Borderlands

[Draegan]

My mic refuses to work with this game and vent.  Mic setup show those little green bars going up and down while I speak, but vent sucks.

Meh.

[rattran]

In win7, I have to run vent as admin to get it to pass my voice through.
As for Roland, once you get a few points into the combat rifle skills, the 3round burst guns become godlike, I'm killing people at sniper range with triple headshots, and still able to seriously put a hurt on crowds. And anyplace you can have a car I do far more damage running stuff over than with guns.

Oh, and every time I've been warned by creepy girl about a 'big challenge' it's been a letdown. Sledge is the toughest fight I've faced, Mad Mel the most annoying. Rakk Hive was weird, but way too easy.

[schild]

Rakk Hive was weird, but way too easy.

I'm fairly sure the game is giving us way too much leeway on the aiming at Rakks. If those guys are anywhere in the reticles of any gun at any distance and you by mistake pull the trigger - hell, I'm not even sure you have to pull the trigger, you just have to think about it - they die.

[Rasix]

The MadMel fight had me dying a ton. I don't particularly love the vehicular combat, and I'm terrible at it.  Luckily I had some good rocket launchers and he was easy to avoid on foot after the other cars were down.

Sledge was easy, but ate a lot of ammo.  I had a nice fire causing machine pistol that really hurt him bad.   9 Toes was hard for me as I only killed him with a second wind. The dogs in that fight just eat a lot of punishment.

[schild]

The bosses in Borderlands are much like the bosses in Demon's Souls.

Now, I'm not comparing the two games. Borderlands has got fucking nothing on Demon's Souls even if they're both totally and completely 100% addictive.

That said, bosses are there to soak up a bit of damage and slow your stampede through the game for a couple minutes. Also, they're there to give you loot and reveal a bit of story. That's about it, I approve of this use of bosses.

[apocrypha]

Just finished first playthough, ending was a bit ho-hum and the story felt like it was lacking a lot. It was almost as if there was supposed to be another chapter just before the end that got left out. I was a level 33 soldier when I finished.

The last few zones are great fun though, and a total loot-farmathon 

New Game+ rocks, it's very cool having lots of shiny toys right from the outset, even if the mobs are much harder (they start at lvl 31 or so and there's a lot more brutes and badasses).

Also realised you can easily twink your own characters on console, using either multiplayer games or splitscreen to transfer loot etc, if you like doing that sort of thing 

[rattran]

9Toes is pretty easy if you jump up on the bleachers to avoid the dogs. Rakk Hive isn't a rakk, though it did spawn 'Veteran Kamikaze Rakks' and do you have aim assist on? I turned it off immediately, but that may be doing it. Mad Mel I cheesed by getting killed, then rocket launchering him to death from outside the arena.

Skagzilla was amusing, but took a LOT of ammo.

[Sky]

With the right skills you can get the turret cool down down to half a minute or so, probably less with mods.

Yeah, as I said, I'm going to worry about that later and focus on guns for now, though I will dump points into rockets for the turret, since that will really help the way I'm using it now.

[Morfiend]

Playing as a Hunter, I have HUGE problems with Alpha Skags (Skrags?), and the game keeps throwing them at me.

I got an amazing (AMAZING) sniper rifle last night, and the fucking thing has no zoom. It was heartbreaking.

[Phire]

That said, bosses are there to soak up a bit of damage and slow your stampede through the game for a couple minutes. Also, they're there to give you loot and reveal a bit of story. That's about it, I approve of this use of bosses.

That is pretty much the definition of a 'boss' in every game.

[schild]

I got an amazing (AMAZING) sniper rifle last night, and the fucking thing has no zoom. It was heartbreaking.

Why don't you go shoot an elephant?

9Toes is pretty easy if you jump up on the bleachers to avoid the dogs. Rakk Hive isn't a rakk, though it did spawn 'Veteran Kamikaze Rakks' and do you have aim assist on? I turned it off immediately, but that may be doing it. Mad Mel I cheesed by getting killed, then rocket launchering him to death from outside the arena.

