294 replies to this topic

[the Battle Cat]

Got it.  Love it.  This is the best thing I've played since Deus Ex, and is constructed of 99% pure awesome.  It appears as if the expansion packs are incorporated into the game already as new areas to explore as opposed to a Medal of Honor style expansion pack.  I'm loving everything about this game so far, my two favorite games are RPG and FPS and this delivers both in a fun playable way.

The rocket turret vehicles are intuitive to drive and fire and if you want me, look for the dust as I'm turbo charging over the dunes road killing skags.  The music is perfect for this flavor of game, sort of a new-old west Outback ring to it, and I don't see me getting tired of it for a while.  

There seems to be a million different types of weapons.  I've just now found a pistol worth keeping on hand, a revolver.  Till now all the single shot repeaters are pretty wuss and useless.  I found a powerful sniper rifle, shotgun, and full auto weapon I keep as staples.  Every now and then I upgrade with something new I found.  All weapons upgrade packs I've found are at least 10 experience levels above me, so it's a slow climb.  But it does keep pace nicely with the toughness of the enemies I am required to face.  I'm level 13.  Where are all of these super weapons I've been hearing about?

Early into the game I was baffled by the voice of this black guy who every so often would comment on something I did.  Where the frak is that coming from I wondered.  There it is again!  And I would look around to see if I'm being followed.  Then I realized that the soldier class I picked at the start of the game was black but I didn't think anything of it until the over-the-top cartoon sounding black voice started commenting later in the game.  I can just see them in the sound room recording this, "No Frank, you didn't sound black enough, really dig deep for this one".  I wonder if fried skag tastes like chicken?

I have a question about storing items.  Every now and then I come across a weapon or augment that I really like that is above my level to use.  If I drop it save it for use later it soon disappears.  If I carry it with me I soon run out of room in my inventory to pick up loot to sell.  Is there a chest or a room or any technique for storing items for later use?

[Stevex]

In the Underdome, there's Marcus' Store Your Crap.

[Sargiel]

Hmm I'm sold - I loved Deus Ex. Will pick it up next month now I have a machine I can run it on

[devSin]

You need to cut that part out of your post.

As noted, unless you drop into the Underdome DLC, you can't store equipment outside your inventory. If you sell an item to a vendor, you can repurchase it (from any vendor), but this is reset when you drop back into the game. Your inventory size will be upgradable at certain places within the game.

The item generator is random, so the attributes are always different. There's not a ton more weapon types, but the drops will get better as your level improves.

The game suffers from a lack of monster types, and the story drops off nearer to the end. I didn't get to the DLC yet (I'm taking a break, but hope to get back into it, maybe sometime over the summer). But it is a lot of fun.

I really got to be a dead shot with the assault rifle, but I hated too much the machine guns and SMGs. At certain points in the game, though, you really need the continuous firepower of a full automatic to punch through the bad guys, so I ended up suffering for sticking mainly with the AR and shotgun.

[the Battle Cat]

Stevex, on 21 April 2011 - 10:40 AM, said:

In the Underdome, there's Marcus' Store Your Crap.

I don't recall the Underdome. Is that around Fyrestone or do I need to travel to a different area?

[Janichsan]

devSin, on 21 April 2011 - 12:31 PM, said:

The game suffers from a lack of monster types, and the story drops off nearer to the end. I didn't get to the DLC yet (I'm taking a break, but hope to get back into it, maybe sometime over the summer). But it is a lot of fun.

I pretty much agree with that. The main game lacks a bit in enemy variety and the last boss fight is rather anti-climactic. But the DLC make up for that. There are a couple of very interesting new adversaries in them. (Except for the zombies. Zombies are lame.)

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I really got to be a dead shot with the assault rifle, but I hated too much the machine guns and SMGs. At certain points in the game, though, you really need the continuous firepower of a full automatic to punch through the bad guys, so I ended up suffering for sticking mainly with the AR and shotgun.

That's definitely a matter of taste. I simply couldn't stand the assault rifles and found the shotguns to be effective only in some situations. I mainly sticked to SMGs and sniper rifles. I agree that the machine guns are usually not very good, but around the middle of the main campaign, I found a machine gun with increased firing rate, larger magazines and high precision. It turned out to be the best weapon for the larger part of the rest of the game – including the DLC.

the Battle Cat, on 21 April 2011 - 01:04 PM, said:

I don't recall the Underdome. Is that around Fyrestone or do I need to travel to a different area?

It's in a different area. When you have fixed the fast travel system, one of the destinations available right from the beginning is "The Underdome" (at least, when you have the DLC installed).

[Frigidman]

OMG!!! tBC has the Borderlands! =D

I love this game set... its just... so... fun.

[Eric5h5]

My best weapon is a pistol (with Acid Power™!). In fact it's kind of too good, since it makes short work out of 80% of the enemies, so I mix it up with other weapons to keep things interesting.  I kind of stopped playing this a while ago (still have two of the DLC campaigns left), but indeed it's a really good game.

