Borderlands 3 review by former PoE player

As a Borderlands series fan and former PoE player, I decided to write a review of the latest game, Borderlands 3, from time to time comparing it with PoE.

At the beginning, to avoid misunderstandings I will write about the configuration of my computer. So, its relatively new hardware, with Core i7 9700K on board, GeForce RTX 2070 8GB RAM, 16GB 2666MHz DDR4, 512 GB M2 SSD HD and Win 10 as OS, all configured personally, with brain.

On the above-mentioned configuration, the game worked on ultra-details and without any problems from the very beginning, i.e. from the premiere. From 13 September till today, I played it every day for about 2-4 hours. At that time I had 1 (one) crash and a few minor bugs, mostly graphic and one consisting of a quest vehicle locked permanently between the rocks. Therefore, initial opinions about bugs and crashes I am willing to blame rather on not very modern or poorly configured hardware of complainers. The same applies to DRM via Epic. Personally, I did not experience any difficulties, I simply registered with a Google account and the whole thing works even more smoothly than Steam.

The gameplay does not differ much from the previous parts. In no case is it like in the Witcher series, where individual titles are connected only by name, game world, main character and some NPC. In this case, it is pure Borderlands. If someone is a fan of the series, he will immediately feel at home here, if someone does not like Borderlands, then he will not like B3 either. Compared to the previous parts, the graphics looks better and everything is smoother, but I can't guarantee that my computer is not responsible for this.

As for the game itself, it is Borderlands in its pure form. So shoot and loot around the clock, no bullshit and quirks, except some too long cinematic, which cannot be skipped (unfortunately). There are really many types of weapons, with different variants, i.e. you can switch from sniper rifle to shotgun mode or radioactivity damage to electricity damage, etc., all on one single weapon. As in previous Borderlands, weapons also differ depending on their manufacturer. Here you can clearly see the "nerf" of weapons manufactured by Maliwan. In B3 these weapons is mostly shit. Developers probably did not think too much about the idea of a sniper rifle, which must "warm up" before firing a shot. Also grenades are pretty useless, because players are forced to choose between grenade or “special ability”, which are always better, so there is no reason to choose grenade boosters in skilltree either.

Fortunately, there are other weapons and certainly everyone will choose something for themselves, especially since in this part the weapons are not "assigned" to the character type in advance. As for the characters themselves, at the beginning there are 4 to choose, each with a different skill tree. Personally, I play "Zane" and I have to say that the game is quite pleasant and smooth. That means neither my Zane oneshoot all enemies nor enemies oneshoot him. The level of difficulty of the opponents is also balanced, which means that we don't suddenly come across something that annihilates us without warning and we don't know when and why, although on some bosses you need to develop a special tactic.

In other words, the game gives the player a chance to do some tactical gameplay and change the approach (and equipment) even while fighting the boss. Some bosses have the infamous invulnerable phases known from PoE, but in B3 they are not so frustrating, especially since during these phases bosses do not inflict damage to player, so players have time to recover. Also the unique items system is quite similar to PoE, in the sense that almost all "legendary items" I found were worthless crap, which looked very nice, but was unusable compared to solid, purple epic items or even ordinary blue or green ones. I don't know why the game developers decided to make "legendary items" crappy or maybe I haven't come across a really useful legendary item yet. Or maybe it is some PoE tribute.

Of course there are various vehicles in the game, including new one - Cyclones. Personally, after the discovery of Cyclone, I did not ride anything else until I had to as part of the quest. Game world is really big and RNG is rather merciful, instead of be frustrating.

To recapitulate, game is perfect thing for everybody, who likes looter-shooters with arpg elements and wants to relax after work. The game doesn't rush anyone, nor forces to sit for hours on various stupid things. You can just play for a while, then save, exit, go to sleep, play next day. No coercion like "because the league will end", "because I will no longer buy the necessary item" or "because the world will end", so you have to give up real life for the game. No necessity to look for anything on third party pages too. In other words, it's just relaxing, not a "lifestyle". I'm okay with that. Perfect game filling the waiting time for other titles, like Vampire Masquerade Bloodlines 2 or Cyberpunk 2077 in my case.

