Ryan Goes To IGN

This is AirstrikeRhino, reporting live from my friend's couch in California. I was just forced to watch Grey's Anatomy. That show blows, but it has doctors banging nurses. And really, if you're going to go to school for 30 years, there had better be some perks. I think banging nurses qualifies.

As I said, I'm in California, and that's because tomorrow is the big day. I will be appearing on IGN's Game Scoop podcast tomorrow morning at 10:30 pacific time. The podcast should be up on IGN's website tomorrow evening. I'll be posting a download link here, of course. I'm really excited for this opportunity. I have to ride the BART across the bay in the morning, then catch a cab to the IGN office. I'm pretty near Oakland right now, so my main goal pre-podcast is to not be stabbed by a hobo.

In gaming news I played a lot more Borderlands last night in order to level up my character enough to actually tackle General Knoxx on Playthrough 2. I finished up Playthrough 2 of the main story at level 54. I'm hoping that's good enough because Playthrough 1 of the DLC was offering almost zero challenge and zero XP. I have access to an Xbox 360 while I'm here so I'm hoping to keep my wicked levels high. I even brought my 360 hard drive, wireless adapter, and headset with me. I sound awesome right now.

I also spent a little time with Lazy Raiders (big thanks to Daemon Hatfield for the free download code). It's a puzzle game where your rotate the maze-like world to send the ragdolling Diggabone sliding and falling to collect treasures while avoiding traps. So far it's been fun, but the 75 levels included seem like a daunting task. I'm still having trouble getting through the 50 in 'Splosion Man.

Next up, I downloaded Greed Corps. I've only read a little about it, but it seems interesting and I look forward to tackling it soon. Carcassonne and Settlers of Catan were both mentioned in reviews, so I figure it can't be horrible.

There's also been a lot of talk about the high profile firings at Infinity Ward. I'm not sure what to make of it until more facts come out, but if some of the things that West and Zampella are alleging are true, then it sounds like Activision might be able to do for waterboarding what they did for rhythm games. I don't have a basement, so I'm not sure where I'd keep the peripheral. As for West and Zampella, I look forward to EA releasing Call of Honor: Current Battle, staring a British SAS operative named Shampoo Macintosh, in 2011.

Alright, it's late... and even later by Texas time which I still feel like I'm on. I need to get some rest so I'm nice and rested for the podcast. I'll talk to you folks tomorrow. If you're bored, Grandma's boy is on TV right now. Goodnight everybody!

Less Rest, More Wicked This Week

It looks like the next Borderlands DLC is dropping tomorrow, February 23rd, for the Xbox 360. The PS3 and PC will be getting it on Thursday. I found this out via Giant Bomb.

Thank God, I say. My level of rest was on a steady rise while my wicked levels were at an all time low.

Your New Borderlands DLC Achievements

Click the image for a larger, more legible view

Well this popped up on Xbox Live last night. Our resident curious cat, Chuck, found this when he was trying to compare his shiny point values to Barry's in Mass Effect 2. It looks like there is a significant increase in the level cap. This shows an achievement for Level 51 and for Level 61... there are rumors around the interwebs that the new limit will be 70. Sounds good to me... I've been craving some true Borderlands action that doesn't involve a 9 hour beating from a hot, crazy woman's minions with no XP or level gain.

There is still no news on when the new DLC, titled The Secret Armory of General Knoxx, will be released, but you can bet I'll be picking it up on day one if for no other reason than to learn the meaning of the phrase "Loot Midget"...

Borderlands Gets Level Cap Increase

I just found this over at Kotaku. It appears that Borderlands is finally getting that level cap increase I know we all want so badly. The news was delivered one of Gearbox's designers via the official Gearbox Forums. The level cap increase will be delivered via what they're calling their biggest piece of DLC yet.

Oh yeah, and Kotaku points to this twitter feed which delivers even more good news: MORE SCOOTER!

