What I Like More: Borderlands 3 vs Borderlands 2 

I'd absolutely KILL for a borderlands 2 remake in 3's engine. The amazing story of 2 with the gunplay of 3 would be the perfect game

Borderlands 3 looks much better, has better environmental variety and has better gameplay but the charcters are a huge step backwards. Listening to the calypso twins made me regret killing Handsome Jack. I miss that guy.

Each game is different borderlands 3 in my opinion is meant to be beaten 1 time possibly on each character. Borderlands 2 you beat it like 4 times on each character

I think BL2 is more fun for a min maxer/hardcore borderlands player who likes the grind. UVHM-OP10 almost require you to be fully kitted out in order to not die. BL3 is more fun for casual borderlands players who want to experiment with non optimal stuff and random guns. BL3 at the hardest difficulty is significantly easier than BL2 at the hardest difficulty and that’s neither good nor bad, but it does allow players to use stuff that isn’t “meta” more reliably. I do think BL2 has better vault hunters though, aside from fl4k, I don’t think the BL3 vault hunter have enough identity behind their (many) builds. I like how BL2 vault hunter are more defined in their playstyles, if you want to snipe go zer0, if you want to tank be Krieg, if you want to run and gun be salv or maya, melee go zer0 or kreig, you want support play axton, you want to torture yourself play Gaige. For me that’s personally more interesting than the Bl3 approach of all characters being relativity decent at everything with a couple standouts like melee amara, speed demon Zane, crit damage fl4k and splash damage moze. I personally like the more defined playtstyles of BL2 but as someone who likes to play zer0 the most I might be hypocritical because you can melee, snipe or run and gun with him all very effectively.

I think the main reason I like BL2 over BL3 is because BL3 suffers from a lot of repetition and emptiness. Many characters in BL3’s main, side, and DLC missions feel empty and/or like copies of eachother. The characters don’t feel too unique and they don’t compliment eachother and that sentiment carries through out the entire game. The poor pacing in almost every mission leaves myself and friends feeling empty because we have nothing to remember missions with besides a red-text item. The emptiness on Sanctuary 3 is part of why there is the major death in BL3, there is literally no one else to help on the ship. Sanctuary feels so empty that I find myself never wanting to spend time there but doing any missionsleaves me annoyed because the characters don’t feel new. While I do think both games could be improved, I much prefer BL2 because I can connect to the characters even though the gameplay mechanics in BL3 are wonderful.

I think what you're trying to quantify overall that's missing from BL2 to BL3 is player agency, but not in the way you would think at first. You have so much agency in 3 as far as build, guns, skins, movement, gameplay.....but the game strips you of any agency whatsoever when it comes to story or progression. Borderlands 2 has one singular cutscene(other than the ending) that isn't a "introductory" cutscene for a boss or character. It's the one after control core angel. Your vault hunter is integral to the story and the things that are happening. In Borderlands 3, you might as well not exist when it comes to several points in the story. Oh, you entered the vault with Maya and killed the Rampager? Oh, there's a cutscene and a standoff.....and you're just not there. And there's TONS of instances of stuff like this throughout the story. You exist ONLY within the gameplay of the game, and it sucks. I played a ton of both(more of 2 though...)to me, the best thing to come out of Borderlands 3 was the cartels event. If the entirety of BL3 was as good as the raid on the cartel house, I would love it so much more. You just feel like you're fucking shit up, and that's how it should feel. The endgame with the trials and takedown events is better in BL3, but when you consider slogging through the story to get there it just feels like a chore. And they knew it. They patched the game today and now you can just "create" a max level character and you start right before the Tyrene fight. Had they done this sooner, I would have loved BL3 so much more. Also, while the DLC and updates are nice for 3, the constant gun nerfs was so tiresome. I hate farming gear and decking out a character and having to refarm. I literally stopped playing after the first DLC because of it and waited for the game to be "complete" because of it. And again, if I had only been exposed to THAT BL3 I would have loved it so much more. I prefer borderlands 2 because the journey is as fun as the destination in my mind. BL3 is all destination, the destination is great, but the journey to get there is just not good.

