Do you count Borderlands in the same bracket as games like Warframe, Destiny, The Division, Anthem, etc...?

[Deleted member 35071]

yes in that they're all looter shooters. no in the sense that its not the same kinda loot-shooter.

idk. I never played borderlands 2. And i had the misfortune of playing Borderlands 1...relatively recently. Like in the last 2 years or so. And idk how old it is....but i did not like it. I dont like the artstyle. I didn't like the controls or how the game played. Felt like a PS2 FPS. I wanted to try the sequel but idk my impression of the original kinda sours that.

 

[McScroggz]

The online, persistent nature of Destiny, The Division and similar games is a core part of the experience that Borderlands doesn't have. It would be easy to take Borderlands and make it an online semi-MMO game, but without those social features you cannot consider them within the same sub genre. If you say they are all looter shooter games, sure, but there's such a big difference that stopping there seems borderline disingenuous.

 

[GodofWine]

Borderlands feels way more like singleplayer adventure than those other games. Sure they are similar, but they feel more different than they actually are. Its weird

 

[RPGam3r]

It's a response to all of it. Borderlands "focusing on the game" doesn't mean much if the gunplay is so lackluster.

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You misunderstood. Borderlands focuses on the journey/campaign and doesn't race to the destination/post game.

Also completely disagree it is lackluster.

 

[Sanctuary]

OP already tried to "correct" me in the Anthem thread when I said that Borderlands 2 was the only looter shooter that I thoroughly enjoyed from day one. So I'll just leave these here:

https://www.gamesradar.com/the-top-seven-looter-shooters-of-all-time/
https://www.gaminginstincts.com/top-8-looter-shooters/
https://www.pcgamer.com/investigating-the-origin-of-the-looter-shooter/

 

[Yabberwocky]

At first I was, yes! And then I was, actually, no! Annnd now I'm not sure.

God, I miss Borderlands.

 

[CrocodileGrin]

I would say no, but each time I've played games like Destiny or The Division, I always would think "Borderlands did this _____ thing better." The blank being a multitude of game designs, namely loot, which is what those games are about.

 

[StraySheep]

no its on a bracket of its own, since it's much better than all those others

:3

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I agree and I don't even like Borderlands.

 

[oni-link]

It's funny that looking back, the Borderlands games are actually miles better than the other looter shooters

I may be biased as someone who prefers playing solo, and the Borderlands games are great as solo games (more so than the others, anyway)

I guess these games make more money when they're stuffed full of microtransactions, but I think that unquestionably hurts the overall quality of the games

Maybe it's better at providing a 1000 hour end game grind that can ensnare a solid number of whales, but I'm happy with a competent story and 20-50 hours of fun. I don't need every game I get to be able to last me years and years and thousands and thousands of hours

God, I miss Borderlands.

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It really feels like a missed opportunity that we didn't get Borderlands 3 in 2016/2017

It's been 7 years since 2 now, and 6 years since TPS

The genre has exploded in popularity over the last 5 years and they completely missed their window to capitalise on that

 

[Officer Beefsteak]

I dont think so, most of those games have a heavy emphasis on the endgame, I feel like borderlands is about finishing the story plus a couple optional things.

 

[mas8705]

Honestly, I would argue that had Borderlands come out at a later time, it likely could have been. The problem is that it really does fall on the razor's edge in terms of how we wish to define it. On one hand, you are technically collecting a wide variety of weapons to use and they do have their rarities to them too. On the other, the customization isn't nearly as fancy as in the other games since you can set up much more than just a few guns.

Sadly though if Borderlands does come back, it will likely fall into that same bracket (and will likely have those elements that love to hate. 2K loves them some Microtransactions after all).

 

[Mechanized]

I dont think so, most of those games have a heavy emphasis on the endgame, I feel like borderlands is about finishing the story plus a couple optional things.

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The endgame in Borderlands is extremely well done. It's not about the complexity of raids but character builds, which are extremely specific. Unfortunately there are a few op weapons that kinda ruin balance. Look up Vinylicpuma's class build videos on YouTube. It's actually insane how much effort they put into the harder difficulty and balancing. Most people will never devote the time to see it.

 

[Nome]

I'm not sure you're realizing your own bias here. The games are practically the same structurally outside of a couple of details. What you're doing is the equivalent of positing that a game with an in-game store can't be the same genre as a game without one.

So, what you're basically saying is the difference is marketing strategy, not gameplay.

