@hbkdx12: No malice is felt at this end of your fine retort, and I thank you for sharing your differing opinion. I am, however, very sorry for the delay in my reply, there was some blog-related...unpleasantness.

My brief mention of Jack is none to glowing, that's for sure, but I can certainly see where you're coming from. I can see and hear and feel his words just the same as you do, and I can appreciate and accept your (and many others) take on the arc that he has in the story.

If I had devoted more time to writing about him I would certainly have expounded on the aspects of his character that I did enjoy, but I was somewhat glossing over him in favour of chatting about the things that were at the forefront of my mind. You have given me some delicious food for thought though, so be prepared for some handsome words in...god, I don't know...several months' time?

(As handsome and dastardly as he is, Jack is no Jon Irenicus!)

x

I don't say this with malice in the attempt to offend, but it bugs me when people denigrate handsome Jack to this simple "he talks too much" character.
 
He's so good! He has actual depth and he's not purely one note like most video game villains
 
Although a lot of the  early hours of chat with jack can come of as a bit smug and grating, it's all within good reason. Specifically that he doesn't take you seriously and ultimately underestimates you as you've become a minor annoyance in what was a well laid, historically successful plan (luring vault hunters Pandora to kill them) 
 
As you continue to make your presence known and get under his skin, he shows signs of irritation but ultimately tries to maintain his witty approach in order to suggest that he's still cool calm and collected although you're starting to become a threat
 
and then there's the definitive moment where jack no longer underestimates you and turns into this maniacal and sinister character that intends to deal with you personally and make you suffer as you start to do what handsome jack originally considered to be impossible. 
 
I can't state it enough but he's so good!
 
Seeing Jack make that sinister transition (successfully IMO) is all the more rewarding when you reflect back on the early game and how he treats your existence as a complete joke

@SargeGulp: I always going for big swords. And just like in real life, I always avoid skeletons.

Next TNT:

Bladerunner and Daggerfall dual stream.

@Fattony12000: Use the big sword and avoid the skeletons. At least that's what I learned watching Dave/Vinny playing Daggerfall. Also the character creator is basically the replicant test from Blade Runner.

@HerbieBug: Thanks for reading duder!

One negative point that I did miss out on there was that the fucking map, when it threw a shit fit, REALLY REALLY became the most useless map I can remember trying to decipher in an FPS for a looooong time. Throughout most of the game it was fine, but there were probably 6/7 separate incidents where the map actually hindered my progression through the game for a while.

GET A BETTER MAP SYSTEM RANDY!

Excellent! I agree with all of this. Especially the issue of characters being overly chatty in Borderlands 2. One of the things I loved about the original was how unencumbered it was by scripted talky talk story stuff. A couple lines of dialogue per quest giver is plenty. Plenty!

Should a Borderlands 3 be in the offing I would like less talky and more comprehensive fast travel/better level design to minimize needless backtrackery.

<>

@believer258: That's how they get ya!

Although, to make up for my deception I should write about the Elder Scrolls games sometime.

/goes to find CDs

I saw the Daggerfall picture and read it to read about more of it...