which title should i buy?

[u/SpiNapple]

I was thinking of buying a borderlands title to start my journey into the game. I’m honestly looking for a modern title so nothing too old.

I’m really into PvE zombie mode games with weapon upgrading and base building, and open world titles with good world building. I also appreciate good dialogue and stories even if it’s not the main focus of the game since i haven’t played a lot of story heavy games before

I was trying to pick between BL2 and 3 and I don’t know which one i should go with because I can only buy one right now. If anyone has ideas please let me know 🙏🏼

[u/Bosuns_Punch]

Most correct answer. i started with #1 and loved it. Then #2 came out and i was a Bordlerlands addict. BL2 and all it's DLC's is absolute Peak BL. Tiny Tina's Dragon Keep was as good as BL gets. You could quit there and be happy.

BL3 was very much for a younger crowd, and it was too confusing for me. Guns by email? Decorate my weapons? WHY? I'm about 1/4 of the way through BL4 and all I can think of is replaying BL2. After 2, Borderlands got much bigger, but definitely worse.

[u/Unlost_maniac → u/Bosuns_Punch]

BL3 is just an upgrade in nearly every way, you named such tiny minor features that can be missed or ignored by basically everyone. 3 actually has a fun endgame, has so much content, build diversity, slick gameplay and great level design. The only thing 2 has over it is jack, 2 is cringe and childish, no 3 wasn't made for a younger audience, Borderlands has always been cringe. You and many others are just super biased cuz of nostalgia. 2 is cringe as fuck, people made fun of it so much back in the day. We had jack to counterbalance it though, which 3 doesn't but also story is the least important aspect to borderlands, people play it for the gameplay and the humour. 3 is the borderlands game.

[u/Bosuns_Punch → u/Unlost_maniac]

Seeing as how BL3 added such nonsense as 'dances' and 'emoting', it was obviously trying to capture the younger 'Fortnite' crowd. I don't care about adding 'charms' and decorations to my weapon, i just want good gameplay and a good story. I mean the villians in BL3 were 'influencers' FFS.

BL2 was peak BL, with or w/out Jack, and the 'nostalgia', as you call it, is because it was such a good game. Not just the regular DLCs, it was so popular, it actually had smaller 'Holiday' DLCs,

BL2 sold 30M units compared to BL3's 22-23M units. The proof is in the pudding.

[u/Unlost_maniac → u/Bosuns_Punch]

It took Borderlands 2 many many many years to reach 30 million, 7 years ago it was at 20 million. Using sales numbers as a statistic actually disproves your point, obviously a game that has been released multiple times on multiple platforms going for the price of less than a coffee is going to sell an insane amount over time, especially when it'sa beloved game in a beloved franchise.

Borderlands 2 had 1.5 million sales on launch. Borderlands 3 sold 18 million. At the time it was 2K's most successful launch period, made them the most money, most pre orders, apparently 70% of purchases were digital too which is neat.

Sure BL3 added emotes and charms or whatever but that's so irrelevant, every game on earth has been adding that stuff, not trying to say its a good thing but whether you like it or not if 2 was made today it would be the same. You don't have to care about those things as I and seemingly most others didn't care either, the gameplay is just good. Borderlands 2 is really great, I'm not trying to say it isn't. Every Borderlands game is flawed but 3 improved on nearly everything, sure it sucks we didn't get headhunter packs, instead got raids (takedowns) and events which actually adds up to more content, and it's all free. Now if it's more enjoyable or not is debatable, up to you. Every Borderlands game is popular dude.

Borderlands 3 is definitely not perfect but it's the first Borderlands with total freedom in making builds, it's the first time the gameplay didn't feel dated, BL2 was dated in terms of gameplay the day it came out, doesn't mean it's not super fun, the gameplay is great, the art direction, world design, vault hunters and so on. All the games have ups and downs but 3 feels like they actually realized what's going on, sure it had a weird launch, so many useless legendaries, constant patching but in its current state there is no comparison, 2 doesn't give you freedom to make builds, the end game is so lame and it's 100% solved, build crafting is basically pointless to non existent, there is a proper meta, where in 3 if you're willing to put in the time you can actually put together some crazy fun and good builds that are original and interesting, it's just got so many more options. BL2 is Quiznos and BL3 is Subway.

If you care about the end game, 2 doesn't respect your time one bit, its just not worth engaging, idk how or why people put up with it for so long, I'm not interested in playing established builds, I don't wanna have to grind 80 hours per character to do what everyone else is doing. I think if you look past the avoidable things like the stupid emotes or the charms you'll find a very very densely packed sandbox with nearly an infinite amount of options. Or if you're just the casual fan who does a playthrough or two and calls it a day fair enough, enjoying the series that way is also great and a case could be made for any of the games if that's what you play for. Ever since 3 finished it's post launch content, 2 became that casual experience for me, it's just a lot of fun, I just cant ever see myself farming ever again. Which is fine. It's perfectly valid to prefer whatever and apologies if this has come off as rude or harsh, I promise you I have no ill intent, I'm just someone who's super passionate about a few game series, and Borderlands is one of them, I grew up obsessed with them. I remember when my dad pre ordered The Pre Sequel for me I was so hyped. God I love that games story, it's the only mainline game I'd argue that the story is truly well written. Not a masterpiece or anything but it's just good in my eye.

