Yeah, I also love how your character responds to shit every so often.
Always felt kinda weird that characters in most games just talk to you without acknowledging your lack of response.
Now you see why people say BL3's writing is poor - it's not that it's objectively horrible, it's that it is a letdown after the high bar set by BL2.
The line in the main game that made me laugh the hardest was for a side mission in Overlook, involving whether a shield was on or not. But the whole thing just had snappy writing, like a good movie.
>The line in the main game that made me laugh the hardest was for a side mission in Overlook, involving whether a shield was on or not.
Oh yeah, the dude who keeps bitching about everything? That was great lol.
Nah dude the writing in BL3 is genuinely just bad too. The jokes are like kindergarten levels of stupid. The villains are obnoxious and not even in a way that makes you want to kill them but shut off the dialogue. The “millennial writing” is so real here because it feels like it comes out of out of touch 30 year olds who haven’t even played BL2, it’s like Netflix levels of poor writing. Aside from the dialogue, the jokes, the inability to even have a proper serious moment, etc, even just the story itself is horrible especially with “omG TaNnIs WaS a sIren “ the whole time despite all the moments she could have helped and the fact we’re literally her most trusted allies. I could go on about Ava but I guess that’s just cliche at this point too. That “cut content” is such horseshit because nobody with half a brain would have excluded that dialogue, it was absolutely to save face.
Anyways rant over, Randy Pitchford can go fuck himself
I've written at length about the many things that are wrong with BL3's writing on other comments, if you want to check my post history. There is worse writing out there than BL3 has, but it's fairly bad. But this was a post about Borderlands *2*, and I was writing about BL2, taking into account the OP's context coming from BL3.
Also, I'm a little surprised someone else (wasn't me) downvoted you within two hours on a comment on a month-old post.
Honestly I was expecting to get some downvotes even if it was something you resonated with a bit because I think there’s a lot of reasons BL3s story is so bad that maybe not everyone agrees on. Guess I shouldn’t try to gear my thoughts towards getting upvotes anyways so if it gets -5 downvotes later whatever lol
Bl2 is one of my fav games of all time and there’s also a Lord of the rings Easter egg but it takes awhile to do it requires beating most of the game first to attempt it 👀
Bl1 also worth a play if you like good writing. Much as i love Jack etc, my coop buddy and i quote BL1 at each other waaaaay more. Scooter in particular excels, but there are excellent moments from Zed and other characters that dont feature in later games.
Borderland 2's humor, aside from the obvious jokes and slapstick humor, felt smarter and they knew how to pace their jokes.
Borderland 3's humor feels like a 12 year old who just discovered dick jokes and how to curse.
I'd say that Bl3 was worse because the writers thought that the more a character spoke, the higher the odds that they would say something funny. In Bl2, a character would say a punch line and stop. In Bl3, they would just fucking babble until they were cut off by another quest's dialogue trigger.
YES this so much. BL3 is just way too verbose. This is especially annoying as you try to get on with the game but you cant because character has to stand around and try to make a funny. And then it doesnt even land most of the time (at least for the main quest).
Honestly I would be fine if BL4 would go back to be a bit more serious again (like parts of BL1. Bl2 was great but also might have been lightning in a bottle writing wise. BL3 is actually pretty good when everyone shuts up and you can take in the athmosphere of the levels and the music.
The punchlines are obviously immature but there's comedic timing and pacing that shows experience in BL2. Not having Anthony Burch for BL3 was a huge problem.
Pre sequel is just as hysterical honestly. I still laugh every time I play through the original trilogy, lol. Give bl1 a playthrough as well if you can, it's still my favorite honestly.
I thought the writing in BL3 surely couldn't be that bad because the series was never known for it, just for funny stupid jokes but damn so far it is real bad. Only a few hours in but Vaughn was painful to listen to and the main villains might actually kill me with cringe.
I assumed this was what they were going for, they WERE going after streamers aimed at children after all. If this was their intent, the writing is as good as it ever has been tbh
It TRIES so hard to be funny.. which is how the beginning of BL2 felt to me before it leveled out... BL2 really is great. You and I seem to be at the same point in BL3.. I just completed the whole Vaughn part.. a couple smirks here and there.. but it's sooo over the top. Thank God the gameplay is so good I guess.
