stick with that gun/style throughout.

[DataKing]

I've played exclusively solo so far. Not that I'm anti-social, just not big on random team-ups when gear is involved (as opposed to something like L4D).

Here's the arsenal thus far, as promised (Level 29 Soldier):

ZPR10 Vitriolic Crux (Shotgun)
Damage: 56x7
Accuracy: 25.3
Fire Rate: 1.9
Magazine: 5 (boosted to 7 usually)
Highly effective vs. Armor
Change to Corrode enemies (x3 chance)
Bring out your Dead (??)
4.0x Weapon Zoom
-My default room-sweeper and skag-killer.

AR50 Glorious Havoc (Combat Rifle)
Damage: 67
Accuracy: 88.5
Fire Rate: 11.4
Magazine: 36 (boosted to 59)
+12 Magazine Size
+48% Fire Rate
+73% Recoil Reduction
2.1x Weapon Zoom
-My standard weapon. I think ~2x Zoom is just about perfect for non-sniping work.

VRR Solid Volcano (Sniper Rifle)
Damage: 210
Accuracy: 96.7
Fire Rate: 0.9
Magazine: 6 (boosted to 9)
Highly effective vs. Flesh
Chance to light enemies on fire (x4 chance)
Pele demands a sacrifice! (??)
High Elemental Effect chance
-My sniper. Sets baddies on fire damn near every time, and unless I'm mistaken creates some splash damage too.

11 Thunder Storm (Eridian)
Damage: 148x8
Accuracy: 16.7
Fire Rate: 2.0
Magazine: N/A
Lightning never strikes the same place twice, but it can strike freaking everywhere!
-Just found this last night. My first Eridian weapon. It appears to be a lightning-shotgun of sorts. The ammo is infinite, but I can only pull the trigger three times before it's empty, and it takes about 12 seconds to recharge.

EQ11-A Raw Equalizer (Revolver)
Damage: 195
Accuracy: 84.8
Fire Rate: 1.9
Magazine: 6 (boosted to 9)
Unending Firepower
+53% Reload Speed
+10 Ammo Regeneration
+33% Fire Rate
-My sidearm. This would be great if I didn't already regenerate ammunition from skills and class mods. With the +10 and my usual regen, I regen ammo almost as fast as this thing can fire it.

RPG570 Helix Rocket Launcher (Launcher)
Damage: 417x3
Accuracy: 88.8
Fire Rate: 0.8
Magazine: 3 (boosted to 4)
+14% Fire Rate
+22% Damage
1.9x Weapon Zoom
-My "oh shit" weapon, this doesn't see much use, but it is nice to have.

[Vince, Pt. II]

Has anyone been able to set up a private game online? For the life of us, my cousin and I can't figure out how to get this to work...we keep timing out.

[ageofquarrel]

I've played exclusively solo so far. Not that I'm anti-social, just not big on random team-ups when gear is involved (as opposed to something like L4D).

Here's the arsenal thus far, as promised (Level 29 Soldier):

ZPR10 Vitriolic Crux (Shotgun)
Damage: 56x7
Accuracy: 25.3
Fire Rate: 1.9
Magazine: 5 (boosted to 7 usually)
Highly effective vs. Armor
Change to Corrode enemies (x3 chance)
Bring out your Dead (??)
4.0x Weapon Zoom
-My default room-sweeper and skag-killer.

AR50 Glorious Havoc (Combat Rifle)
Damage: 67
Accuracy: 88.5
Fire Rate: 11.4
Magazine: 36 (boosted to 59)
+12 Magazine Size
+48% Fire Rate
+73% Recoil Reduction
2.1x Weapon Zoom
-My standard weapon. I think ~2x Zoom is just about perfect for non-sniping work.

VRR Solid Volcano (Sniper Rifle)
Damage: 210
Accuracy: 96.7
Fire Rate: 0.9
Magazine: 6 (boosted to 9)
Highly effective vs. Flesh
Chance to light enemies on fire (x4 chance)
Pele demands a sacrifice! (??)
High Elemental Effect chance
-My sniper. Sets baddies on fire damn near every time, and unless I'm mistaken creates some splash damage too.

