Well that's strange.

@mb: Yep, this site's strange. I made 100% sure that I linked it to the Borderlands franchise page, but it went to Coca-Cola =/

Borderlands 2 easily. It's the only one that managed to keep me interested all the way through. That said, I wonder how much of this comes down to class preference. Zer0 or bust.

I find Borderlands characters and worse gameplay better than clearly superior gameplay and worse characters of Borderlands 2.

Also Mexican glass liter bottles of coke are amazing and better than any US bottled can/bottle. Everyone should strive to have one if they haven't.

I played them all, and Borderlands 2 is by far my favorite. I can't quite put my finger on why that is, but I think it may be because by the time Pre-Sequel rolled around, I was just done with Borderlands as a series. I never finished The Pre-Sequel and probably never will, and I will likely skip the next Borderlands game unless they do something drastically different. Pre-Sequel felt like an expansion rather than a whole new game, so hopefully the next numbered game in the series will breathe some much-needed life back into Borderlands - if Borderlands 3 comes out and is just more of the same with a couple of minor changes and some new classes, I want nothing to do with it.

Thinking about this some more, I think Borderlands 2 may be my favorite because of the classes. I had a ton of fun with Zer0 and the soldier as well, I don't think any of the other classes in any of the Borderlands games ever grabbed me as much as those two did.

I really, really, really wanted to like Borderlands 2 way more than I did, but I've gotta agree with Jeff - I never really found any guns that felt solid, useful, and powerful. Even when I started playing multiplayer, and even when I started hunting for SHiFT codes and getting purples out of that box, I never found anything that was just satisfying to fire. I'm not going to say that I had no fun with that game, but I finished Borderlands 1 three times - twice on 360, once on PC - and all three times, I remember finding a fair number of guns that I really liked.

Oh, yeah, and there's the abhorrent writing, dialog, and sense of humor in Borderlands 2. That really brings my opinion of the game down

Part of me wants to go buy Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel, the same part that wanted to enjoy Borderlands 2 way more than I did, but I just can't make myself. I enjoyed Borderlands 2 well enough but I'm not going to play more of that series unless they drastically change the way they generate guns and bring in a brand-new team of writers.

For the record, I did, on some level, enjoy Borderlands 2. It's a pretty good looking game, it's really quite colorful, and there are some little things that I think really enhance the game. And, if I'm to be totally honest, the overarching plot isn't bad, it's just the delivery that I hated. The enemies and environments are way more varied, too, and they seemed to at least try to do something with quest design. And the bosses didn't always come across as either enhanced versions of regular enemies or total bullshit. I just wish I had found at least one gun that I really enjoyed using.

So my vote goes to Borderlands 1, which I did like quite a bit. It's got its own set of problems, but none of them stood out quite so much as Borderlands 2's issues.

I played a few hours of the first on PC and enjoyed it, never did get very far, always wanted to get back to it but never could find a good time to dedicate myself to it. The PC port was naff and having to use a 3rd party tool to bind W to 'set_fov 90' cause the FOV would reset every time you got into and out of a vehicle.

Never played 2.

Put some hours into PS on PC and really really enjoying it (I like the 02 stuff like the Slam and hover) but like 1, I stopped and mean to go back to it. I bought the Handsome Collection on X1 as I prefer a controller and a more laid-back/couch setting and might start again on that, or get around trying 2. Also as an Australian the abundance of 'Australia-ness' of the game was funny and endearing.

Anyway I voted for Pre-Sequel.

Borderlands 1 as a single player game. Borderlands 2 and TPS were OK on your first playthrough, but by playthrough 2, the enemies were so incredibly bullet-spongy it wasn't fun at all anymore. I remember one specific moment in 2 on TVHM when I dual-wielding Gunzerkered, unloaded two full shotguns directly into some guy's face, he's not dead, ran away, did it again, still not dead, and then he killed me in two hits when I threw up my hands in frustration and stopped playing. The only good weapons I ever got came out of the stupid gold-key chests too. I did like the grinder mechanics in TPS.

1. I despise 2 and haven't played Pre-Sequel.

IMO, 1 had a better campaign, better characters (npcs and playable), better balance, better writing, better ratio of interesting guns to trash, AND NO FUCKING HANDSOME JACK. My god, words cannot properly express how unfunny Handsome Jack is.

It wasn't until Jeff mentioned his concerns about how he never found a good weapon he enjoyed shooting that I realized what my problem with BL2 was. I didn't mind playing through it once or twice, sure, but it definitely didn't grab me in the same way. Now that I think about it, it might be for that same reason. The randomness of the guns got kicked up too far, making for very few guns without at least one annoyance. That was something I don't remember happening in the original.

I really like all of them, 2 is a fantastically well-polished game and while they made some questionable changes to the loot system I thought it all still worked well. I just recently started playing through it fresh with some friends who hadn't done so and it still totally holds up. I've put over 400 hours into it, yet I still want to go back right now and keep playing.