It looks like I'll need to gear up to spend many more hours in Pandora. I'll be interested to see what Gearbox has up their sleeve this time. If it can be as good as The Zombie Island of Dr. Ned and have the level cap increase then it should be able to wash that bad taste out of my mouth that was left by Mad Moxxi. Hopefully there will be something a little more official soon that includes an expected release date and, God willing, some screen shots or some kind of story description.



Somebody please take me to where the cars live so I can get me one!

A Night With Mad Moxxi

I spent Saturday night in Mad Moxxi's Underdome Riot, the most recent pack of DLC for Borderlands. I think after playing through about 55 rounds of punishment I can agree with a lot of the reviews circulating out there.

For those of you who don't know, Madd Moxxi's Underdome Riot is Borderland's attempt at a "horde mode" or "firefight" mode. However, they take out any XP progression (though you can still complete the in game challenges which give you XP) and greatly reduce the loot drops. You do earn 2 skill points. There are 3 maps. First you are tasked with tearing through 5 rounds consisting of 5 waves on each map. Once you've completed that, you are given access to the "Larger Challenges"... this ups the investment (and it is that, believe me) to TWENTY ROUNDS. Once you've played through the 5 round sessions, you'll begin to understand how truly ridiculous that is.

Essentially what they've done is create an experience that focuses on just the shooting in the game. I probably enjoy the shooting in Borderlands more than most, but even with that it doesn't quite hold up on it's own. I found as I played through Mad Moxxi that apparently a large part of my love for the shooting was based on the fact that it lead to loot and XP. It was almost Pavlovian. The larger challenges really start to highlight how much you miss the progression. It's a lot of work for a small reward... even for an achievement hunter like me. Even the loot drops you DO get at the end of every round are typically useless if you've played through the game and found some good mainstay weapons.

To make matters worse, if you fail a round you are sent back to the beginning of the previous round. So, even if you're on Round 6 Wave 5 when your party wipes, you will now have to go back to Round 5 Wave 1. This can become incredibly disheartening when you've likely already invested a lot of time by the first party wipe. It's even more punishing in the late rounds of the greater challenges. If players start going down, and you have to drop back a round, the urge to quit is tough to fight off.

Now to give you an idea of the amount of time needed to finish the larger challenges I'll give you a recap of my experience. We first tried it with four level 50 characters. This proved to be idiotic because it made all the enemies level 50 as well. We wiped in the 7th round, dropped back to 6, wiped, then quit (this probably took a little over an hour). About a week later we revisited the larger challenges, only this time the host player used a level 37 character. This made all the enemies level 36 or 37. Our party consisted of a Level 37 Siren, a Level 47 Soldier, a Level 50 Soldier, and a Level 50 Berserker. We managed to make it through all of the larger challenges without wiping... however, it took a total of NINE HOURS. Each one took about 3 hours. We finally shut things down around 4 AM just sick of it... I don't even know why the fuck we did it. I think at some point it was just a mixture of masochism and spite. Or maybe nobody wanted to be the guy to say "hey, this is fucking stupid..." Either way, we did it, and I can't say I'm all that happy about it. I should reiterate here that I LOVE Borderlands.

So, what could have been done differently? I think adding another 5, Mad Moxxi-specific, levels would have helped soften the blow. You don't want this DLC to become a grind farm for players, so you only allow them to gain these five levels within the DLC. You could even make it so that these levels could ONLY be gained in the Underdome. This would make it so that it wasn't a "true" level cap increase (and even if you called it a true increase, would that be so horrible?)... but it would certainly be a great reward for those who powered through all 60 rounds of the larger challenges. They could have also allowed loot drops from enemies... even if they wanted to allow it at a lower frequency it would have helped my motivation a little. Last... why 20 rounds? It just seems like overkill and it stops being fun well before you finish. If they wanted to make it 20 rounds, they could have at least included the option to save after a round so that you could revisit it later (yeah, in case I didn't mention it earlier, there's no way to save your progress mid-challenge)... once you start you're in for the long haul).

So... there you have it. Once again, Borderlands is a game I really enjoy. Mad Moxxi's Underdome riot just didn't do it justice. I'll be keeping an eye out for the next DLC pack... and I hope they wise up and give us what we want: more levels, more skill points, better guns. I'd also like to see the bank from Mad Moxxi patched into the major cities so that you can access your stored items from there as well.