11 Thunder Storm (Eridian)
Damage: 148x8
Accuracy: 16.7
Fire Rate: 2.0
Magazine: N/A
Lightning never strikes the same place twice, but it can strike freaking everywhere!
-Just found this last night. My first Eridian weapon. It appears to be a lightning-shotgun of sorts. The ammo is infinite, but I can only pull the trigger three times before it's empty, and it takes about 12 seconds to recharge.

EQ11-A Raw Equalizer (Revolver)
Damage: 195
Accuracy: 84.8
Fire Rate: 1.9
Magazine: 6 (boosted to 9)
Unending Firepower
+53% Reload Speed
+10 Ammo Regeneration
+33% Fire Rate
-My sidearm. This would be great if I didn't already regenerate ammunition from skills and class mods. With the +10 and my usual regen, I regen ammo almost as fast as this thing can fire it.

RPG570 Helix Rocket Launcher (Launcher)
Damage: 417x3
Accuracy: 88.8
Fire Rate: 0.8
Magazine: 3 (boosted to 4)
+14% Fire Rate
+22% Damage
1.9x Weapon Zoom
-My "oh shit" weapon, this doesn't see much use, but it is nice to have.



If you are wondering what the red text means
Pele demands a sacrifice means even if you miss you can still hit your target with fire damage.

bring out your dead can spread the corrosive damage to nearby enemies.

It least that was my experience with them

[DataKing]

Thanks. Wasn't sure what those meant (hence the ??)

[DeToxRox]

This game is a blast. I'm down to play on XBL sometime, just shoot me a PM or something and we'll find a time.

[Mustang]

Well, this is going to kill my enjoyment.

For the 360, Borderlands keeps looking up on me. Was fine the first day and now I can't play more than 5 minutes. Gah...

Of course, freezing is the first sign of the apocalypse (RROD) so, better not be that again.

[Mustang]

Hmm.. odd.

Thinking back on it, I was fine using controller 1 until the power died on it and I picked up controller 2. Controller 2 was giving me the issues and was causing the game to freeze every 5 minutes. On a whim, I threw in a fresh battery pack and everything was fine. Wonder if the power was cutting out and the game wasn't handling the lost controller.

Hopefully that is all.

Axxon, did you send me a message earlier? I was in the midst of the game freezing up and saw a message, but then it was gone. Noticed you were on, but were doing Netflix so.. thought it might have been you.

[aran]

SirFozzie and I just had a 2+ hour duoing session on the PC game. Tons of fun. We figured out how to get private games working over LAN by using Tunngle. If anyone wants to join us for future games, download and install Tunngle--don't be scared by the German interface--and talk to us on steam. We'll get you going.

It's really a blast. I'm very happy we got it working.

[SirFozzie]

We figured a workaround and Aran and I played a game up to about L12 or so. Much Much fun. It may not be for everyone, because it required VPN software to setup, but, truly this game shines for MP. I hope that we have an FOFC Borderlands night in the very near future.

[Axxon]

Hmm.. odd.

Thinking back on it, I was fine using controller 1 until the power died on it and I picked up controller 2. Controller 2 was giving me the issues and was causing the game to freeze every 5 minutes. On a whim, I threw in a fresh battery pack and everything was fine. Wonder if the power was cutting out and the game wasn't handling the lost controller.

Hopefully that is all.

Axxon, did you send me a message earlier? I was in the midst of the game freezing up and saw a message, but then it was gone. Noticed you were on, but were doing Netflix so.. thought it might have been you. Yeah, I was playing earlier when I saw you jump online so I invited you but I was noticing you kept signing back on. That explains that. Maybe tomorrow night if you're on we can hook up.

