Did Borderlands 2 Age Poorly?

[@ThatBoyAqua]

Use code AQUA50 to get 50% OFF your first Factor box plus 20% off your next month of orders at bit.ly/4cjAEp2!

[@kam01096]

This video just came out how is this comment from 1 day ago?

[@ThatBoyAqua]

@@kam01096patrons get early access to:)

[@kam01096]

@@ThatBoyAqua oh ok 👍🏽

[@wesss9353]

How do you know that something is a scam? It's an in video ad

[@Yan-tz9pn]

@@ThatBoyAquaever consider doing the fallout series? I feel you and salt factory have quite a similar vibe, but would like to hear your opinions on those games. Cuz lord knows some of your opinions are coooked 💀 😂😂🫶🏼

[@codystevenson9648]

The butt stallion joke isn't as funny on your twentieth playthrough. But you're on your twentieth playthrough for a reason

[@deidara_itsme9183]

I mean i still laughed at it on my 20th play through

[@NEETcat7]

@@deidara_itsme9183 one of my faverate jokes

[@Boatanga]

No lies that’ll get a chuckle out of me pretty much every time not because it’s such a brilliantly written joke, but for the nostalgia and delivery

[@smeebus]

@@Boatanga its him eating the pretzels for me that always makes me laugh

[@Zxdez37]

Sure on your 20th it's not as funny but on the 21st man it's like you are hearing it for the first time.

[@SmashBrosAssemble]

The MVP of Borderlands 2 is without a doubt Handsome Jack. One of the best video game villains of all time, he’s an amazing villain, he’s got all the best dialogue, Dameon Clarke chews up all the scenery he can get, he’s both really funny & likeable, but also an absolute bastard to the core. In fact he’s such a good villain that they not only made a prequel centred around him, but the series as a whole kind of suffered, living in his shadow, his absence in Borderlands 3 was felt.

[@beepboopbot]

We don't talk about Borderlands 3. How the hell can you go from charismatic man dicked over and betrayed many times in pre-sequel who's an outlandish lovable psychotic madman in 2 to "Evil KZbinrs" in 3?

[@neroheart34]

While I am one who doesn't hate the twins, as in, say they aren't good, I will 100% agree that Jack is the best villain, which 3's villain wouldn't top exactly, which I don't think it needs to, Honestly, Jack is so high, that I can't exactly say the twin are bad because they are not Jack

[@DioStandProud]

Except Handsome Jack has ALSO aged poorly.

[@neroheart34]

@@DioStandProud I wouldn't say so, I see the first villain as gearbox mocking the typical "military villain", 3 mock the streamers, and 2, that mock the multi dollar company controlled by a jerk I can't say he age poorly, rather, I feel like people today don't realize how spot on he is, especially in today's generation with some companies being absolutely jerks thanks to higher ups, seriously, I started to like how on the nose the villains are

[@LoneWanderer905]

@@DioStandProud He hasn't aged poorly, we've just played the game for way too much time to this point. If you get someone that never played BL2 to play it nowadays, Handsome Jack will still be one of their highlights for sure.

[@kingqasmoke2802]

Face Mcshooty is the true star of the game

[@RacingSnails64]

I still say "need it! want it! gotta have it!" to this day.

[@nick_a91]

truly the NPC of all time

[@Edenem10]

SHOOT ME IN THE FACE!!! IN THE FACEEEE!!!!!!!

[@VictorLucas95]

BuffGamer disagree (literally)

[@lukewalker7889]

Real

[@LoafiLoaf]

6:43 The fact that I had made a joke about the same electrical box looking like Claptrap makes it feel like I am being called out.

[@cdubsb3831]

Don't show Claptrap or he'll attempt to.... Integrate with it.

[@supergamingdoggo9975]

That looks suspiciously like it's made by Hyperion

[@HanzsKlopek]

I love Borderlands 2 so much. The peak of the series. Handsome Jack, the weapons, the tone, the maps, the leveling, the DLCs. It's just the best. I still can't get over the way Gearbox treated Maya in BL3.

[@berthein5476]

Borderlands 3s story was horrendous in almost every aspect. Especially what they did to maya, AND HOW THEY DID IT. and the fact that little brat magically got her powers. I dont understand why GB decided "yo its the age of streaming and gen z and little whiny brats, lets make that the story backdrop. " and not " our core audience is mellenials.. "

[@archangelarielle262]

B2 is golden, but Tales from the Borderlands is even better imo.

[@4nchoragepingu887]

Borderlands 1 was such great template. Pandora was such a well established place to mix insanity, depression, and comedy into one likeable solid formula. No wonder why 3 was such a queef of a game. Without pandoran vibe game became so bland real quick.

[@4nchoragepingu887]

​@@berthein5476i blame lack of pandora in 3 as major culprit. Pandora is so desolated and miserable so no matter how comedic BL2 was, that eerie mood of sadness and futility stood still no matter what. As we left the pandora, game abandoned any resemblence of depression factor off and went full dubstep cringefest. Which isnt coincedence im sure of. It was intentional directional change to shoehorn the millenial cringe.

[@exocolt15]

@@berthein5476I think BL3 is the best game in the series in every way possible for gameplay and the worst game at that point for anything character and story (except the VH) some how Tales 2 is worse tho

[@mrjjwwjj]

The Tiny Tina hate is where I draw the line.

[@joshuajackson5203]

she's certainly not as funny as how she use to be, i blame screen time tbh

[@epis8613]

I'm not a big fan of minstrel shows. She improved when they dropped that crap.

[@rubenthekid]

She dropped in quality after BL2

[@beansfebreeze]

Nah, she was pretty cringe and weirdly racist.