BL3 is overhated imo, I understand the criticisms of it for sure, but in general I have way more fun playing bl3, and ive been playing bl2 since it came out. Obviously jack is much better than the twins, but i really dont think bl3s story is nearly as bad as people act like it is. Gameplay wise, bl3 takes the cake 100%. Good video, I agree with the majority of what you said

I've recently been playing Borderlands 2 and 3 myself, and you nailed it on the head saying 3 had the worst of the pacing. But personally, Side quests respectfully goes to Borderlands 2. Borderlands 2 side quests I feel did a lot more to serve to the world and its characters. You can save a town from the impacts of Handsome Jack's mining through Overlook. You can help scooter fix stuff or attempt to help him in making a silly poem, you get to see the sadness that is the loneliness of claptrap from his birthday quest. That quest can make you feel SO awkward! It was immersive. In Borderlands 1, even without the voice acting, had good quest descriptions that immersed you in its world and its characters. The world felt more gritty and your actions from certain quests carried on to new sidequests. I haven't quite felt that same closeness with the world and characters as I did with 3. Loreli's coffee and burger quests for example, didn't feel quite so impactful. It felt lighthearted, goofy, and has the same pacing as the main story. It didn't help me feel immersed in quite the same way, and the non stop one liners and jokes didn't help, I think. Besides, no side quest can top Face McShooty :P When I look at the games 1-3, I see a shift from gritty and connected to comedy and flashiness, with 2 being a nice combination of the two polar sides.

Something that I would give BL2 over 3 is the purple weapons, which sucks because BL3 Purples are amazing design wise so it sucks that they're just so outclassed, to the point where BL3 had to have a number of pretty generic legendaries that were basically just purples with usable stats. Some of my favorite weapons in BL2 are nonunique weapons, the Quad, the Topneaa, pretty much all of the plasma casters, the Synergy. I could go on really and all of these can tango in the endgame, but I don't really feel the same way about BL3's selection which is a damn shame.

Co-op is definitely a tie. 2 was over all finished and perfected, but 3, even with it's issues, is still pretty great just because of instanced levels/loot

borderlands 3 all the way i love it all of it ❤❤❤❤

BL2 is home. End of story.

For me, personally. The graphics and gunplay of BL3 are the best in the franchise. While the story and characters, including dlc, in BL2 are the best. But I believe Captain Truant should have had more screen time, he was my favorite character in BL3.

Didn't expect to watch borderlands content today, but this was super interesting! You've got me wanting to re-play through borderlands 3 now. I wasn't as put off by borderlands 3's story/dialogue as most people were, but story pacing is definitely what separates the two games, especially with most of borderlands 2's major story beats being through the echo or in skippable cutscenes. That being said, the pace at which borderlands 3 handles the progression from a power level standpoint is far better imo. I went through the first like 80% of borderlands 1 & 2 three times without ever even knowing legendries were a thing because most random encounters felt so inconsequential.

BL3 felt like there was less stuff there BL2 had so much different shit to see

Less is more with borderlands story IMO. I don’t need a super complicated backstories or crazy plot points that detract from the story, I just need something to hold all these missions I’m doing together. Either way the characters are a lot less charming in BL3 and makes the story a drag.

Your comment about pacing is spot on. Having played through both recently, 2 really does a good job of moving the pace in the first act of the game. Gearbox I think realized this and lets you skip to lvl 13 in BL3. 😆

I agree and borderlands 3 isn’t just about the story. I think that the best content from borderlands is the endgame content. Yea the story is mid but the endgame content for borderlands 3 is fire. And the the gameplay feels soooooo good

I had a blast with bl3. Wasn't much into the story. But the movement, gunplay, skill trees, and multiple ults were great. Also, I really liked the dlcs. Handsome jackpot and guns, love, and tentacles gave us some fun guns and mods.

I think borderlands as a franchise struggles to nail down melee builds in bl2 you are heavily gear reliant and it falls off rather heavily in UVHM and while bl3 melee Amara is okay the main way to make it viable is by using guns which isn’t really melee, wonderlands despite its flaws did great by introducing melee weapons into the franchise I’m hoping it continues into bl4

You can’t really debate the Bl2 Vs bl3 with most ppl because they are held hostage by nostalgia. It’s something that holds back a lot of popular gaming franchises. Both games have things that are better than the other. Gameplay and endgame in bl3 is better. Story, pacing and characters are all more interesting in Bl2. Bl3 drops legendaries too often. Bl2 could be a bit more lenient in its drop rates. Etc…. If Bl2 and bl3 had a baby, it would be the greatest baby of all time

Borderlands 3 is so over hated

Bold takes! I respect it. I don't agreee with you, but I won't tell you you're wrong. I'm just glad that there ARE people who can enjoy 3 after an initial playthrough.

Bl2 for loot story dlc and bl3 for everything else

BL2 over BL3, period.

