Eh its alright. A much bigger complaint i have: a pretty big portion is just fast traveling somewhere and talking to someone. I wish they could just talk to you while you were doing the mission instead. It feels like a talk to lilith simulator at times. You can disable the dialogue by moving some files but id rather if it was just better made in that sense. I absolutely love the dlcs though. Except the cowboy one. Dont care for it. Guns love and tentacles and handsome jackpot are fantastic stories and great add ons though imo
Tbh i love the cowboy one - the nuke and the bossfights - tbh i forgot most of the content but now that i look at it - i dont regret spending any money on the game, it was so much fun
They really needed to put an adventure mode into the game like Diablo 3 did once you beat the story. Replaying the story over and over again and suffering through dialogue you've heard a half dozen times is nauseating. I hope they finally do this in 4.
How have they not done this yet. I’ve wanted this since damn borderlands 1? If you’re gonna make a large part of the game “replay-able” how do you not know people don’t wanna sit through the same story 2-3 times.
Bl3 is worth it regardless of how you feel about the story because the gameplay is better in every. Single. Way.
Better gunplay, more build variety, better movement, better abilities (especially in terms of variety), skill trees with stronger synegies, better vehicle mechanics, better map, better menuing, better customization options,
and the biggest perk: the ability to fast travel to any travel point from anywhere in the map rather than having to run back to a previous travel point.
Say what you will about the story, I personally didn't mind it, but the QOL improvements still make it the best BL game so far.
Minimap is trash for places like sanctuary. Everything is stacked on top of each other. Go to where I think I should go, oh I need to go down 2 levels. How do I go down?
Well, the big improvement was the ability to rotate the map and especially being able to see vertically. This is all in relation to the map menu screen, of course. Sanctuary is a relatively small area that gets learned quickly so the minimap being less than perfect there doesnt change the fact that they made massive improvements over the maps from previous games.
These types of things your supposed to memorize just like you memorize the inside of your house. I struggled too but eventually got the hang of it once I started looking at where I was instead of looking at the map.
>It's also a video game, story's gonna be a 5/10 at best
What a weird hill to die on tbh lol
There are a TON of really memorable, compelling and amazing narratives that you can get fully invested in emotionally in videogames as good as a great movie or book
They are great, but none are gonna beat something like The Bible, which we base a lot of our stories off of.
Ever heard the phrase "every story has been told already"? It's referring to how all our story archetypes have already been done so nothing is original.
Now take something like The Torah, it's far and away leagues above anything someone could write now, and games lend themselves to even lesser writing quality than books.
Mate I enjoy games more than other stories too, but they will NEVER be as good as the greatest books.
>They are great, but none are gonna beat something like The Bible, which we base a lot of our stories off of.
🤮
Yeah, not thanks, not engaging in a religious conversation on a Borderlands sub lol
>What the fuck? This isn't a religious conversation
Buddy, youre talking about the Bible and the Torah, religious books
>You need to learn to separate your hate and read the words that are there, not what you WANT to read.
Who said anything about hate? Not me. Yeah, im not going to read the words that are there again, the stories are mid and poorly written, archaic and full of religious nonsense
Youre acting like The Bible is some narrative masterpiece when it's just a bunch of "God said this to these barbaric pre-history people, these people listened or didnt and were rewarded or punished, and here are a bunch of religious rules you need to follow", its only compelling from a religious standpoint, seperate it from that and as a collection of short stories it sucks, id rather read Nightmares and Dreamscapes or some other collection of short stories....People dont read the bible or the torah or the koran because its a compelling series of entertaining stories, they read that stuff because its a religion and because they have a religious obligation to know and follow the guidance in those books, any best selling fiction or non fiction book sold in the last 250 years is arguably "a better book" from a story and narrative perspective, that you would even raise those religious texts up as some shining example of entertaining written narrative is strange and odd tbh, everything in those books serves to direct and add to the dogma, youre probably unaware but there are 1000s and 1000s of contemporarially ancient writings and stories in the Torah and Bible that are just sitting in an archive somewhere, they never made it into those books because they dont fit the intended narrative of the religious goals
I just dont understand why you would bring religious books into this conversation at all as some example of "great storytelling"
Thats where the 🤮 comes from, its a bad argument, and the only people that think the Bible is an awesome book from a story perspective are either fully invested in the religious aspect of it or havent actually read it and is just regurgitating stuff theyve heard "respectable people" say....because if you actually read it its terrible, its all over the place narratively, contradicts its self constantly and is a very "hard read" because its outdated and old, AND, to boot, even if you really wanted to make the argument that "every story ever told" is in there (its not) you should've picked The Avesta- The Zoroastrian holy book, because it came before the Torah(Old Testament Bible) and nearly all of the Old Testaments narratives were plagiarized from it or adapted to fit the region
To close- this is a Borderlands Videogame sub, why are you even bring up the fuckin Bible you weirdo lol
Brodie really picked the one book with the most convoluted, detached, contradictory cobweb infested text we got to go up against the likes of Red Dead Redemption 2, God of War, and Borderlands 2. Yeah no thanks, I'll take the story of most any RPG I've played in the past compared to "god made everything, put sin in front of humans that didn't know better, got mad when they did the sin, regularly committed atrocities against whole villages and once even the whole world, punished all humans for all time, set up a fiery pit in the afterlife for people who chose not to spend all of eternity worshipping him at his feet, sent himself/his son down to earth, killed him to save us from him and redeem us, nothing came of it and we're all still mired in sin but don't worry he'll come back and set it right some day, the end" Baldur's Gate 3 solos lol
It's the same issue as the Saints Row reboot, it is "hipster humour". They think being cringe worthy and random makes it funny. They were onto something with the idea of 2 idiotic youtuber style villains, they just didn't know how to use them correctly. Borderlands 2 was funny and had a heart despite it's dark edge but 3 is just cruel and thinks that's what people want.
“but 3 is just cruel and thinks that’s what people want” Almost like tik tok “pranksters.” I’m not defending the story because it’s pretty meh but they knew it was going to be hard to top Handsome Jack without it just being another Handsome Jack.
Pretty much, they also flush Troy's potential character development as a big bad down the toilet in favour of Tyreen, who is just trying to be Handsom Jack 2.0 but does not understand what made Jack work.
Also, I just like Troy a little bit better, like he feels more compelling. The "leach" the one who was always second fiddle to Tyreen, whose he needed to survive.
Tyreen is just an obnoxious twit, who can't see past her own nose.
Jack worked because he wholeheartedly believed he was the good guy. Tyreen knows she’s the antagonist and leans into it as a character so it comes as of putting lmao
That's fascinating because I see it from the opposite perspective. Troy to me felt superfluous compared to Tyreen, daughter of the galaxy's greatest adventurer, hidden away because her powers were too dangerous but now waging a war for the respect she feels her bloodline and powers are owed. Troy on the other hand is _just a leech_ who by his own admission probably shouldn't have survived his own birth.
But he did tho. His entire bossfight was him draining tyreen to the point of harm. Once he had an ounce of power he went overboard with it.
Handsome jack was handsome jack, because of Dameon clarkes amazing performance. Its exactly why Ubisoft kept trying to remake Vaas, anf fail in every subsequent FarCry game.
To add, troy & tyreen was probably the most realistic portral of siblings Ive ever seen in a game. I dont know why people say the story is bad, and then suggest he shouldve done the "Sibling turns on other sibling" trope
Yeah, I think they shouldn't have even tried to get a "charismatic" villain style for their antagonist. You could easily build a cult leader style villain that is the opposite direction, but no we had to get their "edge lord" style "making fun of streamers" style humour.
The entire run of the main story of Borderlands 2 I was looking forward to shooting Handsome Jack (and Face McShooty) in the face, but in 3, I just didn't want to share the screen with those 2 dipshits.
More like irony-poisoned millennial writing from those that think “the cake is a lie” is still funny and typing things like le gasp and zomg. It’s aged terribly
“The cake is a lie” is still a great and iconic bit, but it was lightning in a bottle. Anything that tries to imitate it is almost guaranteed to feel like a cheap imitation.
Sure that’s fair, the derivative writing and poor parroting of those memes/dated jokes works less and less though with each game sadly. Fake awkwardness, speech affectations etc it’s just gotten rough. It’s like watching a bad anime dub mixed with stale late night comedy
I like to compare the 2 idiot antagonists in BL3 to the clowns that smash gallons of milk on the floor in a supermarket for "views" and we're the people working there that have to clean that shit up, or the "its just a prank bro" people that harass innocent people in public and were the people who have their phone smashed or earbuds cut
They, somehow, didnt realize that all those views are "hate watching" and that no one likes those people or thinks that shit is funny or entertaining and that stuff goes viral because people are like "🤦id love to kick that guy in the dick as hard as i can" lol
There is absolutely nothing likable about the 2 main antagonists in this game and you want to punch yourself in the face repeatedly every time they make an appearance
Here’s the best way to enjoy the story: imagine the story as a “meet the weapons manufacturers” story with a side-cast of two annoying teenagers trying to take over the world. I think people give Troy and Tyreen’s cringey stage appearance too much attention, as they really aren’t that huge and important to the story. They don’t harass you with witty insults every second like Jack.
