Borderlands 2 Info.

New Borderlands 2 Info Revealed in Developer Interview

What you can expect from Borderlands 2 can be summed up in one word: variety, lots of variety.

By Jared Henry on 2/8/2012
With no release date yet announced, information on Gearbox Software's upcoming sequel to the action driven, loot-fest, RPG Borderlands has remained in the shadows largely since E3 of last year. With a screenshot here, a cinematic trailer there, a frustratingly vague write up in Game Informer magazine, and a few interviews sprinkled throughout the Internet - fans of the series have been left anxiously waiting for any Borderlands 2 details they can get their hands on. Thankfully, Gearbox developers Paul Hellquist and Jason Reiss emerged from the darkness to shed light on some of the new things we can expect in a recent interview with NowGamer.

Focusing on improving virtually every aspect that made the original Borderlands such an unexpected success, Gearbox is firing on all cylinders when it comes to upping the ante in Borderlands 2. Most importantly, fans of the original were particularly vocal about the things they didn't like about the game. Whether it be the lack of plot direction, environmental variety, weapon aesthetics, or NPC interaction - Gearbox has taken all the feedback, both negative and positive, and applied it to the development of Borderlands 2 to make the best game possible for their fans.

Reiss states that one of the biggest changes comes in form of world exploration. Being confined to a relatively small portion of the in-game planet Pandora, Borderlands left players with little variety in their surroundings. Borderlands 2 takes players to another area of Pandora, offering a much needed change in the terrains that can be explored.

That being said, one word that is repeatedly used is variety; weapons, enemies, quest direction, NPC interaction, and skill trees have all been given a heavy dose of variance. For example, in Borderlands there were a total of 120 different kinds of grenades that were assigned to one of four class functions such as teleportation, health regeneration, or explode on contact. In Borderlands 2, there are more than 18,000 grenade variations.

What's more, the "bazillion" guns in the original may seem like a lot, but this was disappointingly limited to small factors such as a miniscule increase in damage rather than aesthetic differences. While the immeasurable amount of guns is "very similar to the original Borderlands... this time the qualitative difference - the difference in feeling - is dramatically different." Hellquist adds, "We have focus testers who come in and find that a whole class of manufacturer's guns are completely useless and the worst things ever, but then another guy sitting next to him will say, 'You're insane, these guns are the best things ever!'"

To find out more, feel free to read the interview in its entirety here.

http://www.nowgamer.com/features/1235867/borderlands_2_characters_guns_plot_interview.html

Borderlands 2 has a projected release date for 2K's 2013 fiscal year, which begins in April 2012 and ends March 2013.

"Gearbox has taken all the feedback, both negative and positive, and applied it to the development of Borderlands 2 to make the best game possible for their fans."

Straight out of the Developer's Public Relations Handbook because they ALL seem to say that no matter what the final product looks like.

Looking forward to this game but unless they decide to go toe-to-toe with Blops2 etc in the November slot I'm guessing it'll be released September or next year.

Pre-order Borderlands 2 and get exclusive access to Borderlands 2 Premiere Club, including in-game items -

2K Games and Gearbox Software announced that Borderlands™ 2, the sequel to the multi-million unit selling breakout hit, Borderlands™, will be available on the Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft, PlayStation®3 computer entertainment system and Windows-based PC in North America on September 18, 2012 and internationally on September 21, 2012.

Currently in development by Gearbox Software, Borderlands 2 is the sequel to the critically acclaimed four-player cooperative shooter-looter that combined intense first-person mayhem with role-playing gameplay. In addition, fans who pre-order the title from participating retailers will receive access to the Borderlands 2 Premiere Club, including rewarding in-game items and bonuses.

Living up to the mantra "bigger, better and more badass," Borderlands 2 features all-new characters; skills; imaginative, diverse new environments with unique missions and enemies; and more exciting and fun weapons, equipment and loot than ever before. All of these features come together in a story that takes players to the world of Pandora to take down the notorious Handsome Jack and his corrupt Hyperion Corporation as a solo campaign or with up to four cooperative players.

"The addictive gameplay and shooting and looting mayhem of the first Borderlands is back and better than ever inBorderlands 2, taking the franchise to an entirely new level," said Christoph Hartmann, president of 2K. "With more guns, more enemies, more missions, an engaging story and all-new characters, Borderlands 2 promises to bring a new era to gaming this fall."

Borderlands 2 will allow friends to play together locally via split-screen, as well as online with drop-in-drop-out capabilities. With seamless cooperative gameplay and action, Borderlands 2 is extremely accessible for gamers and their friends to play alone or together in a variety of configurations.

