Best story in a video game 10/10

[shak59]

I like the campaign story. The characters are interesting and the voice acting is incredible and authentic. The plot isn't afraid to make the big moves too so you really feel it, especially when you finish that first vault, who expected THAT to happen?!

Anyone know if Borderlands 4 will have the same writers and voice acting quality?

[Alucard †]

Originally posted by Quaffie:

jester farming post

So far it doesn't seem to be working for OP

[mtramisblue]

try borderlands 2 and compare the story with this game, you will see the difference

[Junipercat]

The twins being one-dimensional is part of all the problems. One thing if a trope smaller villain is one-note, but the top antagonists of the game? That needs more. They (Tyreen especially) came off so toxically annoying that many have had to mute their games. Or play for shorter segments. The end game is not enjoyable that you built-up to it by good story and well written characters, but just to SHUT HER UP and have some peace as the player.

Their treatment of staple characters, kicking the curb/devauling some to make others look better in comparison (instead of naturally on their own merits) is also showcasing bad writing for the story. And even then, some of those characters (such as Lilith) were missing their spark that made them a Badass in the prior games.

The concept of Ava could have been interesting. But even as a rebel and not yet adult, with what was supposedly her backstory she should have had a better head on her shoulders. Not taking proper stock of her own part in Maya's death is a problem point. And a big issue is her just being given leadership makes no sense when you have veteran Vault Hunters who have the experience and enough growing up, plus the EARNED trust from their peers. Even her side humor of being Claptrap's biggest fan could have been fleshed out more.

There is a lot of work to make BL4 worth of those that have played since the start. Those that have only played BL3, or played it before BL2 (so not seeing everything happen in the proper order), might have a different take on this and thus have difficulty understanding how BL3 caused a giant problem for the series.

[Crix]

It's basically mocking Gen Z; that's the joke. The annoyance of streamers.

[Holografix]

Originally posted by shak59:

Sometimes people are just aholes without a deep reason or past trauma. Within the Borderlands universe it makes sense that people like that would exist and gain a following, and this is one of the only post 2000s media that captures such simple characters that exist in the real world.

Give it a replay and pay attention to the little things and you'll see what I mean.

The story is surprisingly good.

100% wholly agree. Glad to see another BL3 'superfan' out here. :)

been spreading the word about the quality of BL3's storyline for years. enjoy your steam award.

If BL4 follows this same formula we'll have another winner.

[Lykan]

So, I've just started playing BL3. I've gotten to the ship, Sanctuary, and we've launched out into space and onto Promethea.

Now, at first, I can see why peeps don't like the Calypso Twins. There is no real motivation to their actions, they've not succumb to any trauma, you can't really reason with them. They are just one-dimensional, egotistical, elitist ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ who think the world is theirs and no one can stop them and they will make sure of that.

In my eyes? That's ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ perfect. Now, Handsome Jack is a great villain. Very memorable, no one else like him. As such, I don't think that we will get another villain like him and I don't think we need to.

I'm not saying the twins are perfect but I'm more than motivated to rip their heads off and feed them to whatever alien tentacle monster I come across. The twins are like a nail slowly drilling into your head. You can't get rid of it, the pain is excoriating and it just annoys you day after day after day. You want to get away from it, you want to just leave but it's always there. The more you resist, the more annoying it gets. The twins do not need dark motivations or unresolved trauma. They're rich ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ who want everything and will burn everything to the ground to get it.

It's a great mix of egotistical elitism and religious fanaticism. It's not perfect but I see where they are going with it. My opinions will probably change the more I play. So far, I'm enjoying the ride.

[Bankai9212]

Why do people assume we expect Jack? The twins are the most passive villains they are more annoying then intimidating acting when the plot needs them to do something. They aren’t even the worst aspect of the narrative.

Also holo go bother the bl4 forums.

[F3LLGaming]

Originally posted by Crix:

It's basically mocking Gen Z; that's the joke. The annoyance of streamers.

and FINALLY someone points out why the calypsos are designed as they are. its not bad character design because thats kinda the point. there meant to be a jab at gen z streamers and intentionally be annoying. nobody gets that and says its just bad design when the point was for them to be annoying.