[@smeebus]

idk man how old were you when the game came out. i was 13 she was funny then and only then then it was pretty cringe

[@huhneat8908]

Minor correction about The Bee: It doesnt benefit every pellet from a gun if theyre listed on the item card (ex: 100x12) Instead the boost damage is spread out across every pellet. Guns that have multiple projectiles that arent listed on the item card (i.e. Sand Hawk) DO get the boost on every bullet. It used to boost all guns the same but it made shotguns (especially the conference call) stupidly broken. Minor note about Whilhelm: Although the game doesnt tell you, I think there were unused voicelines, so they were going to at some point. Also, Whilhelm's face is tinted purple iirc, presumably from eridium poisoning.

[@ThatBoyAqua]

Ohhhhh I thought the pellet thing was only for the conference call, not all guns in general. Beautiful that after all these years I’m still learning new stuff about this game

[@huhneat8908]

Nah it's just whether it's on the item card or not. The unkempt Harold also benefits greatly because of this oversight I have like 550 hours in this and even I learnt some things in this video lmao. I didn't even realise the different hyperion bots have different dominant hands for their weapons

[@yeahey5947]

@@ThatBoyAquait boosts unlisted pellets which the cc spawns, it used to boost listed projectiles as well like they said but it was fixed but yea any gun that spawns extra pellets that arent listed on the item card get the boost on top of the regular boost

[@Mandingy24]

The Bee was truly this game's biggest mistake imo

[@i_crave_death4660]

Nah bl2 didn’t age poorly. Yeah, the jokes are from that era but I still think it works just like how fallour1-fallout tactics has jokes relevant to the gaming scene during the 90s. But for both games the lore, gameplay, characters etc. are able to make you look past the jokes. Like Tina’s jokes are reflective of Youth culture of the 2010s but her back story and dlc makes you able to understand that she acts that way for certain reasons too.

[@keithpierce5686]

Wilhelm is literally the OG Adam Smasher. Beats or kills the old crew, gets flushed by the new hotness.

[@Lobsterwithinternet]

Dude, Adam Smasher has been a character since the 90s.

[@keithpierce5686]

@@Lobsterwithinternet brother it's 1988 if your gonna try to correct someone at least get the year right. And secondly no one really knows about that outside of very few or those who Google it so my comment is still valid.

[@Lobsterwithinternet]

@@keithpierce5686 And how do you know I’m not one of those who actually knows? And besides, 2020 came out in 1990.

[@conorkilhenny5362]

@@keithpierce5686 That doesnt even make sense. Even if Cyperpunk was niche (which it isnt), the fact adam smasher came before wilhelm invalidates your point entirely. Popularity doesn't matter in the slightest. Thats like saying Team Fortress 2 must've ripped off Overwatch because Overwatch is more popular.

[@keithpierce5686]

@@conorkilhenny5362 it's niche don't even get that twisted. So few even know about the 1988 game that featured Adam Smasher to begin with and only found out after hearing about CyberPunk 2077, Ill bet on that. Meanwhile you make a pass on 2 games that have had popularity throughout their time being games with practically zero dips, meanwhile the 1988 game is absolutely obscure. Even the dude who fired off on me first got it wrong. So take a seat, lose the high horse and enjoy a random comment made as a joke. Thank you have a nice day.

[@haloman34567]

If you find that BL2 humor changed just remember the game didn't change, you did

[@fabhatman5025]

You're right, we grew up.

[@veraaj1]

​@@fabhatman5025"we grew up now I shake my fist and yell at kids that walk across my lawn."

[@fabhatman5025]

@@veraaj1 If you still love Borderlands 2 humor, more power to you, I wouldn't want to take that away and I'm glad. I just think it's annoying when people act like someone is a killjoy when they just don't like juvenile random humor anymore

[@atpyro7920]

Personally I feel like a lot of the backlash towards Borderlands 3's humor came from the fact that Gearbox doubled down on the humor as the series identity- like Saints Row, it didn't get that the humorous moments paired with the serious moments with pacing between them both so that the story wasn't completely serious, but also wasn't entirely too goofy. Borderlands 3 especially had that problem (and that's before we even talk about Maya), and while supposedly Tiny Tina's Wonderlands isn't that bad, i haven't heard enough good about it as a player who's been off the bandwagon since i 100%ed 2 and Pre-Sequel four years ago.

[@4nchoragepingu887]

Bitter irony was biggest role in BL2's comedy direction imo. Which got diluted in TPS, then completely gone afterward, leaving nothing but dubstep and cringe-code. And ingame psychopath enemies were sincere back then. They never were hollow laughing stocks. Actual threat against players.

[@sovietmudkip1]

Tiny Tina's wonderlands humor landing is basically entirely dependant on if you play DnD and which character voice you picked since the voice is also your personality/how your character vocally reacts to things. My first time trying to play it I didn't know that about the voice and it was so annoying I turned it off. Then a few months later a friend got me to retry and I treated it more like a DnD character and matched my character to the voice styles name and had a much better time with it.

[@XperimentorEES]

Yeah the 3rd game's humor direction was an immediate turn off from constantly relying on lowest common denominator juvenile shock jokes, rather replay the presequel than the 3rd game because at least that had intellectual variety.

[@cybercorn5966]

I think Wonderlands (if you own Borderlands 3) is in a bundle that makes the game only 3-4 dollars. I'd recommend trying it, with the DLC classes if you can. It's actually a really fun spinoff, with MUCH better melee gameplay and much better "grenade" gameplay (with spells)

[@ytj17thjuggalo12]

Wonderlands is real fun, it's very D&D. Major Class, Minor Class, tons of different melee weapons. Good times.

[@naytny5819]

Glad you talked about the post game stuff because I feel a lot of casual players stop playing after the first playthrough and dont embrace TVHM and UVHM where I believe the game truly peaks.

