I come to you to propose, or even do myself if need be, as you did unto the Original Borderlands: by reincarnating it, rebuilding it from the ground up to celebrate everything there is to love about Borderlands.
Where did it go wrong?
It was slimmed down and simplified immensely, to the point of feeling like Borderlands as a Scouring Pad feels on your genitals on a dry day. It didn't have the hectic panic while having all these unnecessary tapping bits. It didn't have enough depth to make a little kid want to think twice about wading in, let alone pee in it. It was as insipid as making conversation at a party with that forty year old used car salesman still living his college football life.
It was cheap, if you're looking for the shorthand there.
So why BLL2?
Because I believe in trying again, and so do you. Borderlands 2 was a reinvention. Every little thing was improved upon to a point where you can only recognise the two from the details put down on paper, because it was evolved enough to be a mew identity. NPC AI changing how they attack you making it an incredible pain in the arse without having to be a tank race; Weapon Characterisation making manufacturers incredibly unique; Conversation! You don't get a text box blurb and a few lines from someone making a cheeky remark, you get several lines as you advance making every character you see a new friend of yours who has made an impact on you.
In saying that, why not do the same for Borderlands Legends? We can improve or change it in two ways depending on what direction it's agreed to go.
Direction 1: True to the frantic gameplay of Borderlands.
You had the right idea at first. Top down, enemies everywhere, doing everything you would normally do in a Borderlands game. But the controls were janky, the scenes were stagnant, and frankly the whole thing reeked of inexpense. The game was so pared down that saying it had RPG elements feels overblown.
So I propose a halfway point: Twin Stick Shooter. Have your characters raid an old Dahl research base or arcology, explore and delve their way down through psychos and Dahl Automated systems; deviate through an adjacent Atlas station to uncover secret equipment; all along the way you unlock equipment and weapons for you to use. Drop the levelling system, make all weapons and enemies static, and earn your new abilities and options with each and every run.
Direction 2: Frantic in a different fashion
Playing BL, you don't just sit and shoot. It isn't Gears of War, where parking your arse in place as you suffer wave after wave of enemies. It's more like Halo, where cover is only used while you're waiting for your shield to recharge, if you even need to do such a thing. You spend your time dodging rifle fire from Hyperion, backtracking from Psychos, and trying to circle around Spiderants to shoot them up the clacker.
Since we're not creating another FPS, the closest one could come to similar style is a Side Scrolling Shooter. One stick moves while the other aims, jumping about on platforms, again dodging rifle fire and attacks from whomever is around. For an easy comparison, see Metal Slug. Lets face it, that's a fun fukkin game. Why not add in that little spin by adding more Customisation of characters, and the art style of Borderlands to it.
Direction 3: Where BL Legends probably should have gone by Taking Its Goddamned Time
This significantly changes Borderlands. Instead of a top down drag and click, why not a tactical rpg? An opera, with a large cast of characters that you can not only interact with, but control on the battlefield.
This changes the game from the hectic style that epitomises Borderlands into the complete opposite, but that's where the first BL Legends probably should have headed with its pace. You took cover to help defend from attacks. You tried to take advantage of what pitiful terrain there was to gain any sort of Defence from oncoming baddies.
So send it on the right track and make it a tactical game. Keep key features, like guns and elemental effects, action skills, and skill trees, and change them to suit the turn based environment. Introduce an initiative system individual to characters and classes.
Atop that, rather than just leave it at just a progressive story line, throw in an MMO portion. Allow players to interact with each other, helping through story encounters, or challenging each other in an arena, whether it's live or a play by mail. Maybe there is potential in choosing a faction in a gun corporation and then taking on opposing factions?
What do you want to keep in BLL2?
Vault Hunters, obviously
The first four characters should be Vault Hunters, new and/or old. All Characters will have Skill Trees each with their distinct styles. In the case of Direction 2, there would be a number of additional characters that won't necessarily be Vault Hunters, but would have skill trees nonetheless.
Lasers and Cryo, and even Nuculear
While they may not have appeared in Borderlands 2, and it has been written in the reasons why, I'm sure it wouldn't be too difficult to have someone on Elpis to start their own moon cannon and shoot down the equipment for the vault hunters. Shit, they could email it to them and it would digistruct at their whim.
