Jack carried the entire BL2 on his shoulders. There are some other hillairous characters like Dr. Zed and Mr. Torque but they have little screen time. Also the main plot is miles better than all the rest. First game had the one of the worst endings in..any game not just BL series. There are only a handful of ppl who prefer the 1st over the others mostly because they're jsut nostalgic for some reason? The weapons are factually worse/less than anything else in the game so maybe they prefer more generic weapons?
“Factually”? Do you understand what that word means? No, you just have an
opinion.
Here’s a fact: I have played BL1&2 many times on PS3 and PS4. To me, gunplay in BL1 shits all over BL2. The guns in 1
feel right, whereas in 2 they feel “floaty” and bad. Also, guns are a lot more
special in 1; if you find a good purple gun early on, there’s a good chance you will still be using it halfway thru the game. Find a good gold gun in 2? Chances are, you will switch to something else within two levels, because this white gun you just got is way better. I have split-screened with enough people and been to enough places on the internets to know I am far from the only one who feels this way, so fuck your “nostalgia” and “factually” bullshit.
(Also, gun proficiencies are a fuckton better than badass points.)
Now, story. Borderlands is a treasure-hunting game. What more do you need? You just wander around in a Mad Max-esque world, chancing into mini-stories where you kill the baddies and loot their shit. No overarching “story” needed! The only thing disappointing about the ending of BL1 to me was the fact it was over!
That said, I liked Jack a lot - he made me laugh out loud quite a bit! - but I thought the story in BL2 was stupid. A lot of pointless drama was shoe-horned in; way too much “relationship” and “woe is me” bullshit really dragged it down. Dialog was cringey AF. All that money spent on writers should have been spent on gameplay instead, and it shows.
(plus, they ruined the BL1 characters in BL2.)
Finally, characters. From a gameplay perspective:
Lilith >>>>> Maya
Brick >>>>> Salvador
Roland >>>>> Axton
Mordecai >>>>> Zero
I played BL1 all the way through as each of the four characters, including maxing out different skill branches within each one to see which I liked best. Different types of guns and playstyles made each one shine, making each playthrough different from the others. And, I didn’t have to suffer through unbearable dialogue and lectures, just equip guns and start blowing shit up.
I tried each character in BL2 and hated them all. I couldn’t even finish the game until Gaige came out. I immediately liked her and used her like Mordecai, then switched to anarchy and fell in love. Krieg I could never master, but had a lot of fun trying.
Sorry for the novella, but I am pretty sick of hearing that “everyone” hates one of my favorite games of all time. Also, fuck Randy Pitchford. Thanks.