The Pre-Sequel surprised me, because I wasn't expecting too much from it but the oxygen system was a great addition (it's not a hindrance at all but rather a huge expansion of your mobility potential). Writing was great too, although it suffers in a couple of spots from having you run around a bit too long between areas (or back to fast travel stations near the start of a zone).

But there really is something special about that first game. I couldn't say exactly what it is. There's a charm to it. There's a real novelty to the whole thing. Perhaps it's just because it came first. Perhaps it's the loot system: I know that's the thing I miss most, the excitement from every chest and shop you found because you never knew when your new favourite weapon was about to show up. Perhaps it's just because I love Brick so damn much. Borderlands 1 is an easy pick for me, despite all three being firm favourites of mine.

@babychoochoo: But he has a horse called Butt-stallion!!1!

Borderlands 1 all the way. The guns and shooting (the most important part of an fps) are terrible in Borderlands 2. They spent all that time hyping how many different gun combinations the game would had but they managed to make every gun suck. Nothing about shooting anything in that game was enjoyable or fun. Any gun that had the potential to be fun was ruined by some other gimmick, like a sniper rifle that ricochets bullets, but if you zoom in it shoots off three in random directions, oh and it has a magazine capaticty of five so I hope you like reloading animations.

I really dont like any of the characters in 2 and I dont remember that game ever managing to make me so much as chuckle. 1 just had better characters and better writing in my opinion. And Jeff really nailed it when he commented about the guns. I didnt find a single weapon in my entire playthrough, using over 100 keys and doing all the dlc, that I liked.

I've played Borderlands 1 3 times, playaed through 2 once, and put about 45 minutes into the pre-sequel.

I had an ok time in the first game, and then I picked up the sequel and didn't enjoy it at all. I think I only had enough for one of those in me before I would get bored.

I loved both Borderlands and Borderlands 2. When I first played BL2, I hated it. I didn't like the character I had decided to play in comparison to my BL character, which was Maya vs. Lilith. After playing through the game, I really came around to it. I enjoyed the mechanics. Maya's bubble became very useful and cool, especially in co-op play. I also ended up finding a gun that I fell in love with. I think my favorite parts were the DLC campaigns. I think that Torgue is one of the best characters in the Borderlands series, and overall I really enjoyed the complete package.

I would put it just above Borderlands. I went back to Borderlands moderately recently and I had forgotten some of the stuff that really irked me about the game, including the beginning being insanely difficult, especially solo. I had forgotten that I had gotten through a lot of the early encounters co-op, and revisiting them alone was a chore. But, playing on my saved character, I remember why I stuck with it and love it so much.

Pre-sequel is not even in this conversation for me. I haven't even finished it. Maybe I was just tapped out at that point, but the game never grabbed me like 1 and 2 did.

Based on playtime alone, it's hard to not put the first game at the top of my personal list. I dumped a crazy amount of time into playing through that game over and over again with multiple characters.

I certainly liked Borderlands 2 and can recognize that to a large degree it actually is the superior game, but it just never hooked me the way the original game did. I think the near necessity of co-op on the higher level missions really detracted from the game for me as someone that played large portions of both games solo.

I picked 1. It ranks pretty high on my games of last generation and probably of all time. It had great writing and a great tone. The music is also fantastic. As a side note, I really enjoyed the music in Darksiders II and read it was the same guy as Borderlands.

I'd have to agree with the guns and the writing in 2 that really drag it down. They base so much of the customization around guns, but you always feel like the choice you're making is "Ok, which one of these guns sucks the least?" When you don't like the gun you're shooting and some enemies take forever to kill, it can become really boring. Also, the writing of 2 was trying too hard to be funny and there were too many referential jokes. I felt like 1 was a cool mysterious planet to explore that had some zany people along the way. It still had jokes, but there was a much better balance.

One complaint I have about 2 that I don't hear often from others is the raid bosses. I really wish they came up with a better idea for end game content. Those fights are so damn boring and long. Crawermax was a cool novelty to end the first game with, but I hate that it lead to these bosses in 2. I'd like if they just made an adventure mode like Diablo 3.

I still played a lot of BL2 and had fun with it. I really think they need to shake things up for BL3. They need to ditch the fifty bajillion guns gimmick and start adding regular gear slots. Also, they really fence themselves in with the character classes by having only one active skill. I'm contemplating picking up the Handsome Collection, having skipped TPS on old consoles. Is it worth playing through?

its a tie.each game does something better then the other,but also fails in something the other game does well in.borderlands 1 had the best loot system,but the gameplay and story is the weakest in the series.borderlands 2 has the most endgame content,but the loot system is the weakest.the presequel has the best combat,but has the least amount of content.we havent had the best borderlands yet.the best borderlands game is the game that combines the strengths of the three games.hopefully borderlands 3 will be that game,but borderlands even with its flaws is my favorite game series ever.