Kickslides, Mantling, and Power Slams
Borderlands 3 introduced all of these together. So why not add them with gameplay. Kicksliding enemies as you move, finishing move/sprint with a devastating power slam. Couple all of that with elemental artifacts and melee weapons, and you have game changing effects. To boot, use those abilities to create puzzles. Slam on this, kickslide under that, mantle up on that and boom: access to the raid dungeon.
What additions or changes would or could be made?
The return of S&S Munitions/Accessories
In Borderlands 2, they had up and disappeared to be essentially replaced by Bandit guns. And that's fair enough. S&S weren't just characterised by large magazine sizes, though. That was a benefit. They were aftermarket gun manufacturers, pulling pieces from here, there and everywhere. So how about a customisation station? Dismantle the innumerable guns you pick up and make your own. Alternatively: Return of the Grinder; or custom gun mod shop
Location, Location, Location
We've explored much of one side of Pandora, so much so that Borderlands Pre-sequel moved up to the moon. Beating a dead horse is far from appropriate, so this is where the player is put on a new continent or, and this could be a better choice, a new planet. There are many more vaults out there, so why not explore those locales? And in addition to that, there would be new enemies and challenges to take that on.
More Action Skills
While it's nice to have an action skill to activate in the middle of a fight in Borderlands, only one is a terrible idea in a Turn Based Game. Sure, have an iconic action skill that can change the flow of battle, and improve upon that as well. But have a little more variety. Special attacks with certain guns, or general action abilities that could help but not change the game significantly.
New skill system
Fuck skill trees. I know its a staple, but so is first person. Lets start collecting skills like Baseball cards, or S&S Non Fungible Tokens, or echo carts and build a sega tower of power. Why not all three? Have different characters collect in different ways, with Sirens collecting Baseball Cards of their favourite siren characters, and the soldier doing a tower of power.
Go Medieval on their arse
It's been a thing since the start. Everyone has some sort of melee weapon on them, whether it's a weapon attachment or an actual weapon the character has. So why not expand on that? Swords, hammers, daggers, axes. Exemplify them all in their own equipment addon, or even in their action skills. Put in a series of Bows and crossbows as new weapon classes from certain manufacturers. Shields are suddenly more powerful from a particular facing and become cover.
If theres one thing everyone loves, its heavy weapons. Heavy machine guns, rocket pods, gauss cannons, grenade launchers. Im sure Dahl has never stopped at just personal arms. Bandits sure haven't, what with their barrel lobbers mounted on the back of off road utes, and their hulking goliaths slinging Chainguns at you. Where would they get that aside from the underside of an abandoned Dahl Jet? And why the hell can't I do the same goddamned thing?
“Siren Six”?
For the turn based game, the siren character can be the narrator, with the added bonus of being the rewind button, sending players back to the last turn (before everything went bad)
Or be Ava, fleshing out her own story leading into other games.
Monetary Value
Cash in the game is nigh useless. I collect it, i sell weapons, i do this and that an end up with a phat bank account that literally can't tally how much I have. Let's use it as an EXP gauge. Bigger enemies drop bigger cash value and we can make the EXP bar a bit flashier.
Manufacturer HUDS
As the player cycles through their squad, each character has a different menu hud themed to their affiliation, or applied based on their shielding or echo device, and/or are individually customisable.
What stories would you involve your characters in?
The base story would follow our primary Vault Hunters, having them counter the next big threat on or from Pandora. With the Siren Twins gone, and the Pandora Vault key permanently closed, there is always bound to be a new rival to rise up. Maybe its something in the distance. Maybe its a lot closer to home. But enemies don't ever stop at one; Psychos may be an ever present problem but so are corporations: Atlas' Crimson Lance, Hyperion, Dahl Lost Legion, Maliwan Katagawa Family. All big Corporation Armys that can be coming down to rain hell on Sanctuary at every angle when your rag tag squad of misfits aren't wrecking their plans from the inside out. Or maybe supporting, depending on your diplomatic relationships.
Then when you aren't bringing down God from their Throne, every expansion has to have its own story arc involving unique characters that "need" to come along to tell their story. And you know what, there is a lot of story that just isnt covered. Take Commandant Steele. She died without even a fight. So lets do some time travelling to find out how she came to be. Surely someone somewhere has found some sort of time travel. Let's toy with that.
So whats the moral of my pitch?
Do more for your games. Tell more stories in a world you love. Play the tactics game you want to see in the world, a game that a portion of the world wants to explore.
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