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.