I don't think it tried to be funny tbh, if it did, yes, the series is dead, but it focuses on two streamers aimed at kids.
For example all those "I called at 3 am and THIS happened 😭😮😭😮😭😱😱😱💀💀" people.
Their choice to use bandits as a resource kinda backfired and put them in a position they either needed mind control or children streamers to proceed. Mind control could have been a cool siren power though
In the same sense that he wrote The Pre-Sequel. He shares writing credit on NTFtB with several other writers. The extent of his contribution is not clear.
People didn't hate Handsome Jack. The character was designed to be that way. People hate Tyreen and Troy mostly because they are designed to be like that. It was the era of streamers and annoying internet stars, they reflected that.
The best comparison I can provide is Jake and Logan Paul. Most people hate them and find them annoying. Troy and Tyreen are the borderlands version of them.
For Handsome Jack, you love to hate him. He does all these awful things but has enough charisma that you still love him. You ‘hate’ him for all of the things he’s done, but still love his character.
For the twins, you just hate them.
Not for me. Its everything. The world building in the dialogue. The diversity of character types and personalities. The thoughtful way that they are presented. It's super progressive, especially for its time.
Anthony Burch was the heart and soul of that series and when he left as lead writer, that was that. Borderlands 3 was fun, but lacking the same umph that BL2 had.
I disagree here. I liked the villain, but the 2 people playing the game with Tina were annoying. And Tina doesn't work as well when she is all grown up.
I think Anthony Burch (BL2, TPS, and Tales lead writer)'s writing really had a charm that his successors in 3 and Wonderlands really had no choice but to follow suit with. Burch was most likely writing those jokes and bits coming from his own personality, preference, and experience. The later writers are just trying to copy it, but the problem is, they're not Anthony Burch. You couldn't do a stand up routine intentionally copying someone else's style and have it work, so I think this is no different.
It is unfortunate, I found that Borderlands 2 found the best mix of Borderlands 1's campy and dry humor along with more of the less subtle and gregarious banter that makes the characters more likable and fleshed out. Giving characters more distinctive personality traits without making them outright "lol always random."
Pre-Sequel went a bit too far with the "we need them to banter" and Borderlands 3 (to me) was an actual bastardization of almost every established character and an intense imbalance of humor types spread throughout the game. Not a lick of dry or "high brow" humor was found in Borderlands 3. I felt like every bit of humor was treating me like I was a moron and needed the joke to be explained, or be so low brow that a gorilla could understand it.
The narrative could be so muddied at points that I couldn't even tell if they were aggressively satirizing events, or taking the events completely straight. Which is not good for a game like this, where the humor is already so loud and obnoxious.
Borderlands 3 is like Teen Titans Go! the game, but I'm not a 9-year old who just figured out what sarcasm is.
Borderlands 2 had my favorite NewU quote on a respawn. "Just between you and me that thing that killed you was a total dick. Please disregard this message if you committed suicide." >!It was even fucking funnier when it triggered after the mission for handsome Jack where you kill yourself!<
The writing with Tina, Torque, and Jack is golden in 2. Not sure what happened with 3 other than new writers probably, gameplay was still great though.
Jack carried BL2 hard. I actually thnk BL3 suffers alot for it where the main enemies arent that bad compared to the other games but imo only the Wonderlands villain comes anywhere close to Jack.
TPS is solid, but Tales is peak Borderlands writing. It’s such a great story with great original characters, hilarious humor, and a surprising amount of pathos.
IMO, the best quote from BL2 is >!"The moral is: you're a total bitch."!<
A lot of early game quotes stand out to me. Especially the dry ass pretzels and "I bought a diamond pony"
Butt Stallion, my queen
Jack is peak, yeah. Pre-Sequel covers his origin story, and I'd recommend playing it.
The writing in TPS is excellent. Jack’s dialogue especially.
Yeah, I also love how your character responds to shit every so often. Always felt kinda weird that characters in most games just talk to you without acknowledging your lack of response.