[F3LLGaming]

tho i do admit the story is ♥♥♥♥ but then again if the gameplay is good im gonna play your game regardless of story. HELL sometimes i dont care about the story because the game is good and BL3 is one of those games. the amount of QoL and player-friendly changes made this game better than bl2 in gameplay. (also i still dont see how the legendaries having a higher drop rate is a problem. nobody likes grinding and increasing the drop rate helps with that. i do admit world drops could be rarer but dedicated droprates are fine in my eyes as it speeds up grinding bosses for a specific gun. even if its higher it still not guaranteed. i mean recently it took me 15 minutes to get a damn boomer to drop from scraptrap prime and i kept getting the lucky 7 rather than boomer.)

[kukuhimanpr]

i'd rather fight amusing villains rather than intentionally-designed-to-be-irritating-villains.

with amusing villains, at least players enjoy the time spent enduring their monologues, plot devices, chasing after them, putting bullet holes all over their bodies and looting them at the finish line of their final arcs.

with intentionally irritating villains, players won't enjoy all the time spent to endure all their c r a p. they would rather mute the dialogue, skip cutscenes and quickly destroy+loot those villains and just move on to forget them forever.

if the twins were designed to have almost no backstories, maybe simply turn them into mindless destroyer's pawn alien monster siren zombies from the start, players won't be complaining about them too much for years.

[Alucard †]

Originally posted by Fell:

Originally posted by Crix:

It's basically mocking Gen Z; that's the joke. The annoyance of streamers.

and FINALLY someone points out why the calypsos are designed as they are. its not bad character design because thats kinda the point. there meant to be a jab at gen z streamers and intentionally be annoying. nobody gets that and says its just bad design when the point was for them to be annoying.

Thing is mock parodies should be funny and not made even more annoying/cringy than the very thing they are mocking.

[Bankai9212]

Originally posted by Fell:

tho i do admit the story is ♥♥♥♥ but then again if the gameplay is good im gonna play your game regardless of story. HELL sometimes i dont care about the story because the game is good and BL3 is one of those games. the amount of QoL and player-friendly changes made this game better than bl2 in gameplay. (also i still dont see how the legendaries having a higher drop rate is a problem. nobody likes grinding and increasing the drop rate helps with that. i do admit world drops could be rarer but dedicated droprates are fine in my eyes as it speeds up grinding bosses for a specific gun. even if its higher it still not guaranteed. i mean recently it took me 15 minutes to get a damn boomer to drop from scraptrap prime and i kept getting the lucky 7 rather than boomer.)

Your finally caught up people like bl3 gameplay the story is bad the calypso representing gen z is something everyone knew.

[kameltoes]

The story is on par with that of the movie.... so, there's that.

[NzFox]

There are two issues I have with the story in general, first there are a lot of moments that takes away player agency in order to fit the narrative, either a long cutscene or waiting for a NPC to do something, the other games had a little of this but far more of it was delivered via ECHO which allowed you to keep playing during lore dumps.
The second was the cop out with the twins. I don't mind them as characters as they have interesting aspects, like the fact claim to be all about family (as in the brother in sister, not the cult) but the second her brother gets real power and no longer has to rely on her Tyreen begins to resent it and starts 'joking' about killing him. The issue is they don't do anything with it, if Troy had drained her to death during his fight and being the actual last boss or if Tyreen had refused to give her power it would of been more interesting narratively but instead she just gets up and walks off while everyone watches for...reasons?

[Junipercat]

Prior games you felt immersed during cutsceens or in game dialog. This one you have sit out and wait while the NPCs take over the game. So the player doesn't feel as impactful.

The dynamic between Tyreen and Troy was a lost opportunity. I was waiting for Troy to be a wild card (enemy of my enemy) until he revealed they were playing us, or Tyreen knew all along and used it to her advantage. The final fight could have been a form they both occupied by took turns/fought for control changing the fight when this happened, or looking like some monstrosity of the two fusioned, and the banter between them could have been funny. Instead Troy was more a lackluster whipping boy sidekick to his sister, and all her time leading up to and including the final fight was the most toxic being in a video game that you wanted her to eat shotgun in real life to shut her up. That does not make a good video game when the hate gets to that level.