Still Going with Borderlands 3

I mistakenly thought that I was close to wrapping up my adventures in Borderlands 3 last week.  It turns out that I still have a ways to go and I'm quite content with that.  Overall, I'm having a good time and some of my mixed impressions about parts of the game have been alleviated.

One of my major gripes with Borderlands 3 has been story/character related.  I haven't felt overly compelled by the story or many of the characters.  I have always enjoyed it when games bring back former key characters and make them part of the story.  BL3 does this, but just doesn't initially invest a lot of time or story to these characters.  I was excited when I finally got to blast some Children of the Vault alongside Brick and Mordecai (and Mordi's new bird friend!  RIP Bloodwing).  Then, finally, I got to meet the "demolition specialist,"  Tiny Tina (now, she's not-so-tiny any more).  Just as abruptly as I met them and starting feeling those warm, fuzzy nostalgia feelings, the missions were over.  I was a bit disappointed because I was hoping there'd be more time hanging out with the old crew.

Eden-6 is filled with lush jungles and downed spaceships.

If you're feeling similarly, I have some good news--you'll need to play a few hours, but they do make another appearance and there are missions directly tied to them.  Tina is still just as crazy and screwed up as she was when she was "tiny," and Brick and Mordecai have kept their best bro relationship rolling.  These side missions have been a highlight for me and I've enjoyed them.

In general, I still find the main storyline to be a bit bland and the Calypso twins to be nowhere near the villain caliber as Handsome Jack.  It's a bit disappointing, but there are other things to enjoy--the gunplay is much improved and the environments are varied and beautiful.  I'm enjoying the exploration/collectible aspect and trying to complete all the challenges located in each zone--finding all the Typhon logs, disabling CoV broadcasts, hunting down critters for Hammerlock, completing bounties for Zer0, or finding unique vehicles for Ellie.  There are plenty of tasks to complete (not at the Ubi level, but I'm finding the size to be just right).

I love the look of the Holy Broadcast Center.

The ability to morph Amara's powers into new forms has also been a fun experiment.  I altered her power to include spectral arms which grown from the ground and pound the area near the grasping fist.  Now, enemies get pulled in by the singularity and bashed by the pounding arms, which is perfect for CC'ing powerful baddies and whittling down some of their health.  In general though, the grasping ability is almost useless against bosses.

Speaking of bosses...a recent patch nerfed one of the most difficult fights.  KillaVolt is a side-boss who is part of a chain of sidequests given by Moxxi and his fight was brutally difficult.  I managed to finish it, but it took a lot of dying.  Now, the entire floor is no longer electrified during the last phase of his fight and there are safe patches located close to him.  I thought it was very odd that a boss that is relatively early in the game was so difficult to defeat.  Thus far, the other bosses haven't been overly difficult (I'm playing on default difficulty).

Hopefully by next weekend I will have wrapped up my time with BL3 and will have some final thoughts about the newest addition to the franchise.  Until then--blast away at those baddies!

The Mouthpiece's organ..may he RIP in peace.

Shooting Up the Galaxy in Borderlands 3

After prematurely ending my latest Mass Effect adventure I decided that I would do something that I can't remember doing for a very, very long time--paying full price for a brand, spankin' new game.  That game is Borderlands 3 and I'm currently enjoying the looting, shooting madness that is the core of the series.  I haven't quite finished the full story, but I feel like I'm getting close.  My initial impressions are a bit mixed.

One of the first things I have to admit is--yes, I did opt to go over to the dark side and buy it on the Epic Games store.  I don't fully understand the weird, internet nerd-rage over purchasing games from Epic and felt absolutely no qualms about doing so.  I would prefer to have all my games on Steam, but seriously, I already have a decently sized collection of game launchers (let's list them all for funsies--Bethesda, Origin, Battle.net, GOG, Uplay, Steam, and now Epic)--what's one more?

The monastery on Athenas is particularly beautiful.

