Delusion-Elle

I swear that I am not turning this into a review blog. I swear it right now on my love for Kamelot and cats, and goodness knows those are some pretty strong loves. It's just that I recently finished Borderlands (the vidya gam) and wow, it was fantastic! Cue the fangirly ravings!

EDIT: If anyone's looking for a good deal for the Borderlands 2 pre-order, Green Man Gaming has a much better than Steam. It's a digital copy that can be added to Steam so don't worry about integration into Steam -- it's simple and easy!

Borderlands is a first-person shooter role-playing game, or FPSRPG for short. This genre in itself is one that I haven't seen before and Borderlands is probably the first of its kind to find such acclaim and garner this much attention. But this is definitely some well-deserved attention.

You don't usually see the letters FPS and RPG together, and there is a reason for that: how exactly are you going to take elements of a first-person shooter and role-playing game, and mesh them together in such a way that will appeal to fans of both genres and still be fun? Players of FPSs go into the game with intentions of shooting things, plain and simple. The storyline in an FPS is usually pretty scant, and that's totally alright. The plot is not supposed to be the focus in these games. FPS games offer quick gratification for those in the mood to just roam through a level and shoot things along the way, racking up as many kills as possible. Zombie apocalypse and war games tend to fall into this category. On the other end of the spectrum, you have your good old-fashioned RPG. These games are story-heavy; in fact, the storyline, supported by quests to move it along, is what drives the entire game. Coming in as a close second to the story is the actual role-playing aspect: your character. In most traditional role-playing games, your character grows with the progression of the story, a concept often captured with a skill tree or skill build. With a skill tree/build, a character is offered a series of abilities, but only so many points per level-up to put towards these abilities. This requires the user to strategize so that they first boost the abilities that would help them the most at a low level. Because of the intricacies and wide variety of skills available for skill builds, quite a few RPGs take place in a fantasy world in order to introduce magic skills. Also, magic skills are flashy and that gives their animators some work to do. :)

So. Borderlands. How did they do it? How did they take elements from both genres and make them into this crazy, fun, and one of a kind experience? The FPS element is an obvious one -- your character's perspective is (almost) always in first-person, and your weapons are all guns. But the way in which this is supplemented by the RPG aspects is really cool. Like in most RPGs you get to pick your "class", of which will be your character for the rest of the game. There are four options in Borderlands, but unlike the traditional 4 (close-range physical, magician, long-range with limited ammo, and quick-stealthy/balanced-basic damage), these are all ammunition-based classes: the Berserker, Soldier, Hunter, and Siren. Because all four of these classes use guns, grenades, shields, and a basic melee attack, the differences between them come out in their one special ability (which does follow the traditional 4 thing fairly closely). But, you may be wondering, where do the real RPG elements come in? Is there a storyline? Is there a skill tree? The answer to both questions is a resounding yes. The skill tree for each character is broken into 3 specializations which focus on skill with guns, the power of elemental artifacts, and their own special. And the storyline? Well...

What?! You think cel-shaded is always like Wind Waker cel-shaded? With cutesy graphics? I'll show you!!!

What kind of storyline would you need to have to make an FPSRPG work? Guns... fantasy... war games have been done to death and so have zombies (no pun intended), which left Gearbox with pretty much the only option of creating their own world, a kind of space-western with a touch of steampunk. Borderland's story takes place in the future on a planet called Pandora. The planet was left practically uninhabited after some large mining companies left so the only remaining citizens are rogue bandits and a few eccentric townfolk, a lot of whom look like they have gone through a war or two of their own. Our four heroes, the Berserker, Soldier, Hunter, and Siren, are all Vault hunters, a small group of people who aim to find and take the stash from a possibly mythical thing called the Vault. The Vault is not something that has been confirmed to exist, but along the way, you find out that it is indeed very real, and you go and claim what you came to claim. The atmosphere is gritty and the cel-shaded graphics are an interesting take on the situation. Strangely enough, it's a working combination. There is very much a post-apocalyptic feel to everything -- the dilapidated buildings, the junk piles scattered through the region, the clunky vehicles that you get to drive, the dusty environment, the abandoned locales turned into bandit hideouts.

Of course, there's a lot more to the story than that, but I want to come back to the FPSRPG elements, because yes, the storyline is again driven by quests. They are pretty standard quests, and as it is a first-person game, you get a different perspective when doing the "activate this switch" and "grab & fetch" type quests. You really do have to look for things sometimes, but it's a pretty painless process with the map system. As this is more of an RPG than anything else, Borderlands also has a level-up system, which of course means that you can train and purely focus on levelling up. The enemies spawn and respawn after certain periods of time, which is quite different from your standard FPS. But hey, it works! And what with the amazing variety in the amount of weapons/drops you can find, it becomes apparent that farming is encouraged.

L-R: Hunter, Siren, Berserker, Soldier

Another point I'd like to touch on is the multiplayer aspect. When I first purchased the game, I was a bit hesitant because the only multiplayer information I had noticed on the purchase page was something about player vs. player arena duels, and this is not the kind of multiplayer I usually enjoy. I prefer co-op games where you can team up with a few friends, work towards common goals, and get each others' backs. After purchasing the game however, I noticed that there was indeed a co-op mode. There were a few difficulties in setting it up -- apparently the PC version has a few more hoops to go through than it should -- but I was able to play through most of the game with my brother, which was a great help. The multiplayer co-op is done really really well in Borderlands. Like, really really well.

It's a different experience. True, the enemies are a little tougher (there's probably some sort of formula for determining their level for balance), but the fact that there's someone else to change the dynamic of the game just adds to the excitement. For example, I'm usually the kind of person who rushes into the thick of things (because I'm not patient enough to be a sniper), which usually results in me taking a lot of damage. But when my brother was playing with me (expert sniper that he is), it became a lot safer for me to play with my style. My brother also benefited because I am the type to loot everything and check every chest for money, meaning he could spend more time sniping and less time worrying about funds as the monetary loot is automatically split evenly. This is pretty standard for any co-op game/mode, but the best part about Borderlands co-op is that if one person finishes a quest, everyone else playing who also has to finish that quest, gets the same bonuses and rewards without even having to go in person to finish it. Although the environment is not completely open world, the maps are quite vast and there are usually several quests per area so it is great being able to split off, while staying in the one area, and do several quests at once.

It's apparent that Gearbox put a lot of time and hard work into this game, and truly it shows. From the atmospheric music that matches the environments perfectly, to the characters' dialogue, and the little details in the weapon design, it is no wonder that Borderlands achieved "game of the year" status and has become a much beloved franchise. The only weakness I have seen so far is the replay value, but as with any RPG, there is nothing stopping a player from just grinding on some enemies in order to reach level cap and max all their skills. The fact that they do offer subsequent playthroughs is a great idea, though, and my brother has already started his second playthrough because he just missed the game -- as simple as that. He missed the hectic pace, the variety of weapons, the satisfaction of gunning down enemies, the strategy involved, and building his character up to be equipped with the best weapons and skills. I have to say, too, that the game immersed me in its world and it really did become a major part of my life for a while. Maybe it's because Borderlands took two of my favourite genres and mashed them into such a perfect amalgamation, or maybe it's because the world was just built so solidly and consistently that it felt like home, but it is no doubt one of my favourite games in existence, and I very much look forward to spending more time on Pandora in Borderlands 2.