That's the scary part. I look at a lot of the stuff Jack has done, up to and including taunting and being a smart ass, and realized...

"I've been that hero. ... I've been that hero recently. Oh dear $Deity, I've been that hero time and again in Fallout!"

EDIT: The second scary thing: It was two-for-one rental day at the shop where I got Borderlands 2. Spec Ops: The Line was the OTHER game I got!!!

Heel Realization?
Villainous BSOD?
My God, What Have I Done?
Obliviously Evil?
Tears of Remorse?

TV Tropes Wil Ruin Your Life?

I had been planning to write something today. Stahl, you know who to thank for the fact that I now have about 25 hours of TVTropes queued.

I don't get why self control and moderation is so difficult for people....

I try my best to help them learn!

I've never been able to get lost in tvtropes like I can in wikipedia. Dunno why, just never been there for me.

You realize we're gamers right?

I am a gamer. I am able to moderate and self-control myself. Ergo, gamers are able to moderate and self-control themselves.

Penalty box. Now.

This isn't hockey.

Prove it.

Civilization.

Ok, DLC's done and dusted (and helping friends level to 50 so as to have a frickin CHANCE with the next Seraph guardian)

Hammerlock's DLC is...rather good! Enemies are of the "wave" type, and at level 50, true-vault mode, unremittingly horrible. Even with my level 50 Axton versus the capped-out (1st run through) level 36-ish bandit savages wasn't necessarily a cakewalk. Of special import are the life-suck and slow-type of witchdoctors, you will HATE them, considering one insta-drained me of something like 30k health (or about half of my total)

I'm really impressed at the enemy AI (Witchdoctors) as they just buff/debuff and level their buddies cleverly. Shoot them in the face with many rockets of hurty-badness.

The various beasts and whatnot are mostly grist for the various bullet-spewing armaments you're carrying with you but they have improved resistances and tend to bowl your ass over with the many charge options they have. The very armoured scorpion-thingies in particular like to swarm and keep you knocked about, cheap but an effective technique.

Basic stuff:
Get some GOOD corrosive weapons (armoured opponents) and adjust weaponry to resistances. Vehicular combat is limited, but nasty (lev 50 especially) but for the main, you're not running ass-backwards across the countryside unless you manage to pick up the sidequests in some weird order (like me)

General combat:
Challenging, will weed out the "run and kill" in favour of "use cover and abilities" people. The human waves in the latter part of the DLC was rather nasty, considering the non-stop levelling of the various witchdoctory bastards. Bring friends with big guns. And a Gunzerker for bait and ammo regen.

Boss-fights:
Straight-forward, use cover, kill with many, many bullets. As usual, see the weak spot, shoot the weak spot. The use of meshed "Jack Masks" was inspired and rather creepy. In a "The clown's staring at me through the fence, mommy" way...

People:
Hammerlock's as much use as Claptrap when it comes to useful information and you sort of get the impression that he'd rather be relaxing in the sauna with a few Cabana boys (NEVER GIS "Cabana Boy" with safe-search off. Protip.) The main villain was a trifle weak (the animals are far scarier) and more in theme with Dr Venture sort of baddie. (Also, best boss-boss-fight, ever)

Loot:
Oh unholy fucksticks! LOOOOOOT. The inclusion of GOLD level-dependant mods (ie: Legendary [type]) drops at endboss is awesome and a VERY good reason to get the DLC, with purples (and odd e-tech drops a lot more common) of decent ability. Frankly, the best drops I've seen - good mix and minimal trash. Note: You are unable to farm the boss for good lootin's (cry) and you can't save-scum.
On "post-warrior completion" the Assassin mod (Z3ro instantly regains 10% of health on entering stealth) dropped, it's especially nice.

Note: Venomous the arrrrghitscominggetitoffme does drop the Legendary mod, but it's a lot more random and frankly, that bastard takes forever to kill off (Notice how there's no Varqid & Vehicular maps? It'd make farming his sorry ass too easy)

Guardian Notes:
Note that the Yellowjacket (Boss drop) is to be the concession-weapon for the Seraph-guardian (Idunnohisname The Invincible) but having a level 50 Trespasser (Obtained from Mordy, during the Animal Exploitation revisted quest) will be a LOT more useful.
As there is almost-constant zap (electrical) hurt, Neogenator may be preferred over the Bee (Sacrilege!) or some "immune to electrical damage" thingy. Guns, ammo, beer and ice required, so don't expect to farm him solo (The gunzerker may, theoretically, be able to. If using regen ammo mod and an immunity shield.)