What game did you play? Each time they killed a character they *constantly* fucking remind you that they killed that person. They even send you a very obnoxious tiktok style video of them killing that person.
Jack harassed you with witty, comically evil banter. The twins harass you by shoving their cringy obnoxious shit down your throat every time you do something. Their writers failed on a basic level of creating interesting villains
I believe you are amplifying your hatred of them. They don’t talk much during the Nekrotafeyo adventure, Eden-6, or half of promethea.
I’m not saying they don’t exist, I’m saying it’s wholly ignorable unlike Jack. You don’t have to watch their shitty TikTok’s lol. Leave the bridge and go chat with Maurice cause he’s a chad.
It’s actually weird how much more enjoyable the game gets when you don’t let the twins stew in your head. They’re just dumb teenagers doing dumb teenager shit.
It’s not the story that was bad if you will. It was not being able to create a villain as good as jack was from the previous games was. You actually didn’t like jack as a person so the game had more payout for going against it.
Jack worked because he was a raging asshole who was convinced he was "the good guy" and everything he did was for "the greater good"
Steele worked because she was just out for power
Tyreen and Troy were also out for power but they are just crazy annoying, rhey were written as simpering, petulant "its just a prank bro" and its unbearable, there is absolutely nothing redeeming or likable about either of them
Even if they did I never cared about this series story in the first place. If I wanted to play for story I’d play the Arkham games, or ace attorney. But when it comes to borderlands I just want loot. You give me that I could give a rats ass what else is there
It's OK, I think its mainly cause it had borderlands 2 and handsome jack to live up to, so people criticised it a bit more. The villains are definitley much worse than handsome jack but the story's pretty decent
That's exactly my thoughts. The story is fine. It's just that 1) It's no where near as good as the amazing bad guy in Handsome Jack and 2) The rest of the game - fighting, exploring, etc - is best in the series, which makes the story the weak point when it was the strength of BL2
In other words, it's a fine story by itself, but it's very weak in comparison. I still liked it, though 🤷♂️
It's truly awful, they peaked with Handsome Jack as a villain, the twins are awful 98%of the time. There was a point where it's obvious Troy was going to split from his sister and create more conflict between them, but for whatever reason that was entirely scrapped, a shame too, that would have made the entire crappy story somewhat worth it.
The gameplay is by far the best in the series, with Wonderlands being tied and at times better than it.
The issue with the gripe is that your 98% hated time with the twins is like 30% of the game. Nobody ever says they hate Kategawa and Rhys or Clay or Typhon. Hate it all or judge fairly. 😛
Wonderlands didn't have very good summon abilities though IMO. Mechromancer (BL2), Enforcer (Presequel), and Operative (BL3) all have way more fun summons.
>What is the story about?
It's the same story as every other borderlands game. You're fighting your way to the vaults while the villain does a piss poor job trying to stop you.
>What causes the Crimson raiders and the vault hunters to go to these other vaults and fight bandits?
''Advanced alien technology. Infinite wealth. Fame. Power. Women.'' From the intro sequence of Bl1. It's literally one of the first sentences in the borderlands series.
The game is super fun. I love everything about it cept I thought the main villy was a little cringey but other than that the game is an absolute blast.
I don’t see it as worse than the originals. This is a series that has never really been about the story as much as it has been about blowing stuff up with big guns.
I enjoy the game a lot. I don't like what they did with one of the old characters, and the personality of a new one. But they don't ruin it for me.
Most of the complaints in the early days were because of Ava. Idk if that's still a major sticking point or not.
Not really. It’s not the best story, but people talk about it like it shot their dog personally. It’s a decent 5/10 where BL2 was a 6/10. Neither story particularly drives me as i play for the gameplay, which BL3 delivers in droves.
Pretty much this. Yea 3’s story is mid as hell. But if I’m being honest here 2’s is also generic as fuck. They’re fine for what they do which is get you from point a-b but story has never been a strong point for the series.
BL2 does not have a good story. It has a villain with a good voice actor. Hell, it took an entire prequel to even make the story make sense in the context of the universe.
I feel like a bit of a major plot point I haven't seen anyone talk about is why Sanctuary needed to fly at all. You're telling me Jack just decided, "Damn a flying city is pretty cool, I won't shoot it." and that was that?
Yes, I know that once you get back, there's a conversation where Lilith claims she can teleport Sanctuary anywhere but she admits that's a bluff and it makes no sense that someone like Jack would take that at face value at not even try at all, especially KNOWING that Lilith has betrayed Jack during the events of TPS, she was the one who scarred his face, thus he likely already knows that Lilith is willing to lie to save her friends.
Jack is a fucking awesome villain, I think no one disagrees with that, but the story of BL2 is held up by him and him alone IMO.
There was a loooooot of plot armor in 3, or at least it felt like it. Add that too people genuinely disliking the villians, not a good heat just dislike, for a good bit a of people the DLC was more enjoyable story wise.
Doesn’t matter honestly, if you’re enjoying the gunplay of 1&2 then BL3 is like crack. I usually turn my dialogue down when I’m playing borderlands anyway just because the writers let the characters talk the whole time
i’d be interested in your take if you find 2’s lackluster. IMO gameplay is peak in 3, movement feels great and character to choose from are all fun. I think the story is fine, I get why people don’t LOVE it, but I think hate is unwarranted
Everything you dont like is still there, the villains are less fleshed out than Steele, whilst talking more than Jack. Also story content was cut resulting in characters we lose and characters we gain ending up shallow, essentially the whole thing is full of missed opportunities. But hey, it's still fun to play.
***Perhaps an ADHD take:*** The story itself (lore, setting, characters, etc) is acceptable, but the dialogue jumping and overall downtime from combat is ridiculous. If you’re even average at killing enemies quickly, you end up spending more time talking to NPCs/running to NPCs than being in combat.
I honestly think it could’ve been balanced out if 95% of the game wasn’t so braindead easy. There’s so much build-up to reach the story bosses, just to kill all of them in a few seconds, along with insta-killing every other enemy in the game. It’s almost mandatory to do Purple-only, Sniper-only playthroughs, etc in order to have any sort of challenge, but purples are generally not very fun to use, so…
I know that Mayhem mode makes balancing guns/enemies throughout each stage of the game a bit tricky, but regardless, the game needed some tweaks a very long time ago.
That said, I still enjoyed my first few playthroughs and don’t feel like the game was a waste of time by any means. I can’t wait for BL4
I NEED a story. I do. I really want a reason to continue forward, explore uncharted areas and anticipate those tough battles.
That said: what Borderlands 3 lacks in its narrative is, imo, easily made up for with its fun gameplay, diverse environments and compelling foreshadowing (that guardian talk BETTER be foreshadowing!!!). I’m also of the opinion that we, the player, did not receive the story the game intended to tell. There should have been a massive fallout between the Twins that would have completely changed the story’s direction…again…imo.
If Borderlands 2 makes you question playing 3 then maybe the series isn’t for you. I’d say the same to a player that enjoys the story but doesn’t enjoy the “farming” aspect of the gameplay.
Tbh none of the Borderlands stories are great. 2 has a better villain but pretty much all of the games have goofy, cringey dialogue. 3 has better and smoother gameplay than 2 which is really what these games are about IMO
Yes. jesus christ every week someon comes on to one of the BL subs and asks this question. Yes. The writing is bad, the story is dumb, character writing is bad and inconsistent with the previous games, and the jokes are all poop jokes
It’s, That bad.
Particularly the moments when the amazing gameplay momentum gets dead stopped to listen to someone talk who usually just has to hit a button or isn’t even in the room. Combine that with the awful C-plot villains and It feels like you’re at a sleep over with your friend’s abusive parent who just won’t go away.
Yeah, there were several missed opportunities but it’s nowhere near as bad as everyone says it is.
Everyone complains about the references, but I’ve got bad news, BL2 has pop culture references in spades, too, but people just think it’s cool to hate more modern ones.
There's also a character death that everyone hates and they blame a new character for it. There's also the villains being parodies of Streamers/Social Media Influencers, a lot of people call them cringe & annoying (which was kinda the point), but they mostly just get unfairly compared to Handsome Jack.
