How you identify doesn’t have anything to do with it, kiddo. I wasn’t using the term’s denotation, but rather the connotation I have observed it picking over the past few years.
It didn’t exist in Borderlands 1, only in Borderlands 2. Although I think 1 adding something in the remaster. Or maybe it didn’t, I can’t really remember.
I played a ton of Diablo 3 (and came back to it) and yet I only played BL1 and BL2 once main story only despite loving the time with it. I partially agree with you that the FPS nature makes it less “zen-like” than D3 but I also think it’s the focus of the story.
I played D3 at launch but dropped it after the first run through but I came back with the removal of the auction house patch, not JUST because of the auction house being gone (although that was huge) but because removing the emphasis on the story quests and adventure mode + torments (and later greater rifts) allowed me to not have to worry about objectives, NPC chatter, map navigation, etc… All of that is what got me to get into a zen.
BL1 and 2, while great games 100%, seemed to just want me to replay the story over and over again, which I just didn’t have any desire to do.
Well, plenty of people played Diablo 2 after beating the game and that was just running the campaign over and over again, so I don’t think that’s universal. But I agree adventure mode helps a lot.
Reviews drop today at 10am.
10am what time zone? It’s already 3pm here.
The best time zone, eastern usa!
And I just realized its already after 10am here! D:
IGN gave it 9.
Worth noting, VG24/7 is alleging that 2K only sent codes to a few US outlets. If true UK and EU sites won’t be posting much in the way of reviews today.
Publisher 2K has only sent early code to a select number of US outlets, citing security concerns. The publisher appears to be on edge after sending private investigators to a prominent Borderlands 3 leaker’s home.
Moar reviews, seems PC gamer was not bribed? :P
63/100
8/10
9/10
9/10
9/10
4/5
8/10
Sounds like the PCGamer reviewer liked the gameplay but not the humor/writing? If so that works for me. I don’t really care about the latter, I just want a good looter shooter.
Polygon review is going to like “-1/10”.
From the PC Games review:
Borderlands 3 walks by dog poop, points at it, and laughs, and then sets it on fire.
Sounds great!
The writer of that review makes a weird assumption that lowbrow poop humor was somehow unique or related to the late aughts or something.
This from GameInformer is a little more concerning to me:
One of the things I hated most about Diablo 3 when it launched was how tedious it was going through the whole game on Normal difficulty, as it was mind-numblingly easy (“your grandma should be able to beat it”, as one Diablo designer said in an interview). He mentions that the campaign is quite long, so I worry about having to slog through the entire game on easy mode before things start to get a little challenging.
Thus far Polygon and PCGamer have posted negative reviews, while the majority of the others have been positive or very positive. Examples:
- Game Informer — 8/10
- Destructoid — 9/10
- PC Gamer — 63/100
- Forbes — 9/10
- Shacknews — 9/10
- USGamer — 4/5
One thing reading the Borderlands 3 review at Polygon did is make me want to give Borderlands 2 another shot. When it came out, I was just too tired of Borderlands from the first one. Apparently the writing and characters were really good in the 2nd one. I should give that another try.
In my opinion the writing is the only thing that makes the second one worth playing solo. Beyond that, the game has a few issues if you aren’t co-op. I love the game to death, but without the writing I wouldn’t have finished it.
And I don’t necessarily mean overall story writing, but every little joke, innuendo, and throwaway line of dialogue from every throw away character or NPC really had me going.