[Vince, Pt. II]

We figured a workaround and Aran and I played a game up to about L12 or so. Much Much fun. It may not be for everyone, because it required VPN software to setup, but, truly this game shines for MP. I hope that we have an FOFC Borderlands night in the very near future.

I'll chat with one of you in the near future to figure out how to set this up for myself and my cousin. Annoying that their multiplayer interface seems to suck ass - I can't even join random games, let alone a specific game to play with people I want to.

Also, as a side note - there seems to be a really nasty bug that is infrequent, but limited to multiplayer (all platforms, not just PC) - occasionally a character's stats and proficiencies will be completely reset when you enter or leave a multiplayer game. The level remains the same, though - so you'd be a level 19 or so character with the stats of a level 1. Sort of ruining the game for some people. They are aware of the problem and working on a fix.

[SirFozzie]

So I've been ranting since last night about how nothing has worked for me.

Not port forwarding, no disabling of all firewalls, not even Hamachi has worked.

A friend suggested Tunngle today, a German based free beta VPN and I joined it just now. Created an account and under the main page I went to Community -> Netzwek -> Browser -> Then I chose RPG -> Icewind Dale 2.

Had my buddy do the same.

Entered game and hosted a LAN game. BAM, he was able to join.

No more time outs.

If you've tried ALL other options, try this one.

Credit goes to the kind soul who mentioned this on the Steam Forum.

This is from the Gearbox forum. It doesn't have to be the icewind dale II group in Tunggle, I think, just you and your cousin and anyone else who plays has to be in the same room so you're on the same LAN

[aran]

For people who like action RPGs in the Diablo II vein (more directly--a fantasy environment), Torchlight is good and $20 on steam. I've played it a bit and think it's worth the money.

[Vince, Pt. II]

Amazing, worked for me. Thanks Fozz! My cousin and I are wrecking things...fun times.

[Atocep]

I find the game to be very average in single player, but an absolute blast in multiplayer. The most surprising aspect has been the difficulty of the game. I was expecting something really simple a small group could just tear through easily. Definitely not the case as I've already hit a couple points where just running in and shooting has resulted in a very quick death.

[Vince, Pt. II]

I'm really enjoying the Single Player, and I have yet to really sink my teeth into MP. It seems like the game would be an absolute kick in the pants in multiplayer, and I can't wait to try.

Fozz and I were talking about getting a game together this evening between he, Aran and I, but I don't think I'm going to be able to make it. I did, however, get a character up to level 15 - so until we can hook up for an MP game, just keep me up-to-date with what level you guys are at and I'll mirror my guy in solo play so that we can just jump in when we finally have time.

[Mustang]

freakin thing still locked up on me for the 360. Frustrating. I'd like to try multiplayer, but don't want to be knocked off all the time.

[thesloppy]

Finished the first playthrough yesterday. Yay!


The ending for this game sucks ass.

[Mustang]

Seems I can finally play the game without lockups. I loaded the game to the hard drive and I'm just playing it off that. Didn't have a single lockup all day Sunday and I played for some 3-4 hours. Maybe I can actually go on multiplayer now.

[Vince, Pt. II]

I also finished my first playthrough this evening.

I agree wholeheartedly that the ending sucks ass. I enjoyed the credits, but man what a lame way to tie up the story. It just ends so freaking abruptly it's absurd. And then there's no explanation for the 2nd playthrough whatsoever. I'm less bummed about that than I am the lack of a tidy ending to the story, but still.

They had a really nice arc going too - Tannis is crazy, but has at least a modicum of a point about her. Her story is developed nicely through the scattered recorders. The betrayal feels right...there's always been something odd about her throughout the game. Marcos has even hinted that she is being supplied by someone else...but they do no development of the relationship between Tannis and Steele. Then, all of a sudden you're best buddies with Tannis again and it's everyone against this Steele character who has made all of ONE appearance throughout the rest of the game. I would have liked a bit more plot development with Steele and her Crimson whatevers, especially since they were pretty freaking cool soldiers and the story seemed to be tailoring itself nicely to identifying and explaining them.