"Borderlands 2 is a passion project, through and through," said Randy Pitchford, President of Gearbox Software. "The result is a sequel that has improved every successful aspect of Borderlands while innovating with an all-new experience."

Gamers who pre-order Borderlands 2 from participating retailers will gain access to the Borderlands 2 Premiere Club, allowing them to download the Gearbox Gun Pack, a Golden Key and the Vault Hunter's Relic. The Gearbox Gun Pack is a collection of unique guns to help players begin their journey on Pandora. The Golden Key is an in-game item used to unlock a rare item in the mysterious Golden Sanctuary Loot Chest found in Borderlands 2. The Vault Hunter's Relic is an in-game item that boosts players' gear-hunting fortune while playing solo or teaming up with friends. To pre-order Borderlands 2 please visit http://www.borderlands2.com/preorder.

I didn't read the wall-o-text but is the extra items for pre-ordering from a certain company?

http://kotaku.com/5897193/theres-a-new-siren-in-borderlands-2-and-she-kicks-fierce-robot-ass/

There's A New Siren In Borderlands 2, And She Kicks Fierce Robot Ass

What do you do with a sequel to a game that has a huge roster of weapons, quirky characters, and awesome 4-player co-op? You add more weapons, of course. And more quirky characters. And you might as well keep the 4-player co-op.

That's the tactic that Gearbox Software seems to be using in the follow-up to Borderlands, their successful loot-driven first-person shooter/role-playing hybrid that released in 2009. As a big fan of the first title, I've been ready to play the game since...well, since I finished Borderlands 1 and all the downloadable content packages, actually.

Sitting down to play a co-operative round with a fellow journalist, I knew before the character selection screen loaded that I'd be playing as the Siren. The blue-haired alternative to Borderlands' first Siren, Lilith, promises to revamp my favorite class, something that made me simultaneously nervous and excited.

Tinkering with my skill tree and choosing which abilities I wanted to invest in, I noticed where this new Siren took a left turn. Maya is much more of a healer than her predecessor. The new Phaselock ability is mostly responsible for this. It's also mostly responsible for how utterly amazing the new Siren is.

The Phaselock's benefits are two-fold: 1. It suspends an enemy mid-air, unable to move and, 2. You can upgrade your skill tree to receive damage and health bonuses while an enemy is Phaselocked. That makes for one very efficient killer. It also makes a leader. The team's focus goes (or should go, if you're a smart player) to the Phaselocked enemy.

This is a Borderlands sequel built on the strengths of the first game.

But Maya, like the other characters in Borderlands (and the game itself), is still nothing without her weapons. Although Gearbox boasts millions of guns (yes, millions)-impressive even by Borderlands' standards-only a handful were available at this preview demonstration. I played with elementals, rocket launchers, and standard assault rifles. Elemental damage-inflicting rifles are my favorite so I sported the corrosive damage weapon in Maya's inventory almost exclusively throughout my playthrough, stopping only to sample the others.

The other weapons stashed into our inventories were mainly sniper-ranged, which suits my play style fairly well. Several of these scoped guns came with a lock-on targeting system. A few were even lock-on rocket launchers outfitted with scopes. Borderlands 2 bolsters the franchise's reputation for a massive amount of diverse weapons.

Borderlands: The Series

Gearbox is scrapping their traditional method of shaping the narrative universe of their games in Acts. They're now going to model it after television's Seasons.

But why Seasons? Seasons are made up of episodes, which, according to Gearbox senior producer Sean Reardon, are "bigger and more important than a mission." Episodes are considered to be larger chunks of a storyline rather than a simple task carried out by the player.

Reardon describes this new development for the sequel as "evolved storytelling."

Gearbox wants Borderlands 2 to be impactful, and boring fetch quests won't cut it.

"You're going to find stories happening and you're using the stories to affect the world. Missions aren't for the sake of creating more missions, but for the sake of being able to tell a more compelling story and make you feel more connected to the narrative of the world," says Reardon.

He promises that this "first-rate narrative" will "pull you through the whole game."

Corrosive weapon proved to be a favorite until I met the corrosive-resistant bugs. These earth-toned bugs are nothing new for Borderlands. But fortunately the two areas we were free to explore-Caustic Caverns and the Wildlife Exploitation Preserve-were host to more than just the bugs and bandits Borderlands veterans will be familiar with.

Robust and versatile robots are perhaps the biggest new entry in the list of enemies. Think of every kind of CAT machinery that you've seen working on constructions sites around your city, and it's probably been made into a robot enemy in this sequel. Gearbox Software producer Randy Varnell tells me that the inspiration, after all, came from real-life machinery. Anything that real-life machines could do served as a brainstorming step for the team. So while surveyors fly speedily overhead to heal their robotic comrades, big Transformer-looking Power Loaders stomp toward you with spinning blades that reflect bullets, and Bull Loaders will actually transform into a bulldozer to slam into you with their reinforced body.

