Retrofitting a story.

So Borderlands 2 tells is meant to be a direct sequel to Borderlands. Except, all the story elements, and personalities of the characters are pulled from no where. Which is fine, it is used to make the game more interesting, and make the player care about the situation.

If you play the original Borderlands, it is made clear that all playable characters are only here for money. They have little to no personality, we get a few words of backstory, and now they are "vault hunters" and are here for fame and fortune. It is not exactly deep. The various antagonists get much more in the way of story and personality, but they are all dead by the end of the game.

Then you start Borderlands 2, you have 4 new characters, this time with backstory and personality out the ass. Which is good. However, you the meet all the playable characters from the first game (now as NPCs), and suddenly they are acting far different then what you would expect. Now the old characters have distinct personalities, and apparently are not just here for money, they want to protect the poor people of Pandora. Where did this come from?

No where. These personalities came from no where. There wasn't much to work with to base a sequel on after the last game, they had to make some up. The second game was more popular, and many of its players never played the first game. So, they get a pass on this.

System Shock 2 FINALLY Out again.

It took long enough. I am not getting paid to spread the word about this, I am just a fan that wants as many people as possible to play this masterwork of a game. It is out now on "Good Old Games" (GOG), and is supposed to come to Steam later this year. GOG has an exclusivity contract for the game for the next 5 to 6 months, after which it will likely show up on Steam, hopefully in time for the summer sale.

Greetings insect.

Originally released in 1999, System Shock 2 was mind blowing at the time, and far beyond anything else on the market at the time. While today the graphics are not much to look at, the gameplay and story are still far beyond most of the other games out there.

If you are wondering what this game is like, it is a lot like the first Bioshock. However, it is much harder, and has actual RPG elements, not just the window dressing of them. "Deus Ex" might be a better comparison now that I think of it. The point being that it is a first person game, with guns, and with lots of stats and skills to keep track of, that allow you to approach the same situations in many different ways. This leads to a very high replay value.

So pick it up on GOG http://www.gog.com/gamecard/system_shock_2. Or wait for the Steam release. Either way, you owe it to yourself to play this masterwork.