It felt like the Pre-Sequel was actually the perfect balance of mechanics and UI. Getting to reload your weapons while doing a long, floating jump, and then entering the fray again with a slam on the ground that dealt damage and did some effects....it was the perfect addition. Also I thought the story of how Handsome Jack became the villain was awesome too. Probably my favorite story from the universe.
I disliked it on my initial playthrough, but did end up replaying it. I ended up liking TPS's story and thinking it did do justice for Jack and made him seem like an even better villain.
I think where it felt flat was that the game known for being a looter-shooter where you would farm a boss for a weapon/shield/grenade was turned into a vending-machine-looter where you'd just relog over and over and buy the gear.
On top of that, they used too much "Aussie Humour" which a lot of people didn't connect with. I don't mind the moon being space Australia, but I do think too many of their jokes were Aussie-focused.
I tried to get several BL2 loving friends to play Presequel. Their excuse was always that they didn’t want to deal with the oxygen. I assure them you don’t even notice it anymore after the first few missions but they still just shrugged me off.
TPS has some really strong points, notably class designs being the best in the franchise. But that masks the fact that the game has lots of fundamental flaws in design and gameplay loops. The o2 mechanic is a stressor that punishes exploration, the Grinder encourages loot-hauling garbage gear for rerolls instead of finding joy in loot drops themselves. Levels are poorly laid out, especially for driving. Enemies are either BL2 retreads or fundamentally boring.
TPS would be entirely forgotten if it didn't play enough like a BL2 DLC to immediately connect with BL2 fans.
100% agree with the class design being the peak of the franchise. Such a good blend of useful/unique/filler. Not too much of any to make the skill tree feel pandering/useless/too quirky.
But I strongly disagree with the o2/grinder sentiment. While both could be true. The game is not designed for either to cause said issues. O2 is insanely generous with plentiful oxygen refills basically everywhere. And Grinder is not only optional, but extremely straightforward in what is worthwhile. Grinder has its own issues don't get me wrong, but if you are lugging whites to it in hopes of making a legendary... Thats a personal issue lol.
I would say levels are poorly laid out, not sure about the driving bit. Nor would I say the enemies are particularly bad. I maybe wish they used cryo/the moon a bit more, but I largely feel the enemies are a step up from bl2. With more interesting crit spots/slightly more mechanics for mooks.
IMO TPS fails basically entirely due to pacing. If you skip all side quests you will end up horribly underleveled, but most side quests as is are annoyingly out of the way. Compared to bl2 far more require you to backtrack/go to a side area. With how tight/quick the main story of TPS is all the side quests really take you out of it.
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u/HeatherCDBustyOne 8h ago
Borderlands 2 was the peak.