[@valentinchappa6702]

Uvhm is cancer after level 60. Every enemy 1 shots you, forcing you to depend on healthgating, which is completely unsatisfactory. Additionally, UVHM made literally most gear completely worthless. You need to use those much sought after gear like the bee, or the sham or whatever. I wish tvhm continued to max level. TVHM doesn't make me want to jump into a volcano. Last thing, half of the classes are basically nonviable in high level play, barring hyper tuned builds.

[@exocolt15]

Holy gatekeeping Batman

[@gkkk2735]

@@valentinchappa6702 dont forget slag becoming an important aspect for every character making damaging enemies impossible without it

[@theobell2002]

@@valentinchappa6702 > Uses Bee > "Why does everything 1 shot me?! I don't get it!" Classic low IQ casual gamer.

[@theobell2002]

@@valentinchappa6702 You're like a misinformation dispenser. Parroting all the same, objectively wrong sentiments of the usual casual player. "Most guns are worthless in UVHM" "You need a Bee to do damage in UVHM" "Everything is 1 shotting me!" "You need to abuse healthgate to stay alive!" I got 4000+ hours in BL2. This has never been my experience ever. I leveled a Sniper Zer0 2 years ago and I remember I was doing just fine using a purple Maliwan sniper. I was not using a Bee. I was getting "1 shot" as I should because Zer0 is squishy (other characters like Krieg, Maya, Axton and Sal can withstand a lot of damage) and abusing health gate is only really effective on a few characters. Characters like Sal and Krieg benefit more from health stacking. Also, there is virtually no difference between level 50 UVHM and level 60 UVHM (and consequently level 80). The only difference is that you have more skill points.

[@alau5643]

Borderlands 2’s enemy variety has always been my highest praise for the game very impressive how much work gearbox put in

[@tacticalnut528]

There seems to be a borderlands retrospective wave going on on youtube lately

[@PlebNC]

Gee, I wonder why? Definitely not some kind of movie that the algorithm will be boosting any content related to it.

[@gidofter_lukge]

@@PlebNC and conveniently, the announcement for Borderlands 4 came out. Completely unintentional but it'll boost the videos even more

[@PlebNC]

@@gidofter_lukge Randy Pitchford: "Sh*t! We Colonial Marines'd the Borderlands movie and now the fan base, and more importantly ourvstock price, is going down. DEPLOY OLD RELIABLE!" New Borderlands game announced. I wonder which of their other projects they'll embezzle funds towards Borderlands this time.

[@Dovah_Slayer]

Ive noticed most of the lambasting comes from twitter.... which makes it invalid immediately there's no actual criticism on twitter just people looking for things to complain and be offended about (with the exception of the movie cause yeah.... its not great) HOWEVER i do agree some of the jokes have aged poorly

[@group555_]

twitter will complain when things are bad twitter will complain when things are just meh twitter will complain when things are good even a broken clock is right twice a day

[@nemz7505]

Those parts of the internet who say this has aged poorly can be completely ignored.

[@emalinedickinson7492]

10,000%. what, specifically, aged poorly? Oh no, "midget", allow me to clutch my pearls in shock as I frown at Scooter trying to woo a woman with a hilarious poem.

[@athf]

​@emalinedickinson7492 its aged poorly as in the jokes are no longer funny the humor from 2012 is very dated now even if it was funny back then

[@seb1520]

Is usually some Twitter hot takes or something that people circlejerk lol

[@AndrewRyan-zv7zb]

Tiny Tina aged like milk. Totally fucking annoying reddit "lols so random" trash. And who could forget the "conductor of the poopie train!" lmfaogtforoflcopter!!!!!1!1!1!1!1 It was always cringe. The gamplay was so tight most people forgot.

[@umairashraf5167]

​@@AndrewRyan-zv7zb hey im sorry man but that poop train joke is still funny especially with the context

[@Creaturish]

Would 1000% love too see you do more Borderlands videos! This was great and I'm always fascinated to hear what people have to say about how Borderlands affected them.

[@sleepyhyrule6894]

For people to complain that the humor of the Borderlands series isn’t to our modern standard, like how do people not get this it’s a fictional world, it doesn’t have to have realistic representation. We’re also talking about a planet and a moon full of psychopaths, even the heroes are just nicer psychopaths, these people aren’t concerned with how they make other people feel.

[@WesleyRademan]

24:03 I never noticed the "You Die" written on the wall behind Roland before.

[@originaldeadclown]

because something like that is so normal it just blends into landscape so u dont see it

[@CErra310]

People meme about the "You Die" but never about the "Eye for an Eye" on the opposite wall

[@KotaManyColors]

Borderlands was my teenage years. My little brother's dad got me into Borderlands 1 in 2010-2011 and I have bought every entry since (except New Tales).

[@chrismichaelis7259]

Your little brothers dad? So... your Dad? haha. 2 is still my favorite, but 3 and Wonderlands both have better gameplay. The writing just never improved after the 2nd game.

[@KotaManyColors]

@chrismichaelis7259 No, not my dad. Otherwise, I would have said that lmao.

[@tonybeluga2796]

⁠​⁠@@chrismichaelis7259cringe

[@xCrownos]

Same here dawg

[@SchiKrom]

really wanna see a video about borderlands 3, there is so much going on around and in the game to talk about. really enjoyed the video, cant wait to see more

[@FMA10901]

Maybe I’m just an immature loser, but even at 31 years old, Borderlands 2 still cracks me tf up. It’s one of my favourite games by far. The only thing I would change is the slightly clunky combat, 3 really cleaned things up.

