The GWJ Adventure Game Club - Game 19: Tales from the Borderlands

Tales from the Borderlands (2014)

IMAGE(https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/steam/apps/330830/header.jpg)

In this episodic point-and-click graphic adventure game (which takes place after Borderlands 2), you play as both Rhys and Fiona. Rhys has cybernetic parts and works for a large corporation (Hyperion), and Fiona is a con-artist equipped with a single-shot pistol which can be upgraded with elemental damage. Thrown together by circumstances, they end up gathering a motley crew to fend off the evil corporation and reach one of Pandora's famed vaults.

In addition to a smashin' soundtrack, the game boasts some true star quality when it comes to voice acting: Troy Baker, Laura Bailey, Chris Hardwick, Erin Yvette, Patrick Warburton, Nolan North,... Yes, Claptrap's in the game, and the game is hilarious.

You can find the wikipedia page here, the usual spoiler warning applies. How Long to Beat estimates about 10 hours to completion (five episodes, roughly two hours each). Available on Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, OS X, Xbox 360, iOS, and Android!

You can find the main thread over this way. We'll be playing Tales from the Borderlands through May 2020, with an extra month for stragglers.

I have very strong memories of this game, and I'm really looking forward to replaying it. Here's a little taste:

Makes a strong case for my favorite Telltale game series (and I do love several of them dearly), and I'd love to be able to experience it again for the first time....

I can't talk about Tales without the obligatory mention of its incredible soundtrack - each episode has at least one, sometimes two, of the best song choices for a game in the industry. (see: video posted in the OP for an example)

I've finished this and the original Borderlands. Question to anyone who has played through Tales but played Borderlands 2 before it - do you think the experience is enhanced in any significant way having played BL2 first or is Tales so much its own thing that it makes little to no difference?

Could having played Tales retroactively add more flavor to Borderlands 2? Asking because I picked up BL2 during the Christmas sales.

I'm curious to get to this again. When it first released I avoided it because despite really enjoying BL1 and 2, that didn't extend to how 2 was written. But it became a PS+ freebie, so I checked it out, and quite enjoyed it. However, now we're in a time where I avoided 3 almost entirely due to Pitchford stink (and things like the Troy Baker sitch), so I wonder what this will be like.

AUs_TBirD wrote:

I've finished this and the original Borderlands. Question to anyone who has played through Tales but played Borderlands 2 before it - do you think the experience is enhanced in any significant way having played BL2 first or is Tales so much its own thing that it makes little to no difference?

Just to expand on my BL2 thoughts and experience, Handsome Jack is far more effective and far less tedious and annoying in Tales than in 2, so you could say it enhanced my experience because I was pleasantly surprised.

AUs_TBirD wrote:

I've finished this and the original Borderlands. Question to anyone who has played through Tales but played Borderlands 2 before it - do you think the experience is enhanced in any significant way having played BL2 first or is Tales so much its own thing that it makes little to no difference?

I'd say the experience will be much much better if you've played BL2, but Tales will still hold up in its own if you haven't. Not having played BL2 is definitely not a reason to skip Tales.

A big thing about BL2 vs the first game is that it introduced voice acting, and I feel like that makes a lot of the characters more relatable and memorable so you will remember a lot of interactions you had with them in BL2 as you go through Tales. So mostly, you will miss having those moments. I don't think you'll miss much about the story itself, though.

This looks cool, but am I missing something or is it not for sale, like anywhere?

EDIT: Oh, looks like it's free on XBOX Live? That'll work.

EDIT: Ah, bummer. XBox One version isn't available, only the 360 version.

Humm.

A thought occurs! As I was scrolling in my library of Twitch Prime games, I stumbled across Tales from the Borderlands. I don't remember when it was a freebie, but if you've been claiming your Prime games religiously as I have, you might have it somewhere in the Pile!

I probably should use this as an excuse to finally play through these. I've tried playing it twice before and only made it through the first episode... maybe it'll stick this time.

Eleima wrote:

A thought occurs! As I was scrolling in my library of Twitch Prime games, I stumbled across Tales from the Borderlands. I don't remember when it was a freebie, but if you've been claiming your Prime games religiously as I have, you might have it somewhere in the Pile!

OMG I do have it on Twitch Prime! Thanks for reminding me of that. Funny thing is that I searched for it in GOG Galaxy but I forgot that it does not know what games I have on Twitch.

Ah, bummer. I don't have it on Twitch either. Oh, well, I'll read along.

Well, it's been pretty quiet in here. Nothing like the game at all! I had great fun diving back in last night and streamed the first episode. It's actually kinda hilarious, because I remember a few key moments, the credit scenes, and the basic premise, but I've forgotten soooooooo much, and it's been a complete delight. Loving it.

I just finished Chapter 2, and it's honestly bumming me out a bit, knowing what's in store for all the outside parties. This is the first Telltale experience I've played/replayed since its sh*tty collapse, and it really highlights that they had a paradigm that worked very well when it was working. But there's also the Borderlands side. They found a heart in the Borderlands setting, which in itself isn't miraculous because there was so much potential in that setting, but I do think it's miraculous they were able to make a game with it. There are all these parts, none of them very original, but all were waiting for someone to come along and take the satirical nihilistic farce, the corporate intrigues and abuses, the scuz and junk, the cartoonish Mad Maxian vibe, the desperate colonizers lured to a hellhole with false promises which is the one good idea in Star Trek V, and all the rest, and turn it into something great, and I think they did. My favorite bit so far is when Sasha (pretty sure it was Sasha) spits "You live like us now. Wait for more powerful people to kill each other, then take their stuff." There was a lot of meat on the Borderlands bone that got slathered in extended D&D jokes (not the venue, but I could go on for a while about how irritating "Tiny Tina's Assault on Dragonkeep" is). I'll go on staying in the moment, which is all wonderful, but I do feel melancholy.