Also, you're going to need a ton of Eridium, to summon the "hidden" raidboss (Strider, get in a fan-boat and dps its ass using corrosive weapons, use aggro annd cover as it runs a lot faster than you guys on foot) and if you leave the hunter's grotto, it resets the eridium "baskets" (Much to our dispair.)

"Hidden boss" is a beserker savage (It's over 9000!) evolving to "raid boss" level. Not too hard to do (especially if your assassin's pruning the opposition) but hard to kill (Please kill the witchdoctor once he's evolved to boss, or you're just asking for it.) Vehicular combat (Flamethrower!) helps, as do slowing/status effects (Electroball, corrosion, vehicular ramming)

Final thoughts:
Good DLC, the boss looting alone is worth the price, disappointing that he's not farmable. Less character than the previous 2 but a lot better constructed - the map design and locations are inspired...probabily by Skyrim:) Points off for a poo-quest achievement (Is this WOW?) points on for enemy AI and that screaming midget noise. You know the one. Eggggglgh. Fast levelling (some big xp gains) coupled with some really good gear and an adventure in a place where players are expected to develop teamwork. Good times.

Oh, and I can't wait for the "Assualt on the Hyperion Battle-barge in the sky" DLC - the crashed ship textures and meshes have fueled our hunger for some good old-fashioned Halo-type carnage with loaders and engineers:)

-Tir, out.

Probably not the best choice. I tend to go hyper aggressive against my foes and finish games out pretty quickly.

Those and a lot more. Add to that I'm a freelancer and use graphic violence the same way a landscape artist uses a paintbrush, and...Come close to defeating an enemy, to the point where you can almost hear the lamentations of their virtual women...

And no more "Just... One... More... Turn..."

Actually, that happens surprisingly often. I hit a point where I know I've won so I quit. I don't need the satisfaction of a victory screen for that.

Starcraft 2, cooperative play. I very often don't play the entire match. Achievement farming so I was just looking for victories and those would be credited as long as your team won. So I would just play long enough that I was confident the remaining players on my team would win, then I would drop and move on to the next match.

Okay. The introduce for Hammerlock's DLC is funny. Now, I may be biased because I play Zer0, but having him do a thumbs up with the sparkling tooth smile tickled me funny.

Hammerlock's DLC (post second Warrior Kill) is bloody nasty solo.
Level 30-45, it's challenging.
"First time around, but on a level 35+ character" it's a romp, until the human waves of savages comes on through.

Hammerlock's rifle (iron sights) is very, very nice for a sniper, though.

Oh - And I've figured out why the super badass spores are there....it's to give the natives something to shoot at while you sneak about and headshot their witchdoctors. As most don't have shields, corrosive and explosive spores are great to "Train" onto the bastards. Fire and shock, well, the shock ones eat your shield in 1-2 hits and the fire one seems to, hmmm, cling, a lot longer than most other fire effects than I remember.

Also a spoiler - the end-boss is really, really resistant to elemental tech (And totally to shock) so you might want to have a good bullet-spew weapon somewhere. Sadly, I didn't try explosive on him, as nothing I had was reaching him fast enough (You'll want a LOT of room due to large aoe and charge attacks.)

-Tir, out:P

So, how did you kill Jack? I waited for him to finish his little speech, then walked up and axed him in the face. It was pretty satisfying.

Also, did anyone else find the Warrior anticlimactic? I was never in real danger. I think I went down once, but I shot a crystalisk and got right back up.

I found a spot that I could stand on that the Warrior couldn't hit me and crystalisks barely ever hit me. So easy.

Actually, it seemed really resistant to ANYthing that wasn't hitting a critical point (the things on it's back first, then the chest-panel when it was open, later).

The guns I beat it with were both elemental - a Tediore Fire SMG, and a Vladof Corrosive AR. Oh, and "The Mrs", natch (Axton).

I was having a bad time of it, eventually got blasted back into the lava, and hop-scooted to the nearest land I saw.

I found myself on the little ramp leading up to the portal where the Warrior had emerged from. I found he could not hit me at all there, and there were no crystalisks. Killed him with impuny. Felt a little cheap.

I waited for Jack to finish then shot a rocket into his face. Anything worth doing is worth doing right.



-k

Dammit double post



-k

I ADORE TINY TINA, AND IF YOU DON'T THEN YOU ARE ONE SORRY-ASS PISSANT MOTHERFUCKER!

So, yeah, I started Mr. Torgue's Campaign of Carnage. Mr. Torgue is now my personal hero.

Uncle Brick and Tiny Tina are so cute together!!!

I let Lilith get the shot in that killed Jack. After what she went through, I figured she had Dibs at that point. That said, I had a pistol given to me by Michael Mamaril, and I was going to use it to punch Jack in the face many times with bullets!

I would watch a tv show where Tiny Tina and Mr. Torgue fight crime together.