[@cannedtunareal]

23:48 *The Entire Bl2 Community:* So you've chosen death

[@mhead1117]

Tiny tina was always trash and half the community has always hated her

[@ZyloPhone]

Reddit ahh response 😭

[@thedeepfriar745]

Krieg: “I’ll put my pain in your soul!”

[@doodguytheblank2403]

Playing through bl2 recently and yeah I kinda hate her (her dlc was alright though)

[@mayorofbagtown9097]

The older I get, the closer the voice volume slider gets to bottoming out. Borderlands 1 is still my favorite overall but Borderlands 2 has some of the most addicting gameplay of all time. 3 has the best gameplay on a 1st playthrough but it quickly loses steam on the 2nd and 3s voice volume gets muted after a few hours.

[@belakitu8331]

1:10:49 Man, the Borderlands community here on KZbin was, and for some channels still is, some of the best bingeable comfort content for me. Killer6, KingGothalion, Admiral Bahroo, Yoteslaya (RIP ✊️), Joltzdude139, and MorninAfterKill, lets not forget Teawrex and ProfessorBroman, just too many channels to count. From challenge runs to multiplayer playthroughs with shenanigans, good times man, good times.

[@kam01096]

People not even watching the video and it just came out 💀💀

[@naytny5819]

Half the comments probably havenn't even played the game and trying to interject there shit opinion on the series.

[@mhead1117]

💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀😐

[@kam01096]

@@naytny5819 for real

[@TevyaSmolka]

I really loved borderlands 2 it was really awesome and handsome jack was a really great villain in my opinion.

[@redtrenedy6593]

not one bit

[@weebkomplex1262]

Loved the video, hit on all the points and knowing the in depth looting for all the guns (I got all characters OP-10 before a save corruption had me left with a level 72 salvador in cloud save being the only character left) I knew exactly why you didn't go too in depth with it. Just one point to help with Vermivorous farming, entering a boss arena for one of the DLC Invincible Bosses (Hyperius, Gee or Voracidous are the best options) without starting the fight will activate what I know as the 4-player slider making the game think that you have 4 players in the game even if there's only one. this'll get you that max chance to spawn vermivorous and to disable it, save and quit.

[@pokehope]

NOT AT ALL

[@danielc.7173]

B3 is by far my favorite borderlands games. The other borderlands games never really caught my attention. The reason being the core gameplay. movement and shooting and mechanics are so refined and smooth in b3 that it really kills any desire to play older games

[@kennethfocarino7075]

As someone with thousands of hrs in 2 AND 3, you’re very right. BL3 has a lot of improvements over 2 that get slept on because of the meme-ably bad writing and story pacing. BL 3 has by far the best endgame suite of any BL, it gives you so many different options whereas BL2 just has The Peak and Invincible Bosses. I’ve grown to enjoy the fast paced difficulty on UVHM, but that’s after years of being frustrated by it and getting a PC where I can just save edit all the guns I want. BL3 is incredible in so many ways, specifically how every vault hunter can consistently take on all content with MULTIPLE builds. There are certain things in BL3 that are nearly perfected. If BL4 is just BL3 with a decent endgame at launch (I’d really like the Chaos Chamber from Wonderlands, just other stuff too) and dialogue that isn’t nauseating, we’re good.

[@sandwichboy1268]

Commander Lilith and the Fight for Sanctuary was less of more of a way to boost the Borderlands hype leading up to BL3's release. Not only was it free when it came out, but it increases the level cap and OP level cap, which got people back into the grind.

[@K-lINE-76]

Game never gets old!! My bad a$$ tokens so high!! Unbelievable!!!

[@goodtaste2185]

Tiny Tina's Wonderland was surprisingly good, I didnt even have to mute the voice acting.

[@theobell2002]

One of Wonderland's biggest strength is the dual class system and I did like the game enough to 100% it. However, it lacks endgame variety and having to grind each individual Chaos level from 50 to 100 on *each individual character* killed the game.

[@jtlego1]

​@@theobell2002 Yeah that's the biggest issue I've heard about it. Doesn't really affect me since I'm not really a deep post game sort of player, but it's a bit of a shame nonetheless.

[@anthonykarnes6804]

It felt unfinished

[@elitereptilian200]

the campaign playthrough and sidemission stuff in Wonderlands is super good and the gameplay is so damn smooth, the classes are great.. the endgame just sucks ass through a straw..

[@ADerpyZelda]

Reminder that Rez is not just a massive revive distance, it is infinite distance with LoS requirement, essentially infinite range revive

[@TheAerogost]

My favourite part of this game is the amount of stuff that is weird or just straight up doesnt work, like how the Easy Mode shield just doesnt nova at all or AR's having a lower crit multiplier than every gun in the game (unless its a Jakobs)

[@robertomedina6731]

Fun fact, after the Fight for sanctuary dlc was intoruced in 2019, with the adition of op 10 came several bugs, one of them being voracidous having twice as much health than intended

[@skinwalkergod]

AQUA YOU COOKED WITH THIS ONE

[@Tsuny999]

This game is still an absolute CLASSIC

[@fecnar7379]

That's it. I am downloading the game again.

[@mvh-]

Face mcshooty joke did not miss. Very epic

[@georgethomas4567]

I can answer this in a single word. No. But I can be more specific. While some things have become a little dated, the slow movement, the areas far too big for their own good, and maybe a few of the jokes. For the most part the game has aged like fine wine. Handsome Jack is easily my favorite villain in the franchise. The comedy is 98% wins. The story while not some mind bending over the top analysis for hundreds of hours, it's still solid and keeps you invested. The game was a masterpiece at launch and is a masterpiece today.

[@4nchoragepingu887]

I prefer more depressing and miserable comedy but still your point stands cuz black comedy still is comedy. Dead horse, empty carteen, one bullet.