For my first playthrough, I went with my stock favorite class from the series--the Siren.  Amara is the glowingly tattooed, super-buff Siren whose powers allow her to sport an array of magical arms to smash or grab enemies.  Her talent trees can see her abilities molded into the more offensively oriented or into the traditional Siren strength of crowd control.  Boringly, I decided to go with the tree that summons a giant hand to grab and lock enemies into place--it's handy for temporarily disabling powerful enemies while you mop up the lesser baddies.  The major downside in solo play is that bosses are mostly immune to the grab ability.

An addition to the talent system are augmentations which can be unlocked at specific junctures of the talent tree that you choose--your character can equip three.  My Amara has an augmentation that will spread any elemental damage to other enemies in a close vicinity; her second one turns her grasping hand into a singularity that will pull enemies and items (like elemental barrels) into its field; and the last one will automatically grab another enemy if the enemy being grasped is killed.  These augmentations can be swapped easily as new ones are unlocked.

For the most part, Borderlands 3 feels like more Borderlands.  The most notable changes, for me, have been the addition of more varied environments (it's so nice not to be on Pandora again!) and vastly improved gun play.  Borderlands 3 keeps the series staple aesthetics--there's still a slightly cartoony/hand-drawn feeling to the game--but the game takes you to new and beautiful places.  At my current place in the story I've started on Pandora and traveled to Promethea--a sprawling, futuristic (and slightly ruined) landscape filled with neon-lit skyscrapers; I've blasted Maliwan soldiers at a scenic monastery on the planet Athenas; and I've defeated a massive vault guardian in an Eridian vault.  The game looks great and fans of the series will definitely appreciate the frequent changes of scenery.

This is Hermes.  You can pet him/her!  Super cute.

The most enjoyable aspect of the game has been the vastly improved gun play.  The guns in Borderlands 3 feel much more satisfactory and realistic than they did in previous games (I mean, as realistic as whacky guns that shoot swords and sawblades can).  There's just something better about the way they fire and the way they impact enemies--I've always felt that when compared to other shooters Borderlands was weak in this aspect.  Headshots and explosions result in chunks o' enemy...everyone loves chunkiness.

I'm also happy to report that so far I haven't had any technical issues.  I have read some reports of console players having resolution issues and technical hiccups.  One review I read specifically mentioned the fact that PC reviewers were given a very strange (and unfinished) version of the game to review.  If you're on a decent PC, you should be fine.

Before I render my final verdict on Borderlands 3 I want to finish up the main story.  It feels nice to be back in that crazy world, but I'm not sure that the new game brings anything shockingly new or refreshing to the series.  We will see.

Nothing is Perfect--Part IV--When Your Own Stupidity Mars Perfection

Sometimes you make mistakes.  Sometimes those mistakes are absolutely ridiculous and you spend a bunch of time mentally kicking yourself.  I was blithely enjoying my umpteenth playthrough of Mass Effect 3 and was looking forward to getting to the best part--the fan-service DLC Citadel.  Every ME fan adores Citadel because it is a chance to just kick back, have some fun, and enjoy last minute bonding with your fictional pals from the Normandy.  Personally, I love it and especially enjoy the short side missions that allow you to hang out at various locations with one crew member.  Unfortunately, I done messed it up!  I killed someone (by accident!) and for some reason it has completely ruined my desire to continue playing.  This is something that has never happened in my bajillion times playing.

(Dramatic music) Tuchanka was in jeopardy and my Shep was trying to solve the bevy of problems that popped up.  The Turians had some sort of super-secret mission that had gone awry and they needed some assistance.  Wrex had pulled my Shep aside to reveal that the Krogan were having their own problems (of the Rachni variety) on a remote world and that they also needed help.  Sheesh...there are so many strings attached to getting the help needed to save the galaxy!  So, I was running around and completing these various missions in an effort to get to the endgame...curing the genophage, saving the Krogan, and assuring that they would agree to help the Turians save Palaven from Reaper invasion.