Skagzilla was amusing, but took a LOT of ammo.

God no I don't have Aim Assist on. And I know Rakk Hive "isn't a Rakk." That wouldn't even make sense based on the nomenclature.

Skagzilla wasn't too bad on us since I had one of those triple firing rocket launchers and a shotgun that was way OP at the time.

[WayAbvPar]

I got an amazing (AMAZING) sniper rifle last night, and the fucking thing has no zoom. It was heartbreaking.

Why don't you go shoot an elephant?

Heh yep. I carry that in lieu of a shotgun for close up work now, and a proper sniper rifle for pulling/longer range shots. It does terrible things to midgets with headshots.

[Falwell]

Playing as a Hunter, I have HUGE problems with Alpha Skags (Skrags?), and the game keeps throwing them at me.

I got an amazing (AMAZING) sniper rifle last night, and the fucking thing has no zoom. It was heartbreaking.

Corrosive guns on Skags. Makes a world of difference.

[Sky]

Those alphas are a bitch, remember the head and shoulders are heavily armored. I almost won round 2 of the arena at level 11 (vs level 14 mobs, iirc), but the last two alphas toasted me. I set up my turret and then dodge the alphas in such a way that the turret is mostly behind them, and supplement with grenades (I was using MIRV at the time, it would be much easier with the transfusion nades I use now).  First time I died, though, the second wind thing is cool.

Also, lighting them on fire is good, too. Any dot.

[Amaron]

Has anyone gotten to the Krom/Crom (I forget) fight yet?  I did that with one other person and it was cool enough that I wish I'd done it 4 player for extra difficulty.   Fighting the mercs in Old Haven is a hell of a lot of fun too.   Acid guns are almost required vs those guys.

[schild]

My roommate and I tore through Krom like the fist of an angry god. Took about 1 minute, took down all the turrets with my scoped revolver and killing Krom's Turret killed him.

Easiest boss in the game and we never left the entrance platform.

[Rasix]

Hat and I have been able to join each other's games pretty easily.  I guess they worked it out or we're just awesome with ports.

I'm either really bad at this game or my build/weapons are lacking.  Could be a bit of both.  

Still, having a blast.  It's rare that shooter gets me this hooked.  The loot/rpg aspects/paper thin story probably help some.

[Amaron]

My roommate and I tore through Krom like the fist of an angry god. Took about 1 minute, took down all the turrets with my scoped revolver and killing Krom's Turret killed him.

Easiest boss in the game and we never left the entrance platform.

Yea that was why I wished I'd done it 4 man.   That fight was cool but too easy.

[WayAbvPar]

Hat and I have been able to join each other's games pretty easily.  I guess they worked it out or we're just awesome with ports.

I'm either really bad at this game or my build/weapons are lacking.  Could be a bit of both.  

Still, having a blast.  It's rare that shooter gets me this hooked.  The loot/rpg aspects/paper thin story probably help some.

I have apparently opened up enough ports to appease the Gamespy gods and have been able to host games consistently now. So feel free to ask for an invite so everyone who is higher level than me (which is nearly everyone) can come in and help me bang out some of these quests!

[rattran]

Don't start the game with the -nomoviestartup as it disables the ingame cinematics, which makes the final battle very 

[Furiously]

 (note about as big of a spoiler as there is)

[NiX]

Don't start the game with the -nomoviestartup as it disables the ingame cinematics, which makes the final battle very 

Does this apply to the INI fix or just adding that to the exe command?

[rattran]

Just the .exe as far as I know.

Also, if you thought respawn was fast, the second playthough respawn is mush, much faster.

[Big Gulp]

Meh.

Maybe it gets better (I'm only level 3), but so far the feeling is of being very underwhelmed.  Shooting feels like shit, and the RPG element pretty much sucks.

[schild]

Meh.

Maybe it gets better (I'm only level 3), but so far the feeling is of being very underwhelmed.  Shooting feels like shit, and the RPG element pretty much sucks.