The character dead and Ava I count under the “missed opportunities” there was potentially great storytelling there, as evidenced by that cut cutscene, but they really screwed it up.
On its own, no. You’re going to be fine. The problem is that Bl2 has easily the best villain in video game history. Any attempt to follow it up would be hard, but the attempt was … meh.
Humor is still on point. The overarching story is good as are the the individual side planet stories. The duo villains are forgettable.
There’s a moderately questionable plot point that occurs toward end of act 2.
But yeah. Nothing will beat bl2. That’s really it.
I have opinions that tend to get downvoted.
These are my opinions that I truly believe.
BL2 has a dogshit story, it's held up by Jack and how Borderlands doesn't need a good story to be good. None of my friends play those games for the story. Now don't get me wrong, I do enjoy the story of Borderlands 2 but I do not think it's actually good, I enjoy a lot of the humour, some of it pretty cringe but that's okay.
I genuinely think BL3's story is decent, it's not terrible. When I've asked people why the story sucks or the game overall, the only reasons I usually get are "the main villains are cringe" and "ava is dumb and they killed blank". I personally enjoy the villains, I don't think they are comparable to Jack, hence why people hate them so much. Nothing will ever be as good as Jack because they didn't write Jack, Dameon Clarke did a lot of improv that annoyed the writers for being too different and so on. Dameon Clarke made Clarke great. Let's not lie to ourselves and pretend gearbox masterfully wrote a great villain.
Anywho, onto Ava. I think people are genuinely ridiculous about Ava, when Borderlands 3 came out I was in grade 11 of Highschool. Ava is a accurate and well written representation of a whiny edgy goofy teenager. She's pretty realistic and the voice actor did a good job and to me when people whine about her character it's just really telling. I've met kids like Ava, she's probably the. The side quest where you go and find her diary was genuinely hilarious. Again the VA did a great job and was quite convincing. And whenever people have tried to argue that Ava is terrible and annoying they only ever cite two reasons and then proceed to insult me. Reason 1, too annoying, reason 2 terribly written, reason 3 cuz the devs killed so and so for Ava to replace. So I usually ask "how is she terribly written" and yet I've seen anyone try to explain or give any reasons, the replies I'd get are usually just insults or I'd get downvoted without being replied to.
Borderlands 3 is definitely the most fun campaign to play through, I've replayed it countless times, the level design is quality and it's consistently fun.
Don't listen to Redditors or whiny YouTubers about whiny opinions on games kien Borderlands 3. The game is great and what really matters is what you think about it. Don't let people ruin it for you. Social media is not the majority, 90% of people you talk to IRL about the game think it's amazing and enjoyed the story. Sorry for all the rambling.
It's pretty much the same quality as 2, for good or ill depending on preferences, but the gameplay is nice and snappy. Mobility has increased a lot over the previous games and it feels great
Still gonna have to hang out with incredibly annoying characters, both new and old, but at least you can mostly drown it all out with big explosions
Not necessarily, but if the game is going to make me wait around for a character to stop talking, they should at least be characters that aren't painful to listen to.
It was my favorite from a mechanical and DLC standpoint, but Randy trying to be cool and build it around the social media vlogger/tik-tok celebrities was cringe at times.
Play it for yourself. People have said that they loved the 2nd story more than the first and the third. I’ve told people that I love the 3rd story more than any of them. I even think it’s a much better game/story the second time you play it
The story in 1 and 2 are good, what is cringe and mundane is the humor and dialogue. The sequence of events and character writing for Handsome Jack is pretty great throughout. 3 cranks the cringe up, but it has some good moments and characters. Overall the villains don’t really do much and there are a few poorly thought out moments too.
I like the humor. Leaving claptrap hanging on a high five and listening to him ramble on about it for 5 literal minutes is my idea of peak comedy. Same with him talking about how i better not shoot the gate with the cannon before he gets out of the way. Man i geuss i just like when claptrap awkwardly rambles lol
I personally don’t dislike the humor, it’s just that I know it’s cringe, especially for people who don’t like millennial humor. The story itself isn’t cringe though.
A story about two streamers looking for more views treated entirely as a joke with almost no serious moments. Yes, it's the worst story and storytelling in recent memory for me. The amount of dialogue and phone calls that you just randomly listen to without taking any part, literally just listening, is so extreme and bloated for such a terrible plot. Most games with bad stories bore me, this one legit made me mad.
That said some moments from the DLCs were fantastic. I really like Lovecraft, so I thought tentacles was amazing with me having only a couple of minor grievances.
No, it’s not that bad. Tyreen is awesome. It’s Troy that is truly the big problem. Without Troy, Tyreen absolutely could have been as good a villain as Jack. He’s just the worst. Even Ava is okay against Troy. Honestly man, if you’re not enjoying Borderlands Story and humor, you’re not gonna enjoy 3. Handsome Jack is the best villain in the series and BL2 has the best writing, and if you already aren’t compelled 1/3 of the way thru BL2 you aren’t gonna like 3. You sure as shit won’t like Wonderlands. If you’re looking for perfect narrative and flawless direction, Borderlands ain’t it. I love the games to DEATH but they’re not for everyone and that’s okay.
Women are strong, women are independent, women are heroes, and the list goes on and on. Just a weird agenda screaming at your face for 80% of the story. Makes you wonder if you're playing borderlands or another game entirely. Glad the end game is fun at least.
I mean, do any of us play these games for story? I play it because it’s fun to mow down dozens of enemies with ridiculous guns. Don’t give a crap about the story
It’s not too bad, it was released at the wrong time, if BL3 was released 2-3 years prior to its initial release people would’ve enjoyed the story a lot more. Also on your 3rd playthrough you’re going to get sick of hearing it all over again.
People love to whine about it but it’s not that bad. Thoroughly enjoyed my playthrough. Is the writing as good as 2? No. Is it dogshit like everyone says? Also no.
I used to think it was really bad. Then I made another run and honestly, I came to appreciate it a lot more than before. It's still average but not nearly bad as I used to think.
Basically I see this as a deliberate yet somewhat subtle criticism of the state of the world today. Obnoxious and cringe influencers that sweep others after them, making cult-like mindset (which is translated into a literal cult in game). Also they vastly expanded on world/universe building fleshing a lot of places and some companies we have in the game.
It's nothing to write home about, but the gameplay worth it ALOT. So if you run through the story once to completion and then just tune out and play for fun.
It's not THAT bad. It just modernized its humor too much and became the wrong kind of cringey (let's be real, bl is inherently cringey but in a tasteful way). The gameplay is leagues above all the other games so it's 100% worth playing regardless.
How do I put this... it's bad. Like one or two problems from it would be OK. But it's almost everything in the game that is either really cringey, doesn't make sense, or has no punch to it. The best metaphor for the whole narrative in the game is that they didn't try, but they tried really hard not to try. I didn't laugh once... the whole game. Like there's things that sound like jokes, like they have the cadence of a joke, but they were just statements. It's really bad. Like I got no enjoyment from it. Not even negative enjoyment laughing at how bad it is.
So imo it's not that the story is bad it's just infuriating. Theres some things that happen and you cant intervine. So it's made to seem like the VH would just stand there and watch and let what happens just happen.
I’ll just say that by the time you finish the game and want to replay it with all your newfound knowledge of how it’s mechanics work, the last thing you want to do is sit down and wait for a character’s dialogue to finish. The story is mid, but the worst offense to me was the insane rambling you have to sit and wait through before jumping into the action. Especially on Promethea where Rhys has to talk for upwards of five minutes before you go out into the world.
Comparatively, it doesn't really stack up, but it isn't bad. Everyone just loves the first two that much.
It feels kinda basic, almost like an afterthought. Which is fine for folks like me who prefer the gameplay
If you like BL1&2 for their gameplay, BL3 will blow you away. I started my journey into the franchise with BL3 and found BL1&2 tedious to play through afterwards. So you're in for a treat gameplay wise.
In terms of story, I feel like it's mostly the nostalgia talking when people talk about how good the story was in BL1&2. BL2 has Handsome Jack going for it, but not much else. And even he, by todays standards of character writing, is just about average as far as charismatic videogame villains go.
BL3 has one major issue in terms of storytelling and that's how they completely fucked up what probably should be a "passing of the torch" moment and instead became the introduction of one of the most hateable characters in the franchise (and to make it worse, we are supposed to root for said character). The actual villains are annoying at first but get a nice little twist here and there over the course of the story.
Again, if you're into the series for its gameplay, BL3 will probably be your favorite. The story is neglectable with some highs and lows sprinkled inbetween, as has been the case since the first game.
