Borderlands Pre-Sequel officially announced.

Huh, soo... huh. A new Borderlands, set inbetween Borderlands 1 & 2, for PC, 360 and PS3? Man, this is all sorts of weird. Kinda cool that all of the character classes are actually characters from the previous games, be it as NPCs or bosses, like the sheriff from Borderlands 2. Oh, and Clap Trap, which is kinda funny. It's also set on the moon, and is developed by 2K Australia, and will be released in Autumn??

Oh, and there's even a whole swath of gameplay as well! Haven't watched it fully yet, but it looks an awful lot like more Borderlands. I wonder if this to actually be a full priced product or something. Most likely I guess, but still, this is all a lot to ingest all at once, and the striking similarities to BL2 from what I've seen thus far makes it look more like an expansion pack really. Plus, for me at least, there's to consider that BL2 was kind of a mess on PS3 at that so, for as much as I still enjoy the idea of some Morderlands+1, I won't be jumping on the train quite so hastily this time around.

...This is all still kinda weird.

EDIT: I tried putting it in the Borderlands franchise board by the by, but lo & behold there's a bug in the system!!...

EDIT 2: Wait... it's back in the Borderlands franchise board? Was that a mod edit or did this magically fix itself?

EDIT 3: I fixed it. - Sincerely, your friendly neighborhood moderator.

After finishing BL2 i had my fill of the borderlands gameplay, none of these new additions seem enough for me to want to jump back into a new game.

It's been long enough since I played BL2 that I'm open to the idea of playing more Borderlands, but everything about this smacks of being "not ready for next gen" filler in the vein of Arkham Origins / Gears of War Judgment.

I'm IN!

Loved the bleeding heck out of Borderlands 2.

I love that your playing characters from the bosses of Borderlands 2. That disc thing looks pretty cool to. Can't wait.

The moon... seems like an awesome setting. Fans wanted it in BL2, but I think making a whole game about it is even better.

Holy shit this is basically just more Borderlands 2.. like, down to everything. The fact that it's still being restricted to the last-gen consoles too really doesn't sit well with me =/ Such a weird release, but then Borderlands 2 sold pretty damn good -- good enough that they really wanna keep that Bordermoney a'flowing after another 2 years. It's not quite an annual release, but still, Borderlands 2 with all of its DLC releases and such doesn't feel like it's quite out of the gaming conscience yet. How long ago was that Tiny Tina DLC thing?

Plus there's the BL2 vita port as well, and we may start hearing stuff about Telltale's Borderlands game this year, too.'lotta Borderlanding currently making waves it seems.

Oh yeah, mos def. That it's a prequel practically seals the deal for your analogy.

Hmm, I played a lot of Borderlands 2 (got all of the achievements and main DLC achievements) so I'm not sure how I feel about this. I'll watch the trailer and see what I think.

@yummylee: To be fair though, it's hard to blame them. They've got a finely tuned development pipeline and a huge install base to market a new game to. Why wouldn't they crank out one more before taking a risk on next-gen? I'm not dismissing the possibility that it could actually be a pretty decent game as well.

@chaser324: There's always the possibility that it'll secretly be the best Borderlands ever. But, you look at the track record with these ''prequels handed off to alternate studio while main studio works on the next big one that's more worth getting excited about'', and how this looks an awful lot like Borderlands 2... well, I'm not saying it'll be terrible by any means, but it looks uninspired to say the least. Though who knows, maybe 2K Australia will at least do a better job with the PS3 version than Gearbox did with BL2... one can hope.

I gave up playing BL2 prematurely because I couldn't bear its choppy framerate anymore. Though I did complete NG+ with my main character at least, but that's nothing compared to the hours I sinked into the original, and would have likewise sinked into BL2 had it ran better! I blindly bought the season pass ASAP and everything, only to find stuff like the Torque pack in particular to run at a consistent 20fps at best... I do have a 360 mind, but of course Borderlands is a series that excels in coop, and there's no way I'm putting any money towards Gold, especially just for this one game. PC as always for me is unfortunately outta the question, too.

IS Anthony Burch still the main writer for this? Because while I wasn't exactly cringing at every line of dialog in the second game, I didn't really appreciate how much "the internet" bled into the writing.

Looks fun, although after my experiences with the 360 version having a ton of texture issues, I think this will actually be one of the few times I'll wait and get the PC version. Usually I don't mind small graphical hitches, but in Borderlands 2 textures would pop-in constantly on anything dynamic. Every single weapon chest or ammo box would be a blurry mess until the RNG did it's thing.

Gearbox confirmed to be too cheap to move onto the next-gen console, the PS4. Milking that cashcow dry.