Braaaaaaaains!

I spent most of my weekend achievement whoring in the first expansion to Borderlands, The Zombie Island of Dr. Ned. I started off on my own, but was quickly joined by Barry and our friend who sounds like he's from across the pond, Ben (he was born in the states but managed to pillage the accent... well played sir). The easiest way to describe the experience is downright fun and hilarious. From the opening cinematic, to the zombie brains that fly out of your fallen foes, downright to the final battle... The Zombie Island of Dr. Ned keeps you engaged and laughing all the way through.

The story has our adventurers sent off to Jakob's Cove... and island owned by the Jakob's Corporation. As far as I could tell (I admittedly don't read all the quest descriptions... I just want to kill zombies) the Jakob's operation involved turning very very large tree stumps into the fine Jakob's weapons you've all come to know and love. Something has gone terribly wrong, and 97% (this is discerned by the hilarious announcements going on throughout Jakob's Cove) of the population of the island has gone all zombified on us. The adventurers are here to find out just what happened, and to put a stop to the zombie outburst lest it spread to the other 3% of the population.

Much of the expansion has you battling off waves of zombies, of course, as you make your way to different parts of the island. The zombies are often udead versions of other enemies you faced in Pandora, including Lance soldiers, psychos, and midget psychos. There are even zombies who look like giant Frankenstein versions of the Tanks from Left 4 Dead. Many of the zombies will also spit bile at you that slows your walking speed and impairs your vision... also much like a certain special infected in Left 4 Dead. The zombies are much easier to kill than their living counterparts... but this is made up for by the sheer numbers that are thrown at you. However, you'll find killing waves of enemies very satisfying. Head shot kills will reward you with a zombie brain that is used to complete a quest for an undead TK Baha as well as unlock an achievement.

Overall The Zombie Island of Dr. Ned is a very satisfying and comedic experience. For extra laughs, pay special attention to the announcements made in the small city of Jakob's Cove. It doesn't offer an extended level cap or new abilities... but for those of you looking for a fun new way to grind your character up to level 50... this will more than do the trick. My 2nd playthrough character started the DLC around level 43, as did my buddies. We all ended around level 48. This left us just a few quests away in the main story line from dinging level 50 and satisfying that achievement requirement. Go get this DLC. It's a great excuse to keep shooting and looting, and it will keep you in practice for the new DLC that was recently announced.

Borderthief

AirstrikeRhino: Shit guys, that was awesome... I'll pop a turret and everybody heal up.

Humdinger24: Hey check that out... a purple item on the groud.

FenrisWolf82 has received The Most Badass Gun Ever

AirstrikeRhino: I didn't even get to see the stats on that...

PoopsMagee2112: I like pudding.

FenrisWolf82 has opened a chest
FenrisWolf82 has opened a chest
FenrisWolf82 has opened a chest
FenrisWolf82 has opened a chest
FenrisWolf82 has opened a chest

Humdinger 24: Josh, where the hell are you?

FenrisWolf82 has received Autoheadshot Head Asploder

AirstrikeRhino: Did anybody else even see that drop?

Humdinger24: Oh shit, what the fuck is that coming for us?

[Skag attacks group]


Humdinger24: Shit, we're getting low on health, Ryan, pop that turret.

AirstrikeRhino: It hasn't refreshed from the previous heal... Josh, use yours.

FenrisWolf82 has opened a chest
FenrisWolf82 has opened a chest
FenrisWolf82 has opened a chest
FenrisWolf82 has opened a chest
FenrisWolf82 has opened a chest
FenrisWolf82 has opened a chest

PoopsMagee2112: I like pudding... and health...

Humdinger24: Shit, Josh, what the fuck are you doing?

FenrisWolf82: I'm right here, can't you guys see me shooting that Brute...

AirstrikeRhino: We're fighting a skag!

FenrisWolf82: ... yeah, that's what I said...