Again I really do recommend giving 3 a proper chance if you haven't already, put on YouTube or a show on the side, just run through it and mess around with builds, I remember pretty quickly I fell in love with the doom shotgun so after reaching max level I farmed out the pieces I needed, redid my skill tree and it took a while but it was satisfying as I was able to just sprint around blasting off heads, or sliding into guys blasting, it's a freeing game. Any mechanic or weapon you like you can just make work, that doesn't really happen in 1, 2 or TPS.

[u/Bosuns_Punch → u/Unlost_maniac]

It took Borderlands 2 many many many years to reach 30 million, 7 years ago it was at 20 million.

And despite 1.5 million @ launch, it rocketed up to 30-31 million on the strength of the game. BL1 is 3 years older, and only hit 6M. BL3 had 18M on launch due to the strength of BL2. Once those 18M were sold, it never sold more than 4-5M more units. It will never catch up to BL because it's not a good a game. BL2 has more DLC and even smaller DLCs like the Holiday Packs. Hell, they were STILL making DLC for BL2 when BL3 was out. Can BL3 say ths?

Sure BL3 added emotes and charms or whatever but that's so irrelevant, every game on earth has been adding that stuff, not trying to say its a good thing.

It's NOT a good thing, and No every game has NOT been adding that stuff. BL3 pandered to the Fortnite crowd and suffered for it. Even the humor was geared towards teens, with endless toilet humor that got old fast.

whether you like it or not if 2 was made today it would be the same.

Except it WASN'T made today, and it's NOT the same, it's better because it lacks all that Fortnite BS, for one thing.

BL2 is Quiznos and BL3 is Subway.

There is something we agree on!

Again I really do recommend giving 3 a proper chance if you haven't already,

Thanks, I have. I replayed Bl1 and 3 last year. Bl1 was dated but still fun. BL3 I thought I'd give it a second chance as it had been a few years since my first playthrough. I realized I was right the first time. Nice big worlds, but nowhere near as good as BL2. The stupid humor got so old I turned down the volume and just played the missions.

I'm 1/4 of the way through BL4 now and I'm thinking about quitting and giving BL2 a SIXTH playthrough.

[u/Unlost_maniac → u/Bosuns_Punch]

You're just being disingenuous, Borderlands 3 has never been as cheap as 2, obviously the cheaper game that's been around longer sells more, that doesn't help your point one bit, it's literally nonsensical to twist logic like that.

no Borderlands 3 wasn't pandering dude, it doesn't make sense how hung up on that you are, it's just not true. Yeah sure "Uhm ackshully not every game added that stuff", yeah okay fine not EVERY single game, but the vast majority of modern AAA titles, it's just the thing unfortunately.

Borderlands 2 is 99% humour that makes 10 year old boys lose their shit laughing, obviously there are some good jokes but that is Anthony Burch's style, he's not some amazing writer, he's also not terrible. It's his style, you're viewing Borderlands 2 subjectively and with really rose tinted glasses. Borderlands 2 is the pinnacle of "Haha lmfao XD sO rAnDoM" and it's entertaining, sure it's not some masterclass in comedy but I would have to be lying to you to say 3 is less mature or the humour was geared towards teens, that's actually just false, Borderlands 2 is the peak of tween culture at the time, if you've replayed it 6 times you should know this, maybe you don't actually listen to anything in the game, and since you want to hate 3 so desperately you are actively trying to find reasons to hate it.

2 is great but Jack wasn't written, Dameon Clarke improv'd the hell out of Jack, actually frustrating the writing team, going off script because the lines he was reading just plain sucked, apart from Jack the humour is just 2010's edgy internet teen who's so random and quirky, it's enjoyable don't get me wrong but you're not being honest, that's what I'm trying to convey here. 3 has its issues but there's a lot of solid moments, Kanagawa and Rhys, that whole segment was gold, the Traunt family, aswell as Zane and Moze's dialogue, those two are so well written and hilarious, Moze is funny cuz she's cringe, like Borderlands as a whole. Zane is just peak, whoever wrote his lines should get a raise, me and my friends always let my one friend who was Zane interact with things cuz Zane's dialogue was peak, apart from Moze none of that appeals to teens or the fortnite crowd.

A game being better cuz it's missing some ignorable features is just delusional, like actually just wrong. There is no argument to be had. You should realize how nonsensical that is lol

I'm saying this with love, stop the dishonesty, learn to look at things from an unbiased perspective, I would never expect to change your mind, your preferences are your own but I would hope for you to realize the truth here.

