Seripha has 10 chronicles

1. Just What the Doctor Ordered (Borderlands)
   

   Player Chronicle -- Posted on Jul 28 2009

   Over the past couple weeks I have been increasingly perusing the growing amount of information about the upcoming game Borderlands. For those of you who have been living in a hole in the ground, Borderlands is role-playing shooter being developed by Gearbox and set to release on October 20th. Borderlands is, in my opinion so far, a game determined not to make all the asinine mistakes so many developers have made as of late. It's like they've asked me to make a list of all the terrible things I have hated about recent RPGs and shooters and are crossing them off one by one.
   
   The game is focused on attempting to push both sides of the spectrum, shooter and RPG, as equally as possible. During an interview, Randy Pitchford (CEO of Gearbox) cited Fallout 3 as a fantastic game for its RPG elements, but considerably less fantastic in its shooting physics and feel. Therefore, Borderlands wants to make sure both elements are equally well developed and fun to play.
   
   Another great capability of Borderlands is the persistent character aspect coupled with the drop-in drop-out multiplayer style. This means players can play the same character in single and multiplayer modes while easily joining and leaving their friends' games at will. Pitchford referenced Diablo as a similar sample for how the looting and multiplayer aspects of the game will feel. This, to me, is fantastic. The whole idea behind multiplayer being easy to access and use automatically sets Borderlands a head's length above the rest, especially when compared to so many of the epic failures that have come before it *cough* Fable II *cough*. When I consider all this along with the fact that the game is the first 4 player co-op experience of its kind, I am truly impressed with their knowledge and foresight.
   
   The graphics are also an aspect of the game that have really never been done before and are having and ever growing propensity to make me love them. Essentially, the artists of the game decided to see what it would be like if they attempted to render the actual concept art into the game! What ensued was an artistic style that perfectly resembled the way the artists intended it to be without passing through an area of object re-modeling that would have ultimately watered down the heart of the game's visual stylings. Kudos to the designers for making this out-of-the-box decision.
   
   There are still a few things up in the air about Borderlands that I hope to have addressed in the coming months, but I am almost surely locked into buying this game at release. The information being released about the game seems to be at a constant pace, and I doubt there will be many of my curiosities left unsatisfied by the time the release rolls around... save for actually playing it, of course. More or less what I am saying is that unless they somehow manage to magically obliterate the beautiful game I have seen thus far, it will be spinning firmly in my Xbox on October 20th.
   
   Cheers,
   Seripha

   
   

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Seripha has 4 comment s on this chronicle.

1. SweetIceCream
   Posted On Jul 28 2009

   You know what i really dont play rpgs but if we have gog people playing it seems like its going to be a really fun coop!

2. Seripha
   Posted On Jul 28 2009

   [This chronicle comment has been deleted by the chronicle owner]

3. Dynafire
   Posted On Jul 28 2009

   I too am looking forward to this game, and will likely be playing it on launch day as well. Let's not forget that damage being represented with numbers is awesome.

4. BEN
   Posted On Jul 28 2009

   What a preview! Like we talked about at our video game event last weekend, I'm down to pick this up, as it sounds like we'll have a nice GoG group of people to play the co-op with
   
   If/When we get a formal game review element of this community built, I want you on the writing staff, period.