Borderlands 3, Smash, and You.
How two unrelated games, developers, and communities can learn from each other.
It’s no secret I love Borderlands and love Smash. It’s also no secret that both games have gone through periods of exceptional challenges, both on the community side and the developer side. So, what can both games teach about each other?
Let’s hop in the way back machine. Super Smash Bros. Melee was one of the most hotly anticipated and well received games of all time, leading to a competitive scene that was wholly unintended but continues to adamantly (or stubbornly, depending on who you ask) survive to this day. Nintendo, out of touch as they tend to be with community interaction, was not happy about this. So when the inevitable sequel, Super Smash Bros. Brawl, was announced, they decided that the hyper-competitive nature Melee had spawned “needed” to be addressed.
“It’s a party game! We never intended for it to be a competitive game taken that seriously by people!” Nintendo pleaded, adding in one of the singular most invasive mechanics a fighting game (that wasn’t considered a fighting game by it’s own creator) ever devised: upon attempting to run, you had a 1% chance of tripping and straight up falling on your face. The reason? Because screw you competitive scene, enjoy unnecessary RNG. This and the removal of the never intended “Wave dashing” technique essentially shut down Brawl’s competitive scene before it even began.
What did Smash players do as a result? Well, the community split in two. The hardcore players staying behind and the more casual folks (and players who didn’t care either way but loved Smash) moved on to Brawl, followed by Smash 4 (Kerfuffle, as I call it.) The Melee community continued to endure throughout the years, simply unwilling to give up on their beloved game, especially now that Nintendo had let them know back then there was open disdain for their tournament antics.
As an apology of sorts and to create a more balanced and well rounded fighting game, Nintendo brought BandaiNamco of Tekken and Katamari fame (not that the latter has anything to do with this article, I just mention Katamari wherever I can) to right the ship and extend an olive branch to the Smash tournament scene. By and large, the hardcore players rejected this overture. There were prominent players who did make the jump, but the money and prestige was still in Melee, thus so was the community support. Nintendo had neglected and mismanaged the community for far too long, and the community turned their nose up at them. This extended to the latest entry of the series, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, which I find unfortunate as Ultimate really is the “Ultimate” version of the Smash series to me. I speak only from a fan perspective (though not one of tournament quality and skill) that Smash is in the best state it could possibly be, overall.
Where does Borderlands come into this story? Much like Melee, Borderlands as a series has Borderlands 2, which is considered by some fans to be the present pinnacle of the series. Loot distribution, content difficulty, and matchmaking are all on point, to name a few things people love about the game, and that’s before we delve into the widely adored tale of Handsome Jack. When Borderlands 3 came out, fans of the hardcore and casual variety came out in droves, anxious to see where the series would progress from there.
What we received on release was a heart wrenching saga of two incredibly loathsome antagonists who were modeled after Twitch streamers, and many of the core mechanics that had caused the game to have longevity far beyond what players and Gearbox ever envisioned were stripped bare or done away with entirely. Ultimate Vault Hunter Mode was removed (a move I support), Slag was removed in favor of Radiation (another great change), as well as replacing the Overpower levels with Mayhem Mode. From a personal standpoint, bullet reflection aside, I thoroughly enjoyed Mayhem Mode 1.0. This was not so for many others, and that is understandably so.
These issues compounded with Gearbox’s early nerfs of several weapons, instilling mistrust and disdain for how certain players saw the direction of Borderlands 3 which, much like Smash, caused a number of players to return to Borderlands 2. At that time, this seemed perfectly reasonable to me. The hardcore community wanted targeted loot drops, they wanted a Mayhem system that was less frustrating and random, but more directly challenging and rewarding, and they wanted more conventional raid bosses (though Maliwan Takedown was well received, and Guardian Takedown had much lauded boss encounters.)
That’s not to say my feeling has soured on those who wish to stay with Borderlands 2. Quite the contrary, I’ve always maintained players should enjoy what they like. Even now, a similar wave of discontent is in the World of Warcraft community, myself included, where there may very well be as many, if not more players playing The Burning Crusade Classic over “Retail” (the most current version of the game), and that’s before we even dive into Final Fantasy XIV’s impressive ascent this year.