I think what really grates at me is that I didn't buy this game thinking that I was getting a great story. After playing through the first half, maybe even three quarters of the game, I was very impressed. They did what I think was a fantastic job of writing a pretty minimal storyline that did a good job of explaining the main characters and their interaction. When they completely dropped the ball at the end, it seemed worse because I had been suckered into a pretty good beginning.

I managed to finish the game at level 35. Once I started my second playthrough, I went up through Nine Toes and was already at level 37 - the loot makes a noticeable jump upwards, as does the difficulty. Enemies are MUCH stronger in the second playthrough.

[B & B]

Bought the game yesterday. Hopefully will have some time in this upcoming week to start playing.

we'll see.

[HeavyReign]

Picked this up in the 2+1 as well. Having fun playing solo so far at level 21. Gonna try multi this weekend when I reactivate my live account.

[RainMaker]

Finished it tonight with a friend online. Was fun but think the lofty reviews it received are a bit off. I actually didn't like the storyline and thought it was too scattered. In fact, didn't really pay attention much to it after awhile. My biggest gripe though is that it was real easy to beat. Not a lot of strategy needed to beat any of the enemies which kind of sucked too. Did like the game and it was worth the $60, but doesn't belong in Game of the Year talk at all.

Question about the end and second walkthrough.
I got the key and gave it back to Tannis. Now how do I play through it again? Is there anything different about it besides an increase in difficulty? I finished at Level 35.

[Vince, Pt. II]

RainMaker - when you load up a single player game again, it will ask you which playthrough you want to load up. This way you can try the second playthrough, but go back to the first if you want to clean up any unfinished side quests or anything.

I've only played up to I think half of the Arid Badlands in my second playthrough, and the only difference at all is tougher bad guys and better loot.

[Travis]

For those looking for some new flavor, the first DLC is supposed to be out soon (the Zombie Island of Dr. Ned or something like that). I'm enjoying this game a lot as it is (about 2/3 of the way through the first play through) and this DLC looks like it should be a lot of fun.

[DataKing]

I completed the first playthrough and started messing around with the second, but I've since put this on the back burner, concentrating on Forza 3, Modern Warfare 2, and Left 4 Dead 2. There's definite replay-ability here though, so I'm sure I'll be returning to it eventually.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Careful with the new DLC ("Mad Moxxi") on 360 ... apparently there's some sort of glitch causing corrupted saves.

Not sure what it is (and Lord knows Gearbox ain't saying since they only just fixed the previous co-op play corrupting bug) but I've got a very unhappy 11 y/o who lost his Lvl 27 thanks to playing Moxxi last night.

And no, ftr, the box is pristine: no mods, no nothing out of the ordinary.

[RainMaker]

That's disappointing. I love the game and was looking forward to this DLC. Any idea what is causing the corruption?

[DataKing]

I've got a very unhappy 11 y/o who lost his Lvl 27 thanks to playing Moxxi last night.

Slaughtering zombies will cheer him up. :D

[Ramzavail]

that stinks, I was about to buy it myself. I will hold off.

[JonInMiddleGA]

That's disappointing. I love the game and was looking forward to this DLC. Any idea what is causing the corruption?

No clue from me. Last I knew they had patched in early December & the corrupted saves issue with co-op play was fixed (we never got bit by it before).

We played Moxxi for about an hour last night - long enough to discover that level 20 & 27 wasn't nearly high enough to attempt it with a 2 man team - and then shut down normally. He downloads Dr. Ned's while we're out to lunch, come back & fires up the game to play and boom, his save is corrupt. I go looking around the Gearbox forums and find multiple complaints about the same situation all connected to playing Moxxi, mostly since last night. No comment from the devs I could find and the community seems content to say "oh you must have modded or something, it has to be your fault". Problem is, we hadn't done anything.

[Vince, Pt. II]

Seems pretty disheartening that even though they have already seen a bug like this, their new stuff has the same sort of problems. Hopefully they can come up with a way to recover the lost characters.