Eh I feel very so so here. I loved Borderlands 1 and 2. Borderlands 2 is actually my second most played game on Steam. This looks sort of cheese ball though.... graphics are the same, engine is the same, other than the oxygen mechanics, low gravity, and one new weapon type/element everything is .... the same. Somehow Wilhelm even looks like Axton only with a different head. Surely you could have at least given him a character model that looks sort of like what he ends up appearing as in BL2?

Borderlands quality comes down to quest/level design and the quality of the jokes. Borderlands 2 was a bad game, but that doesn't mean this will be bad. It does mean I'll wait for reviews.

Looks exactly like Borderlands 2 in almost every way, last-gen only, and not a numbered sequel/prequel? And it doesn't even have a cool subtitle? Yeah, no thanks. And by that I mean I'll probably buy it because I keep buying these Borderlands games for some reason.

This feels very Saints Row IV-ish.

@karkarov: He'll apparently change appearance the more he levels up, slowly transforming into how he looks in BL2 I would assume, or at least a lot more cybernetic. Though yes, this otherwise simply looks like a rather beefy expansion pack than anything.

Pretty much. I mean, sure, larger install-base on older consoles and all that... but like practically every other game is cross-gen, so why not this? You have outliers like certain JRPGs, including Persona 5 of course, but I would gather Gearbox/2K is a substantially larger development house than what Atlus is comprised of. Plus it's kinda Persona's thing to release on the last-gen console in the first couple of years into the current-gen i guess.

Well I liked Borderlands 2, but not as much as the first one as it wasn't as fun to play solo.

I do like the new class they were showing off here, but I don't know if the whole "you need to gather oxygen to survive on the moon" gimmick will be fun for long, especially how large Borderlands maps tend to be.

I'm also pretty weary as it's a different studio, and I've been burned by that one too many times.

That is exactly what it looks like, a really solid expansion, not a full game.

@humanity: Little known fact. The internet bleeding was not necessarily Burch's doing, he's just not the kind of person to shift the blame on someone else.

@eternalvigil: Yeah, keeping track of O2 levels while trying to shoot hell of dudes in the face doesn't sound fun at all. I love me some Borderlands but I'm a little sceptical of this so far.

He was the main writer and wrote all if not most of the dialog didn't he? I mean he certainly wrote Tiny Tina.

It's not for me, but I can't help but start thinking it feels like DLC story content.... But it's a preview I'd imagine it's much more larger.

I am looking forward to it...

Then again, I didn't played any of the Borderlands 2 DLC, so I am not as burned out with the franchise as other people here.

This looks bland, which is weird to say of a Borderlands game.

If it fixes what was broke in 2 (like how the loot systems was completely screwed, and the first 2 hours of the game might as well be a tutorial), I'm down.
For those that are saying that this seems like a big DLC pack, it might as well be. I doubt that the goal of this product is to lure in people who are not on board with the franchise at this point (unless its a budget title). Bear in mind though that it does feature 4 new playable characters, a new elemental type, as well as a whole new weapon type (laser), which is an addition that didn't even occur from 1 to 2, which stuck with bullets, grenades, and rockets. So basically cool news for BL fans, kind of 'meh' news for everybody else.

This feels like a pretty obvious case of trying to capitalize (While they still can) on the popularity of Handsome Jack from Borderlands 2. I mean, it sorta felt that way when they revealed he was back in the Telltale game, and then they make a full-blown prequel where you work for him?

I get why they're doing it, to patch up some holes in the story and try to smooth over that jarring bit in Borderlands 2 where your player characters for some reason are helpless in the face of a bunch of mid-level relatively easy bosses. Make those bosses playable characters and it suddenly feels more reasonable that the characters in the first game would have gotten their asses kicked by these previously un-mentioned characters.

@make_me_mad: I, er... I really don't think plot holes or anything to do with the narrative was especially high on their ''reasons for new Borderlands prequel'' list.

@yummylee: Sorry. I get in writing mode every now and then. I wish that making the story better was a reason they were doing it, but you're right. Sometimes I wanna feel like an obvious cash grab is more than just an obvious cash grab, though.

@humanity: Tiny Tina doesn't have internet jokes...that I know of ( yes, I know half the people really hate her, but that was never the reason). The dialog has little to none internet jokes as well. Most of that criticism came from tangential writing in other places, like achievement descriptions and whatnot. Or you can point which ones do you mean?

"Bonerfarts" or "buttstallion" might not be most people's cup of tea, but are not internet Memes. Most Memes showed up on gun descriptions and achievements.

Don't get me wrong, you are free to dislike him. But when it comes to criticism, that is perhaps not the reason to do so if you do.

