Borderlands (long)

[Fournine]

Very addicting.
Though, the plot seems to be lacking a bit. Wikipedia mentioned these motivating factors behind the adventurers (Lillith is a 'Siren,' supposedly one of six; Roland is an ex-Lance member), but I haven't seen anything in the plot in-game that alludes to these other than Lillith's class title, and that Roland deploys a turret that looks exactly like those used by Lance Engineers.
Maybe they make mention of it later, but I've been playing for hours on end (level 34 with a cap of 50). I'd think they'd at least hint at some of these things, or at least have class-specific origin-story quests somewhere.
I'm certainly enjoying myself, but the characters - and some parts of the setting - could use a bit more fleshing out.

[Renegade_Turner]

Alrighty. I tend to be around after dinner.

We encountered some specially-named Rakk called "Rakkinigno" or something, which one of our party members pointed out was a reference to Diablo II. It was also carrying a shield that was also a reference to the game.
This special Rakk is located outside of Tannis' dig site, near her first journal in West Rust Commons, close to the out-of-bounds turret.

Odd...I was just playing multiplayer co-op and that was one of the last enemies I faced. He's that fire-breathing cunt.

What time's dinner? GMT here, sorry. Also, dinner for me can be 2 p.m. or it can be 9 p.m.

Have to disagree with you there, Fallout 3's combat system is based entirely around your stats. You can miss a point blank shot if your stat for the weapon you're using isn't high enough. While in Borderlands the number of times you hit is based on the players own ability to aim and shoot.

Yes, I don't believe that was something which I was disputing. I was saying they're the same genre. FPS/RPG. Obviously they don't share identical overall gameplay.

Its a good shop system, although I'd once again compare it more of a hybrid of the Diablo 2 gamble system and the shop listings.

I've never played Diablo or Diablo 2, so I can't really comment. To be honest I think the similarities between the shop machines in Bioshock and Borderlands are a bit too much of a coincidence to not be an allusion.

Personally, I think you're looking too deep there. Atlas (Borderlands Atlas) is a huge company that lays claim to much of Pandora. Unless I'm missing something, they don't really develop that much further.

I'm aware of what kind of company they were, and that it's not developed much beyond that. That's why it is an allusion. Allusions generally aren't hammered home, nor are they usually initially obvious. Bioshock's allusion to Atlas Shrugged isn't really developed much beyond Fontaine's made-up name being Atlas.

The games addicting isn't it?

Excessively so. So many guns...I must try them all!

The one thing I dislike is the melee system. It's wholly unsatisfying.

I'm certainly enjoying myself, but the characters - and some parts of the setting - could use a bit more fleshing out.

Haha. I too got such an impression. I think the game has far too much fun taking the piss out of all its inhabitants to ever take itself seriously.

[Fournine]

I don't leave work until 1800 PST (GMT -8), so that'd be... 0200 for you. It takes me 20 minutes to walk home, some more time to cook/eat a decent dinner, I probably wouldn't be online until 0300 at the earliest, and that's assuming I leave work at a decent time, which is a rarity. I just love this lab too damn much to ever leave.

And yes, that fire-breathing bastard was a tough cookie. He dropped some interesting loot for us, and I kept ramming our Hunter with the buggie so he couldn't look at it. I am a bastard.
Melee combat is satisfying if you play as the Berserker - though, with all the particle effects, I tend to get lost and have to rely on health bars to tell if I'm hitting anything.

[Renegade_Turner]

Just found another popular culture reference. The mission Circle Of Slaughter: Meat And Greet features the objective of meeting a man by the name of Chuck Durden. Also, he's the organiser of fighting in an arena. Sound familiar? This is clearly a reference to Chuck Palahniuk's Fight Club, which featured a character named Tyler Durden.

[Grayswandir]

There's also Bruce McClain and three boats name Furious Anger, Great Vengeance, and Righteous Man.
The gun effects have quite a number of references as well:

Careful... you might put someone's eye out. - A Christmas Story
I feel like I'm gonna break this thing. - Men in Black
Beyond Groovy - Army of Darkness
Anybody need a light? - Starcraft
Your move, Creep. - Robocop
May God have mercy upon my enemies, because I won't. - General Patton
Why don't you go shoot yourself an elephant? - Bugs Bunny
The destructor has come - Ghostbusters
010011110100110101000111 - ASCII for OMG

..just to name a few.

Also, is it just me or do Eridian weapons kinda suck? Even with their high damage and unlimited ammo, you don't really get more than 4 shots per clip and the projectiles fly pretty slow unless you have class mods or class skills activated.

[Fournine]

Yeah, I switched back to my pesky human weapons after trying out that binary rifle a bit.
I've got this amazing caustic machine pistol (55 damage (x?), 82 accuracy, 12 shots per second, clip of 36, x1 corrosive) that I tend to use against everything. Point and click, everything dies.
Curiously, it's only ranked as a blue item.

[Renegade_Turner]

Melee combat is satisfying if you play as the Berserker - though, with all the particle effects, I tend to get lost and have to rely on health bars to tell if I'm hitting anything.

Haha, I read about the Berserker's ability, but I haven't actually seen it in action. He fucks stuff up with his fists then basically? lol

Particle effects?

010011110100110101000111 - ASCII for OMG

Haha what I didn't even realise that it would have been something like that...I thought it was just binary for some number.

Also, is it just me or do Eridian weapons kinda suck? Even with their high damage and unlimited ammo, you don't really get more than 4 shots per clip and the projectiles fly pretty slow unless you have class mods or class skills activated.

Yeah the one I have, which is the one that features that ASCII message as you mentioned, is pretty weakass anyway. I don't really use it. Hope I come across an Eridian weapon that travels at more than an inch per second.

[Fournine]

My friends claim the Berserker's ability is broken. When it's activated, you constantly heal at a ridiculously fast rate and get universal damage reduction, plus I find it manyfold more effective in taking out a group of baddies - or one large baddie - than the conventional gunplay, making a 2 minute prolonged engagement into a 30 second beatdown.
It has the second-longest base cooldown (60 sec), but can be whittled down to 30 seconds with enough ranks.

The only times I think about cover are when the enemy is too far away, or when I'm waiting for the ability to cool down while critically injured. Otherwise, I just march in, shoot everything that moves, and then go berserk when my health is low enough (the high regen rate and damage reduction during the ability effectively negate incoming damage).

I guess since the ability effectively replaces normal combat (whereas other classes' abilities augment normal combat), they had to make it powerful enough to be desirable.

Regarding particle effects:
Y'know how you can add elemental attributes to your class ability? Those create the same particle effects and explosions for Brick, but since you're right up in the face of the enemy, they take up the whole screen and muddle the image. Hence, it's quite difficult to tell what you're looking at.

[Renegade_Turner]

So the moral is don't bring a knife to a gun fight...bring your fists.

[Fournine]

His fists have all sorts of chunks of metal and bolts across his knuckles, but yeah, basically.
I mostly find it hilarious that I can have him heal 90% of his health using the ability, since he essentially is just standing around and yelling a lot. If only medicine really worked that way...

[Zhukov]

Recently watched a friend complete the campaign.

Gameplay is a bit better then I originally gave it credit for.

However, the ending was a severe let down.

[Grayswandir]

Remember kids, level 42 zombies turn you into a crappucino if you're level 37.