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srogi_kotek wrote:

Also grenades are pretty useless, because players are forced to choose between grenade or “special ability”, which are always better, so there is no reason to choose grenade boosters in skilltree either.

This is specific to Zane.

Oh, thanks. I didn't know that. I play the game at my own pace, I don't hurry anywhere because there is no reason to hurry. So currently I’m on level 50, but only on Eden 6, on “true vault hunter” mode. I will start new character when I feel that my first character has already achieved everything he could. Nice and slow, without nerves or nolifing.

That’s the reason I started to hate PoE. All that rush, hurry and uncertainty. Even in “standard” the player is never sure that the character he created will suddenly not become useless. Not to mention the fact that the atlas changes completely every 3 months. In Borderlands series I can play my old character even after 7 years and it’s still perfectly playable and able to bring some fun.

When it comes to B3, I’m really curious how my current character build and weaponry knowledge, combined with my game style will handle “uber bosses” similar to “Crawmerax” from B1 for example. In B1 I was cable to kill him solo only with Siren, as well like some uber bosses from B2 was available only for Salvatore (at least in my case).

Nice review! Thank you.

Although I'll almost certainly pick it up in the coming months either way I'd be curious to hear if the whole 'I can't one shot enemies but they can't one shot me either' mechanic holds in the highest difficulties.

Losing 50+% of your health even with heavy defensive talents (and not losing all of it only because of health gate!) to any and every stray bullet just got tiring in BL2...

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Gravedancer wrote:

Nice review! Thank you.

Although I'll almost certainly pick it up in the coming months either way I'd be curious to hear if the whole 'I can't one shot enemies but they can't one shot me either' mechanic holds in the highest difficulties.

Losing 50+% of your health even with heavy defensive talents (and not losing all of it only because of health gate!) to any and every stray bullet just got tiring in BL2...

Do not get me wrong. There are opponents in the game who can hit really hard. Although some bosses do not oneshoting you, they are able to fire a series of shots, after which you may have 5% life. Therefore, with tougher oponents you can forget about brainless facetanging, which you may have gotten used to while playing PoE. In B3 you have to move, sometimes move and jump, often hide behind obstacles. Even so, the fights are not frustrating. Even with weaker equipment, you always have a sense of control and the feeling that you can win.

On the other hand, even with a very good weapon, you are not a killing machine that destroys everything with one shot. In other words, the balance of difficulty looks really good. However, I want to emphasize that I still haven't reached "uber bosses". I am still stuck on Eden 6, although I am close to the end of this planet :)

Stopped Blight day 2, tried Borderlands for the first time with 3 and I'm hooked ever since. I like almost everything about the game, save for the Calypso bros, Ava and the pee pee/poo poo humour. And I was an Overwatch player for 2 years so FPS + loot = total win in my book.

I'm already 100 hours into it and I seriously don't plan to come back to PoE until I'm bored with the game and BL2 (which I've had forever on Steam and never tried it). So yeah, awesome game, very fun and rewarding.

Try it boys!

I am actually waiting for them to release 2-3 dlcs as I would feel incomplete playing it now.

My best experience playing borderlands 1 and 2 was with all the existing dlcs.

Because I completed “second pass of the game”, I decided to publish few advices for players, who have already completed the "first pass of the game". After dealing with the final boss we get the opportunity to repeat the game on the so-called "true vault hunter" mode. In addition - which is very important, we can also adjust the level of difficulty of the game, using the "mayhem switch" located in Sanctuary. Here the rule is simple. The higher the level of "mayhem", the more difficult the game becomes and the better loot we can get. And difference is really big here. Personally, at first I ignored the "mayhem switch", which turned out to be a big mistake, because suddenly the game started to resemble PoE! Of course, there were no absurdities like "oneshooting" the whole location, but the opponents were suspiciously "weak" and the loot they left behind suspiciously trashy. At some point, I was able to beat every opponent with only one very good assault rifle. Few shots, enemy is dead, drops garbage. Is it bad dream? Am I in PoE again?! No! Because suddenly I remembered about the "mayhem" switch, I returned to Sanctuary and set the level to the highest, "to the test".