Sequels offer a chance to learn from past mistakes, and to implement new features that may not have been thought of before. So Borderlands 2 is naturally a more polished game. There is a ton more visual feedback, from your shields getting shredded to literal pieces to threshers snatching you with purplish vines. Running feels faster, special ability cooldowns are quicker. In general, the game feels even more accessible than before.

Borderlands 2 takes the opportunity of a sequel to also revamp the mission style. It's a chance to get rid of the Borderlands 1 missions that were all too often composed of boring fetch quests.

I hope they make it easier to play with friends who have different leveled characters. On the first Borderlands I found that if someone was a couple of levels above or below they either killed everything really quickly or couldn't do any damage at all which meant you needed to make sure you all had the same level characters

As long as they keep it feeling like Borderlands it'll be good, I don't want them to make it into a completely different game, just the first game with improvements

Sorry about the Wall-o-text it's just copy and paste for the most part.

No you can pre-order from Play, Amazon and The Hut to get the extra items. I made my pre-order on here.

Myself and Nic had that problem the other night with Level differences. I was gettting slaughtered for a majority of the time even though I was only a few levels down.
Getting that balance right may be the key to how good the Co-op is.

When you're both/all the same level it works great, when I played it through properly with a friend we both created the characters together and only played in co-op together to keep them about the same, another friend played with us a bit was a couple of levels below and wasn't really catching up and couldn't do any damage

http://www.computerandvideogames.com/342293/previews/borderlands-2-hands-on-with-the-massively-improved-sequel/

Borderlands 2: Hands-on with the massively improved sequel

Plus the insane weapons that were randomly generated in our hour-long playthrough

By Andy Kelly for computerandvideogames.com

In the original Borderlands, combat felt stiff and repetitive. Enemy AI was predictable, and most could be dealt with by simply chewing away at their health with whatever gun you had equipped. In Borderlands 2, it's a completely different story.

Enemies are now smart and vicious, and force you to play tactically. This makes the co-operative experience - for many, the main reason to play Borderlands - even more rewarding. "We call it the AI ecosystem," says Gearbox Software's Steve Gibson. "The idea is that not only are enemies more reactive and more aggressive, but that they can co-operate with each other."

We see this in action in our hands-on. We're fighting a group of Skags, the feral dog-like creatures from the original Borderlands. One special breed of Skag has the ability to 'rally' his weaker companions, which sets them on fire and makes them more dangerous. "This is just one example of the AI working together," says Gibson. "In battle, you now have to prioritise more than just who's closest to you. We want all the combat to feel richer and more tactical."

CLASS WAR

There are four brand new character classes this time around, with the previous cast serving as quest-givers. First up, we have the Siren, Maya. In the first game, Lilith could use the Phase Walk ability to turn invisible and sneak up on enemies; Maya's power, however, is the Phase Lock. "She can grab an enemy and trap them in a floating bubble," says Gibson. "This can be upgraded too. The Routing add-on, for example, will freeze any enemies near your bubble."

Then there's the Assassin, which is a stealth class. "He's good at finding critical points on enemies, and can create a copy of himself to distract enemies."

"The Gunzerker is self-explanatory. He can dual-wield weapons and blow stuff up twice as fast." This is the class we played in our hands-on. The dual-wield power only lasts for a few seconds (which you can increase with upgrades), and places another weapon in your inventory in your left hand, doubling your damage. It doesn't feel as unique as the Phase Lock, but when we were backed into a corner, activating it would give us the extra punch to fight our way out.

Finally, there's the Commando. "He's an evolution of the Soldier from the first game. He has a turret he can deploy, which has a lot of really cool upgrades. You can place multiple turrets, or unlock the Longbow turret, which can be placed anywhere in the world, even if it's out of reach - walls, ceilings, etc." The new classes have also been designed to interact with each other in interesting ways. "Through upgrades, the Siren can actually remotely resurrect another player, even if they're way across the map."

SLAG OFF

Adding yet another layer of tactics to combat is a new element, the unfortunately named slag. A weapon infused with this purple gunk will reduce an enemy's stats, making them weaker. "This works well for the Gunzerker. If you're dual-wielding a weapon with slag, and, say, a weapon with the lightning element, you're really going to do some major damage."

"The idea behind including this was to reward the role-playing guys; the guys who think about all the stats and number-crunching happening behind the scenes."