[MizzouRah]

This will be my next 360 purchase.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Just finished the main quest in Dr. Ned's Zombie Island DLC at the end of a 6+ hour marathon session with my son. We ran it starting with a pair of characters that were about Level 5 and found it relatively easy in most places but entertaining nevertheless. I have to say that the final few stages were the first time I'd really gotten that "just one more mission" feel with Borderlands and found myself enjoying the DLC a lot more than anything I'd done in the main game. I think that's a function of the more compact map that didn't have me running all over creation just to accomplish something but for whatever reason I was definitely more engaged than I'd been with my Level 27 character that I'd been playing in the main quest.

[MizzouRah]

This game is already one of my favorite games I've ever played.

[MizzouRah]

Is the game challenging for single player?

It has been for me thus far.

[RainMaker]

Finished playing the latest DLC and it was fun. Much different from the game and the other DLC. It was also really hard and requires a high level player with a good stable of guns.

If you guys haven't bought this game yet, you should. It's just a blast.

[Travis]

Finished playing the latest DLC and it was fun. Much different from the game and the other DLC. It was also really hard and requires a high level player with a good stable of guns.

If you guys haven't bought this game yet, you should. It's just a blast.

A couple of buddies and I will likely be playing the new DLC in a week or so (just going through Spec Ops in CoD right now). Glad to hear a positive review on here as it seems pretty split in stuff I'm reading elsewhere. I figure worst case is I won't like it as much as the main game and the first DLC, but will have 2 more skill points and the new storage system (I'm assuming you can use that across the game as a whole and not just in the new DLC once you have it?).

Best case, I continue to have a blast playing this game :D

[JonInMiddleGA]

(I'm assuming you can use that across the game as a whole and not just in the new DLC once you have it?).

What little I saw of the storage system before it destroyed my son's character, I believe you just revisit the entry section of the DLC at anytime to exchange the gear; i.e. it's kind of like going to the bank in another section of the map. At least that's how it appeared to work.

[Travis]

Speaking of, I read there were issues with the new DLC when it was released for the 360, are those issues taken care of? I was just kind of assuming that they'd have rectified those issues by now. I probably won't be looking to download/play the new DLC until at least next week, but I had forgotten all about the initial release bugs.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Speaking of, I read there were issues with the new DLC when it was released for the 360, are those issues taken care of?

To be honest, I haven't even checked to see. Playing strictly co-op, I've managed to help my son get a character built back up to close to where the one he lost was & we're both pretty gunshy at this point about even going near the Moxxi DLC any time soon. I think another wiped out character for us right now would lead to the kind of frustration that causes you to shelve a game permanently.

[MizzouRah]

The difficulty is really ramping up for me and I love it!

I also love how if you die, you can regenerate for a cost.

The more I play, the more this game rises to the top of list of all time fun games!

[MizzouRah]

I picked solider too.. I've burnt many hours playing already!

[JonInMiddleGA]

Just went to the official Borderlands forum to see if the Mad Moxxi bug (that corrupted saves) had been fixed.

Turns out that there's quite a few ways to lose your character at the moment, looks like it's almost luck of the draw if you get bit.

There's an off-line co-op mode splitscreen bug that is often corrupting one character save but not the other (exactly what happened with me & my son), there's a Mad Moxxi specific bug that causes your class mods & other stuff to disappear, and now there's apparently an online mod virus that can screw you over with unlimited shields & cash if you happen to play with someone online who has modded & you end up with a modded piece of equipment even if you're 100% legit and haven't hacked or modded anything yourself.

Fixes are all still in internal testing and still have to go through MS certification before they can be made public so direct from the developers on the forum it's still weeks before any of these are getting fixed.

I will say that the Gearbox reps that are answering questions come across pretty okay but damn does this game seem to be really FUBAR.

[RainMaker]

Yeah, it seems like everyone online has modded guns now so it's not really much fun to play multiplayer. One guy had a gun so powerful that it caused huge lag in the game. Basically a rocket launcher that shot like a machine gun.