[@nathanhendrickson790]

The story is fine but on Roland cheap shot 10 out of 18 it’s starts to get annoying. There’s not really any change in the story, no new quests, no new bosses, no new areas the only thing that changes is your character and that gets boring fast. If you want to max level op ten every single character you have to play through the story 18 times. That’s is wayyyyy to much time investment for too little payoff. If every playthrough required only two story runs I would agree with you but sadly they don’t. Hell there’s hardly any change in enemies. All that changes is psychos have armor and some enemies carry rocket launchers. No thanks if you have too much time on your hands then by all means be my guest but 1 character and 3 playthroughs is enough for me.

[@Slug_ssbm]

12:42 somebody else might have said this already but that quest is apparently an inside joke and based off how Bullymong was just a place holder name but they couldn’t find a better one so they just stuck with it.

[@Slug_ssbm]

Also if you never actually complete the quest their names will just stay as “Bonerfarts” so some people will start that quest as soon as it’s available, get to that step them stop killing them so the name will never change back. Which I find really funny.

[@CageofRageYT]

1:13:06 lol guessing you forgot to put the patreon members on screen. Funny to hear Aqua say "like the names on screen" then see no names like no one is supporting the patreon

[@DarkDemon913]

great video... R.I.P Yoteslaya. i wonder how things would've been with him still around. personally my favorite OG Creator, still use his videos when i come back after a year or 2

[@harrybuhse8622]

I was expecting to hate this video but you did it true justice. All of the nuance I was expecting to see glossed over you brought up. Cheers.

[@STRIPEchannel]

What a love letter to my favorite game of all time, well done bro! This is such a gem and masterfully done

[@Zanyverse]

It's always been peak.

[@Marceline_Belladonna]

It honestly wild that this drops the same exact day that I decide to start my yearly replay of BL2. What a great way to find the channel

[@naomisoltesz9890]

The Bane is actually pretty good on Gaige.

[@theobell2002]

> 400 Anarchy stacks "ACtUaLlY ThIs gUn iS PrEtTy gOoD!"

[@samlipton7872]

I’m a little confused about your argument around 38:50 about how the gameplay discredits Jack’s main motivation for opening the vault - specifically where you mention that because Wilhelm goes down so easily when we fight him, that Jack’s plan to open the vault in order to restore order to Pandora was not going to work out. Even without the cut dialogue mentioning that Wilhelm was deliberately poisoned by Jack, it’s obvious to the player that Jack deceived us into taking the power core so that he could destroy sanctuary. Even during the fight against Wilhelm, it’s clear that something isn’t right. The game telegraphs this hard as hell with everyone announcing how badass Wilhelm is, which is juxtaposed by how easily Wilhelm dies when we fight him. Edit: Alright you did it again at 44:00 - Wilhelm never was going to kill the player, the game makes it clear that Jack intended for Wilhelm to go down easily so that the player could obtain the power core. I appreciate your overview of this game but I wish you had caught this.

[@GreenDinoRanger]

Hey, Aqua, just in relation to your thoughts at 53:00 about canon, they're all simultaneously canon and not canon (Schroedinger's Canon?) as the games are all being told as a story by Marcus. But the chronological "story" order is Borderlands 1 > Secret Armory of General Knoxx > Claptrap's New Robot Revolution > Borderlands 2 > Sir Hammerlock's Big Game Hunt > Tales From the Borderlands episodes 1-3 > Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel > The Claptastic Voyage > Tales From the Borderlands episodes 4-5 > Commander Lilith and the Fight For Sanctuary.

[@ThatBoyAqua]

Thank you for explaining it! 🙏

[@sakatrol]

PLEASEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE Do TPS. This video was absolutely the most enjoyable video I've seen on BL2 and TPS is my favourite, so it'd be fun to see you do that one too. Yes, even if you end up trashing on it.

[@JustABegginer]

Everything might be mad in Borderlands 2. But uhhf Handsome Jack is still the best. What a great villain. His dialogues and insults and mockery to you are still great

[@nathanhendrickson790]

Meh I found him annoying plus his boss fight wasn’t even a payoff I didn’t feel like I took down anyone big I felt like I just took down some chump.

[@jonatanrobledo9812]

@@nathanhendrickson790 Starting your opinion with an unironic "Meh" gives a lot of weight to your wisdom. And the point is: you take down a chump obsessed with power, using the REAL power you obtained during the journey. HE can't do anything really, it's what he makes others do for him while mocking your dumbass that keeps falling for the traps what makes him so good.

[@MidwestPlumber96]

@@nathanhendrickson790 that was kind of the point.

[@nathanhendrickson790]

@@MidwestPlumber96 well its stupid. a villian needs to not only talk well they need to be able to fight so they can back up all that talk. especially if the whole game is centered around you. if you just turn out to be a weakling in the end it devalues everything youve ever said. sure when i played 2 for the first time i liked jack because i was expecting an all out fight because thats all he would ever talk about. he always ranted and raved about how he can kick my butt anytime he felt like but when all i got was a pushover hiding behind a bigger pushover i kinda just tuned him out in future playthroughs cause i know that jack is nothing more than a weakling no stronger than savage lee.

[@nathanhendrickson790]

@@MidwestPlumber96 hell the dragonlord was the only decent borderlands villian to me because not only could he trash talk with the best of them he was actually able to put up a fight. THATS how you make a main villain.

[@Orca472]

Borderlands two was a near perfect game for me. I’ll go back and play it every few years and it never disappoints.

[@benwertenberger6730]

I still come back to every borderlands title every few years. I really love them. If you turn the voices off, they're great to play while listening to a podcast

[@zachgrim7416]

After meeting Ava in 3 i will go back to Tina any day.

[@FunnyMonkey781]

At least with Tina there is sginificant story reasons for why she acts the way she does.

