Not sure if I should ve made this a PM but hey, thats what the spoiler is for....
BL3 isnt a bad game. Its actually surprisingly good and the things that I find annoying are minor stuff. I played a LOT, with my wife and we had fun doing it but heres the thing.....
Borderlands is a pretty famous franchise and they built this kind of epic reputation over the years. BL2 is an all-time favorite and to be honest....it was the baseline for my judgement. Borderlands 3....even tho it adds some new stuff, quality of life improvements and it certainly ups the visual presentation (not that it was really needed IMO) absolutely
blew its chance to improve on the borderlands universe. I ve made a few walls of text on the gearbox forums describing my judgement and it cetainly has its fair share of issues that deserve criticism. BL3 is not a bad game....its just that it isnt the great game that I was expecting and that is already a disappointment.
I m not gonna "hate" on Borderlands 3 because its not a bad game. But it wasted an opportunity that it wont be able to reclaim. Their take and worse, their doubling down on (IMO) wrong decisions make that crystal clear. They butchered the characters that I came to love in Borderlands, they improve gunplay but in such a small way that I m not sure if its really an improvement or simply "playing it save". I like the maps overall but they just drive the fact home how small BL3 is compared to BL2. Among the bad things is the absolutely pointless grinding and in this game its a massive waste of time...not the entertaining activity that it was in BL2. For months Gearbox advertised and hyped the Mayhem system which sounded cool and was just horribly implemented. Their rework (because their first attempt pretty much tanked) is equally bad proving they have no idea what the players want.
I ve got my value out of it but I m not going to touch it again. Borderlands 3 left a tasty taste in my mouth and from what I can read they havent been able to reverse the course.
If I would ve known what I know today I wouldnt have bought it.....I would ve stayed in my Borderlands 2 bubble and simply enjoyed the game. BL3 crushed some of my dreams. And the fact that I trusted Gearbox to deliver on this only makes it worse. I broke one of my rules to never pre-order yet I shelled out full prize for BL3, full of trust and hope...so sure that they simply cannot mess this up. I guess the joke is on me. You could argue that this is "my" problem because of unrealistic expectations and I wont deny that. Thats why I dont condemn Borderlands 3.....it simply was a bad purchase "for me" thats all.
Regarding Torchlight, I consider myself a Torchlight fanboy based on the hours I spent on the game across several launchers.
This is my steam review.
This is what I remember when I talk about Star Citizen and how utterly impossible the game will be to realize. Its not so much what CIG is able to accomplish. Its what people are
expecting from the finished game which makes it a problem. You have a few folks who constantly adjust their exectations and downgrade their view in order to stay aligned with the pro-track. Glossing over previous lies, justifying bad decisions and adapting to a lesser, less perfect version so they can continue to preach the "this is fun for me" gospel that comes up like clockwork. No doubt a lot of people reserve judgement or critical thoughts until Star Citizen is delivered. When they can be "sure" this is what they are going to get.
It wont be pretty.
Star Citizen wont ever be accepted as "a good game", not after the money and emotions that were invested and laid bare over the years. People will hold grudges. And it can be expected that Star Citizen will be a
much lesser version on release that Borderlands 3 was (content, functionality, complexity, depth). I predict this because I have never seen this level of hype generated, harvested and used in my years as a gamer. It lead to fanatical statements and cult like devotion. It lead to a monstrous waste of time and money. And I think that CIG supported and even designed a lof of these things. They certainly are not "innocent" in how excessive expectations are running off the trail.
I dont think that Star Citizen will simply "fail" like some people declare who think thats
fine. It suggests an honest attempt that doesnt come to fruition because of outside reasons. CIG will eventually show that they never had a chance to deliver SC to begin with. If some select few decide that the current shadow of a game is a good enough attempt already to justify their trust, their hope and their money then I know that the next scam is just around the corner when this one collapses. If somebody takes advantage of your goodwill, plays you for a fool or simply disregards you as a mere cash cow....that is not okay and those people will certainly dont feel "fine".
But yeah...in for the ride. You know the gearbox forums held a lot of similarities to SC discussions because you say something critical or voice disappointment, the fanboys will come to the rescue. Its just noteworthy how much more sane, self-regulatory and fair the environment is compared to every place discussing Star Citizen I know about. SC is the most controversial, most extreme topic I ve ever witnessed as a gamer.