The hour we spent with the game was impressive. The combat feels much more dynamic, and missions have branching paths and unpredictable structures - a far cry from the fetch and carry quests of the original.
Guns are also more satisfying to use, with enemies reacting to every shot in a much more readable way. Gibson also assures us that Gearbox are making the game friendlier for solo players, with a more involving story. Borderlands 2 is a radical improvement over its predecessor, and feels like the game the great, but flawed, original always felt like it could be.

GUN DIARY

As we played through our hands-on session, we took a note of all the guns we picked up. Gearbox say the way they're generated, which involves some code wizardry we'll never understand, allows for much more interesting combinations.

Hyperion Hot Button SMG

Damage 105 / Accuracy 93.3 / Fire rate 8.5
Effective vs. flesh
Chance to light enemies on fire

Torque Gyrojet Rifle

Damage 132 / Accuracy 82.5 / Fire rate 4.0
Chance to cause explosions

Vladof Expansive Spinigun

Damage 121 / Accuracy 81.7 / Fire rate 10.8
Effective vs. armour

Hyperion Amplified SMG

Damage 78 / Accuracy 92.8 / Fire rate 8.3
Chance to slag enemies
Slagged enemies take more damage

Maliwan Electrified Aegis

Damage 136 / Accuracy 80.8 / Fire rate 2.5
Highly effective vs. shields
Chance to electrocute
High elemental damage

Maliwan Scarlet Rakehell

Damage 351 / Accuracy 90.0 / Fire rate 1.9
Highly effective vs. flesh
Lights enemies on fire
High elemental damage

Bandit Rockit Launcher

Damage 1079 / Accuracy 58.3 / Fire rate 1.0
Chance to cause explosions

I played through my SP again after the end of the Co-op and got closer to the level of Nic so I'm hoping by our next game together it won't be too much of a problem.

It was a little annoying at the time because I was hoping to be more of a help and ended up hindering Nic more because he had to come back and revive me loads of times.
If they can fix that feature where the enemy shooting at you is at your level rather than the level of the highest player in the game it will be much appreciated.

Hey Hunter, I agree that we saw difficulty problems, and apparently it's fixed, that is from the developers mouths though. Will you be buying '2' on release??

I levelled up a little more, not sure if I can check new level (22 I believe?) I have no problem reviving you; we just need to try and sort out the level differences. I wonder what the extra CE content will be.

I just started co-op-ing with a mate recently. He'd never played before and I started again with a new character. My basic plan is to get him ready for Borderlands 2. Are you two using mics? While I have a pair he doesn't and have found it awkward organising tactics. I've tried using my mic but he doesn't seem to hear me. Is that normal or is there something I or he needs to do?

There's been some great games this gen' that have seemingly come from nowhere and Borderlands is definitely in my top 5. Really looking forward to B2 and glad to see Gearbox have built further on such a brilliant foundation.

Most definitely. I preordered it today and Will try to get either the Deluxe Vault Hunter's Edition or the Ultimate Loot Edition if released over here :)

Will work up to Level 22 if I can by the time we play again. I'm Level 19 at the moment.

[Deleted by the author on 28 May 2012 16:28:48 BDT]

We aren't using Mics but seem to be doing well without them. I suppose it's easier with only 2 of us as long as we can see each other.

That's awesome, good to be a similar level. If you want to reach my point in the story, I just got to where Scooter is. I'm also likely going to preorder the Deluxe edition; Ultimate Loot is a game exclusive, so I'm not touching it. Do you know what UK retailer is getting the Gamestop US preorder bonus? :)
edit: Zorton and a few others may be buying '2' on PS3, so we could have a full house!
double edit: I am contemplating buying the DLC tomorrow.

http://www.theverge.com/gaming/2012/5/17/3022303/crazy-town-gearbox-on-making-borderlands-2
Really long making of article for Borderlands 2, may be too long for C+P, but some may like to read it.

We have a lot of waving of guns and bullets fired in direction of next objective. But I found the Bonehead's Theft mission early on really hard when one of us was on a low level (me 7, him 4). It seems you guys are a lot further along is it beneficial for the two players to be closely matched?

We weren't cooping when we were at that point, but I tried to do Bonehead early and struggled. The closer the level, the better, but it will likely even out. Try not to separate too much.

How are you finding the actual story line Nicholas? Or is just bare-bones for the shootin' and lootin' experience

It isn't very story centric, but I quite like the story that is there. The world is phenomenal, and the characters are lovable. It is fantastic, if you enjoy that type of thing. As mentioned in places, the story telling is being improved, niggles being removed AND most crucially, more environment types.

Cheers I will have a read of it now :)

Play, The Hut and Amazon are all getting the deal by the looks of it.

Shopto are getting it. The deal I speak of is a different one, offering a challenge mode, they said it would be free for all eventually. No UK retailer has been announced for it yet.