--Eric

[Frigidman]

I play as Mordecai (http://borderlands.w...m/wiki/Mordecai). I ended up sticking mostly to revolvers and sniper rifles. I didn't care for the repeaters, and any of the other weapons just were not Mordecai's strong suit so I didn't bother with them. I had/have a revolver that shoots 6 bullets at once with fire elemental on them, and has a wicked fast reload, AND does a zoom. LOL. Its basically a hip cannon. Carries 4 shots (which I guess is 24 bullets huh).

[Wumpus]

the Battle Cat, on 21 April 2011 - 01:04 PM, said:

Where are all of these super weapons I've been hearing about?

You find the really ridiculously good one's around level 40-50. One of my favorites was a acid shotgun that fired as fast as a repeater (very fast) and had a large clip. So much damage.

the Battle Cat, on 21 April 2011 - 01:04 PM, said:

I don't recall the Underdome. Is that around Fyrestone or do I need to travel to a different area?

The Underdome is Mad Moxxi's UnderDome Riot DLC. And as mentioned there is a storage locker in there which stores things permanently. You should be able to Fast Travel to it from any fast travel spot. Its also one of the most fun DLC in my opinion, as long as you have 1 buddy with you.

[devSin]

Janichsan, on 21 April 2011 - 01:09 PM, said:

That's definitely a matter of taste. I simply couldn't stand the assault rifles and found the shotguns to be effective only in some situations. I mainly sticked to SMGs and sniper rifles. I agree that the machine guns are usually not very good, but around the middle of the main campaign, I found a machine gun with increased firing rate, larger magazines and high precision. It turned out to be the best weapon for the larger part of the rest of the game – including the DLC.

Yeah. But there's not an enemy that can take much of the triple-shot at near-perfect accuracy with almost no recoil and little need to reload (unlike the sniper rifle). Two bursts was usually all it would take to destroy spiderants, even the big ones, and I could crit like nobody's business. Problem is, I'm in love with the scope and pinpoint accuracy (decent scoped machine guns are hard to come by), but at the later game, the delay between firing for the rifles was really punishing (the burst rate is always fast, but the delay between bursts usually sucks).

The revolvers are good, but I didn't find myself using them much (Roland has shotgun skills, so I'd stick to that for close-range massive damage). Rocket launchers I only ever used to bump up the launcher prof (in case I someday needed to use one for something). I think the only time I ever dominated with a launcher was the second pit fight arena. The alien weapons are junk (I try using one I found to bump the prof, but I'd usually have to switch weapons to kill anything).

Elemental damage is boss. I still smile remembering the bruiser's "Ah! Ah! I'm on fire!" cries of agony.

[Eric5h5]

devSin, on 21 April 2011 - 02:27 PM, said:

Rocket launchers I only ever used to bump up the launcher prof (in case I someday needed to use one for something).

Pretty much just in the Underdome arenas, when the rocket launcher mod is activated.

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The alien weapons are junk

That's what I thought until I found a Thunder Storm ("Lighting never strikes the same place twice, but it can strike freaking everywhere!"), which does major damage at closer ranges.  The main drawback is that is takes a while to recharge, so you can only use it a few times and then you have to switch to something else for a while.

--Eric

[DrJohnFever]

I got this game a while ago for the PS3... Played it non stop until I had beat it twice and beat all the expansions. I was the Berzerker, and after playing with and as some of the other classes, it is definitely a personal favourite.
Early in the game, most weapons are about as good as each other, but later in the game all weapons start to fall into niches other than (rarely) SMGs and the more common super amazing combat rifles. Combat rifles just get so over the top with damage. I had an Atlas (best gun manufacturer for you noobs out there) machine gun with ~250 damage, ~90 accuracy, and a 10.5 fire rate. It had a massive clip (52 I do believe), had 3x explosive damage, high recoil reduction, and had great (non zooming) iron sights. Amazing gun.

[devSin]

Eric5h5, on 21 April 2011 - 02:58 PM, said:

That's what I thought until I found a Thunder Storm ("Lighting never strikes the same place twice, but it can strike freaking everywhere!"), which does major damage at closer ranges.  The main drawback is that is takes a while to recharge, so you can only use it a few times and then you have to switch to something else for a while.

That's actually the one I was using, but I found it first playthrough in the Headlands alien ruins, so it was stupid low level. It's nice if you can get a single target to eat all the little sparks, but I'd find myself shooting enemies and then they'd be in my face and the stupid thing would just then have to recharge before I could make the kill shot.

I don't know. Blowing somebody's head off with a full barrel of shot is more fun to me than shinies and sparkles maybe hitting something and doing damage.

Don't neglect the grenades. I really sucked with using the grenades, but it's awesome when it works. Bouncing betties and MIRVs were my favorites; I was never good at sticky grenades (but I kept trying). Contact seemed like a dumb mod (it's like the no-mod mod), rain was just totally useless (I could never time it just right, in the cases it actually went off). Transfusion is awesome, although the juju can't path very well back to you (I usually had to leave cover just to get some health back since it'll stop on walls).