[@nathanhendrickson790]

It is kind of refreshing to see a KZbinr who actually gives bl3 credit instead of just trash talking the whole thing

[@jtlego1]

I genuinely wanna hear Aqua's take on BL3 after this just for that. There's too much catty/snippy behavior over that games issues nowadays that I think an Aqua video could probably cut through to *actually* talk about it's merits and flaws.

[@PaladinMika]

Gameplay was awesome, it improved on 2 in every way, writing wasn't. That's all. It just left me wanting for BL2 remake with BL3 gameplay. Leave the graphics the same they were in 2. And you can bet your vital organs they are going to remake 2 because they have no more ideas so they gotta milk something.

[@frankiecedeno3724]

The reality is that people who okay games more than once are an extreme minority even in games where that is expected. The result is that the first playthrough is all people experience. As such 3’s garbage fire of a story and overall bad writing are the things that leave the biggest impression. I believe I have played 3 the most and that’s because it’s the best gameplay wise. I’ve been more the happy to beat the game with every character multiple times to emphasize different builds, though I have done that with every character in the series. And late game farming is just easier. Another detraction for those people that still play the games is that mods just aren’t there for 3. There’s like 2 overhauls and they aren’t overhauling that much to be honest. Whereas 2 has 6 ish major overhaul mods that completely change the game. The replay ability that is already there is multiplied by a lot. Not to mention 3 isn’t perfectly optimized, I have a really good gaming laptop that I bought probably 2 years after 3 came out and it still stutters sometimes.

[@nathanhendrickson790]

@@frankiecedeno3724 yes bl3 is flawed but people like hellfire, mak, starkiller calling it the worst game of all time, constantly trashing it like it ruined their life is what kills my love for this community. That kind of malice inside everybody made this community worse than the souls community. Mak constantly trying to beef with people to keep his relevance isn’t helping either. You wanna know why people don’t like this community? Because of crap like that. That’s what earned yall the reputation you guy have. Hell borderlands 4 is coming and you guys are being very very critical and aggressive about it I’m starting to wonder if y’all even want it. That’s all this community is now just malice, hatred and beef. In just three years you went from one of the best communities everyone wants to be apart of to one of those weird hive minds people want to avoid.

[@nathanhendrickson790]

@@PaladinMika you are obviously not a game designer and it shows. If you want a remake the graphics will have to be touched along with everything else. Including glitches and exploits. Do you really think the re remakes would be successful as they were if they “left the graphics alone” no they wouldn’t.

[@SkeletonMan001]

If anyone who states that bl2 ages poorly they simply never liked bl2 Game is still amazing

[@Sp0lby]

Great video once again. I feel like with how the release of Borderlands 3 went down and how most hated it, and now with that flop of a movie, a bunch of people are coming out of the woodwork’s saying “borderlands was always shit” I just find these situations very funny, it seems to happen to a lot of franchises, Game/movie whatever.

[@4nchoragepingu887]

Niche should remain niche frankly. Going mainstream only backfires. Hope failure of 3 and movie prove it to future franchises a lesson that NEVER aim for normies.

[@sonicsucks2961]

@@4nchoragepingu887 BL3 didnt fail at all tho???

[@johnnysupreme5718]

I don't think Borderlands was always shit but I think Gearbox sort of just got lucky with the success of 2. Handsome Jack was a slam dunk of a character and was able to carry the entire narrative for two games and Tales. If you look closely at 2 and Pre-Sequel, you can see a lot of patterns forming that would end up making 3 and the movie suck that you don't notice at first because Jack is cool.

[@DeathMetalThrasher]

Claptrap and Tiny Tina are nowhere near as annoying and insufferable as Ava in BL3

[@_Galaxymuffin_]

It aged like fine wine

[@Tasty.Jams44]

If BL3 had the “outdated” offensive jokes it woulda been a banger and did better than it did. It’s a large part of why the franchise was so loved whether the internet likes it or not.

[@marcusclark1339]

this, humor never cares for "acceptable" or not, comedy doesn't care for feelings being offended BL3 needed actual balance in comedy to seriousness the old use to do, better plotting and other things but it would of helped indeed to not have humor tip toe around things

[@5chneemensch138]

Not liking Tina? Remove charisma, change alignment to chaotic evil.

[@lukewalker7889]

I still play this game sometimes. Aged well beyond for its time

[@danchase859]

Genuinely i love tina, shooty mcshootface, and all the other “cringe” characters in borderlands. Frag the haters, they’re fun.

[@4nchoragepingu887]

In 3 everything went to shit sadly. 2 still had some sort of depressing vibe alive. Thus even Tina had her tragic backstory thus could be empathized. We dont feel any empathy of why they went this path in 3. Instead we get annoyed to brim.

[@danchase859]

@@4nchoragepingu887 oh yeah no 3 is a hot garbage fire narratively and as far as i am concerned does not exist. i beat it once and it was genuinely painful physically the entire time.

[@theobell2002]

@@danchase859 There's just something wrong with you if you care this much about story in a Borderlands game. BL3 is very good now. I didn't like the game on release and there are still design issues I have with BL3 but the expansion and updates made the game very much worth it. I am glad I went back to it and gave it another chance and I ended up 100%'ing the achievements.

[@danchase859]

@@theobell2002 the villains are dissatisfying, the overarching story is yet another blue ball about wtf the vaults are supposed to be for, sirens are both more elaborated on and yet done in a way as to make it less clear why they exist or how they came to be, and to top it all off they killed maya for a character they actively made me hate and then took that same character and made her the next leader of the crimson raiders. Yeah maybe there’s something wrong with me and it’s that i don’t like poorly written stories. It would be so much easier to play bl3 if i did.