In the midst of all that I received a message from Miranda that she wanted to meet on the Citadel.  I promptly forgot that message and continued addressing the Krogan/Turian issues.  Then I completed the priority mission and cured the genophage...and realized that I had unintentionally stood Miranda up.  By the time I realized this fact, I had played about 8-10 hours.  I mentally grappled with re-loading an earlier save, but realized my last save was HOURS before the Tuchanka mission.  Did I really want to replay hours and hours of content?  No; no, I did not.  I did some Googling to see if I had made a catastrophic mistake and much of what I read stated that I hadn't--Miranda would simply agree to meet you later and discuss her problems.  No big deal!

Ughhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.  Why?

Well, it turns out that was wrong!  Fast forward....like 10-12 hours of gameplay (maybe more).  I had talked with Miranda in the Spectre office and met her in an apartment on the Citadel, so all seemed well.  Then, it came time for the mission on Sanctuary.  I grabbed my squadmates and we fought our way through Cerberus and Reapers to find Miranda, her sister Orianna, and their evil father.  My high paragon score meant that I could convince the father to give up Orianna without any kind of dramatics.  At least I thought so...he turned her over, Miranda blasted him....and then, she died!  All because I stupidly forgot to go visit her one time.  Ugh!

Now, my perfect Citadel party is ruined and I've basically stalled playthrough #4783748.  I have no desire to finish it and feel like a dodo for making such a stupid mistake (yeah, Borderlands 3 came out too...so that's a factor).  Maybe someday I will go back and finish it...or maybe not.

RIP Miranda...you were killed by my inattention to detail. 

Nothing is Perfect--Part 3--That Ending Tho

FemShep version 7.0 (possibly) is currently fighting her way through Mass Effect 3.  Mass Effect 3 is always one of the most difficult games of the trilogy to get through--not because of wonky combat (ME1!) but because that damn ending is always looming over your head.  It's just too bad the game gets such a bad rap because of the ending--I actually like the rest of the game.  So, again, Mass Effect 3 is a fabulous example of a game that's not quite perfect.

Traynor is the hero with the fancy toothbrush.

I will admit to being freakishly unable to veer from the same decisions that I make every time I play.  This time around, I forced myself to take a different path.  Liara is my LI of choice and the game (not un-controversially with some fans) does seem to steer Shep down that lovely, blue path.  This time, I decided that I would pursue Samantha Traynor.  Even though Traynor is a side character, she's one that I've oddly liked--I find her general awkwardness to be endearing rather that offputting.  The Traynor romance isn't entirely new to me--the first time I played through ME3, I accidentally cheated on Liara with Traynor  (I thought there was a chance that maybe Liara wouldn't find out about the whole shower thing because...you know, it's all the way down in Shep's cabin.  SPOILERS--She finds out, she confronts you, and it's painful to watch).  I am interested to see how the Traynor romance plays out since that one time happened prior to the release of the Citadel DLC.

If I'm being completely honest though...every other decision I've made has been exactly the same.  My Shep is a Paragon who is out to save as much of the galaxy as she can.  She's cured the genophage, united the Quarians and the Geth, and is moving closer and closer to her own eventual destruction (guess what I will probably pick?).

It's not the loss of Shep that bothers me about the ending--it's the ridiculous contradiction of already established lore and the extremely obnoxious, space-magic star-kid with its long-winded diatribe.  I will say one thing about the ending--at least they made the extended cut.  I remember the first time I finished it and how utterly confused and disappointed I felt, which is too bad because other than the stupid ending, the rest of the game is great.

I'm still debating about whether or not my Mass Effect marathon should include the much maligned Mass Effect:  Andromeda.  Of all the Mass Effect games, it is the one that is the farthest from perfection (I think I would even rank it below the original game).  The weird thing I've noticed though is that the more I have played through Andromeda, the less negatively I feel about it (the combat is actually fun).