[Big Gulp]

Don't mock Glenn.  He loves his country, and fears for it.  C'mon, Schild, can't you get back to how you felt on 9/12???

[Sky]

Level 3? You're Blackwater...on 9/10. Give it time, get some toys.

[Tarami]

Just finished first playthough, ending was a bit ho-hum and the story felt like it was lacking a lot. It was almost as if there was supposed to be another chapter just before the end that got left out. I was a level 33 soldier when I finished.

The last few zones are great fun though, and a total loot-farmathon 

New Game+ rocks, it's very cool having lots of shiny toys right from the outset, even if the mobs are much harder (they start at lvl 31 or so and there's a lot more brutes and badasses).

Also realised you can easily twink your own characters on console, using either multiplayer games or splitscreen to transfer loot etc, if you like doing that sort of thing 

You can do this on PC aswell, start a LAN game with one client, alt-tab out and start a second. Or if you want a challenge, three additional clients. No mutex, HO!

[waffel]

MadMel was one of the dumbest fights I've encountered. It was more along the lines of "Did they really expect you to finish this fight with your vehicle intact?"

This is how I'm sure 90% of people did the fight:
Start fight in vehicle
Get assraped by the other 3 vehicles and die within 20 seconds
Respawn and shoot MadMel/the other vehicles while standing on the ramp until they die

[lesion]

Taking out everyone but Mel first makes it a lot easier. Seems you can cheese just about every boss fight (including the crap-tastic ending).

[Big Gulp]

I rerolled with a Hunter this morning and am liking it a whole lot more so far.  I think that maybe the soldier is just fucking dull, and shooting felt like crap with an assault rifle.  Being a snipey guy is a whole lot more satisfying.

[AutomaticZen]

MadMel was one of the dumbest fights I've encountered. It was more along the lines of "Did they really expect you to finish this fight with your vehicle intact?"

This is how I'm sure 90% of people did the fight:
Start fight in vehicle
Get assraped by the other 3 vehicles and die within 20 seconds
Respawn and shoot MadMel/the other vehicles while standing on the ramp until they die

Pretty much.  I also find if I run into any bandits in vehicles it's best to just get out of the car and shoot on foot.  Six rocket somehow equals one sniper rifle bullet.  Whereas enemies on foot die in a snap to vehicle wheels.

[Draegan]

I hit 25 last night while watching my NY Yankees win.

Hellfire SMG is awesome except there is no scope!  Bah.

Anyway I'm 25 now killing mobs that are levels 22-23 for these quests.  I need to skip ahead, but I hate skipping quests because they just sit in my quest log mocking my need to finish everything.

[Sky]

As a soldier, I end up using a sniper rifle a lot, but once you get a few infantry skills, combat rifles get much nicer. Pop a fodder mob for the fire rate bonus and start tearing through things.

Levels seems to be super important in this game, almost to an absurd degree. I was doing the named skag quest, moe and whoever, last night. Got decimated the first time, just learning the encounter. Then peeled the fire-based skag away from the pack (took him back to the bandit outpost). Once I had cleared most of the fodder away, proceeded to hop on the roof and plink away at him with my turret, healing with my transfusion grenades. Ran out of ammo for three guns (as a soldier with full ammo deck upgrades). Of course, part of it was only realizing at the end that you crit skags when they open their mouths (der, ah'm slo). Fight probably took close to five minutes from initial contact, me at 15, mob at 16.

Did a quick gun chest run through the first zone, got a decent SMG, real fast and accurate, mediocre damage, but with soldier skills it was wicked fast with little recoil. Also dingered 16. Went back and took out the lightning-based skag in about 15 seconds, without any trickery, just a straight throwdown at his normal location.

Odd thing is, though the SMG is ok (green), I've used the same combat and sniper rifles for half the game now (half of my progression to 16, I mean). The RNG hates me. Though I can't complain too much, in another two levels I can use a decent acidic shotgun and when I hit 24 I can use a pretty nice launcher...if I tote it around that long.

[Falwell]

I haven't put these kinds of hours into a non mmo since BF1942.