Borderlands — A Different Game in its Beginning

I would start in a much more sophisticated way, but what more do I have to say about getting a free game every week from the Epic Games Store that I haven’t mentioned already? I get a free game every week, and that’s all there is to it, and some games are more significant than others. A few weeks ago, I got Borderlands 3, and it’s a good game, but I think the series more or less jumped the shark after the 2nd game… for me, at least. Still a good game, though.

Although people know Borderlands as the cel-shaded gun-looting shooter RPG masterpiece it is today, the game was, in fact, something entirely else in its origin. I remember fresh out of graduation (or somewhere around that time) hearing about this game that allegedly has half a million guns, and I was like, “whoa!” at the time. My heart was already stolen as I declared what I just saw as my new favourite game. Now all that’s left is to wait until the game comes out, which is… well… nobody knew at the time.

Of course, today, it’s a popular franchise and a grand success, but Borderlands was not supposed to be a cel-shaded with funny dialogue and whatnot. In the beginning, Borderlands was serious and had regular graphics. In fact, the description above is an entirely different version of the game, far from what it is today. That’s right… the Borderlands that I anticipated was the original, and no one saw the drastic change it would undergo. So, what caused it?

No really… what caused it?

From what I know, there was some kind of inner turmoil during the game’s development; a lot of disagreements led to artistic changes in development, such as the transition to a cel-shaded style. The guy in charge of the project nearly pulled the plug, but they all pulled through instead and eventually released the game, although probably far from what they initially expected.

I respect them for their efforts and eventually releasing this awesome game, but how much indecisiveness does one need to alter the characters’ design drastically and go from serious dialogue to humorous dialogue or regular graphics to cel-shaded graphics? I just want to know what happened in all those brainstorm sessions when they decided that Mordecai should drop half his weight (seriously, he used to have broad shoulders in the original demo; now he’s a beanpole). No judgement, but Borderlands is one game that has a complicated development history. Don’t get me wrong, it’s still great, and it’s always fun to scavenge for new guns that explode from enemies onto the soil. I wonder what Borderlands would be like if none of these changes happened…

But that’s a metaphysical discussion for another time because you can always just cop out by saying that “none of these changes happened in a parallel universe”, and I’m not going to talk about those right now.

Did you know about the original Borderlands?

Since there’s no problem, I’ll leave that section out again, like how I did that one other time. I would talk about what would’ve become of the franchise had it not made all these drastic changes and how it would evolve under those conditions, but I’m too tired to start a “what if” discussion, and right now, it’s redundant. On the other hand, if you want to tell me your opinion regarding the matter, or the franchise as a whole, basically anything about Borderlands, be sure to tell me. I always love a reasonable opinion.

In Conclusion…

So… I am still playing Borderlands 3, and frankly, I don’t know what to say. I mean, it’s a good game, no doubt about that. But it doesn’t feel like when I played Borderlands 2 ten years ago, and that’s because I’m at a different time in my life where priorities are not video games. It’s still fun, but since Handsome Jack is no longer in the game, it kind of jumped the shark for me, and I’m kind of indifferent to humour in the game. It’s still funny, but the current antagonist is just meh (jack was better). Anyways, I’ll keep playing it, and maybe I’ll write another article detailing my further impressions of the game. maybe… just maybe…

Not many games can say that they have a rough history, and Borderlands is one of those franchises. It seems to have paid off because the game is only becoming more and more popular. Jack is still the best villain, though.

In any case, I have some annoying bandits to kill. Who knows… maybe we’ll end up playing together via solo queue and kill bandits together. Who’s your main?