Initial Impressions?

I've only played a couple hours myself but I am liking it so far.

The little changes in BL2 is what is appealing to me. Gun sounds, reloading sounds, things like that that feel more polished in this version.

The big improvement for me is the hit detection. In BL1 if the enemy was a distance out there the bullet only alerted them and no damage was done. BL2 seems to have fixed that. If they show up in the scope, and your aim is right, you'll get a hit.

Enemy AI seems to have improved as well. Even at level 3 they start dodging around pretty rapidly if they are getting near death.

Last but not least is my favorite addition to the game. Baddass tokens! Side challenges you complete and use the tokens to pad things like reload speed, weapon damage, etc, etc. There was something like this in the first one but it seemed hidden in the menu system and really of no use other than reading material.

I was worried BL2 was going to be too much like 1 and I was going to get bored quickly, but that does not seem to be the case.

Just a few hours for me and so. Level 8 iI think, I really didnt think they could improve as much as they did but 2 is great. Initial impressions:

Sound quality is top notch and improved.

I like the auto pick up of ammo and cash.  Saves a lot of time.  Big plus!!!

Biggest suprise is enemy AI.  It can be tough at times.  Enemy AI will duck hide and combat roll. Definitly makkes it a bit tougher.

Loot galore.  I'm loot whoring all over again. I like the looks of the new guns.  I really like how all the different gun manufactures actually have a visually distinct look to their weapons.

So far??  TOTAL WIN!!!! If your on the fence???  GET IT!!

The Badass profile leveling I think is a 'next level' innovation for these types of multi-character arpgs.  Kudos to Gearbox for an outstanding innovation that I hope other similar games copy the shit out of.

The humor is there which is what roped me into the first one. Claptrap FTW!   AI is much improved with the game throwing different enemy types at you during battle to make you switch up your tactics.  On PC this game is super smooth though I run with AMD so I can't vouch for the improvements given by nvidia physx.  I have compared it to the 360 version which my son plays and the difference is apparent especially with the frame rate and texture pop in.  Though that shouldn't diminish the fun factor for those playing on consoles.  Network inferface is much improved with the ability to assign drop in drop out gameplay on the fly rather then at the beginning of your session.  The integration with Steam is much better then gamespy obviously which was a huge beef of mine having recently played the first again on PC.   All in all they kept what works and changed what didn't making it a great sequel.   See folks in Pandora!

This game had me hooked at the intro.  Gearbox has definitely assembled another winner with Borderlands 2. 

BTW I don't know about you all, but this song has been etched in my greymatter all day.   Can't wait to head back to the waste for more!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P1QUZzeZoPQ

The game is quite awesome. Everything that was awesome about the first one is back and some of the crappy stuff is gone. For example, I've actually found pistols that I've been using. After level 3 in the first one I never even picked those up anymore. The new weapon types are great. Fire element guns don't just shoot regular bullets that cause fire damage, they shoot fire now.

I really love how they handle the drop in/drop out campaign. Before if you joined a buddy who was even 1 quest ahead in the story you didn't get any xp then had to go do it all again on your play through. Now no matter where you join you'll get xp for every quest. Then when you get to that point on your playthrough you get the option of skipping all the quests you've already done, or you can do them again for extra loot. And mission loot is actually good now. No more crappy SMGs that might have been okay 4 levels ago.

My only complaint is just about every weapon now takes 2-4 ammo per shot so you wind up burning through ammo incredibly quick. Especially if you roll with a Tediore weapon since you throw the gun instead of reloading. The ammo cap seems like it'll be a lot higher than in the first one, so that may not be such a big deal later on.

Game is crazy fun.  Made it to Sanctuary yesterday, and that is where you start getting quite a few quests.  Rolling with a Gunzerker currently, and ammo has been a bit of a problem, but having purchased a few ammo SDU upgrades, and allocaetd some skill points into ammo conservation and ammo regen skills, it's starting to even out.  Love the badass tokens and the fact that all your characteres created will start out with these little upgrades.  Played with some great 2o2p peeps for about 3 hours yeterday...now I just need Friday to hurry up and get here!

Loving it. Level 11 Commando.

They've done an excellent job of providing more Borderlands. Eevrything that was great and fun about the first is back, with many more added features and challenges. The enemies are more diverse, intelligent, and tougher. For example, you can no longer just catch a ride and splatter your way across the tundra. Even the skags have built up a fender immunity. Speaking of skags, they now have ways of buffing each other to inflict even more corrosive, or fire, or shock damage.

I'd write more, but, I've got some questing to do!