At this point, several things immediately changed. First, the opponents "suddenly" became very strong and dangerous. My "best in the world" assault rifle and very "badass" shotgun suddenly became "useless" and stopped dealing any serious damage. WTF?! I soon discovered that due to the new "mayhem level" the "location settings" are also changing. The changes are completely random, in my case the opponents received an additional 50% health, armor and shield, and "regular bullets" and "assault rifles and shotguns" -50% damage. Therefore, I had to start using other weapons and change my tactics a bit.Fortunately, the drop also improved significantly, thanks to which I quickly managed to get a weapon that slightly improved my difficult situation. Therefore, anyone who decides to play at the highest level "mayhem" should be prepared for the fact that, in addition to the four basic weapons "at hand", you will need to carry at least 8 other weapons "for different applications". In addition, sometimes you need a "reroll location", which fortunately is not associated with any nuisance, just exit the game to the menu and continue again. Unlike PoE, location mods do not prevent given location from passing, but they make it difficult to make the game tiresome.

My "favorite" combination is "enemies gain + 50% life, armor and shield" with "30% chance to reflect shots back to player" and -50% assault rifles and sniper rifles damage. On one of the maps with such settings I fought for one corridor for half an hour, because in one large room there were 5 heavily armored "badass" enemies with rocket launchers and 2 "anointed" ones. I managed to defeat 4 badasses and 1 " anointed", after which I ran out of ammunition for the weapons, which was able to hurt them and I had to reroll the map settings (in the meantime few tough enemies behind my back “respawned”, so I had to fight them along with remained badass and anointed). Regardless, game is really good and irritating things can be easily rerolled or avoided. Soon I will prepare some “tips and tricks”, which can help you beat the game in "true vault hunter" mode, mayhem level 3.

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srogi_kotek wrote:

Because I completed “second pass of the game”, I decided to publish few advices for players, who have already completed the "first pass of the game". After dealing with the final boss we get the opportunity to repeat the game on the so-called "true vault hunter" mode. In addition - which is very important, we can also adjust the level of difficulty of the game, using the "mayhem switch" located in Sanctuary. Here the rule is simple. The higher the level of "mayhem", the more difficult the game becomes and the better loot we can get. And difference is really big here. Personally, at first I ignored the "mayhem switch", which turned out to be a big mistake, because suddenly the game started to resemble PoE! Of course, there were no absurdities like "oneshooting" the whole location, but the opponents were suspiciously "weak" and the loot they left behind suspiciously trashy. At some point, I was able to beat every opponent with only one very good assault rifle. Few shots, enemy is dead, drops garbage. Is it bad dream? Am I in PoE again?! No! Because suddenly I remembered about the "mayhem" switch, I returned to Sanctuary and set the level to the highest, "to the test".

At this point, several things immediately changed. First, the opponents "suddenly" became very strong and dangerous. My "best in the world" assault rifle and very "badass" shotgun suddenly became "useless" and stopped dealing any serious damage. WTF?! I soon discovered that due to the new "mayhem level" the "location settings" are also changing. The changes are completely random, in my case the opponents received an additional 50% health, armor and shield, and "regular bullets" and "assault rifles and shotguns" -50% damage. Therefore, I had to start using other weapons and change my tactics a bit.Fortunately, the drop also improved significantly, thanks to which I quickly managed to get a weapon that slightly improved my difficult situation. Therefore, anyone who decides to play at the highest level "mayhem" should be prepared for the fact that, in addition to the four basic weapons "at hand", you will need to carry at least 8 other weapons "for different applications". In addition, sometimes you need a "reroll location", which fortunately is not associated with any nuisance, just exit the game to the menu and continue again. Unlike PoE, location mods do not prevent given location from passing, but they make it difficult to make the game tiresome.

