Tales From the Borderlands Episode Four--Sad, Happy, Weird

In my fervor of watching the clock count down to the release of Shadowrun:  Hong Kong I lost sight of a few of my episodic games.  I was pleasantly surprised to find that episode four of Tales From the Borderlands was released yesterday.  This left me with no other choice than to immediately get to downloading so I could learn more about the adventures of Rhys and Fiona.  Let me just say that episode four was an interesting one that differed quite a bit from the third installment but was still very enjoyable.  (There will be spoilers about episodes 3 and 4 ahead!)

The unlikely heroes on their way to Helios.

At the end of a very action-packed third episode the squad is beset by the villainous Vallory and her squad of morons.  Things look pretty bleak as Athena is captured and hauled off by fellow vault hunters Brick and Mordecai, Fiona is pinned helplessly beneath Vallory's massive rocket launcher, and Rhys has managed to get himself and the robots (Loader Bot and Gortys) captured.  At the very end of the episode Gortys reveals that the last of her (it's?) needed components is on the Hyperion stronghold of Helios.

Episode four starts off much like the others with Fiona and Rhys re-telling their versions of events as they continue their strange trek as captives of an unknown assailant (I think it's Shade....because of the hat...or possibly Vaughn).  As they recall the events it is revealed that they are left with no choice than to promise to work with Vallory and her goons to infiltrate Helios and find the final Gortys piece.  Gortys reveals that once the pieces are all in place that she (it?) can reveal the location of a vault that essentially allows anyone to travel to any other vaults scattered throughout the universe.  The location of the Vault of the Traveler would be a prize that any vault hunter would more than willingly die for.

The main problem that the group is faced with is figuring out a way to infiltrate Helios.  Fortunately the group can rely on Rhys and his insider knowledge of Hyperion to get them inside.  There is a fun sequence where Rhys envisions himself creating a master plan that will easily get them access to the base (of course we all know that this plan is destined to have difficulties).  The group decides to enlist the help of Scooter to build a rocket that will get them to Helios.  Scooter, however, doesn't have the skills to build a rocket but points Fiona and Sasha to Janey Springs.  In asking Springs for help, Fiona is forced to very uncomfortably reveal that Athena has been captured and is now missing.  Janey is visibly upset and asks if Athena said anything before they took her.  Here you are forced to make a decision--do you lie to Janey and tell her that Athena said that she loved her or do you tell the truth that Athena was out cold so didn't really get the opportunity?  I opted for the little white lie...which could turn out to be bad.  Athena wants to be a vault hunter but Janey wants her to stay out of danger.  I just really wanted Janey to build me a rocket, so what's the harm in having her think that Athena declared her undying love?

Every episode has contained what I call the "cool musical sequence."  The cool musical sequence doesn't happen immediately but takes place fairly early in the episode.  As the questionably constructed rocket takes off we get to watch the group as they make their way into space and towards the stronghold of Helios.  The plan thus far is for Rhys to use Vazquez's body to digistruct a disguise that will make him the doppleganger of the dead douchebag (this turns out to be somewhat disgusting but hilarious).  He will pretend to be Vazquez and proceed to disable the security so that Fiona and Sasha can break into the former office of Handsome Jack and find the final Gortys piece.  Fiona and Sasha are putting their con artist skills to work as fake tour guides leading VIP Handsome Jack tours.

The rocket lifts off without incident but soon they find that there are some critical malfunctions that are threatening to blow up the rocket.  Scooter had previously agreed to travel with the group in order to help if anything went wrong with the rockets (he also reveals a crippling crush on Fiona that is sort of cute).  Scooter and Fiona are forced to don Oz Kits and trek to the exterior of the rocket to make repairs to the broken thrusters before they explode.  It's here that the game decides to jerk your heart out.  In order to fix the rockets players must execute a timed punch of a button to avoid getting the arm of their character stuck in a panel (it's easy).  As Fiona you easily punch the button and released the damaged booster.  Fiona climbs to the other rocket and finds that Scooter has gotten his arm trapped in the panel and that there is no way to release him.  He instructs her to released the rocket--with him still attached--in order to save the rest of the group.  Players are then given the choice of sending Scooter off with a hug, a handshake, or a kiss.  (Only the coldest people would chose handshake!)  I opted to send Scooter off with a kiss.  Dammit it TellTale....you made me care about a character who I didn't even really like that much!

Fiona returns to the interior of the rocket and the group makes the rest of the trip to Helios without incident.  The next sequence sees you playing as Rhys disguised as Vazquez.  Many of the dialogue options you can choose allow you to play a goofy Rhys-like Vazquez or the traditionally douchey Vazquez.  I tried to play Vazquez the way I thought he would act...like a elitist jerk.  Immediately the plan seems like it's going to be a lot harder than what Rhys imagined--he's questioned by guards and confronted by an angry Yvette.  It's here that Yvette drops the bomb that Vazquez was sent to find and kill Rhys in order to bring his head back--undoubtedly to gain access to the Handsome Jack data trapped in his skull.  Wow...another of his friends betrayed him.  Seems like all these Hyperion people are horrible.  Eventually Rhys manages to connive his way to Vazquez's office and start working on disabling security for Fiona and Sasha.

Fiona and Sasha proceed to the interior of Helios and attempt to locate a tour guide whose ID they can steal.  They work their con magic with the help of Gortys and grab the badge.  Sasha leads the tour guide off as Fiona uses her badge to access an elevator that will take her to the tour area...and the office of Handsome Jack.  As the elevator arrives on the upper levels of Helios, Fiona meets her tour group--a mob of Jack-masked wannabe's.  Players are then forced to lead the fake tour through the Jack museum.  This is where some Borderlands knowledge might come in handy.  Some panels show the fake exploits of Jack as he raids and defeats a vault monster.  A statue appears to be Jack's diamond pony Butt Stallion--you explain that Butt Stallion craps weapons.  It's a magical moment.  As the group moves towards Jack's office they are forced to go through a metal detector.  It's obvious that Fiona is going to be in trouble because of her spring-loaded derringer.  The alarm, of course, goes off but it's not because of the gun...it's because of the box with Sasha's gift in it.  I totally forgot about that!  Seeing the box made me wonder about what is actually in the box.  The guard gives it back but tells Fiona that she needs to get rid of it next time she comes through.

The door to Jack's office looms ahead and it looks like Fiona is finally going to make it.  It is here that Fiona realizes there is an invisible force field blocking the office.  Unfortunately one of the Jack-wannabes decides to run ahead of the group and is vaporized.  As he hits the force field a hulking security door slams shut and blocks the way forward.  The rest of the Jack tourists disperse in fear and Fiona calls Rhys/Vazquez to see if he can open the door.

Rhys attempts to bypass security but realizes that the firewalls are beyond his skill level.  The 3-D apparition of Handsome Jack appears and offers to aid Rhys in his efforts to shut bypass the firewall.  Rhys has little choice (or very willingly--depending on your choices) but to accept Jack's help in defeating the security measures.  Even though the security is shut down the security door blocking Jack's office remains closed.  Jack then reveals that there is a secret trap door that Rhys can use to access his office.  Reaching the trapdoor requires Rhys and Fiona to gain access to the prison level.  Rhys dons his Vazquez disguise and heads for the elevator that will take him there and instructs Fiona to get arrested.

It is at this point that one of the quirkier moments in the series takes place.  In the early episodes of the game it is revealed that there is this weird finger-gun type of game that the employees of Hyperion play.  They mockingly shoot and kill each other in a bizarre ritual of goofiness.  As Rhys/Vazquez heads for the elevator a large group of accountants confront him in this strange ritual.  Players issue commands as Rhys/Vazquez mows his way through what must be the entire accounting department on Helios.  It's a really silly sequence and it made me laugh--it's just so weird and so....Borderlands.

Fiona manages to get arrested quite easily--players can choose to shoot the statue of Butt Stallion or lead into a panel depicting Jack raiding a vault.  I (and seemingly most players) opted to shoot the statue.  Another weird moment occurs as the statue appears to start bleeding.  Was it actually a statue?  What?!

Rhys/Vazquez arrives in the guardroom where Fiona is being held and bumbles through getting the guard to leave.  The guard finally leaves and Rhys, Fiona, and Gortys head toward the trapdoor that leads to Jack's office.  Once you arrive at the trapdoor you discover that it is essentially a blob of devices designed to kill anyone passing through it.  Rhys discovers how to shut it down and with the help of Fiona and Gortys manages to navigate the killing devices and make it into the office.

Once inside the office players are reminded of Rhys' obsession with Jack.  He is awed to be in the office of his hero!  Jack makes an appearance and urges Rhys to take his time and take a look around.  Players can lead Rhys around the room looking at various objects while listening to Jack talk about their significance.  Oddly enough there is a picture of Angel on Jack's desk and he hints that he would like to see her (this was confusing to me...isn't Angel supposed to be dead?).  Jack leads Rhys to a wall filled with his various collected memorabilia and Gortys attempts to puzzle out which piece is the final piece that she (it?) needs.  After the piece has been collected Jack urges Rhys to sit in his chair and get the true feeling of what it would be like to be the leader of Hyperion.  He also makes Rhys an offer that seems too good to be true--if Rhys allows Jack to stick around in his head and wants it he can become the new leader of Hyperion.  Do you trust Jack?  Do you take the deal?  I chose not to--how can you trust that lunatic!

Rhys heads for the trapdoor to return to the prison.  Fiona is waiting below and keeping the killing devices from becoming active.  She hears a noise behind her and props a broom under the lever keeping the machines from activating (this seems bad).  She rounds the corner to find Gortys revealing her location to some guards...led by Yvette they seem to have captured Sasha.  It looks like the gig is up.  This is where the episode ends.  Cliffhangers!

I enjoyed this episode but felt like it was a little short (maybe it was just that episode three felt long with all the action).  There were a lot of great moments that had my emotions jumping all over the chart--from being sad about the demise of the lovable Scooter to laughing at Rhys as he peeled Vazquez's face off of a sleeping psycho to feeling confused at the whole finger-pistol-gun-knife silliness on Helios.  This series has kept me entertained and looking forward to every single episode that has come out.