I played for about 9 hours yesterday. I am level 13 and have 1 orange and 2 purple guns already. I am a loot whore and I love it. This game is awesome. The writing is hilarious. I can't wait to meet the next character to see how over the top they are. The new features like auto loot and badass ranks(this carries over to all characters on your account) are welcome additions. The guns look sweet, especially the bandit weapons which are basically homemade out of random parts. The drop in and out is very well done also. I jumped in a game with Gunny yesterday and he had to go shortly there after and I jumped right back to my game were I left off, no issues.

It is gonna be a long day of work. I need more loot!

I like that ammo is also shareable in co-op now so if you have full ammo you can pick it up and it will go to your friends.  I have to agree with Mr402 that as far as graphics are concerned the pc is friggin gorgeous.  I played on both the 360 and my pc runnin a gtx 680 on my samsung tv...and the pc outstripped the 360 by a decent margin.  I honestly didn't think there would be that much of a difference.  The game has been a blast though and I love the personal recorders that you start with that give you just a small look into your toon's history.

Favorite quote so far for me has got to be "looks like you head butted a belt sander"

OMG does claptrap ever shut up?!  :lol:   I'm kind of finding it difficult to coop play the game and keep track of the story usually someone's talking while there's an NPC conversation or a mission explanation or something.  Otherwise though, been just as fun as the first.  I think it's more difficult than the first one even on Normal.  There are two other modes, ultimate vault hunter mode is the 2nd playthru like 'playthru 2' in borderlands 1.  This introduces some unique monsters and better loot.  THen once you finish that there's playthru 2.5 which is the endgame mode i guess you would call it.  Everything is leveled to 50 and this is where all the best stuff drops.

Man i saw some awesome looking guns in the loading screens, never found anything even close to that yet but it's early.  Something to look forward to.

So far so good.  Only a couple hours into it, but I know this is going to be a time suck for me.  They knocked it out of the park with the intro music again.

I love it!

A bazillion times more gigglier.  I’m giving up beer for the (work) week out of fear that hangovers may exacerbate my BL2 induced sleep deprivation.

TANK wrote:

I'm kind of finding it difficult to coop play the game and keep track of the story usually someone's talking while there's an NPC conversation or a mission explanation or something. 

Had the same problem.  Post-firefight looting, gun sharing and bad ass point using seems to happen during the same time the mission dialogue plays.  We’d finish in an area and not know what we were supposed to do next or what plot related nuggets we had missed.

Here's my initial impression of Borderlands 2: I was trying to play Forza last night when a friend would come online and trip the notification. I would say, to myself "oh good, my ol' friend so-and-so is coming on to play some Forza and we can finally get a decent race going. But noooo...they were all playing Borderlands 2. My initial impression, from a strictly Forza standpoint, is that Borderlands 2 is pretty damn annoying.

Did the midnight thing, played 00:30 till 05:00, got up at 09:15 and was played from 10:00-midnight again! Wow, dragging ass today.

I've played single and 4-coop, I've seen the gold chest opened up 4 times now. I have 3 of 4 characters (one of each class) at Sanctuary. All characters are level 7-10. My badass rank is almost at 600

I found Axton and Maya's abilities early best for solo play and are great support characters in group play. I found Gunzerker and Zero playstyles very similar in SP, and different play styles in Co-op. However, their abilities do not seem to be a significant playstyle change for me at low levels. Thus, I personally enjoy playing Maya and Axton better at the low end of the leveling scale. It will be interesting to see how that changes. Combined with Maya's ability to suspend, the Gunzerker and the Zero character can dump some serious damage, more later...

Moxies slot machines make for a great side / mini game as I spend loot to get eridium or better guns (watch for gernades) however, the slot machines have been more productive than the gold chest! We got enough eridium between 4 players to get everyone several ammo and backpack upgrades from Crazy Earl on our first visit to Sanctuary, granted, we each spent about 3K of cash, but we lost about 1.5 hours in the Moxxy casino, LOL. We also ended up with some really nice purple items out of the slot machines.

Looks like E-Tech is a new rarity following purple and before legendary. I have one, and I'll not spoil it... but it's crazy, like a flame thrower - just got it before bed last night and haven't tested it much. Outside of the new E-Tech, I have only encountered explosion and flame effect weapons so far. However, Marcus gave us the tutorial on all elemental effects. I decided to open the gold chest early vs. waiting. Afterall, maybe even pearl weapons will drop from the cramerax equivilent that you find in late game... so, better now and get something vs. later and wish I had used it.

Figured out a great place to get Hurly Burly BadAss challenge up to level 5 quickly (shoot 250 thrown rocks out of air) in the location where you first meet HammerLock (pond / grave) mission, go to the pond location and stand at the top of the ramp, the apes will chuck snow at you non-stop. Get your favorite plinker out and have a go. 5 badass coins in no time.