We’re now two months away from Borderlands 3’s second birthday. The game that was released on September 13th, 2019 is a far cry away from the game in present day. Yet many of the stigmas of the game on release remain. From my time hosting The BorderCast, I’ve witnessed during the show’s live chat, in the comments sections, and on social media that there are players out there who still believe that Gearbox does nothing but nerf, that loot is not more evenly distributed to named enemies, and as a consequence of both, there remains little to no endgame in Borderlands 3. Provably, this is false.
To the first point: Gearbox did a few critical missteps early in the tenure of Borderlands 3 in nerfing several popular weapons and builds, which led to this persistently repeated belief by some the present day that Gearbox nerfs and does not buff. Community member Serifaz took the liberty of creating a spreadsheet (up to May 13th of 2021) outlining how many buffs and nerfs had been done and when. Nerf grand total: 41. Buff grand total: 345. Percentage of change that was considered a buff: ~89.5%. Raw numbers taken in this context, it’s extremely hard to justify, with integrity, that Gearbox only nerfs and does not counterweight those nerfs with buffs. One can concede that the quality of those nerfs is of a heavier weight than the buffs, but that is a far more nuanced debate for another time.
Point Two: Loot distribution in Borderlands 3 is in the best state it has possibly been in. Targeted farming suffered greatly in the first year of the lifespan of Borderlands 3, which was a contributing factor as to why popular community event “The Hunt” did not return in an official capacity in 2020. However, one year later and several content patches and updates received, The Hunt 2021 went on smoothly. It would be extremely difficult to run such an event at a high, competitive level if loot distribution had not become far more even and intensified. While one could argue there is more work to be done in this regard, it’s hard to say this aspect of the game is not in the best shape it’s ever been.
Finally we come to point three: Endgame replayability. Let’s compare the two in this instance. Borderlands 2’s endgame consisted of twenty four bosses, eleven of which were considered “raid bosses.” Borderlands 3 has thirty six boss encounters, and while only one is considered a “raid boss” (Hemovorous the Invincible or the Hemo/Vermi combination depending on the difficulty), the other thirty five are by no means less challenging. Four are in takedowns, six in proving grounds, two from seasonal events that are now permanently unlocked, three in the “Slaughter” events, and the rest being main game/DLC bosses. On top of all that, we have Arms Race which I find to be an exciting “proof of concept” idea that merges Borderlands style gun play with Battle Royale style replayability. Add in Mayhem 2.0’s eleven levels and the jump from level fifty to seventy-two now, and it’s becoming hard to credibly claim “there is no endgame.”
Therefore I’m forced to ask those who are still sticking to Borderlands 2 despite all of this information: Why? The issues people have raised were valid on Borderlands 3’s release to a heightened degree, but given the current state of the game when you lay out all of the statistics and features added in since launch, it’s hard to argue the game is not the closest it’s ever been to what even the most hardcore Borderlands 2 fan would consider “ideal.”
Is Borderlands 3 without flaw? No, it’s a very flawed game in some respects, much like Borderlands 2 was. Not necessarily in the same ways, but both games have their positive aspects, as well as their negative ones. My point isn’t to bash Borderlands 2 so players would flock to Borderlands 3, that would do a severe injustice to BL2 as it is and will remain one of my favorite games of all time, and one I owe my career to. What I’m trying to get at here is that I’ve found many players are acting on and speaking out using outdated information. This is the unfortunate trap that Smash created for itself with Brawl, and that Gearbox unintentionally created on Borderlands 3 release, a cautionary tale that extended even to such games as Destiny 2, Outriders, and Marvel’s Avengers. A trap that is exceedingly difficult, though not impossible, for a game to dig itself out from. Beginning that excavation process starts with education, and that’s why I’m writing this in the first place.
Ultimately, my goal is not to dissuade people from playing Borderlands 2 if they truly love that game. The beauty of gaming is we can always go back and revisit the classics (as I do with my yearly playthroughs of GoldenEye, Banjo-Kazooie, The Ocarina of Time, and of course Half-Life.) However, if you’re a fan of the series currently refusing to pick up Borderlands 3 again because of what it was like on release, I implore you to give the game a second look. You may find yourself pleasantly surprised at all there is to do.
-Mitsu
Need more of The Mitsu Show? Make sure to toss a follow on Twitter and consider checking out the show live on Twitch. Make sure to also catch The BorderCast on the official Borderlands channel at 2:00 PM ET, 11:00 AM PT!