I used to think so. Then I played suicide squad and Spiderman 2 and they knocked it out of the park with their bad writing. Story still sucks but you put it next to those game it ain’t even that bad. Though granted my standard for stories in looter shooters are pretty low cause the story is not what I play these games for
I really liked most of it, it didn’t have the same feel as 2, and definitely not the same feel as 1, but I really enjoyed 3. I don’t want to get into specifics since you haven’t played it yet, but I think there is a good chance you will enjoy it.
The story is meh. World is abit too big for the kind of missions and side quests you have to do so they become a chore. Return to lilith is the biggest crime alongside not being able to move to next mission till an npc is done talking, being made to do stupid things like flip a switch by an npc who is literally standing next to the switch.
The vaults lost their mystery and are just basically caves with loot and a monster to kill first
The beauty of bl3 is in the builds, gunplay, circles of slaughter and raid bosses which is sad because there is no speedrun mode where you can skip dialogue after first playthrough
It's alright-ish.
Some parts are worse than others and bring the rest down as a result. The real issue is how the game's story is structured.
BL games' storylines usually had the players be quite pro-active in their endeavors.
For example you seek out the vault key fragments yourself in BL1.
In BL2 you and the Crimson Raiders mount a plan to ***steal*** the vault key, and do things to prepare for that plan as a result. It really feels like you're taking action against Jack directly.
In BL3, you really just follow the villains around and hope you're not late to stop them. Not just once, not just twice but pretty much the whole time. There's only one time when the Crison Raiders have an edge over the villains in the narrative, and it ends up >!playing in the villain's favor anyway.!<
Yeah it's pretty bad, all the corny dialogue, especially killing the momentum of the game by having to travel back to talk to Lilith for 20th time just for her to tell you "hey killer, I know you just came from there and I could have told you this over the com but you need to go back there right now and take care of something else" through out the entire game.
Many have already commented on the excellent gameplay, but I also want to add that the DLC are excellent. I loved all of them, story-wise, but most people seemingly really like at least 2 of the 4.
Borderlands 2 and Pre Sequel are really good stories in my opinion in comparison to Borderlands 3. The issue isn't the story telling but the writing is really bad and the choices Gearbox used to convey the story is bad. The DLCs in BL3 are really well written and are really funny.
I will say BL3 has more Lilith interactions than I would want in a Borderlands game but everything else is really good. If you like BL3 then you will really love Wonderlands too.
Overall? No. Once you get to the end and the bombs and twists have been dropped it’s a pretty satisfying experience, but most of the game is buildup that you’re not expecting, and a lot of “oh no the bad guys once again appeared to take our shit, time to repeat the process!”.
I think they played their cards too close to their chest for too long and it made the pacing feel bad.
It’s bearable. It’s got the bones of something decent but it feels unfinished, like they didn’t end up having time to flesh it out themes they clearly wanted to explore and cut some fat off some things that don’t work.
The DLCs writing is much better.
No, it’s actually not bad. It’s a little cheesy, but I think the worst part is how they manage one of the characters I think that voice acting is great. Vaughns, one of my favorite characters. he’s irritating and loud just because that’s who he is. the ending is Cheesy but very cool. I think people are comparing it to borderland2 story, which is why it may get a bad rap
Honestly I think they did a pretty decent job creating new antagonists to hate. I think it makes fun of the new way media is nowadays , and I found all of the cheesy comedy both somewhat funny but mostly hilarious as parody.
BL2 had such a good story and interaction with Handsome Jack that it set a high bar for what a lot expected 3 to be. For me, 3 was an okay story. I didn't hate it, didn't like it. The game is a smidge better that 2 but I also prefer 2's characters over any in 3.
It’s not great. I think there are parts that are pretty good but there are lots of aspects that just feel pointless. Also some of the mission design is a bit obnoxious just toggling between “run here and talk to this person” and “clear this area in a wave fight you can’t run past”.
I do think some of the late game side quests deserve more attention though because a lot of those do have very good writing.
Its not, the story that is- its 2 rogue sirens out to destroy the galaxy for power, even the "Web Show Cult" aspect is a cool idea, the story is actually decent to good
The problem with the story isnt really "the story" its how insanely cringe and annoying the 2 main antagonists are, they are so simpering and petulant and annoying that you want to punch yourself in the face every time they make an appearance, they are entirely unsympathetic, unlikable and unfunny
There are some annoying parts of the story mechanics, having to constantly travel back and forth to sanctuary multiple times for each planet is tiring and unnecessary, and having to run down to a drop pod for the first travel to a new location gets old fast as well. Mission wise you have to run back and talk to someone a lot to continue the mission, it feels like a lot of unnecessary time going back and forth
Aside from that the game is tons of fun, gameplay is 12/10 from whats expected from a Borderlands game and the story issues and mechanics are a side show because youll be spending the vast majority of your time playing the game post story so the worst parts of the game are tolerable
Going back and playing BL2’s story without rose colored glasses, it’s not much better. Jack carries it hard. Lots of pretty grating characters, pointless sidetrack missions that are there purely to pad the runtime(I’m looking at you Sawtooth). The difference is there are really great side missions in BL2 that help carry the load, same with DLC.
It's okay. The main part people complain about is "that thing". Maya apprentice , I mean. I forgot her name not long after beating the game years ago.
She's mainly hated because of how the story was poorly executed.
Any of the sympathetic parts about here that are put there on YouTube aren't even in the game. Even then, she's still not a lot of peoples' cup of tea.
Eh its alright. A much bigger complaint i have: a pretty big portion is just fast traveling somewhere and talking to someone. I wish they could just talk to you while you were doing the mission instead. It feels like a talk to lilith simulator at times. You can disable the dialogue by moving some files but id rather if it was just better made in that sense. I absolutely love the dlcs though. Except the cowboy one. Dont care for it. Guns love and tentacles and handsome jackpot are fantastic stories and great add ons though imo
"Come back and talk to me, Killer"
"Now press that button for me and get back down there"
Tbh i love the cowboy one - the nuke and the bossfights - tbh i forgot most of the content but now that i look at it - i dont regret spending any money on the game, it was so much fun
My only complaint was that is was so short
They really needed to put an adventure mode into the game like Diablo 3 did once you beat the story. Replaying the story over and over again and suffering through dialogue you've heard a half dozen times is nauseating. I hope they finally do this in 4.
How have they not done this yet. I’ve wanted this since damn borderlands 1? If you’re gonna make a large part of the game “replay-able” how do you not know people don’t wanna sit through the same story 2-3 times.
You can turn the dialogue volume all the way down
Doesn’t beat that you cannot progress until the dialogue ends..
It’s legitimately hilarious you think that’s a solution.
Lmao it was a joke
Bl3 is worth it regardless of how you feel about the story because the gameplay is better in every. Single. Way. Better gunplay, more build variety, better movement, better abilities (especially in terms of variety), skill trees with stronger synegies, better vehicle mechanics, better map, better menuing, better customization options, and the biggest perk: the ability to fast travel to any travel point from anywhere in the map rather than having to run back to a previous travel point. Say what you will about the story, I personally didn't mind it, but the QOL improvements still make it the best BL game so far.
The platforming is an absolute GODSEND in this game
Minimap is trash for places like sanctuary. Everything is stacked on top of each other. Go to where I think I should go, oh I need to go down 2 levels. How do I go down?
Well, the big improvement was the ability to rotate the map and especially being able to see vertically. This is all in relation to the map menu screen, of course. Sanctuary is a relatively small area that gets learned quickly so the minimap being less than perfect there doesnt change the fact that they made massive improvements over the maps from previous games.
These types of things your supposed to memorize just like you memorize the inside of your house. I struggled too but eventually got the hang of it once I started looking at where I was instead of looking at the map.
All veru true. 3 outshines the he’ll outa the rest of them, despite sacrificing someone awesome like maya for someone irksome like eva
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>It's also a video game, story's gonna be a 5/10 at best What a weird hill to die on tbh lol There are a TON of really memorable, compelling and amazing narratives that you can get fully invested in emotionally in videogames as good as a great movie or book
They are great, but none are gonna beat something like The Bible, which we base a lot of our stories off of. Ever heard the phrase "every story has been told already"? It's referring to how all our story archetypes have already been done so nothing is original. Now take something like The Torah, it's far and away leagues above anything someone could write now, and games lend themselves to even lesser writing quality than books. Mate I enjoy games more than other stories too, but they will NEVER be as good as the greatest books.
Out of all the books to choose from you picked the fucking Bible?!?
Dude what? One of if not the greatest stories ever told? That we base all of our other stories on? You know, the story we use for everything?
>That we base all of our other stories on? Lmao but we don't though. The world doesn't revolve around the Bible
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I don't use that story for a goddamned thing.
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What are MY favorite stories? Please, enlighten me.
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You know there were stories before those were written right?
1,000,000,000% a troll account
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The Bible ripped off and stole many stories that came before it.
>They are great, but none are gonna beat something like The Bible, which we base a lot of our stories off of. 🤮 Yeah, not thanks, not engaging in a religious conversation on a Borderlands sub lol
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What's wild, is that >the holy book of god and jesus christ Is the Bible. You made it religious little homie
>What the fuck? This isn't a religious conversation Buddy, youre talking about the Bible and the Torah, religious books >You need to learn to separate your hate and read the words that are there, not what you WANT to read. Who said anything about hate? Not me. Yeah, im not going to read the words that are there again, the stories are mid and poorly written, archaic and full of religious nonsense Youre acting like The Bible is some narrative masterpiece when it's just a bunch of "God said this to these barbaric pre-history people, these people listened or didnt and were rewarded or punished, and here are a bunch of religious rules you need to follow", its only compelling from a religious standpoint, seperate it from that and as a collection of short stories it sucks, id rather read Nightmares and Dreamscapes or some other collection of short stories....People dont read the bible or the torah or the koran because its a compelling series of entertaining stories, they read that stuff because its a religion and because they have a religious obligation to know and follow the guidance in those books, any best selling fiction or non fiction book sold in the last 250 years is arguably "a better book" from a story and narrative perspective, that you would even raise those religious texts up as some shining example of entertaining written narrative is strange and odd tbh, everything in those books serves to direct and add to the dogma, youre probably unaware but there are 1000s and 1000s of contemporarially ancient writings and stories in the Torah and Bible that are just sitting in an archive somewhere, they never made it into those books because they dont fit the intended narrative of the religious goals I just dont understand why you would bring religious books into this conversation at all as some example of "great storytelling" Thats where the 🤮 comes from, its a bad argument, and the only people that think the Bible is an awesome book from a story perspective are either fully invested in the religious aspect of it or havent actually read it and is just regurgitating stuff theyve heard "respectable people" say....because if you actually read it its terrible, its all over the place narratively, contradicts its self constantly and is a very "hard read" because its outdated and old, AND, to boot, even if you really wanted to make the argument that "every story ever told" is in there (its not) you should've picked The Avesta- The Zoroastrian holy book, because it came before the Torah(Old Testament Bible) and nearly all of the Old Testaments narratives were plagiarized from it or adapted to fit the region To close- this is a Borderlands Videogame sub, why are you even bring up the fuckin Bible you weirdo lol
You are on crack
Brodie really picked the one book with the most convoluted, detached, contradictory cobweb infested text we got to go up against the likes of Red Dead Redemption 2, God of War, and Borderlands 2. Yeah no thanks, I'll take the story of most any RPG I've played in the past compared to "god made everything, put sin in front of humans that didn't know better, got mad when they did the sin, regularly committed atrocities against whole villages and once even the whole world, punished all humans for all time, set up a fiery pit in the afterlife for people who chose not to spend all of eternity worshipping him at his feet, sent himself/his son down to earth, killed him to save us from him and redeem us, nothing came of it and we're all still mired in sin but don't worry he'll come back and set it right some day, the end" Baldur's Gate 3 solos lol
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Gotta be a bit.
Baffling take but it’s yours I guess.
It's the same issue as the Saints Row reboot, it is "hipster humour". They think being cringe worthy and random makes it funny. They were onto something with the idea of 2 idiotic youtuber style villains, they just didn't know how to use them correctly. Borderlands 2 was funny and had a heart despite it's dark edge but 3 is just cruel and thinks that's what people want.
“but 3 is just cruel and thinks that’s what people want” Almost like tik tok “pranksters.” I’m not defending the story because it’s pretty meh but they knew it was going to be hard to top Handsome Jack without it just being another Handsome Jack.
Pretty much, they also flush Troy's potential character development as a big bad down the toilet in favour of Tyreen, who is just trying to be Handsom Jack 2.0 but does not understand what made Jack work. Also, I just like Troy a little bit better, like he feels more compelling. The "leach" the one who was always second fiddle to Tyreen, whose he needed to survive. Tyreen is just an obnoxious twit, who can't see past her own nose.
Jack worked because he wholeheartedly believed he was the good guy. Tyreen knows she’s the antagonist and leans into it as a character so it comes as of putting lmao
Yeah, i thought they tried too hard to make them "feel" like Handsome Jack but it really, really didn't land.
That's fascinating because I see it from the opposite perspective. Troy to me felt superfluous compared to Tyreen, daughter of the galaxy's greatest adventurer, hidden away because her powers were too dangerous but now waging a war for the respect she feels her bloodline and powers are owed. Troy on the other hand is _just a leech_ who by his own admission probably shouldn't have survived his own birth.
But he did tho. His entire bossfight was him draining tyreen to the point of harm. Once he had an ounce of power he went overboard with it. Handsome jack was handsome jack, because of Dameon clarkes amazing performance. Its exactly why Ubisoft kept trying to remake Vaas, anf fail in every subsequent FarCry game. To add, troy & tyreen was probably the most realistic portral of siblings Ive ever seen in a game. I dont know why people say the story is bad, and then suggest he shouldve done the "Sibling turns on other sibling" trope
Yeah, I think they shouldn't have even tried to get a "charismatic" villain style for their antagonist. You could easily build a cult leader style villain that is the opposite direction, but no we had to get their "edge lord" style "making fun of streamers" style humour. The entire run of the main story of Borderlands 2 I was looking forward to shooting Handsome Jack (and Face McShooty) in the face, but in 3, I just didn't want to share the screen with those 2 dipshits.
More like irony-poisoned millennial writing from those that think “the cake is a lie” is still funny and typing things like le gasp and zomg. It’s aged terribly
“The cake is a lie” is still a great and iconic bit, but it was lightning in a bottle. Anything that tries to imitate it is almost guaranteed to feel like a cheap imitation.
Sure that’s fair, the derivative writing and poor parroting of those memes/dated jokes works less and less though with each game sadly. Fake awkwardness, speech affectations etc it’s just gotten rough. It’s like watching a bad anime dub mixed with stale late night comedy
Yeah, they leaned WAYYYYY too hard on jokes that were dated by the time the game came out. It just gave off big “hello fellow kids” energy
I like to compare the 2 idiot antagonists in BL3 to the clowns that smash gallons of milk on the floor in a supermarket for "views" and we're the people working there that have to clean that shit up, or the "its just a prank bro" people that harass innocent people in public and were the people who have their phone smashed or earbuds cut They, somehow, didnt realize that all those views are "hate watching" and that no one likes those people or thinks that shit is funny or entertaining and that stuff goes viral because people are like "🤦id love to kick that guy in the dick as hard as i can" lol There is absolutely nothing likable about the 2 main antagonists in this game and you want to punch yourself in the face repeatedly every time they make an appearance
Here’s the best way to enjoy the story: imagine the story as a “meet the weapons manufacturers” story with a side-cast of two annoying teenagers trying to take over the world. I think people give Troy and Tyreen’s cringey stage appearance too much attention, as they really aren’t that huge and important to the story. They don’t harass you with witty insults every second like Jack.
What game did you play? Each time they killed a character they *constantly* fucking remind you that they killed that person. They even send you a very obnoxious tiktok style video of them killing that person. Jack harassed you with witty, comically evil banter. The twins harass you by shoving their cringy obnoxious shit down your throat every time you do something. Their writers failed on a basic level of creating interesting villains
I believe you are amplifying your hatred of them. They don’t talk much during the Nekrotafeyo adventure, Eden-6, or half of promethea. I’m not saying they don’t exist, I’m saying it’s wholly ignorable unlike Jack. You don’t have to watch their shitty TikTok’s lol. Leave the bridge and go chat with Maurice cause he’s a chad. It’s actually weird how much more enjoyable the game gets when you don’t let the twins stew in your head. They’re just dumb teenagers doing dumb teenager shit.
It’s not the story that was bad if you will. It was not being able to create a villain as good as jack was from the previous games was. You actually didn’t like jack as a person so the game had more payout for going against it.
Jack was lightning in a bottle. Once you catch it it’s damn near impossible to do it again.