This is tricky, SpaceP. First off, there are some points I fiercely disagree with, if only that the Borderlands setting has no heart. There's so much in that setting, from the very first game. It's there if you look for it, it's in the side quests, it's in the the descriptions, the dialog, the banter, the soundtrack. That you may have missed it, or not clicked with it does not negate that. Tales did a lot of building, I'll not dispute that, but it's so FULL with callbacks to the games, to the world that's been already fleshed out in three games (Borderlands, Borderlands 2 and the Borderlands pre-sequel). And it's so evident in the host of callbacks to the games.

Spoiler:

They even mention Jack's ex girlfriend, Nisha, whom I'd totally forgotten about! For shame!

I'd almost be so bold as to say it's basically fanfiction (that's not a knock on ff, I both read and write fanfiction).
Also disagree on the Tiny Tina DLC, which I think you'll find is one of the most popular DLCs in the fandom.

However, I do understand the melancholy. The end of Telltale was a sad one. Not just sad, it almost made me a bit furious (if a bit unsurprised, considering what I know of labor labors in the US - or lack thereof).
But, to tell the truth, I've been trying to set that aside. I'm not saying you should do the same, but it's what I've been doing (and it's unusual for me, I'm typically a staunch supporter of "can't separate the art from the artist). Because it's a wonderful game that was created by the hard work of so many talented people. And I don't want to diminish that (if that makes any sense, but that's where I'm at).

Incidentally, I'm planning my final stream tonight at 9pm local time (that's 3pm Eastern), so if any of you are around, you're more than welcome to come and "backseat" my dialog options.

Yeah, I know I'm against consensus on TTAoD, and while I think the conceit is cute, few of the jokes really landed well for me, and...games are already very much like having a railroading DM, I don't think it needs to be brought up again and again. But also I think that while the ideas and themes the story is actually about are compelling, the previous tone and the characters involved make it really misconceived. It was a bit of "rough draft-itis" to say there was no heart in the setting, because you're right Eleima, there totally was at times, but it was...often very vestigial or buried too deep under reference jokes. I think a perfect illustration of how I feel is:

Spoiler:

I felt much more for Rhys thinking he'd lost Loader Bot (I'm not sure how variable Rhys can be, so maybe this plays out differently for others), than I did for Tiny Tina actually losing Roland.

I would love a discussion on why I think all that is, but I'd hate to swarm out the game we're playing talking about another game, relevant though that may be, especially when it's a game this great!

I finished, and, honestly, I'm a little gobsmacked, I remember liking Episode 5, but I had either forgotten how amazing it is, or maybe I made more harmonious choices or something, whatever it was, I came out of the end credits feeling a bit floored. I'm so glad I got this excuse to revisit it.

I do hate the idea of being Pedantic Design/Structure Wonk, but I do think the game might have benefited from another episode:

Spoiler:

I feel like we needed to, somehow, be someone there when Vallory activates Gortys, even though I think that sequence works really well. It is a bit weird how Gortys being intended to fight a Vault monster gets jammed into the recap (unless I missed or am forgetting something), and suddenly everyone's aware that's how Vaults work, since they very much didn't seem aware of that before, and I think it would help the "Last time we were all apart" idea land better.

I can definitely see the fan fiction designation, as they really are scribbling in the margins and borders of the main series. That's something Telltale would try again with Game of Thrones with muuuuuuuch less success (I think you could argue that game is fan fiction, and it is a knock), but it works really wonderfully here.

I find "likeability" not that important of a trait, even though I find the central cast exceptionally likeable. Probably just because the story takes their motivations and humanity very seriously. The eyeball and face bits are very funny and Borderlands-y, but they also make sure to emphasize that Fiona and Rhys are squiked out by them. Honestly, it's weirdly fun to play people this inept and in over their heads. And they're impressively expressive, too, I think my biggest laugh was Fiona angrily inserting herself in Rhys and Sasha's eyeline, then her getting freaked and looking away when Scooter got in hers (Scooter: much more tolerable without so many inbreeding jokes).

Speaking of tolerable, I can't stress enough how much more Handsome Jack works in Tales than in 2, if only for the raw satisfaction of telling him he's very corny, turning off his monitors, and then finally getting him to shut the f*ck up before his final defeat. The Harvey of Farscape fame dynamic works very well for him.

Episode 5 has, hands down, the best opening. Everything on Helios might be one of my favorite sequences in games, actually, going from funny and silly and satirical to scary and desperate to regretful. I mean, how often do games make people feel regret?

It is very dense with callbacks and references, but unlike a certain huge trilogy concluding slog of tedious reverence that is also dense with callbacks, there's also admirable restraint in their use, and the best of them are really enriching. The PCs that show up are sensibly picked and used really well, especially the appearance of:

Spoiler:

Brick and Mordecai in an antagonistic role.

I went on for a while, so I'll just conclude with I went in expecting to enjoy it, but emerged realizing I loved it.