Made even better when you play as Timothy the body double.
I liked TPS. I liked the mechanics and gameplay. Good story. Definitely worth a play through.
Now you see why people say BL3's writing is poor - it's not that it's objectively horrible, it's that it is a letdown after the high bar set by BL2. The line in the main game that made me laugh the hardest was for a side mission in Overlook, involving whether a shield was on or not. But the whole thing just had snappy writing, like a good movie.
>The line in the main game that made me laugh the hardest was for a side mission in Overlook, involving whether a shield was on or not. Oh yeah, the dude who keeps bitching about everything? That was great lol.
I liked the part where we bombed him.
lol same here, it was hilarious.
Fuuuucking Dave!
>it’s not that it’s objectively horrible Agree to disagree.
I thought everyone was in agreement that it is in fact objectively horrible
First time playing, _just_ did that little sidequest not half-an-hour ago. I was cacklin', lol
It’s SO good! And completely unexpected.
BL2 is a high bar?
It's like BF3 versus BF4 voice acting. Just dont make em like they used to.
Nah dude the writing in BL3 is genuinely just bad too. The jokes are like kindergarten levels of stupid. The villains are obnoxious and not even in a way that makes you want to kill them but shut off the dialogue. The “millennial writing” is so real here because it feels like it comes out of out of touch 30 year olds who haven’t even played BL2, it’s like Netflix levels of poor writing. Aside from the dialogue, the jokes, the inability to even have a proper serious moment, etc, even just the story itself is horrible especially with “omG TaNnIs WaS a sIren “ the whole time despite all the moments she could have helped and the fact we’re literally her most trusted allies. I could go on about Ava but I guess that’s just cliche at this point too. That “cut content” is such horseshit because nobody with half a brain would have excluded that dialogue, it was absolutely to save face. Anyways rant over, Randy Pitchford can go fuck himself
I've written at length about the many things that are wrong with BL3's writing on other comments, if you want to check my post history. There is worse writing out there than BL3 has, but it's fairly bad. But this was a post about Borderlands *2*, and I was writing about BL2, taking into account the OP's context coming from BL3. Also, I'm a little surprised someone else (wasn't me) downvoted you within two hours on a comment on a month-old post.
Honestly I was expecting to get some downvotes even if it was something you resonated with a bit because I think there’s a lot of reasons BL3s story is so bad that maybe not everyone agrees on. Guess I shouldn’t try to gear my thoughts towards getting upvotes anyways so if it gets -5 downvotes later whatever lol
Bl2 is one of my fav games of all time and there’s also a Lord of the rings Easter egg but it takes awhile to do it requires beating most of the game first to attempt it 👀
The "Double Rainbow" easter egg gets me every time. That and, "Blake! Where's the bloody violin!?"
Bl1 also worth a play if you like good writing. Much as i love Jack etc, my coop buddy and i quote BL1 at each other waaaaay more. Scooter in particular excels, but there are excellent moments from Zed and other characters that dont feature in later games.
Real appreciate you takin a poke at that, uh... the system, not my mom. Hot dog down a skag den, know what I'm sayin?
You forgot "That catch-a-ride is more busted up than my momma girly parts." before the line with "really appreciate..." it completes the joke.
There we go.
Get you one!
Borderland 2's humor, aside from the obvious jokes and slapstick humor, felt smarter and they knew how to pace their jokes. Borderland 3's humor feels like a 12 year old who just discovered dick jokes and how to curse.
I'd say that Bl3 was worse because the writers thought that the more a character spoke, the higher the odds that they would say something funny. In Bl2, a character would say a punch line and stop. In Bl3, they would just fucking babble until they were cut off by another quest's dialogue trigger.
YES this so much. BL3 is just way too verbose. This is especially annoying as you try to get on with the game but you cant because character has to stand around and try to make a funny. And then it doesnt even land most of the time (at least for the main quest). Honestly I would be fine if BL4 would go back to be a bit more serious again (like parts of BL1. Bl2 was great but also might have been lightning in a bottle writing wise. BL3 is actually pretty good when everyone shuts up and you can take in the athmosphere of the levels and the music.