My "favorite" combination is "enemies gain + 50% life, armor and shield" with "30% chance to reflect shots back to player" and -50% assault rifles and sniper rifles damage. On one of the maps with such settings I fought for one corridor for half an hour, because in one large room there were 5 heavily armored "badass" enemies with rocket launchers and 2 "anointed" ones. I managed to defeat 4 badasses and 1 " anointed", after which I ran out of ammunition for the weapons, which was able to hurt them and I had to reroll the map settings (in the meantime few tough enemies behind my back “respawned”, so I had to fight them along with remained badass and anointed). Regardless, game is really good and irritating things can be easily rerolled or avoided. Soon I will prepare some “tips and tricks”, which can help you beat the game in "true vault hunter" mode, mayhem level 3.

If it's anything like the second it will become like PoE not very long from now. Every class's skill tree had one or two legendary weapons that once you got you'd just cheese the shit out of the game. You just need slag and your tree choices weapon.

So, as I finished game on “true vault hunter”, mayhem level 3 mode, here is some “tips and tricks”, which can be helpful:

- if you think, some weapon you found or purchased in shop is “badass”, always try it first. Beware, that “weapon level” may be misleading. For instance, my best “bosskiller” weapons are on level 535, while at the same time I found weapons with level 620 and they were useless garbage.

- if “legendary weapon” dropped, always check it. 95% of legendary items are useless crap, but 2% of them are “game changers”. Focus on elemental damage – it is easy to overlook and can be really huge. Then try it. Some legendary weapons “looks” worst then they actually works (and opposite, some of them “looks” great and are garbage). Personally I found 2 really “overwhelming badass” legendary guns, if someone needs names, PM me.

- while playing “mayhem” mode, before start location or boss fight, always check “location modes”. They could be really tough and in some cases, without “game changing weapons” some bosses are almost unbeatable with certain mayhem modes.

- beware that bosses are tougher after first killing. When you kill them first, even on “Mayhem 3” mode, they seems to be easy. When you try to “farm them”, they can be really tough.

- if you want to gain experience relatively fast and farm some currency, with chance to “legendary” drop, set mayhem to level 3, then go to Devils Razor on Pandora and farm “Anteloppe” – legendary spiderant which can be found in that location. If you have really strong weapon, you can finish it within 15-40 seconds, depending on location mode.

- if you want to exp even faster and raise chance of “legendary” drop, do not “finish” The Pyre of Stars location before final boss fight, but start it over and over, until you are satisfied. It gives really high exp and drops, but only until it’s not finished.

- “Anointed Big Daddy Goliath” has special attack, which ignore obstacles or any shield, including Zane’s barrier. To avoid it you can jump, crouch or climb to some really high place, then snipe him from there.

- during final boss fight focus on vorakids – they can be more dangerous then boss itself, especially if there are too many of them. Also try to farm/obtain some weapon capable to clear the sky from them as fast as possible. In addition, if you have such weapon, or if you just want to check, whether you really have it, you can farm “legendary vorakid” on Konrads Pass, which can be quickly reached from “The Slaughter Shaft” waypoint.

- “strange Eridian monoliths”, which can’t be activated even after first finishing of the game became active after finishing game on “true vault hunter” mode and tuning on “trial” missions, very similar to mission with Eridian proving grounds.

- strange door which can’t be open in Ascension Bluff location is probably something, which will be available in DLC, currently it is empty, even if player manages to get there using vehicle.

And the last but not least, small compendium how to “farm” The Rampager on Promethea. Reason to farm him is quite obvious. In my opinion it is fastest farmable boss in the game, on Mayhem level 3 always drops at least 1 up to 4 legendary items, and then there is also Vault to loot (at least after first killing). So, if you want to farm him, you will need: