For some reason the first one never interested me but I'm thinking of picking up the second one. What will I be missing story wise?, and will it be worth it to play the whole thing solo because I have zero interest in co op.

Thanks

No, you won't be missing much story wise. It's a fun game, and I recommend playing it (I played it solo) because it was a fun game, but at this point, you might as well just get Borderlands 2. It'll probably be better.

@pompouspizza said:

For some reason the first one never interested me but I'm thinking of picking up the second one. What will I be missing story wise?, and will it be worth it to play the whole thing solo because I have zero interest in co op.

Thanks

As a word of caution - I wanted to play through the first one before I try the second as I felt much like you so I bought the GOTY on the steam sale. I don't know about others, although some have shared this sentiment, but the game was incredibly boring when playing by yourself. Since it's more RPG than FPS there are times when you're just dumping tons of ammo into things and they hardly even twitch. When I encountered the first boss, despite being in level range it took me several minutes to whittle away his health by running around a corner getting two shots off and then running behind another corner - something that might have been more exciting with 3 other people but was just excruciatingly boring by myself.

I don't think solo is this games strength - although Jeff probably played solo'd and was fine with it. If you can, try the first game as it will probably represent the second quite well.

Starting with the sequel might be a good move. As far as missing out on anything, no one would really know but so far it sounds like there might be some cameos from characters in Borderlands 1. Doesn't sound too important so far though.

Do you mean playing through Borderlands 1 or 2 solo? If you don't mind doing MMO-style quests by yourself, the first one should be fine.

No. The story is:

vault of unspecified treasures hidden on the planet. 'vault hunters' come to the planet to find it. You find it, turns out it's an alien portal with a vagina monster.

That's it. A couple of specifics like corporations and characters/enemies. You'll only miss out on tangential elements and won't be familiar with gun manufacturers etc. Nothing important.

Nah, you don't need to play the original borderlands. The sequel looks like it would be a more better experience.

I say skip it, Borderlands 2 look like it is straight up a better version of the first game.

@pompouspizza said:

For some reason the first one never interested me but I'm thinking of picking up the second one. What will I be missing story wise?, and will it be worth it to play the whole thing solo because I have zero interest in co op.

Thanks

You're missing nothing story wise. And you can play solo. I didn't make it through the whole original (but saw what happened at the end to fill myself in) mostly solo and yes I didn't make it through, but this game seems a lot better. I don't think playing solo should throw you off.

Co-op seems better though. I may try to go out of my way and find some people to play with this time to give that an honest try.

@Humanity: I played it solo and while it would probably (almost definietly) have been better with friends, I really enjoyed it. It is a weird game, probably the most boring ever to watch someone else play but so much fun to play yourself. My mate used to come round while I was playing and for all time he still calls it 'that boring game'

Its not though.

@pompouspizza I really doubt the story matters much. In the first it was pretty much irrelevant, just an excuse to go from one place to another collecting and shooting things. I hope they improve this tbh.

@Humanity said:

@pompouspizza said:

For some reason the first one never interested me but I'm thinking of picking up the second one. What will I be missing story wise?, and will it be worth it to play the whole thing solo because I have zero interest in co op.

Thanks

As a word of caution - I wanted to play through the first one before I try the second as I felt much like you so I bought the GOTY on the steam sale. I don't know about others, although some have shared this sentiment, but the game was incredibly boring when playing by yourself. Since it's more RPG than FPS there are times when you're just dumping tons of ammo into things and they hardly even twitch. When I encountered the first boss, despite being in level range it took me several minutes to whittle away his health by running around a corner getting two shots off and then running behind another corner - something that might have been more exciting with 3 other people but was just excruciatingly boring by myself.

I don't think solo is this games strength - although Jeff probably played solo'd and was fine with it. If you can, try the first game as it will probably represent the second quite well.

I played it solo and enjoyed it, twice, but the second time was almost entirely played as a podcast game.

EDIT: OP, Borderlands 1 has a story that's only slightly more complex and original than New Super Mario Bros. Treasure hunter goes looking for vault, finds some weird cardboard cutout characters who give him info in return for quests completed, Hunter finds vault, turns out there's a giant creature inside instead of a bunch of a treasure. There are a few more morsels of story details, but it isn't much and it's nothing you won't find out with a quick Wikipedia search.

On a side note, the Guardian or whatever does say that the end-game vagina monster is invincible in its own dimension. I must say that I am extremely curious as to this "other dimension" - what does it look like? What is it? Are there more of those vagina monsters? Are there worse things? Would it be a cool level and a good story idea to explore it, or should Gearbox never look into it? It's just a small detail but the minute I heard it, it ignited my imagination.

Definitely I know a lot of people played the original Solo and enjoyed it but at the same time I know a few people on this site have remarked how they couldn't even finish it, myself included.

So it would be probably wiser to get the first game cheap, see how it sits with you and make your decision based on that.

Skip the first one, play the second solo or with friends. I played through the first solo and had fun, but I also enjoy the Diablo-esque loot cycle. If you don't like that then don't get it.

The story is no great shakes but if you are curious here it is in a bite sized video clip, warning, spoilers.

@pompouspizza: The only reason to play the first one at this point is to see why it has a reputation as the worst ending to a video game this generation.

I stopped playing long ago and started again recently. I'm enjoying it. Currently running solo but did it with friends at first. I hate the co-op system set up needing you to sign in to gamespy. Not the most friendly co-op game on the PC.

It's an awesome game play it. I'm pretty sure it's cheap as fuck now anyways.

@Humanity said:

Definitely I know a lot of people played the original Solo and enjoyed it but at the same time I know a few people on this site have remarked how they couldn't even finish it, myself included.

So it would be probably wiser to get the first game cheap, see how it sits with you and make your decision based on that.

Yeah, no. Don't feel bad. I'm in your camp.

I see the appeal of the game, but nothing came together for me with it. Going on my own oscillated between tedium and boredom, playing with friends was never fun because our levels never lined up and either I was carrying the group (ostensibly just playing the game solo with three people riding my coattails) or I'd be totally ineffective against any and all enemies in the game world.

And playing with randoms meant I either got kicked for not having duped/modded weaponry or, again, I just couldn't hold my own against the game's enemies.

Southern fried video game humor, and also there was a Vault.

For some reason the first one never interested me but I'm thinking of picking up the second one. What will I be missing story wise?, and will it be worth it to play the whole thing solo because I have zero interest in co op.

Thanks

Th@huntad: I mean playing through borderlands 2 solo, I think the game looks awesome.

@mosespippy said:

@pompouspizza: The only reason to play the first one at this point is to see why it has a reputation as the worst ending to a video game this generation.

That would be Mass 3.

@david3cm: Thanks for that, my fiancee has said she will buy it for me, so I guess I have nothing to lose.