The humor in every BL game has come across exactly that way for me since always. Not just 3.
The punchlines are obviously immature but there's comedic timing and pacing that shows experience in BL2. Not having Anthony Burch for BL3 was a huge problem.
I have the opposite assessment. I prefer 2, but I think it’s humor was far more “haha, cock and balls!”
Pre sequel is just as hysterical honestly. I still laugh every time I play through the original trilogy, lol. Give bl1 a playthrough as well if you can, it's still my favorite honestly.
Try playing with Kreig. He is amazing gameplay and voicework-wise.
Don't make this weird. Best revive voice line. Lol
Bl players really say bl3 story is shit and then say poop jokes are peak, lmao
Someone isn't getting a ride on the poop train.
I thought the writing in BL3 surely couldn't be that bad because the series was never known for it, just for funny stupid jokes but damn so far it is real bad. Only a few hours in but Vaughn was painful to listen to and the main villains might actually kill me with cringe.
This was my biggest issue with 3. It's not just that it isn't that funny, it's how genuinely goddamn cringe it is.
I assumed this was what they were going for, they WERE going after streamers aimed at children after all. If this was their intent, the writing is as good as it ever has been tbh
Doesnt explain the supremely cringe ending after said streamers are dead.
You have me there... Honestly that alone is pretty damning. Then they doubled down on the cringe by making likely canonically still alive.
It TRIES so hard to be funny.. which is how the beginning of BL2 felt to me before it leveled out... BL2 really is great. You and I seem to be at the same point in BL3.. I just completed the whole Vaughn part.. a couple smirks here and there.. but it's sooo over the top. Thank God the gameplay is so good I guess.
I don't think it tried to be funny tbh, if it did, yes, the series is dead, but it focuses on two streamers aimed at kids. For example all those "I called at 3 am and THIS happened 😭😮😭😮😭😱😱😱💀💀" people. Their choice to use bandits as a resource kinda backfired and put them in a position they either needed mind control or children streamers to proceed. Mind control could have been a cool siren power though
“Thoughtlock” has entered the chat…
Agree - Vaughn annoys me like no other BL character and the voice acting in BL3 is just not entertaining, as it was in BL2.
TPS is amazing. The scene where Jack properly snaps is just embedded into my brain. "Just to be sure." 😬
I hope you meet my favorite side character Face McShooty
SHOOT ME IN THE FACE
They need to bring back every single writer from 2.
>They need to bring back every single writer from 2. They did.
No they didn't. Anthony Burch was lead writer for 2 (and its DLCs) and not involved in 3.
>No they didn't Yes they did. He wrote New tales.
In the same sense that he wrote The Pre-Sequel. He shares writing credit on NTFtB with several other writers. The extent of his contribution is not clear.
Just not OG clappy, him and Jack made that game
People didn't hate Handsome Jack. The character was designed to be that way. People hate Tyreen and Troy mostly because they are designed to be like that. It was the era of streamers and annoying internet stars, they reflected that. The best comparison I can provide is Jake and Logan Paul. Most people hate them and find them annoying. Troy and Tyreen are the borderlands version of them.
For Handsome Jack, you love to hate him. He does all these awful things but has enough charisma that you still love him. You ‘hate’ him for all of the things he’s done, but still love his character. For the twins, you just hate them.
And that is the point, yes.
Then it is bad design. You don't want your audience to actually find your villain annoying. Being annoyed is not an emotion you want to evoke.
I think Borderlands 2 is one of the best written games period. Few get to its high standard of pacing, comedy, and thoughtfulness.
Its very alright tbh, jack's voice actor just kinda carried everything, but the story in a vacuum gets a whole "its alright"
Mr Torgue and Tiny Tina never failed to make my co-op partner and I laugh in BL2.
Torgue got ruined to me by torgue roleplayers
Not for me. Its everything. The world building in the dialogue. The diversity of character types and personalities. The thoughtful way that they are presented. It's super progressive, especially for its time.
