TSA Talks Borderlands 2 With Gearbox

Do you frequent the TSA Forums? If not then you missed out on a chance to ask  Matt Charles and Anthony Burch, Producer and Writer for Borderlands 2 respectively, a question or two.

Some of the questions asked by forum members have already been covered in our hands on feature so did your question pass my strict selection criteria (ahem) and reach the ears of Gearbox?

More importantly what cheeses do the team prefer? Read on and find out. 

TSA: Can players jump straight in to Borderlands 2, i.e. can they get by without any knowledge of Borderlands 1?

[drop2]AB: We re-introduce all our returning characters, so new players won’t be completely lost the first time they meet Claptrap, for instance. That said, Borderlands 2 will be a more rewarding experience if you’ve played the first game and its DLC. We answer a few lingering questions from the first game, and we play around with returning characters in ways you (hopefully) won’t expect and will be pleasantly surprised by.

We know about the eight weapons manufacturers, are there any interesting new weapon types? (Mines, flamethrowers, acid sprayers, chainsaws, swords, tasers, pepper spray, etc.)

AB: Yup. Many of our guns have “E-Tech” variants (the “E” stands for “Eridium,” a priceless alien element found on Pandora) that modify them in crazy-ass ways. An assault rifle becomes a laser blaster. A sniper rifle becomes a rail gun, and so on.

I believe one of the characters has a weapons turret, are there – or did you think about – any other types of fixed weapons that can be activated? (Mortars, cannons, turrets, catapults, ballista, trebuchet)

AB: We’ve got stationary turrets and cannons in the game, as well as some interesting mobile weaponry you’ll find on our new Bandit Technical vehicle.

MC: A trebuchet would be awesome!

Is it possible to kill a Claptrap?

AB: If you’re Handsome Jack? Hell yes. When our game starts, nearly all of the CL4P-TP product line has been wiped out by a massive Hyperion recall following Claptrap’s New Robot Revolution.

If you’re a player? No, because Claptrap is a friendly NPC character and if you killed him the game would break and you’d be like “DAMMIT WHY DID YOU LET ME DO THAT I HATE YOU GEARBOX”

Which sadist created the Skags?

MC: Matthew Armstrong (Director of Borderlands) and Matt VanDolen. Sadist, genius, both – who can say?

The buggies now seat four players, are there any other forms of transportation? (Boats, hovercraft, planes, helicopters, etc.)

AB: The Runner returns from the first game but we’ve completely overhauled it. It’s got independent suspension, its physics are improved across the board, it can powerslide, and chump bad guys ragdoll when you run them over. It’s considerably more amusing than it has any right to be.

Is there an alternative control method for the vehicles? I could never get them to drive where I wanted and a lot of our forum members had the same problems.

MC: Yes! In addition to the BL1-style controls, there are a variety of pre-set control schemes to choose from.

Will there be any benefits for players of Borderlands in Borderlands 2 (e.g. a save game from the first gives you a bonus weapon in 2)

MC: Yes – if we can detect a save file from Borderlands 1 on the system, you’ll unlock a unique custom skin and head for all your Borderlands 2 characters.

Were you surprised by the success of Borderlands? The most recent Official PlayStation Magazine (UK) seems to suggest you were and that creating DLC for Borderlands held up the development of other games.

MC: Near to the first game’s release, we felt very good about what we had made, but you never really know if something’s going to catch on or get big until after it’s out there in the world. So, I guess you could say that was a pleasant surprise or relief for us. We carried that momentum through to the DLC projects which let us explore new ideas very quickly. I wouldn’t say that DLC held up development of the sequel – working with a smaller team on the DLCs helped us solve a lot of design questions we wouldn’t have been in a position to answer if we had started the sequel right away.

The games feature many characters, are any of the based on the staff at Gearbox – or anyone else?

AB: A few characters are actually voiced by Gearbox staff. Dave Eddings voices Claptrap, Mikey Neumann voices Scooter, and Randy Pitchford voices Crazy Earl.

To he best of my knowledge, however, no character is actually based on a Gearbox staff member – Scooter, for instance, is a mass murderer. In reality, Mikey has murdered no more than one or two people, tops.

What is your favourite new addition to the franchise? (Character, weapon, enemy, etc.)

AB: Two words:

Torgue. Shotguns.

Since all Torgue weapons in the game now fire explosive rounds, Torgue shotguns blast a frigging hail of explosive pellets at your enemies. While the explosive pellets travel a bit slower than conventional bullets (which forces you to play more skilfully by leading your targets a bit), every pellet has its own explosive blast radius.

The upshot of all this is that you can fire a high-level Torgue shotgun into a crowd of skags and, if they’re low enough on health, they’ll all gib simultaneously.

Torgue shotguns taught me what it is to be a man.

And finally.. list in order of preference your top three cheeses along with a brief explanation as to why they are your favourites.

1. Monterey Jack, because it is the name of a Rescue Rangers character.
2. Cheddar.
3. Monterey Jack again.

Thanks to Matt and Anthony for taking time to answer the questions although I do feel they cheated somewhat on the cheeses.

Borderlands 2 is out mid September and from they sections I have played it’s going to be as awesome as double Monterey Jack.