[MrBug708]

I cant get out of one of the early quests. It's trying to get the parts to fix the garage :( I'm not much for FPS games

[RainMaker]

New DLC for Borderlands. This one is much more like the original version but with new enemies, weapons, and the ability to power up to level 61.

It's fun but has some warts. For instance, the missions aren't really as easy to follow and there is a ton of driving to get from one area to the next. Another boring aspect is that the maps have many levels so it takes some time to figure out how to get to the waypoint. But it's still Borderlands and fun. Seems pretty long too and worth the 800 points.

[DataKing]

New DLC titled "Claptrap's New Robot Revolution" set to be released in September. It's been 6 months since General Knoxx came out and I was beginning to wonder whether or not we'd see any of the additional DLC Gearbox promised.

[JediKooter]

Nice!

[CleBrownsfan]

Anyone still playing this? I just picked the "Game of the Year" edition (came with all the DLC's) and saw it had online co-op. If anyone wants to play some co-op my gamertag is Pronk32 (Xbox 360)

[DataKing]

I still fire it up every once in a while. Gamertag is in my sig.

[JediKooter]

Yup. Just played it about a week ago.

[CleBrownsfan]

Started playing with two of my buddies online last night. Even at low levels, the amount of guns to choose is unbelievable. Looks like it's going to get a lot of playing time for a while.

I'll be on tonight around 8:00ish if anyone wants to jump on. Problem is - I'm only at level 9 ;)

[JediKooter]

If I remember correctly, if you team up with someone that is a much higher level than you and they host the game, you can level up pretty fast. Been a while, so I'm not 100% sure if I have the correct formula there. :)

[JonInMiddleGA]

If I remember correctly, if you team up with someone that is a much higher level than you and they host the game, you can level up pretty fast. Been a while, so I'm not 100% sure if I have the correct formula there. :)

Basically, yeah, although that also comes with significantly harder enemies (leveled to the host) and much better loot (that may be unusable by newer players until they meet the level requirement for the gun). Kind of some trade off there when the gap is very large, you'll level faster but you'll die a LOT more (and actually play a lot less, you're respawning more)

FWIW, my son - a level 40 now - recommended leveling up at least a little more in single player before tackling high level co-op play. And definitely avoid Mad Moxie until you're in at least the upper 20's (preferrably into the 30's) because it works as intended: a severe challenge for all but the highest level players. Even with multiple players in the high 30's it's a beast to play.

My own two cents, based on somewhat limited play, is that the zombie DLC would be the easiest to tackle by far (and was the most purely fun of the bunch).

[JediKooter]

I didn't die as much as I thought I would. I just: Hung back, got off a couple of shots, hid, let my partner do some damage, get off a couple more shots, send out the bird. Rinse, repeat. I use the hunter character, so using the bird to do as much of the dirty work as possible helped out a lot.

The weapons thing sucked though, but, when you start leveling, it's not too bad. Just keep the good ones in your inventory until you can use them and the regenerative shields are a good thing to have as well.

Mad Moxie is a lot of fun, but, challenging, which is a good thing. Definitely don't do it unless you are in the 30s at least for sure. If you want some good XP, there are these giant spider like creatures that pop out of the ground. I got some good leveling from just killing those things. I also like the vehicle with the rocket launchers. Comes in handy quite a bit.

[MizzouRah]

With Borderlands 2 due out in September, I would have to say I've played the original more than any other x360 non sports game.

Just an excellent game and can be had for $10-$15 on Amazon if anyone hasn't played it.

[SackAttack]

Been playing on Xbox 360 with SirFozzie lately after picking the GOTY edition up for $20 at Best Buy a week or two ago. Good times.

[DataKing]

September cannot get here soon enough.

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/s6zOSJ6fkuA" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> (http://youtu.be/s6zOSJ6fkuA)

[frnk55]

Love the graphics. Day 1 purchase.