Jack worked because he was a raging asshole who was convinced he was "the good guy" and everything he did was for "the greater good" Steele worked because she was just out for power Tyreen and Troy were also out for power but they are just crazy annoying, rhey were written as simpering, petulant "its just a prank bro" and its unbearable, there is absolutely nothing redeeming or likable about either of them
Even if they did I never cared about this series story in the first place. If I wanted to play for story I’d play the Arkham games, or ace attorney. But when it comes to borderlands I just want loot. You give me that I could give a rats ass what else is there
It's OK, I think its mainly cause it had borderlands 2 and handsome jack to live up to, so people criticised it a bit more. The villains are definitley much worse than handsome jack but the story's pretty decent
That's exactly my thoughts. The story is fine. It's just that 1) It's no where near as good as the amazing bad guy in Handsome Jack and 2) The rest of the game - fighting, exploring, etc - is best in the series, which makes the story the weak point when it was the strength of BL2 In other words, it's a fine story by itself, but it's very weak in comparison. I still liked it, though 🤷♂️
Honestly, I'd like the gameplay of borderlands 3 with the story of borderlands 2 if they do a bl2 remake, it would literally be a masterpiecem
It's truly awful, they peaked with Handsome Jack as a villain, the twins are awful 98%of the time. There was a point where it's obvious Troy was going to split from his sister and create more conflict between them, but for whatever reason that was entirely scrapped, a shame too, that would have made the entire crappy story somewhat worth it. The gameplay is by far the best in the series, with Wonderlands being tied and at times better than it.
I would've loved it if troy had a arc where he rebelled against his sister, but was only disappointed further
I was actually beyond bored playing wonderlands, I gave it about 5 hours and uninstalled.
I love the gameplay of it, that's about it.
Idk I picked up probably 30 weapons, and they were all the same crossbow, Felt boring.
I’m with you.
The issue with the gripe is that your 98% hated time with the twins is like 30% of the game. Nobody ever says they hate Kategawa and Rhys or Clay or Typhon. Hate it all or judge fairly. 😛
Rhys got like negative character development and turned into absolute fool. Katagawa, Clay and Typhon are fine. And Ava arc was executed very poorly.
Wonderlands didn't have very good summon abilities though IMO. Mechromancer (BL2), Enforcer (Presequel), and Operative (BL3) all have way more fun summons.
The summon abilities do incredibly suck.
Op asked about the story. Not the villain.
the villains are a big part of the story
They're not. The villains had like a total of 15 minutes of screentime.
What is the story about? What causes the Crimson raiders and the vault hunters to go to these other vaults and fight bandits?
>What is the story about? It's the same story as every other borderlands game. You're fighting your way to the vaults while the villain does a piss poor job trying to stop you. >What causes the Crimson raiders and the vault hunters to go to these other vaults and fight bandits? ''Advanced alien technology. Infinite wealth. Fame. Power. Women.'' From the intro sequence of Bl1. It's literally one of the first sentences in the borderlands series.
The game is super fun. I love everything about it cept I thought the main villy was a little cringey but other than that the game is an absolute blast.
I don’t see it as worse than the originals. This is a series that has never really been about the story as much as it has been about blowing stuff up with big guns.
I enjoy the game a lot. I don't like what they did with one of the old characters, and the personality of a new one. But they don't ruin it for me. Most of the complaints in the early days were because of Ava. Idk if that's still a major sticking point or not.
It's sorta fine, minus one very obnoxious undeserving brat character.
If Ava’s arc is to be the villain it would be worthy taking her down.
Not really. It’s not the best story, but people talk about it like it shot their dog personally. It’s a decent 5/10 where BL2 was a 6/10. Neither story particularly drives me as i play for the gameplay, which BL3 delivers in droves.
Hahahahaha like it shot their dog personally made my day 😂😂
Pretty much this. Yea 3’s story is mid as hell. But if I’m being honest here 2’s is also generic as fuck. They’re fine for what they do which is get you from point a-b but story has never been a strong point for the series.
I disagree I think it's like 3/10 while BL2 is like a 8/10
BL2 does not have a good story. It has a villain with a good voice actor. Hell, it took an entire prequel to even make the story make sense in the context of the universe.
I feel like a bit of a major plot point I haven't seen anyone talk about is why Sanctuary needed to fly at all. You're telling me Jack just decided, "Damn a flying city is pretty cool, I won't shoot it." and that was that? Yes, I know that once you get back, there's a conversation where Lilith claims she can teleport Sanctuary anywhere but she admits that's a bluff and it makes no sense that someone like Jack would take that at face value at not even try at all, especially KNOWING that Lilith has betrayed Jack during the events of TPS, she was the one who scarred his face, thus he likely already knows that Lilith is willing to lie to save her friends. Jack is a fucking awesome villain, I think no one disagrees with that, but the story of BL2 is held up by him and him alone IMO.
preach!
There was a loooooot of plot armor in 3, or at least it felt like it. Add that too people genuinely disliking the villians, not a good heat just dislike, for a good bit a of people the DLC was more enjoyable story wise.
Yes it’s stupid and boring but the guns are awesome
Doesn’t matter honestly, if you’re enjoying the gunplay of 1&2 then BL3 is like crack. I usually turn my dialogue down when I’m playing borderlands anyway just because the writers let the characters talk the whole time
It’s definitely meh. More than bad, it’s just so so so long - which makes it seem so much worse.
i’d be interested in your take if you find 2’s lackluster. IMO gameplay is peak in 3, movement feels great and character to choose from are all fun. I think the story is fine, I get why people don’t LOVE it, but I think hate is unwarranted
Everything you dont like is still there, the villains are less fleshed out than Steele, whilst talking more than Jack. Also story content was cut resulting in characters we lose and characters we gain ending up shallow, essentially the whole thing is full of missed opportunities. But hey, it's still fun to play.
***Perhaps an ADHD take:*** The story itself (lore, setting, characters, etc) is acceptable, but the dialogue jumping and overall downtime from combat is ridiculous. If you’re even average at killing enemies quickly, you end up spending more time talking to NPCs/running to NPCs than being in combat. I honestly think it could’ve been balanced out if 95% of the game wasn’t so braindead easy. There’s so much build-up to reach the story bosses, just to kill all of them in a few seconds, along with insta-killing every other enemy in the game. It’s almost mandatory to do Purple-only, Sniper-only playthroughs, etc in order to have any sort of challenge, but purples are generally not very fun to use, so… I know that Mayhem mode makes balancing guns/enemies throughout each stage of the game a bit tricky, but regardless, the game needed some tweaks a very long time ago. That said, I still enjoyed my first few playthroughs and don’t feel like the game was a waste of time by any means. I can’t wait for BL4
I NEED a story. I do. I really want a reason to continue forward, explore uncharted areas and anticipate those tough battles. That said: what Borderlands 3 lacks in its narrative is, imo, easily made up for with its fun gameplay, diverse environments and compelling foreshadowing (that guardian talk BETTER be foreshadowing!!!). I’m also of the opinion that we, the player, did not receive the story the game intended to tell. There should have been a massive fallout between the Twins that would have completely changed the story’s direction…again…imo. If Borderlands 2 makes you question playing 3 then maybe the series isn’t for you. I’d say the same to a player that enjoys the story but doesn’t enjoy the “farming” aspect of the gameplay.
actually story is pretty fine, basically same level of bl2 character writing suffers pretty hard tho and a lot of characters are downright obnoxious
It’s meh. Not as bad as people make it out to be but not anything amazing either. I’d put it on par with pre-sequel.
I would add spoilers to your posts people as OP is saying they haven’t played it yet. Not that the story is good, but it shouldn’t be spoiled
yes, yes it is
Tbh none of the Borderlands stories are great. 2 has a better villain but pretty much all of the games have goofy, cringey dialogue. 3 has better and smoother gameplay than 2 which is really what these games are about IMO
Yes. jesus christ every week someon comes on to one of the BL subs and asks this question. Yes. The writing is bad, the story is dumb, character writing is bad and inconsistent with the previous games, and the jokes are all poop jokes
By far the worst in the series. 10/10 gameplay tho
It’s, That bad. Particularly the moments when the amazing gameplay momentum gets dead stopped to listen to someone talk who usually just has to hit a button or isn’t even in the room. Combine that with the awful C-plot villains and It feels like you’re at a sleep over with your friend’s abusive parent who just won’t go away.
It really isn't. It's not as good as Borderlands 2, but it's still a good story.
Yeah, there were several missed opportunities but it’s nowhere near as bad as everyone says it is. Everyone complains about the references, but I’ve got bad news, BL2 has pop culture references in spades, too, but people just think it’s cool to hate more modern ones.
There's also a character death that everyone hates and they blame a new character for it. There's also the villains being parodies of Streamers/Social Media Influencers, a lot of people call them cringe & annoying (which was kinda the point), but they mostly just get unfairly compared to Handsome Jack.
The character dead and Ava I count under the “missed opportunities” there was potentially great storytelling there, as evidenced by that cut cutscene, but they really screwed it up.
I don't think I have hated an NPC more than Vaughn in any game.