I'd watch a show where they fight ANYTHING together.

Hell, I'm surprised it took so long for Mr. Torgue to show up on Pandora. He seems to be the type that would move there of his own free will. In his Space Truck!

I don't think we need limit it to just fighting.

"Hey Playas, wes making CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES up here in my joint!" "USING EXPLOSIVES INSTEAD OF A STOVE! BECAUSE STOVES ARE NOWHERE NEAR BADASS ENOUGH!"

.... I'd watch it.

Turbo Tart Time with Tina & Torgue

"TODAY WE'RE FINDING OUT WHAT MAKES CLAPTRAP TICK! WITH EXPLOSIVES, BECAUSE YOU CAN'T GET TO THE ROOT OF THE PROBLEM WITH JUST POWER TOOLS!!!" "Hey now, let's talk about this, the Vault Hunters are my minions and... MINIONS, HELP YOUR MASTER!!!" "So Clappy who has the clap here needs to have his bitch mouth shut up, and..." *BAM* "Unca Torgue just fixed that. Wow, you hit almost as hard as Unca Brick! PUNCH THE BABIES!!!"

"TODAY WE'RE HAVING A TEA PARTY WITH PRINCESS FLUFFYBUTT, WHO IS TOTALLY A GRENADE IN A DRESS AND THUS FEMININE BADASS, AND DOCTOR SAMUELS!!!" "Oh, oh, dear God, please, let me go! What are these Tesla Coils for? Why are you doing this?" "I think I'll let Mr. Sparks educate you while Princess Fluffybutt tells you a little story about a girl and her parents in a Slag Experiment..." "No, no, no, AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!" "AND THIS IS WHY I'M AT A TEA PARTY, BECAUSE TINY TINA MAKES THEM TOTALLY BADASS!!!"

Some Valentine's Day exclusives are up on Facebook, linked to SHIFT codes, for "Loveapalooza." Be one of Moxxi's honorary exes!

I'm not sure I would want to be that.

It's only honorary. You get a custom costume/skin and a pretty decent burny shotgun (of your level). Not a VD or six or seven.

I saw a video about one of the guns Moxxi gives you.... we PC players get screwed over. When using the gun the controller will vibrate and depending on the action the vibrations can get more intense.

Get a wired 360 controller. Problem solved.

For those who missed it when the Torgue DLC was released, from the EchoCast Twitter:

https://twitter.com/ECHOcasts

PlayStation 3 - KTKJB-3CX5B-3CWK3-ZBCJJ-JJZ9T
Xbox 360 - WTWBB-ZJ9Z5-69XJ6-KRTBB-ZHBBH
PC - CTWTB-JTBW5-KFTTT-JTB33-JTBWB

Still good for one Golden Key if you haven't already used them!




-k

Hey, thanks. I don't do Twitter, so I _never_ get those.

The main Gearbox twitter feed gives out Shift codes about once or twice a month, usually limited time ones.

https://twitter.com/gearboxsoftware

There was one last month that gave you 5 Golden Keys. :O



-k

Now I wait for the GotY edition.

So, in a surprise twist that can only be summed up with my statement: "X-Box Live, when did you become Steam and start giving great deals?", I got Borderlands 2 and the DLCs now.

It turns out there already is a Tiny Tina show with Mr. Torgue in it!

Also, just got a new weapon from Mad Moxxi!

Why is it that the girly and pink guns in the game are the most badass things around? "BECAUSE IF THEY'RE F***ING WITH YOU FOR HOLDING A PINK GUN, YOU SHOOT THE S*** OUT OF THEM TO PROVE YOURSELF!" Oh, right. Thanks Mr. Torgue.

Moxxi's guns will cause your controller to vibrate.

No... that wasn't an innuendo although I recognize that both guns and controller could potentially be perceived as parts of human anatomy.

Only one of her weapons does that. The rest are just badass.

My Mother came in and saw the new assault rifle I got, and squee'd with glee over it. Then found out it shoots like a shotgun with lightning bullets and wants me to shoot EVERYBODY!!!

And use more grenades. I swear, she's a proponent for grenade spamming after she found out about the MIRV upgrade!

Wait... what?

My mother sometimes watches me game. It's like a TV show for her.

And the new assault rifle is pink, shoots electric bullets in a shotgun pattern, has a killer-looking magazine with Mad Moxxi's name on it, and < TORGUE >BLOWS SH*T UP REALLY GOOD!< /TORGUE >

That just makes me miss the lightning shotguns from Anarchy Online

http://t2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQ...UjCPib07Isp57NQ

I haven't gotten ME3 yet, mostly because you can't get it through Steam. And I think my saved games were lost, which makes me not as interested.