[the Battle Cat]

I found the Underdome about 2 minutes into my next play session.  I had seen it before but it didn't register.  I have a revolver I'm fond of, a Bruiser SMG that is my best friend, an overpowered (for my level) sniper rifle and a passable shotgun.  The game knows what ammo you are low on and supplies that to you which is a very very nice touch.  It makes it fun when there is always ammo for your favorite gun.  Still, some of the targets are bullet sponges.  I drained a full cache of machine gun ammo into Moe the super skag.  Finished him off with the shotgun at point blank range.

If I have access to a vehicle I just drive around murdering things with my bumper but I love to sit there and soften up an area with the rocket launcher with infinity reloads before I venture in to make the final kills and collect the loot that was dropped.

One of the things I like is the vast openness of the maps.  You can roam around just messing around and when you feel like it follow the quest line like in Postal 2.  One of the things I don't like is the save system.  I like to do a quick save and then try outrageously stupid and risky things.  But in this case, you are fined money when the obviously stupid thing obviously kills you.  That drains some of the fun out of it for me.  

Lot's of guns, lots of ammo, a big playground... I'm a happy cat.

[devSin]

Actually, the game gives you ammo drops based on the guns you currently carry. So if you don't have any sniper rifles in your pack, for example, you're not going to find any sniper ammo. But except for full automatic guns (SMGs and machine guns), you shouldn't hurt for ammo too much once you get through the first few levels (though you can occasionally run out).

Honestly, I wouldn't bother with the storage. You may like the gun now, but a few character levels from now, you're going to find something much better. Just keep what you can carry and sell the rest. Guns are everywhere.

Note that being in the vehicle really cuts down on the XP you get for kills. So you can run stuff over, but there will be places later on that the cars are blocked off from, and if you're too low level, you'll really get punished.

Also note that weapon proficiencies really improve your effectiveness with the relevant guns. This is tallied by kill XP, not kill count, so you can finish off some high-level monsters with your favorite gun and then switch to one you have low proficiency with for the kill shot (the kill XP counts toward the gun you have wielded when the enemy dies, and I think it works even if your turret or grenade makes the kill). This way you always have at least some skill if you need to switch to a gun you don't use as often.

I try keeping a backup of the character file (buried somewhere in Preferences, go figure) so that I can do the stupid stuff without having it actually get saved (same as Diablo, but they don't hide their saves in random locations like Feral). You just then have to replace the Saves or whatever folder with your backup, and you're instantly cleansed of silly behavior (but I don't do it often, because you have to quit the game, make the copy, restart and play, quit, replace the save, and then you can go back to playing).

[Tetsuya]

what you want to look for is the orange weapons; these weapons, even when lower level than you, are very powerful.  (also, your weapon skill will lower the apparent level of the weapon after you equip it.  This is a remnant from an adbandoned idea to have  your weapon skill lower the level requirements)

The easiest thing to score kills with is a fast-firing, scoped Maliwan Hellfire.  It applies a fire Damage-over-time affect with every shot (it basically has a 100% chance to ignite them), and it stacks up.  So if you have a 10 or 12 RoF Hellfire, you can literally melt just about every non-robotic enemy in the game.  

Also good at low to mid levels is a Maliwan Volcano - a sniper-rifle similar to the Hellfire, but instead of always igniting on hit, it always explodes for additional damage, and the explosion can spread to nearby enemies and light them on fire as well.  It is great at lower to mid levels.  

It really depends on what type of character you're playing.  I play Roland with a heavy gunner mod and a scoped (purple) 12/sec RoF 94 accuracy assault rifle and after a single kill (because of Assault) it becomes a bullet hose.  I can solo everything up to Crawmerax with ease.  

I find Roland to be a mid-road character - he's not as easy to play as Lilth and not has hard as Mordecai.  

It really bums me out that it took Feral so long to get the porting rights and get it done, because i'd have loved to buy this for the Mac.. but i bought the PC version ages ago after trying it out on a friend's Xbox.

[lewdvig]

$35 in the App Store now.

Thanks Feral! That's what I am talking about!

[the Battle Cat]

Excellent.  Thanks for all these tips.  It really helps to have a base of information with which to make informed decisions within the game.

I've repaired a couple of Claptraps and my inventory is not as critical now, but I am still saving a couple of character and weapon augments that I can't use for 6 level ups.  I can see why Claptraps get damaged so often.  "Look at me I'm dancin' I'm dancin'" BLAM BLAM BUDDA BUDDA POW!!  "I can see the code..."  They are helpful but can be pretty annoying.  

Has anyone played a Bruiser yet?  I was wavering between the Soldier and the Bruiser.  I'd like to hear someones take on being a Bruiser.  Can I start a new character without losing the progress of an existing character?  Can I hand things down to another character via Store Your Crap or some other way as in Torchlight?

I had a close encounter with an Elder Skag who ambushed me.  I turned when I heard him jump, had the shotgun in my hand and reflexively shot him in the open mouth when he was inches from me.  Roland started talking smack like he had it all planed from the start, meanwhile I'm cleaning the crap out of my pants.

[Frigidman]

lewdvig, on 21 April 2011 - 09:33 PM, said:

$35 in the App Store now.

Thanks Feral! That's what I am talking about!

Save three coins using the Mac Game Store:
Borderlands GOTY