T w e n t y S i d e d

This week I’m playing Borderlands for the first time. (Technically I have played before. But I didn’t get past Firestone.) I’ve played all of the other games multiple times but for some reason I never got into the first one. But, now I have played through the game (and two and a half out of the four DLCs) while doing all of the side quests.

There are small differences, like revolver ammo and pistol ammo being separate; and grenade mods only have one modifier.

And then, there are bigger differences… I was surprised to learn that fast travel isn’t unlocked until New Haven. I thought it just was a bug until I looked it up. I’ve also been spoiled with the sequels having voice acting, so much so that I kept accidentally skipping the text.

Finally, the main antagonist Commandant Steele is vacant throughout most of the game. She talks to you for the first time about 20% in, again around 60%, and one last time at the end when she opens the vault and promptly dies, having added effectively nothing to the story.

After completing the story I went on to The Secret Armory of General Knoxx. I now know that was the last DLC released but at the time I didn’t know. It was nice for a change of scenery but I quickly learned that there is no fast travel in any the DLC, just a lot of driving. At least they gave a faster car that, if you turn at all at speed, it will stop driving and start rolling. It goes great with this DLCs primary roads (elevated highways with low walls). It’s one of my favorite ways to fall off the map.

Other than that I liked the DLC and thought the looting with a timer at the end was kind of cool.

I also played a bit of Mad Moxxi’s Underdome Riot. Not much to say on it. A whole DLC for a battle arena with modifiers is a bit weird, but it’s fine.  It would probably be more fun with friends, but I’m playing solo at the moment.

The last DLC I played was The Zombie Island of Dr. Ned. I didn’t like it very much. I probably would have liked it more but I had a fear of zombies as a kid, (I’m still not fond of them today.)

I went in expecting a goofy mystery, not realizing that it released shortly after Left for Dead 2. As a result I was constantly harassed by the zombies that would just spawn continually, with effectively no downtime.

My final gripe; GearBox recently announced Borderlands 4 and I don’t like the way they just slap an ad for it in the corner of the main menu. (I also think it just looks bad.)

Anyway, what is everyone else up to?

Issac Young Youngest child of Shamus Young. He/Him

This week I’ve been busy with projects in real life, so I’ve not really played much.

I did finish GemCraft – Chasing Shadows. I had fun but I’m probably not going to play it again for a while. I had settled on using a min maxed mana leeching gem in a trap until I can make a very high level critical hit gem. It worked well enough that most other gems were irrelevant.

Other than that I didn’t really play much else.

So what are you guys doing this week?

Issac Young Youngest child of Shamus Young. He/Him

This week I’m unsurprisingly playing video games.

I’ve gotten a little distracted with other games and haven’t played any Alice: Madness Returns.

I’ve also hit a wall in Crypt of the NecroDancer, I’ve beaten the game with Cadence and Melody, but Aria is a huge step up in difficulty. It’s hard to get passed one floor with half a heart, only the dagger and taking damage if you miss a beat. You do get one revive but that can only do so much.

On a different note, I got some tower defenses from Humble Bundle and started playing GemCraft – Chasing Shadows. I like tower defenses but something about this one is extra appealing and I can’t figure out what.

I also have been considering binging the entire Borderlands franchise. I’ve never beaten the first one and it’s been a long time since I’ve played any of the others. I don’t know when I’ll do that, but when I do it’ll be an undertaking.

Anyway what is everyone else up to?

Issac Young Youngest child of Shamus Young. He/Him