Borderlands 2 is my personal favorite, although I haven't played the pre-sequel yet. From what I've seen I can't imagine my opinion will change that much (But hey, who knows). The problem people have with the story in BL2 doesn't even factor in with me. BL1 didn't have that great of a narrative either.

I played through Borderlands twice but I could only stand the 2nd for 11 hours and I haven't touched the pre-sequel. The writing was easily ignored in the 1st not so much with in the 2nd, I not sure the gameplay in 2 is that much worse than 1 but I'm certainly burned out on the format.

1 is definitely the best.

Everything they added in 2 I thought made it a worse game by comparison.

Handsome Jack is among the worst characters ever commited to a video game.

60

Absolutely loved both BL1 and BL2. Played both for hundreds of hours. The humor in 2 did get super cheesy but that didn't stop me from playing it for so long and loving it the most. It was the superior bosses/enemies, character variety, skill trees, and synergies between the characters abilities in co-op. The loot system was just so much deeper and more fun. The problem many experienced w/BL2, I believe, is the best and most rare weapon drops were available almost exclusively from rare spawns and the uber bosses, many of which were in the dlc. Hammerlock did sell some ridiculous stuff including best shotty though iirc . The difference between the best uncommon weapons to be had just playing through the game was too great versus the top tier stuff. That said, those bis guns were a blast and way more fun than anything in BL1. Playing TPS now and despite the low grav/O2 twist it's pretty boring. Probably just too much of this formula for me. I really hope they make sweeping changes to the next BL game so it feels fresh.

It's hard to say how many people on this site simply repeat Jeff's opinions or if they are here because they have similar tastes. I hope it's more of the latter.

OT: 2. It's better in pretty much every way. I don't know why people bash the writing. I agree that there are like, two annoying characters, but the story and plot is better in 2 compared to 1.

And I already posted this in the quick look, but in a game with hundreds of millions of guns, why would you want to stick with just one gun for an extended period of time?

Plus, I like how they made certain brands of guns stand out and be unique. I frickin' loved Jakobs' guns. They had that old-west feel to them and were no-element, no-nonsense hard-hitters. And the recoil / feel of the guns were fairly good most of the time.

Jeff is right with how the loot ended up balancing out between the first two, you generally found a weapon you genuinely enjoyed all around. In 2, as a means to make it more polished (at least that's my interpretation), they tried to make nearly all weapons and manufacturers have a strength and weakness, which meant never finding that one gun that'd be your prize which isn't as fun and makes combat more of a chore.

I haven't played Pre-Sequel yet, I'll admit I do like how much more agency your character has in the narrative, and I can already tell that the moon stuff won't bother me, but those changes I mentioned prior kinda deflated me in Borderlands 2 compared to 1.

Borderlands 2 is better than the original Borderlands in every way possible, but I love them both.

I always found the first Borderlands to be a game I enjoyed more in concept than in execution, but I liked Borderlands 2 enough to finish it, insufferable characters aside. Weirdly enough? I might like Pre-Sequel the most. It's paced a little better and is drowning in Australia-ness, which I find oddly endearing.

Borderlands 2 was like Borderlands but improved in pretty much every way so it seems pretty clear to me. Both are great though even if they share the same level of garbage writing.

Only played 1 and 2 and I vastly preferred 1. Not sure what exactly changed in 2 but it just didn't work for me and I ended up quitting as I wasn't enjoying the experience anymore.

Borderlands 1 all the way.

Handsome Jack and Tiny Tina are the two of the shittiest characters ever but I prefer Borderlands 2 over Borderlands. I didn't play the Pre-Sequel.

Yup. Borderlands 1 was pretty great for it's time. I still think Patricia Tannis' story line told in the sidequests there is up there as one of the best of the last generation.

Borderlands 2 didn't grab me at all, but I was pretty fond of The Pre-Sequel, at least gameplay wise. It certainly didn't reach Borderlands 1 in terms of writing.

Borderlands 1 had writing?

Borderlands 2 turned Borderlands into a proper video game, and polished those extremely rough edges into something digestible. I haven't played enough Pre-Sequel to say, but it certainly comes off as being half-baked.

Can't really pick a favorite among the first two, so no new poll additions. Played through the first game twice; once solo and the other time coop enjoying the experience both times. Only nitpicky annoyance, that I remember, was the narrow FOV. I've yet to finish the second game as coop but have played it 'till the end by myself, and I don't really have the regular complaints about the writing or the apparent lack of good guns that other people have mentioned. Will try to finish the DLC at some point in time.

I thought for a moment about buying the Pre-Sequel, but rather instantly the 'nope' in my head rung true. It may be that I'm simply a bit burnt out on the games for now, but I'm still eager to learn about the next (possible) addition to the series and to eventually play it.

I am definitely in the minority here, but as far as gameplay goes, to me the Pre-Sequel is the best one. I simply enjoyed it the most out of the three. I thought the loot drops were better, the new weapon types in addition to a new element (lasers/ice) was more fun to me than slag ever was, plus the low gravity and ground slam were a fun twist on mobility and combat in this series.