Oh no I don't dislike him, I dislike a large part of the writing in Borderlands 2 for which I assumed he was responsible. Maybe I wasn't too clear on what bothered me: It wasn't just the dead-pan memes, I meant a general shift in tone to more immature humor. The stuff on the guns or achievements didn't really bother me a lot, it was the way people talked - I don't know how to describe it but it felt like everyone in that game suddenly started talking out-of-character.

I loved the hell out of Borderlands 1.

I kind of struggled to finish Borderlands 2.

I'm going to skip this and hopefully increase any interest I may have in whatever the PS4/X1 game ends up being.

Probably because the main characters were the player characters from the previous game. They didn't talk much in the first game and now they're the most gabby mother fuckers on Pandora. That sudden change is pretty jarring.

The moon setting looks kind of cool, but I'm not sure how much that will change the game overall. That UI looks awfully similar...

It makes sense that this game is being made, though. Borderlands 2 sold like gangbusters.

@humanity: That's actually very interesting way to put it...I can definitely see that. It is kinda hard to describe though.

I still haven't beaten Borderlands 2 and I think I'm really close to doing so. Maybe I should reinstall it and get to it.

I know what you mean, it sometimes felt that characters who previously had talked and acted completely straight and serious all suddenly developed the mental urge to be kooky and crack one liners every five minutes. I hate to say it, but it felt like they were trying to make the entire cast more like claptrap, which defeated the point of having that character to begin with.

@matiaz_tapia: @mosespippy: It's different strokes for different folks I guess. For instance I really liked Claptrap. I thought his humor belonged in that world and I enjoyed it. At the same time I know there are people out there that absolutely despise Claptrap. I disliked Tiny Tina because I didn't think her dialog fit in the Borderlands universe and as such I did the bare minimum of quests for her before I was allowed to move on. I thought her humor fit perfectly in the sort of Hey Ash Watcha Playin' universe concocted by the Birch siblings though.

Yup, this is clearly another classic case of a sequel that falls short from providing the required advancements and improvements to be called a sequel. Instead, it is glorified DLC released as a sequel because of the new-found greed and inflated ego of the developer based on the success of the actual sequel that came out a year before. I just watched 5 minutes of blue Borderlands 2.

Just like Saints Row 4 after the leap that was SR3, Assassin's Creed Revelations and III after the leap that was AC2 and Brohood, Arkham Origins after the massive leap that was Arkham City, RF Armageddon after the leap that was Guerrilla, and ofcourse the Modern Warfare case.

This industry always exploits our appreciation, love and support for the real and worthy sequels by riding the high wave until they run their titles into the ground. They pull the plug on engine development and radical new design ideas, and start rehashing their shit and repackaging it.

The only character that felt like was made to be a little more crackin' wise than usual was Zed, otherwise everyone else was the same as they were in the first game. Well, Scooter's voice actor (isn't that Mikey Neumann?) gave Scooter an even more annoying voice, and Markus' voice actor sounds a little different too, if it's the same guy anyway. He sounds a lot... smoother, and doesn't have the same gruff that he had in the original.

Still, yeah, besides Zed, I think everyone else was basically the same as they always were. Well, besides the original vault hunters...

Does it have Xenomorphs in it? ;p

I just feel like BL2 has so much dlc that they str8 up had to make another game.

Borderlands 2's humor was hit or miss, and overall pretty fucking stupid, but a kind of stupid I can get behind. That wrestling themed dlc was one of the funniest things I've played since the Sam & Max games.

On topic, I find it amusing that they justify the absence of current gen versions by saying the install base is too small, just as they're about to launch BL2 on the Vita. But hey, I'm happy as long as there's a PC version.

I'll happily play s'more Borderlands, but then I've a higher tolerance for more of the same then most it'd seem.

I just can't...do...it :(
I don't think I have it in me to play another Borderlands game - well, I'll play the Telltale game, but just not another shooter. Sorry, Borderlands, I used to love you, but I think we should go our own separate ways...

Ah yes, the Gears of War Judgment/God of War Ascension/Batman Arkham Origins of the series!

Yah, just a lot more self aware.

I played way more Borderlands 2 then I should have for reasons I honestly can't even explain so I'm definitely interested in this game but unless they change up the formula a lot (which so far doesn't seem the case), then I'll probably just play it once rather then the 4 times I played BL2.

I feel like there was a ton of stuff left in Borderlands 2 that I wanted to finish, but I just didn't want to play it anymore.

Going through the last couple of DLC packs was just a chore, the story stuff was good enough, but I just didn't want to play it anymore

Gross.

@demoskinos said:

Coming from someone who bought Yaiba for full price, that must mean a lot ;)