[@theobell2002]

@@danchase859 I don't particularly like the story either. What I am saying is that you need to look past it and simply enjoy the game for what it does right. Gameplay and progression. I love a good story too but if I want good stories, I'll look to RPG's like Knights of the Old Republic.. not friggin' Borderlands.

[@aedvinious4876]

@7:34 I haven’t heard the borderlands series put so well into words I had to re listen to this part several times idk but my jaw dropped

[@fufu1405]

Legendaries feel legendary and you don't get showered with them. Epics feel exciting to get too!

[@PlebNC]

They really don't feel any different from BL3's. I think they can get away with rarer legendaries in BL2 because there's no many variants of legendaries in BL2 so farming is less tedious but in BL3 they have more variants plus the annointment rolls so they needed to shower players in legendaries to reduce the tedium of grinding for a perfect roll. It's a tough balance because some players like them to be rare so it's more of an event and like spending literal months trying to get a 94% Sham shield but alot of players find grinding for loot tedious because killing the same boss over and over for hours is monotonous AF so increasing drop rates lets them get them by just playing how they like instead of "optimally".

[@fufu1405]

@@PlebNC Congratulations, you're the first person to ever say this nonsense...

[@nathanhendrickson790]

@@fufu1405what’s wrong with his statement? He’s right. Can you imagine if bl3 kept the bl2 drop rates and added the annointment system on top of that? You’d hate it even more and beg gearbox to increase the drop rates. This is the internet people are allowed to have opinions no matter what you feel about it. If you don’t want people to argue with you, then don’t post your statements on the internet.

[@arpitpatel5312]

Bruh I love BL3's increased drop rates, i dont have the time to get off work and fucking grind a boss for hours for a legendary. Thats incredibly stupid. I guess they could have given an option to change the drop rates but still, not everyone is a goblin who sits behind a computer for months grinding bosses in one game.

[@PlebNC]

@@nathanhendrickson790 It's ok. I've long accepted alot of people can't handle nuance or balanced statements.

[@zaspirite]

18:02 man I said to myself now the real game begins and cried inside. RIP Mitten Squad mane

[@PlebNC]

Brick and Mordy. Brick: "Hey Mordy, I turned myself into a Pickle. Funniest sh*t you ever saw." Pickle (the character): screaming due to being worn by Brick like a flesh balaclava.

[@jose2226]

Brickle.

[@Hyperiumon]

Imo, it's aged perfectly. It still holds up to this day while also encapsulating the humor, gameplay and style of the time when it came out and imo also has aged like fine wine getting even better because of the lackluster sequels and competition in the looter shooter genre (thatt aren't online games)

[@PlebNC]

It's worth noting that in spite of the midget jokes, the midgets and bandits in general are broadly sympathetic characters because they're fighting for survival after they were abandoned by their employer, the Dahl corporation. Each one used to be a miners, soldiers, scientists, all abandoned because it was too expensive to extract everyone and they didn't want to fight the Atlas Corporation in the process.

[@MrFeelsGo0d-YT]

Most of the ex-employees were killed by the prisoners who were made to be doing basic tasks in the mining systems, the miners weren't employees they were prisoners and the bandits we see now are the criminals who overthrew the crimson lance

[@overgrown1693]

That was freaking awesome that ending and mention of the community and those teenage years and the safe space was relatable and hit somewhere deep dude thank you for the awesome video!

[@samarama177]

i just replayed and i still love it

[@LouDavo]

"its enough to make a grown man cry" The amount of hours I've spent on this game throughout my childhood with a ton of different playthroughs, so many good times, many memories, easter eggs and the amount of nostalgia borderlands 2 holds in my heart The list goes on and on. The stuff i would do just too go back in time or even just a day to play it in its prime with my old friends, Words cannot describe how unreal it was unless u witnessed it. all i can say is in my eyes its easily the best loot n shooter of all time.

[@divinatinseance501]

Let's go, I've been a long time fan Aqua, I have recently given the Borderlands games a chance the last few months as I never really liked it, I'm now on the third game and I do have conflicting opinions on the whole series. I can't wait to see this video and let you know what I think

[@samael978]

Nah man, there's never been a single game outside borderlands with a satisfying loot n shoot gameplay loop EVER

[@neroheart34]

32:42 - 33:05 Hands down my main reasons i love playing the game multiple times, at one point, i played Zero because he was a Assassin and i spec in the melee focus tree, which later on focus in the sniper tree for extra damage, Melee and ranged attack as i keep moving On the next, i played the Psycho, and went from a deadly ninja to a absolute insane Berserker when i focus in the manic tree and apply raid shield melee damage increase

[@naytny5819]

Yeah no other comes close to replay value

[@theobell2002]

Krieg doesn't jive well with roid shields. All of his melee damage is additive so roid doesn't really add that much to his damage formula. You're better off using an adaptive shield to make him more durable and to counter Silence the Voices. (And despite what people might say, roid damage does not get applied to StV procs because the self-damage you inflict isn't actually considered melee damage but "grenade" damage.) 🤓👆

[@naytny5819]

@@theobell2002 Yeah, only time I would reccomend roid is when you dont have STV yet.

[@neroheart34]

@@theobell2002 At most, if I'm running pure melee, I still use roid shields, since the extra melee helps for extra damage I do not care if it's not "optimal", if I can get away with it, ON MY GRAVE WITH LADY FINGER, I will do it I only use STV because I like hitting myself in the head, and hey, I want to live the idea I'm playing one of the bandits i blast every day

[@BarrenIamninja]

Aqua this was another great video. Thank you for sharing the views of a true borderlands fans within your retrospective. This video now make me want to start another Gaige build.

[@Sonderin]

Gotta judge a thing to its time. For its time, overall better than BL3.