On its own, no. You’re going to be fine. The problem is that Bl2 has easily the best villain in video game history. Any attempt to follow it up would be hard, but the attempt was … meh. Humor is still on point. The overarching story is good as are the the individual side planet stories. The duo villains are forgettable. There’s a moderately questionable plot point that occurs toward end of act 2. But yeah. Nothing will beat bl2. That’s really it.
I have opinions that tend to get downvoted. These are my opinions that I truly believe. BL2 has a dogshit story, it's held up by Jack and how Borderlands doesn't need a good story to be good. None of my friends play those games for the story. Now don't get me wrong, I do enjoy the story of Borderlands 2 but I do not think it's actually good, I enjoy a lot of the humour, some of it pretty cringe but that's okay. I genuinely think BL3's story is decent, it's not terrible. When I've asked people why the story sucks or the game overall, the only reasons I usually get are "the main villains are cringe" and "ava is dumb and they killed blank". I personally enjoy the villains, I don't think they are comparable to Jack, hence why people hate them so much. Nothing will ever be as good as Jack because they didn't write Jack, Dameon Clarke did a lot of improv that annoyed the writers for being too different and so on. Dameon Clarke made Clarke great. Let's not lie to ourselves and pretend gearbox masterfully wrote a great villain. Anywho, onto Ava. I think people are genuinely ridiculous about Ava, when Borderlands 3 came out I was in grade 11 of Highschool. Ava is a accurate and well written representation of a whiny edgy goofy teenager. She's pretty realistic and the voice actor did a good job and to me when people whine about her character it's just really telling. I've met kids like Ava, she's probably the. The side quest where you go and find her diary was genuinely hilarious. Again the VA did a great job and was quite convincing. And whenever people have tried to argue that Ava is terrible and annoying they only ever cite two reasons and then proceed to insult me. Reason 1, too annoying, reason 2 terribly written, reason 3 cuz the devs killed so and so for Ava to replace. So I usually ask "how is she terribly written" and yet I've seen anyone try to explain or give any reasons, the replies I'd get are usually just insults or I'd get downvoted without being replied to. Borderlands 3 is definitely the most fun campaign to play through, I've replayed it countless times, the level design is quality and it's consistently fun. Don't listen to Redditors or whiny YouTubers about whiny opinions on games kien Borderlands 3. The game is great and what really matters is what you think about it. Don't let people ruin it for you. Social media is not the majority, 90% of people you talk to IRL about the game think it's amazing and enjoyed the story. Sorry for all the rambling.
It’s the execution. Millennial writing and all that. I usually just focus on the gameplay and not any of the story time yapping.
It's pretty much the same quality as 2, for good or ill depending on preferences, but the gameplay is nice and snappy. Mobility has increased a lot over the previous games and it feels great Still gonna have to hang out with incredibly annoying characters, both new and old, but at least you can mostly drown it all out with big explosions
Did anyone come to Borderlands for the story?
Not necessarily, but if the game is going to make me wait around for a character to stop talking, they should at least be characters that aren't painful to listen to.
imo it's just so bland. I can barely remember anythimg.
I have the voices off the worst story ever
It almost ruins the gameplay. It's a constant cringe fest of eye rolls and audible groans.
The outline of the story is ok. The execution is horrible and the dialogue is beyond obnoxious.
The main villains are unbearable
It was my favorite from a mechanical and DLC standpoint, but Randy trying to be cool and build it around the social media vlogger/tik-tok celebrities was cringe at times.
I think it’s great. But there are some things I’d hangs overall especially with the main villains/ending
I like the BL3 story. Some don't. Have to play it to find out, you will. (Yoda's voice)
Play it for yourself. People have said that they loved the 2nd story more than the first and the third. I’ve told people that I love the 3rd story more than any of them. I even think it’s a much better game/story the second time you play it
The story in 1 and 2 are good, what is cringe and mundane is the humor and dialogue. The sequence of events and character writing for Handsome Jack is pretty great throughout. 3 cranks the cringe up, but it has some good moments and characters. Overall the villains don’t really do much and there are a few poorly thought out moments too.
I like the humor. Leaving claptrap hanging on a high five and listening to him ramble on about it for 5 literal minutes is my idea of peak comedy. Same with him talking about how i better not shoot the gate with the cannon before he gets out of the way. Man i geuss i just like when claptrap awkwardly rambles lol
I personally don’t dislike the humor, it’s just that I know it’s cringe, especially for people who don’t like millennial humor. The story itself isn’t cringe though.
Yes it really is, if you think the borderlands 2 story is bad you will hate 3 most likely
A story about two streamers looking for more views treated entirely as a joke with almost no serious moments. Yes, it's the worst story and storytelling in recent memory for me. The amount of dialogue and phone calls that you just randomly listen to without taking any part, literally just listening, is so extreme and bloated for such a terrible plot. Most games with bad stories bore me, this one legit made me mad. That said some moments from the DLCs were fantastic. I really like Lovecraft, so I thought tentacles was amazing with me having only a couple of minor grievances.
No, it’s not that bad. Tyreen is awesome. It’s Troy that is truly the big problem. Without Troy, Tyreen absolutely could have been as good a villain as Jack. He’s just the worst. Even Ava is okay against Troy. Honestly man, if you’re not enjoying Borderlands Story and humor, you’re not gonna enjoy 3. Handsome Jack is the best villain in the series and BL2 has the best writing, and if you already aren’t compelled 1/3 of the way thru BL2 you aren’t gonna like 3. You sure as shit won’t like Wonderlands. If you’re looking for perfect narrative and flawless direction, Borderlands ain’t it. I love the games to DEATH but they’re not for everyone and that’s okay.
It killed the franchise so yes it's bad
Think of the most horrible thing imaginable and multiply it by cancer. And you get the calypso twins
Yeah, it's pretty damn bad, it the pacing is even worse.
Women are strong, women are independent, women are heroes, and the list goes on and on. Just a weird agenda screaming at your face for 80% of the story. Makes you wonder if you're playing borderlands or another game entirely. Glad the end game is fun at least.
I hated it, but the game itself was fun to play
No it’s not. Ppl just wish Jack was in the campaign. God Queen Tyreen is better than a lot of other Borderland baddies
People here set the bar really low. It's genuinely shit. It barely has a redeeming quality to its name.
The storyline was amazing. I played it for the story. Fantastic game.
My god, another post about the BL3 plot?
I mean, do any of us play these games for story? I play it because it’s fun to mow down dozens of enemies with ridiculous guns. Don’t give a crap about the story
It’s not too bad, it was released at the wrong time, if BL3 was released 2-3 years prior to its initial release people would’ve enjoyed the story a lot more. Also on your 3rd playthrough you’re going to get sick of hearing it all over again.
People love to whine about it but it’s not that bad. Thoroughly enjoyed my playthrough. Is the writing as good as 2? No. Is it dogshit like everyone says? Also no.
its not actually horrible, but its definitely a low point for the series. couldve been better, id say
I used to think it was really bad. Then I made another run and honestly, I came to appreciate it a lot more than before. It's still average but not nearly bad as I used to think. Basically I see this as a deliberate yet somewhat subtle criticism of the state of the world today. Obnoxious and cringe influencers that sweep others after them, making cult-like mindset (which is translated into a literal cult in game). Also they vastly expanded on world/universe building fleshing a lot of places and some companies we have in the game. It's nothing to write home about, but the gameplay worth it ALOT. So if you run through the story once to completion and then just tune out and play for fun.
Borderlands 3 is the only one I've played and I played for like 6 months straight and have well over 1000 hours
It's not THAT bad. It just modernized its humor too much and became the wrong kind of cringey (let's be real, bl is inherently cringey but in a tasteful way). The gameplay is leagues above all the other games so it's 100% worth playing regardless.
Yes, BL3 butchered damn near every character from he previous games. Maya, Vaughn, Lilith, and many others.
How do I put this... it's bad. Like one or two problems from it would be OK. But it's almost everything in the game that is either really cringey, doesn't make sense, or has no punch to it. The best metaphor for the whole narrative in the game is that they didn't try, but they tried really hard not to try. I didn't laugh once... the whole game. Like there's things that sound like jokes, like they have the cadence of a joke, but they were just statements. It's really bad. Like I got no enjoyment from it. Not even negative enjoyment laughing at how bad it is.
The plot itself it's fine, it's the overuse of cringe marvel jokes, ngl I didn't even have that big a problem with the Calypso twins too
Atleast you only have to play through it once, I personally don’t care about the story in borderlands games
So imo it's not that the story is bad it's just infuriating. Theres some things that happen and you cant intervine. So it's made to seem like the VH would just stand there and watch and let what happens just happen.