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GaaS is not a genre, it's a business operations strategy.
And while user acquisition is under the umbrella of marketing, I'd hesitate to simplify it as "marketing strategy", mostly because this forum's conception of marketing is incredibly simplistic (e.g. "Titanfall 2 failed because it had 'bad marketing'").

 

[Valdega]

It's a loot shooter, though not one designed as GaaS.

 

[SENPAIatLARGE]

Well Borderlands actually came out finished, unlike every other looter shooter these days

 

[newmoneytrash]

Not really but I'm sure that Borderlands 3 will go the GaaS route

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this is how i feel too

i don't trust whatever borderlands 3 is going to be

 

[Zhukov]

Yes.

I count them all in the 'Very Boring' bracket.

(Excerpt Warframe, which I haven't played because it's in the 'Looks Boring, Cant Be Bothered' bracket.)

 

[Scuffed]

The humor in Borderlands killed the game for me so I'm not the biggest fan but I think the loot is fun. I don't think it's like Destiny 2 or Warframe because there isn't ongoing content or a changing game, it's static.

 

[Cheesy]

I'm not sure I would. I think one of the main things that separates it is it's a game intended to be played cooperatively first and foremost, it is possible to play singleplayer but the games agent balanced for it, whereas the other titles mentioned have activities that can be played with relative ease solo, as well as activity's with friends.

 

[Deleted member 45414]

Yes, Borderlands has always been a looter shooter and anyone saying otherwise needs their damn eyes checked.

The only functional difference between it and most of those other titles is the way multiplayer is handled. Everything else is pretty much the same.

 

[TemplaerDude]

Borderlands doesn't provide the same connected and live experience the other games do. It's the same, but different. A sub-genre.

 

[astro]

Yes, Borderlands has always been a looter shooter and anyone saying otherwise needs their damn eyes checked.

The only functional difference between it and most of those other titles is the way multiplayer is handled. Everything else is pretty much the same.

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There are plenty more differences, hence the poll results.

 

[MZZ]

I always felt like Destiny is a better setting of borderlands so yes. I only played until the ending so I can't compare the end game of GAAS to borderlands. Fundamentally, they are the same to me from the start to the credits.

 

[Bold One]

No

Borderlands lacks the shared world components of Destiny.

There are no public events types where players on their own objectives could join in to help out.

 

[Deleted member 45414]

There are plenty more differences, hence the poll results.

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Polls can be wrong too, but hey, feel free to give me some difference examples.

 

[SigSig]

It doesn't have the GaaS "gotta dedicate your life to this game or else you'll never see any of it's real content lol"-shit, that makes you work the game as your fucking day job.

 

[Nuclear Muffin]

Borderlands isn't GaaS. That's the big differentiator.

 

[Trisc]

Borderlands is a full game from the get-go. It's not a living, breathing world, because that's not the point; you're supposed to play through it over and over again, becoming noticeably stronger as you go. It's an FPS with Diablo-style progression and respects your time and lets you play at your own pace instead of gating progression on a weekly basis to keep you from burning through everything the game has to offer in a week.

 

[TheDutchSlayer]

1 and 2 no
3 Will be and will probably fail at it because they would probably, most of the people who made BL2 such an amazing game as leads of that team have left sadly.

Also by the time 3 will be out all the money they made from BL2 will have dried up and it will have so many microtransactions for things that were free or only buying with in game money in BL2 that lots of the old player base will hate it.

 

[Trickster]

In some ways, yes. But I don't think it's got that same focus on being a service type game.

I fully expect Borderlands 3 to be a full on GaaS game though

 

[Wamb0wneD]

People getting so hung up over the GaaS thing, as if that's the only thing these games are about. I shoot shit to get loot, and there's a shitton of loot, there's New Game+, there's raid bosses, there's co-op...

I dunno. Sounds like a loot shooter to me. A better one than any of the above mentioned as well, imo. At least BL2.

 

[LossAversion]

I wish games like Destiny and Anthem were half as good as Borderlands. The characters, story, enemy design, mission design, environmental variety... all light years ahead in Borderlands. In exchange we get... lifeless social hubs with random players spamming dance emotes and a couple of world events that repeat ad nauseam. The MMO aspects of games like Destiny are so half-baked that I would much rather have traditional co-op. The design choices that seperate those games from Borderlands are all made in favor of monetization and endless grinding. And there's nothing wrong with a grind but... Borderlands has a satisfying grind IN ADDITION to all of the other things that it has going for it.