[@GhostwalkerSparrow]

The gameplay is honestly what keeps me coming back. The world of pandora is also quite interesting to me. Seeing a mix of wasteland sy-fi. The characters are unique and just really cool.

[@MagentaGiraffe]

Just started this video but the people who say “the humor aged poorly” I think that’s obvious…if you hear the same joke 1000x over it’ll get old…doesn’t mean it’s not hilarious to the people hearing it for the first time.

[@djdievjfkfjwhks]

I want to hate tiny tina but dragons keep just hits differently :( I remember i had trouble the first time i encountered willhelm but thats probably different for everyone

[@KempesPL]

Fuck today's standarts !!

[@kamizzy5215]

just sarted playing borderlands 2 again after years and now i see this in my feed, i love how its still going

[@saaaaaaaaalt838]

No. Next question.

[@SpaghettiSpartan]

Love the character/boss intro-style transitions for each chapter!

[@DartNoobo]

No, it still slaps

[@paniniboy]

Ive just today started playing Borderlands 3. Its so much fun. For my first experience of this series its great

[@CK05374]

Let's be honest, the only reason people on twitter hate on this game every couple of weeks is because Borderlands isn't politically correct which gets a lot of likes. Did jokes in this game become outdated, yeah of course some did but the rest of the game is phenomenal.

[@Tasty.Jams44]

It they did the next game non politically correct it would probably do very well despite the criticism. Probably better than 3. Borderlands would be the perfect game to say fuck you this is our safe space lol. Feel like people are starving for it. But they already took a hard turn from that so I doubt they got the balls.

[@almac5446]

It wasn't about political correctness it was just a factor of was borderlands 2 good because people were sour on borderlands 3

[@donultra8678]

No, no it did not age poorly. BL2 is the best game in the series hands down. 🐐🦄

[@Subtle_calamity]

I hope that the people who gave the games a try because the movie was so bad realize that the movie is not at all an accurate reflection of what makes borderlands so cool. This is damn near a perfect video that explains why I love it so much The weapons, the art style, the skills, humor, handsome jack, even the customization I have a soft spot for. Bl2 was also my safe space for such a long time because I never got bored of starting the game all over again with a new character and build that made it just different enough to where it felt fresh almost every time Special shoutout to all the og borderlands KZbinrs you listed near the end, especially Yoteslaya. He was the reason I wanted borderlands 2 back in the day and his passing was one of the first real experiences with death I had dealt with, especially because he passed two days before my 13th birthday. I’ll never forget the time I’ve spent in the world and even to this day I will always look for an excuse to hop back in and start a new character and remember why I became a fan in the first place. Even though the series is in a really rough spot right now, I will always hold it dear to my heart. Thanks for this video Aqua, I’m glad you make videos that can put why I love certain video games into words.

[@verymelonman12]

I didn't grow up with Borderlands 2. I played it for the first time 6 years ago, before the 3rd game came out, and only AFTER I played Tales from the Borderlands as well, so I had an odd introduction to the franchise so to speak. Yet, I found the game's humor to only be dated in some parts and hold up well in others. Even Tiny Tina didn't bug me, and I'm a black guy. The rest of the game obviously still holds up as the best of the series for a reason, and it's because it has the best mix of quality gameplay and endgame with more than decant writing that knew when to be serious and when to be funny.

[@Dryskle]

This 74 minute video was uploaded 8 minutes ago, thus I will comment on what I assume your stance is going to be and tell you that you are definitely wrong about whatever stance you took.

[@ThatBoyAqua]

Don’t forget that they will say I’m rage baiting because the opinion they’ve made up upsets them

[@0potion]

​@@ThatBoyAqua I would say the game play is slightly repetitive but not necessarily in 2 Bad of a way. The only thing that I really feel like didn't age well is the humor of the game. And honestly even back then I didn't like the humor that much. And I absolutely hate just the entire story of borderlands 3. It plays fantastic but the story and the dialogue is so bad.

[@begformiuiruma257]

I think the core gameplay loop of Borderlands 2 is so strong, and the subsequent TVHM & UVHM grind (if you're into it) is long but satisfying to play as a game to sit down and shoot some stuff for a while.

[@dhreimertify]

The humor complaints are odd to me. This game was hilarious when it came out and it still is now

[@Axel_Kasai]

Going back to it now, the humor did get repetitive at times. Like Family Guy

[@gregvs.theworld451]

I liked a lot of the BL2 humor, but stepping away from my biases I can absolutely see why someone else might find in cringe or annoying. I loved Tina but if someone didn't gel with it, or even just felt put off by her blaccent being a joke and punchline by itself, I wouldn't argue with them, that's a completely valid take to have imo.

[@alejand194]

No Tiny Tina disrespect, that's just wrong

[@CombatWombatSeanSpencer]

The humor has not aged poorly, society has aged poorly and forgotten how to take a joke. There’s a big difference there.

[@billyboleson2830]

Early 2010s internet memes have aged very poorly lol. Remember the rainbow guy? Yeah neither do i

[@ZyloPhone]

Nobody is offended by borderlands humor you're fighting ghosts rn, people just think the lolsorandom humor is cringe

[@Antares2]

As a fan of Borderlands 2 who played it on release, I also think the humor has aged poorly. Not because I am "offended", but because the jokes were not necessarily peak comedy to begin with, and when you move on from that particular style, it feels very cringy. Some jokes still work, while others don't. For example, I think the implications that Scooter has an incestous crush on his sister is lame and predictable. Yes, we get it... he speaks with a southern accent, so oufcourse we must make incest jokes. I am not offended, but simply bored by such humor. It's done to death. It might have been peak edgelord comedy in 2012, but not today.

[@samuelgonzalez-tovar3936]

I hope this video does well I would love to hear what you have to say about the rest of borderlands