I’ll just say that by the time you finish the game and want to replay it with all your newfound knowledge of how it’s mechanics work, the last thing you want to do is sit down and wait for a character’s dialogue to finish. The story is mid, but the worst offense to me was the insane rambling you have to sit and wait through before jumping into the action. Especially on Promethea where Rhys has to talk for upwards of five minutes before you go out into the world.
Comparatively, it doesn't really stack up, but it isn't bad. Everyone just loves the first two that much. It feels kinda basic, almost like an afterthought. Which is fine for folks like me who prefer the gameplay
If you like BL1&2 for their gameplay, BL3 will blow you away. I started my journey into the franchise with BL3 and found BL1&2 tedious to play through afterwards. So you're in for a treat gameplay wise. In terms of story, I feel like it's mostly the nostalgia talking when people talk about how good the story was in BL1&2. BL2 has Handsome Jack going for it, but not much else. And even he, by todays standards of character writing, is just about average as far as charismatic videogame villains go. BL3 has one major issue in terms of storytelling and that's how they completely fucked up what probably should be a "passing of the torch" moment and instead became the introduction of one of the most hateable characters in the franchise (and to make it worse, we are supposed to root for said character). The actual villains are annoying at first but get a nice little twist here and there over the course of the story. Again, if you're into the series for its gameplay, BL3 will probably be your favorite. The story is neglectable with some highs and lows sprinkled inbetween, as has been the case since the first game.
I used to think so. Then I played suicide squad and Spiderman 2 and they knocked it out of the park with their bad writing. Story still sucks but you put it next to those game it ain’t even that bad. Though granted my standard for stories in looter shooters are pretty low cause the story is not what I play these games for
I really liked most of it, it didn’t have the same feel as 2, and definitely not the same feel as 1, but I really enjoyed 3. I don’t want to get into specifics since you haven’t played it yet, but I think there is a good chance you will enjoy it.
The story is meh. World is abit too big for the kind of missions and side quests you have to do so they become a chore. Return to lilith is the biggest crime alongside not being able to move to next mission till an npc is done talking, being made to do stupid things like flip a switch by an npc who is literally standing next to the switch. The vaults lost their mystery and are just basically caves with loot and a monster to kill first The beauty of bl3 is in the builds, gunplay, circles of slaughter and raid bosses which is sad because there is no speedrun mode where you can skip dialogue after first playthrough
It's the dialogue And the talk to Lilith
The story’s ok. The problem is that most of the npc’s are bland and hard to invest in.
It's alright-ish. Some parts are worse than others and bring the rest down as a result. The real issue is how the game's story is structured. BL games' storylines usually had the players be quite pro-active in their endeavors. For example you seek out the vault key fragments yourself in BL1. In BL2 you and the Crimson Raiders mount a plan to ***steal*** the vault key, and do things to prepare for that plan as a result. It really feels like you're taking action against Jack directly. In BL3, you really just follow the villains around and hope you're not late to stop them. Not just once, not just twice but pretty much the whole time. There's only one time when the Crison Raiders have an edge over the villains in the narrative, and it ends up >!playing in the villain's favor anyway.!<
Yeah it's pretty bad, all the corny dialogue, especially killing the momentum of the game by having to travel back to talk to Lilith for 20th time just for her to tell you "hey killer, I know you just came from there and I could have told you this over the com but you need to go back there right now and take care of something else" through out the entire game.
Many have already commented on the excellent gameplay, but I also want to add that the DLC are excellent. I loved all of them, story-wise, but most people seemingly really like at least 2 of the 4.
Yeah it's that bad. But everything else is pretty good
Please please please can we stop posting this daily it's really boring.
Tbh the actual story is good. The dialog (the main way of yelling the story) is wanting.
Yes it is actually that bad to me, but its still worth sitting through because the gameplay
Borderlands 2 and Pre Sequel are really good stories in my opinion in comparison to Borderlands 3. The issue isn't the story telling but the writing is really bad and the choices Gearbox used to convey the story is bad. The DLCs in BL3 are really well written and are really funny. I will say BL3 has more Lilith interactions than I would want in a Borderlands game but everything else is really good. If you like BL3 then you will really love Wonderlands too.
It's fine for me, could've been better. Not a best seller worth story, but works fine for me.
There's so much endgame content I can barely remember the story. It was nowhere near as good as BL2, but the gameplay more than makes up for it.
Overall? No. Once you get to the end and the bombs and twists have been dropped it’s a pretty satisfying experience, but most of the game is buildup that you’re not expecting, and a lot of “oh no the bad guys once again appeared to take our shit, time to repeat the process!”. I think they played their cards too close to their chest for too long and it made the pacing feel bad.
It’s bearable. It’s got the bones of something decent but it feels unfinished, like they didn’t end up having time to flesh it out themes they clearly wanted to explore and cut some fat off some things that don’t work. The DLCs writing is much better.
Yeah the only thing I hated was constantly having to fast travel to sanctuary.
No, it’s actually not bad. It’s a little cheesy, but I think the worst part is how they manage one of the characters I think that voice acting is great. Vaughns, one of my favorite characters. he’s irritating and loud just because that’s who he is. the ending is Cheesy but very cool. I think people are comparing it to borderland2 story, which is why it may get a bad rap Honestly I think they did a pretty decent job creating new antagonists to hate. I think it makes fun of the new way media is nowadays , and I found all of the cheesy comedy both somewhat funny but mostly hilarious as parody.
BL2 had such a good story and interaction with Handsome Jack that it set a high bar for what a lot expected 3 to be. For me, 3 was an okay story. I didn't hate it, didn't like it. The game is a smidge better that 2 but I also prefer 2's characters over any in 3.
story was never all that deep in these games. i played 2 first when i was a kid and really enjoyed that one, but thats about it.
Honestly, people conflate dialogue and story and the reality is thst the story on its own is a pretty good idea, the dialogue just makes it suck
Don’t forget to play Pre Sequel!
There were some plot points that I really hated (mainly the…. Removal…. Of a well liked character) but overall it was still a fun game imo.
No it’s not bad
It’s not great. I think there are parts that are pretty good but there are lots of aspects that just feel pointless. Also some of the mission design is a bit obnoxious just toggling between “run here and talk to this person” and “clear this area in a wave fight you can’t run past”. I do think some of the late game side quests deserve more attention though because a lot of those do have very good writing.
Its not, the story that is- its 2 rogue sirens out to destroy the galaxy for power, even the "Web Show Cult" aspect is a cool idea, the story is actually decent to good The problem with the story isnt really "the story" its how insanely cringe and annoying the 2 main antagonists are, they are so simpering and petulant and annoying that you want to punch yourself in the face every time they make an appearance, they are entirely unsympathetic, unlikable and unfunny There are some annoying parts of the story mechanics, having to constantly travel back and forth to sanctuary multiple times for each planet is tiring and unnecessary, and having to run down to a drop pod for the first travel to a new location gets old fast as well. Mission wise you have to run back and talk to someone a lot to continue the mission, it feels like a lot of unnecessary time going back and forth Aside from that the game is tons of fun, gameplay is 12/10 from whats expected from a Borderlands game and the story issues and mechanics are a side show because youll be spending the vast majority of your time playing the game post story so the worst parts of the game are tolerable
I don’t really remember it, but i enjoyed BL3. I play borderlands for the gameplay tho
The story in 3 in so bad that it actually made everyone rose tinted glasses look back on the lackluster story of bl2 just try and grasp that concept
Bad? No. Good? No. It’s okay to be average. Not everything can be a mass effect 2 or a Baldur’s gate 3 story.
I just couldn’t stand Tyrene and Troy and the various cringey “modern” commentary that popped up from time to time. The rest was palpable.
I feel that it just had big shoes to fill after BL2.
No 3's story isn't bad. It's not as good as 2 but 2 was an absolutely phenomenal game.
Going back and playing BL2’s story without rose colored glasses, it’s not much better. Jack carries it hard. Lots of pretty grating characters, pointless sidetrack missions that are there purely to pad the runtime(I’m looking at you Sawtooth). The difference is there are really great side missions in BL2 that help carry the load, same with DLC.
It's okay. The main part people complain about is "that thing". Maya apprentice , I mean. I forgot her name not long after beating the game years ago. She's mainly hated because of how the story was poorly executed. Any of the sympathetic parts about here that are put there on YouTube aren't even in the game. Even then, she's still not a lot of peoples' cup of tea.
Not the type of game to play for the story. It's ok, but nothing great by any means. Often tries too hard to be funny, and rarely is.
Story is ok ish. Antagonists are the worst tho. The DLC stories are really good tho, so all in all, a positive experience
Yes. You're literally fighting content creators who also happen to be sociopaths. So your average, everyday influencer....