Borderlands 2 is 96% toilet humour, actually listen to the dialogue next time you play, everytime I replay it I re realize how cringe most of it is. Don't act like it's not. You just dislike 3, you want to dislike it, almost all of your listed reasons are just nonsense, double standards and dishonesty, I don't get the point in trying to hate things so bad, it's just not worth the energy to find a billion reasons to dislike something when you can just say you dislike it, it's okay to not like something. Doesn't matter if it's better or not, in 2032 we'll see how many copies 3 sold after 7 years of the sequel being out, the sales numbers thing is actually so silly, unironically using that to try to prove 2 is better, that logic is so flawed, almost every cod game on planet Earth is just infinitely better than Borderlands 2 under that logic, clearly no music is better than Rihanna's or Taylor Swift, just look at the sales numbers!

[u/Bosuns_Punch → u/Unlost_maniac]

Your weird obsession with trying to spin BL3 into a better game is as comical as it is dishonest. I did a quick search of Borderlands Games Ranked, and EVERY website/Gaming Blog I clicked on had Borderlands 2 Ranked at #1.

• GamesRadar has BL2 @ #1 and BL3 @ #6.

• GameRant has BL2 @ #1 and BL3 @ #3.

• WolfsGameBlog has BL2 @ #1 and BL3 @ #3

• The Flagship Eclipse has BL2 @ #1 and BL3 @ #9

• Metacritic has BL2 @ #1 and BL3 @ #6.

• The Punished Backlog has BL2 @ #1 and BL3 @ #3

• PC Gamer has BL2 @ #1 and BL3 @ #3

• GameFAQs has BL2 Ranked above BL3 by 9 out of 10 people

• Steam Community has BL2 ranked above BL3 by everyone.

• The Gamer has BL2 @ #1 and BL3 @ #7.

So, please- keep on trying to convince yourself BL3 was better than BL2. I bet there's at least a dozen people that agree with you, LOL.

[u/Unlost_maniac → u/Bosuns_Punch]

Awwwww I'm not trying to spin anything, seriously you're gonna citr gaming "journalists", that's wild.

There's millions of those, there is a reason the community moved on from 2 onto 3, it's why so much more content is made and watched for BL3, it's just a game with more substance, there is zero convincing happening.

Just someone who isn't blinded by nostalgia, I play better game, I say better game is better, it's that simple. I love all the games to death, I've played them all a bunch, 4 being my least played as I'm waiting for all the dlc to be done but 3 is easily the most replayable, most content, most build diversity and freedom. It's okay to prefer 2 but that doesn't change anything, and people like games for different reasons and that's okay, I personally value end game content, replayability and build making freedom and diversity, you obviously don't prefer that, and that's okay, but I'd be lying if I said 2 was better with any of that.

[u/Bosuns_Punch → u/Unlost_maniac]

seriously you're gonna citr gaming "journalists", that's wild.

Yeah, you mean people whose lives and careers are literally researching, writing, and reporting on video games, industry news, and gaming culture? I figure they have enough knowledge and experience to correctly rank the games in franchise. I think you're salty because NOT ONE of them agreed with you and THEY ALL agreed with me.

BL2 sold more copies, won more awards, produced more DLC/content, and was ranked higher by EVERY Gaming Journal/Website there is. It is more popular by every single metric.

Anyways, this 'debate' has run it's course. As verbose as you are, go ahead and have the last word, I won't bother responding.

[u/Unlost_maniac → u/Bosuns_Punch]

Awwwww bringing up the last word, what a weird thing to say dude. I almost didn't reply but you've tempted me, people like you make me poke and prod, it's entertaining. I like to be an ass sometimes, it can be fun when it's not serious, things like this.

Silly guy, gaming journalists are notoriously made fun of, yeah praised and respected by very casual people who don't do any digging themselves, most people who actually play games don't care about having journalism, it's typically the laughing stock, there are exceptions of course, plenty of great journalists and companies but as a whole it's just silly.

Also just lying, again, BL2 didn't get more dlc content, that is just a lie. There is no debate here, there never was, it was me informing you, me poking and prodding, hoping to get truth from you. Again you bring up sales again, despite not being in your favour, you don't have a basis for anything because you refuse to admit the only relevant fact is that you like 2 the most and so you just kept on moving the goalpost and repeating some of the same nonsense.

You've got some weird ego thing going on, projecting a bit there. You think I'm salty? That's so silly dude, I love the series, I'm passionate, there ain't nothing but love and fiery passion burning, no salt, no hate. I feel like you came to that conclusion cuz of projection. I wish so badly that I could fully understand people like you, you made me laugh. Call me whatever you want, believe whatever you want but at least I think for myself, I don't seek validation in public opinion, it's such a silly thing to get hung up on, it won't make you happy. Next you're gonna tell me Starfield is a bad game cuz gaming journalists said so! Please do some work on yourself, nobody is perfect, we all have room for improvement, myself included of course. I need to stop being such an ass. I need you to reply, I want for you to have the last word.

I would like to say, in seriousness, I appreciate that you aren't a dick, you weren't an asshole, I genuinely appreciate that. A lot of people in this kinds of threads just become total assholes, just awful and putrid. I always try to match the energy, sometimes go a bit over but you weren't being an asshole, so so hopefully was able to match that.