In early level player duels- like through level 12, Maya's phase lock seems to be an instant win.

The gunzerker is crazy short... I don't know how I didn't realize that he's a short little midget! LMAO.

The new gun animations are slick. Spinning gatlings, repeating barrels rotating, steam venting, compensator blasts, etc... significantly different reload animations from bottom, side, top, etc, scope reticuls got way better and vary significantly between styles. Some reticuls are actually quite useful and better than others. Recoil strong guns really seem to show it.

The rifle and shotgun in the first game were like the red-headed step child to the SMG, pistol and sniper rifle.... It just didn't seem like BL1 gave the shotgun and AR style rifle the fair shake in comparison to the others. BL2 seems to have addressed that. On the other hand, I've seen very few SMGs I wanted to use so far in the early levels across my 4 characters. I've found things like gatling barreled rifles with exploding or flame effects... a rifle that actually is a full-auto gernade launcher that uses rifle ammo... a flame throwing pistol uses pistol ammo... a homing dart shotgun... a shotgun that dumps a rediculous amount of exploding projectiles but is very short range and is called something like Room Cleaner.

We are starting to notice combos. Example, the first shot Zero has after his Deception ability does big damage. Moreover, you can level up your sword to do big damage when the enemy is low on life. Combined with Maya's suspended Phase Lock, Zero can deception up, wait for timer to tick down and then fire a shot... if the zerker and Axton have done their part, the big baddy is low on health... at that point, Zero pops out of deception and delivers a throat cutting finishing move doing 200 or 300% bonus damage to a low health enemy. **IF** your four players are working together, it's very effective, even at low levels. If you just have a Zero and Maya character, Zero and Maya can get some great snipe head shots off while Maya suspends as the froze enemy is a perfect target.

I'm glad they got away from the ever present "go repair the broke claptrap" quest and fetch quest mentality. The new quests are much more intertwined into the story. Big props for that.

I also like that I can go talk to crazy earl to get ammo upgrades, backpack upgrades and bank storage slot increases. ALso glad they have a few slots set up for character to character transfers of gear. All located in Sanctuary. An important hub town for the forseeable future it seems.

HUD map and mission objective in menus is much improved. However, pick your companions carefully. You may find obnoxious, greedy or talkative / inconsiderate folks to be a hinderance. There's a particular pace I like to move through at these games as well... and there's so much to see and do, that with the wrong group, nobody will stop and smell the roses. BL2 is now a very enjoyable SP experience. So much so, that if my 'choice' companions are not available, I may play through SP 'offline' the first time through, then party up on playthrough 2 for the rest of the way. There's just so much to experience.

The writing is now a far cry better and builds on the BL1 humor. They took it to the next level. Also notice however the art and messages on the walls... we first noticed in Sanctuary that there are hidden or not plainly obvious Quadriatic Residue Codes or QR Codes located all over in Sanctuary... QR codes are the square images made up of more squares and rectangles that look like ASCII art or somthing. However, when scanned in real life with an application capable of reading it, you'll get a message. The first one we found was on a table when you visit your first chap after entering Sanctuary. That one was just a name, a developer perhaps... however, when you dig deeper, you will find others. We found one that was like a fortune cookie... I won't spoil anymore. Stuff like this is just icing on the cake.

The handling of the first vehicle seems to be improved, and it doesn't seem to insti-kill anything I drive over now - a good change. The new power slide ability using RB is just fun after a big turbo boost! :)

Color pallete was odd at first, too much snow!! However, the game opened up quick with frozen ice, and familiar huts and what not. Getting closer to sanctuary and beyond, I found that there will be a great many differences in the environment of Pandora. Watch out for electrocuting trees! The environment, on more than one occasion (frozen water anyone) will do you in quickly if you aren't careful. The world itself now has interaction which I really like!

The NPCs and towns feel alive. There were quest givers and others that had interactions. One of our guys in two different parties found a cat in Sactuary giving away free Blue and Purple guns. Both times I got there, I wasn't lucky enough to get a gift... however, the guy says he'll try to keep scrounging and see what he can come up with when I talk to him. LOL, that's awsome. Just added immersion.

For me, big double thumbs up with a hi-five and cheesy grin on the new version's accomplishments.

Achievement Unlocked - All Kinds of Bad-Assery!

Tank, I know what you mean about missing so much of the story. And, to make it worse, there's no way to go back and relisten to those kinds of things like there was in the first game. I tend to attempt to remain in the area when a NPC is talking, giving quest objectives and plot details. Often, my teammates seem less interested. Though, because I plan on playing several times through, with differnt characters and on playthrough 2, it's not a thing for me to be upset about.