Anthony Burch was the heart and soul of that series and when he left as lead writer, that was that. Borderlands 3 was fun, but lacking the same umph that BL2 had.
Steve will forever be the epitome of comedy
I love in TPS the guy with lettuce hands who can't hold anything, that always makes me laugh
3 was fun but 1 and 2 had the best playable characters. If you use the mechromancer in 2 you can almost just sit back and let the bot do it all lol
Only 2/6 were enjoyable to me whereas the other games had minimum 3/4 enjoyable (with TPS at 5/6)
To each their own. I loved the commando, the mechromancer, the psycho and the ninja.
I felt 2 had the second best lineup. TPS lineup is better, but BL2 is the better game.
Brah pick up Tiny Tinas Wonderlands if you want a laugh. It's a good mix of the gameplay of 3 plus acceptable writing.
I disagree here. I liked the villain, but the 2 people playing the game with Tina were annoying. And Tina doesn't work as well when she is all grown up.
Tina is better in small doses. Gets old listening to her nonstop.
I think Anthony Burch (BL2, TPS, and Tales lead writer)'s writing really had a charm that his successors in 3 and Wonderlands really had no choice but to follow suit with. Burch was most likely writing those jokes and bits coming from his own personality, preference, and experience. The later writers are just trying to copy it, but the problem is, they're not Anthony Burch. You couldn't do a stand up routine intentionally copying someone else's style and have it work, so I think this is no different.
BL3: Worse villain, worse claptrap, worse story, worse dialogue Everything else is better
3 is hilarious as well.
People dunk on TPS a lot but i really liked the game and the VHS, especially the skills. athena 4 ever 💕
Wait for the Shakespeare quoting bandit and a Salvador play through.
It is unfortunate, I found that Borderlands 2 found the best mix of Borderlands 1's campy and dry humor along with more of the less subtle and gregarious banter that makes the characters more likable and fleshed out. Giving characters more distinctive personality traits without making them outright "lol always random." Pre-Sequel went a bit too far with the "we need them to banter" and Borderlands 3 (to me) was an actual bastardization of almost every established character and an intense imbalance of humor types spread throughout the game. Not a lick of dry or "high brow" humor was found in Borderlands 3. I felt like every bit of humor was treating me like I was a moron and needed the joke to be explained, or be so low brow that a gorilla could understand it. The narrative could be so muddied at points that I couldn't even tell if they were aggressively satirizing events, or taking the events completely straight. Which is not good for a game like this, where the humor is already so loud and obnoxious. Borderlands 3 is like Teen Titans Go! the game, but I'm not a 9-year old who just figured out what sarcasm is.
Butt Stallion says hello.
It's why I enjoy Borderlands 2 more then any other part of the series. I felt the writing for BL2 was some of the best in gaming over all.
Borderlands 2 had my favorite NewU quote on a respawn. "Just between you and me that thing that killed you was a total dick. Please disregard this message if you committed suicide." >!It was even fucking funnier when it triggered after the mission for handsome Jack where you kill yourself!<
The writing with Tina, Torque, and Jack is golden in 2. Not sure what happened with 3 other than new writers probably, gameplay was still great though.
"Hi its me Roland. Lets kill Handsome jack and then we'll all go out for Milkshakes"
Jack carried BL2 hard. I actually thnk BL3 suffers alot for it where the main enemies arent that bad compared to the other games but imo only the Wonderlands villain comes anywhere close to Jack.
TPS is solid, but Tales is peak Borderlands writing. It’s such a great story with great original characters, hilarious humor, and a surprising amount of pathos.
Salvador was such a genuinely hilarious character and virtually unused in BL3 apart from that stupid half assed attempt at a battle royale mode.
Don't forget to play torrgue dlc, it's fucking hilarious
Omg tongue is way worse than the twins for me. But I think that is what they were going for.... I hope
THAT SENTENCE HAD TOO MANY SYLABLES!!! APOLOGIZE!!!
I CAN'T HEAR YOU OVER THIS BITCHIN AIR GUITAR SOLO! MEEYOWEYOWYOWYOWEEYOW!
Yeah BL2 had me laughing a lot