I'll also note that I HATED playing Brick or even playing a game where someone else was playing as Brick in BL1. I didn't care for his rather limited skill tree. It felt like no matter how you built him, you were forced to play him one way. I didn't really care for the shotguns or the rocket launchers in BL1, and worst of all - his 'roid-rage' ability was about as annoying as it could get everytime he went berserk! Ulgh... it was irritating.

I'm happy to report that all of the characters so far, are quite fun to play, even though I do favor Maya and Axton over the other two.

:)

Awesome write-up, Tactica!

That guy in Sanctuary that gives free loot is a kid named Michael. He was a big Borderlands fan, and well, lost a battle to cancer...

Gearbox put him in there as an additional tribute, after already doing this;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KuroFpcFq-c

Jikado - I had seen that before, but forgot about it. Man, that gave me the goose-bumps the first time, and it just did it again...

That deserves a big hat's off to the Gear Box crew - I mean, wow... I had no idea the chap giving away guns was an in-game nod to the same fellow. That adds even more too an already outstanding game design. Testiment to them caring about the game's fans and the world they've created.

Very cool. Thanks for connecting the dots for me Jikado!

When you play co-op with someone and then get to those quests in your own game, you're better off skipping them. You don't get a reward the 2nd time so you just wind up wasting time for no money or xp or anything.

 I am going to put down my thoughts now ... (Feel free to pick anything apart)

Progressing through the story is kind of a grind and at times it is fun with the right people ... I have played in many groups of all levels except ones that are higher then I ... Today I stopped the push because of school, but I needed the break to stop and think about it ... I got to the wildlife preserve in the story and my commando charater is at level 21 ...

Some of the things I love is the new skins for the characters, vehicles and other things ... Yes, it is a minor thing, but it is the small things I enjoy about it  ... Going to crazy earl for backpack, ammo and storage upgrades are cool and it makes you search for all those purple bricks, but I like it more than how I got the upgrades before ... Being badass and the ranks to me will make the other classes fun for awhile ... Going into a lower level game you won't get any XP points for things and if you do it will be minimal ... I do like how it fluxuates the difficulty in the game ...

Things I don't care for or the bugs that I have encountered so far have been: Not many places truly have loot chests, feels more like they want you to do arena type of challenges to get your weapons ... Also if you a guest and you look into a telescope and someone else does it at the same time then you will be stucka nd have to exit and re-enter ... Oh the gamestop pre-order bonus to unlock the creature slaughter dome was pure BULLSHIT and not unlocked from the start which it said it would be ... 

With all my complaints and all my likes of this game ... I can see me playing this over and over again with others ... Yes, I will for warn you that I love to do all the side quests before going on to the next mission of a game ... One thing I want to do is a money run ... Yes, I said money run since in the game a certain type of creature explodes money which is awesome in my book ... 

I need to get a 2nd xbox 360, so I can play Borderlnads 2 while my boys play Minecraft. Better yet, I should get a 3rd xbox so I can play Borderlands 2 while I play Borderlands 2.

ATC:

Per the guide, a particular area's beasts are set based upon several variables

The area's default range of levels based upon playthrough

The playthrough you are on can modify

The level you are at when you enter the area can modify

The quantity of players in game can further modify

Once the area is entered, the area's default will be locked for that playthrough. However, more players will continue to adjust levels. If you complete the game and start a second playthrough, all areas reset and they have a new default range as modified by the playthrough and again, the level you are when you enter the area... and multiple players continue to modify baddies spawned.

On playthrough 2.5, everything becomes level 50. Stats get harder as more players join.

BTW: Loot for the area drops are relative to what level you were and what playthrough your own and how many players you have in your game... for each area. So if you want better loot, harder enemies, etc... get friends, get to later playthroughs.

BTW2: The more level difference there is between you and a particular baddy or preferably, a badass... then the better the chance is for a rare loot drop. Shoot the helmet off of a Goliath badass and let him level up by killing other things in the area (good to do in the reserve for example) as he kills crap, he gets stronger and stronger. When he's 4-6 levels over you, better kill him... before you can't kill him... however, I've gotten some crazy good drops from letting these guys level up.

Cheers,

Really loving the game ,been doing a lot of co-op and having a great time 

Soup,

Unless I'm mistaken... it's not that they want to turn off game play dialogue.... the problem is that they WANT to hear the dialogue but can't. The reason is because co-op friends are chatting it up at the wrong times and stepping on in game dialogue, which is quite entertaining and fun for those that want to listen to the story develop.

Personally, I've had belly laugh experiences multiple times while listening to the quests and dialogue.

I recomend paying attention to the dialogue in the side quests as well, especially after Sanctuary...

Cheers,