8:01 FL4K! DID YOU SAY FL4K?! He is FL4K.

borderlands 2 is always just going to be so great. I think borderlands 3 innovated on some things in a very positive way, I think it also innovated on some things in a negative way. Definitely worth playing 3 a few times and I was pleasantly surprised when i replayed it a few months ago. I think the story in borderlands 3 kinda gets me. Some characters are great, the plot is good, but man, some of the characters are so insufferable lol. Also, nice video man, keep grinding

I’m about 75% through and I do appreciate when you can’t answer conclusively you’re giving the reasons you can’t. I do disagree that borderlands 3 is the best as I found 2 to feel more diverse at end game (personally is where I judge a looter shooter). I found that in borderlands 3 everyone feels same-ish less than borderlands 2. Either way loved the perspective and great video man!

Borderlands 1 HAS THE BEST tone and story absolutely love og beat and switch ending is great!! PS General Knoxx is a better then villain then Jack PSs bl3 dose have better gameplay but way to mush power-creep gear. there no reason to use the hellshock because the beacon is stronger but there no reason to use because the free radical stronger. bl2 and bl3 say they have 100.000 guns but in reality 98% of play will only use 25 guns over and over if not a uniquids or legendries no one use's them!!! god miss the double Anarchy SMG!!!

Some details that i hate about borderlands 3 is the menu and the inventory, i loved how in TPS and 2 the main menu had your character looking to the horizon and the inventory was your character looking at your stats and items and in the vending machines too, they butchered the second just for the echo skins

it's cool to watch videos like this because i share a lot of the same opinions, however, my fav character in bl2 is gaige! so its cool to see how i can relate to someone with so much but still have a very differing opinion but amazing video man, keep up the good work!

The jump from BL1 to BL2 was so great on all levels BL3 was never going to live up to it. I enjoyed BL3, but love BL2

For anyone wondering u don’t have to use a mod to get rid of the dialogue. U can just delete the files. Just go into the folders highlight the specific files and delete

I prefer Borderlands 2 and think it's the better game. But I do also love Borderlands 3, the endgame of Borderlands two wasn't really that good before with op8 and then op10 made it worse. But I think your opinions and points are very good and valid.

Bl3 had better gameplay. But i prefer bl2. Bl2 had a better loot system And i liked the dlc more. But i got to give credit to the events from bl3 and the arms race. But i still prefer the bl2 content and story. The perfect borderlands would be a game similar to bl2 with bl1 wasteland vibes and bl3 mechanics and event system/arm race game modes. Would be perfect. I also prefer the bl1/2 bandits like the midgets.

BL3 is the winner for me as well for almost all the same reasons. My favorite side quest is actually the atlas guy “Gonner MeLeggies” and all the leg puns he keeps making while bleeding out from losing his legs. That’s the funniest side quest ever in my opinion. And Amara became my favorite ever playable character and I never thought that anybody would beat maya in my mind, but I like Amara more. Just an opinion. Also, please understand I still play both of these games and I love them both, but BL3 is just more fun for me to play.

Huge fan of all the borderlands. I just bought 3 on super sale and the pacing is so painfully bad. I'm so happy I'm not alone.

I've never thought I would hear anyone say Borderlands 3 is better than Borderlands 2

I find optimizing playing through the story to be so fun, the fastest I have done was under 3 hours character time like 4 hours real time. I find it so enjoyable

I think both Borderlands 2 and Borderlands 3 are awesome. I still play them both, too.

Private Beans is hilarious 😂😂😂 I also like the Traunt brothers....TRAUNT!!!

Bl2 has a much more entertaining experience but bl3 has way more build variety you get that super hero feeling more so and it's much faster pace but the story and chars just don't impress

You Have so much balls making this video but I respect your viewpoint

I just want a mod that changes BL2 weapon stats so the gunplay becomes more similar to 3. The only objectively better change tbh, and the only change BL2 needs

I think in bl3 the balancing what good the legendary drops were to common but not as bad as people say where there like every kill is a legendary but in opinion bl2 was to rare so if they split it right in the middle between bl2 and 3 that would be cool i like the end game in bl3 more the takedowns are fun well maybe not the guardian one i think if they did bl2 with the dlcs that would be great then add more slaughter shafts and takedowns raid bosses at launch same with dedicated drops bl2 would be amazing also no op levels about 10 max overall i think bl3 is funner

I personaly like bl2 more but the only thing i want from bl3 to bl2 is sliding

BTW the thumbnail was swapped

I played bl2 when it released and ever since then, it has always been a game I’ve loved. I was very excited for bl3, played it a lot when it released. I got two characters to level 50 and got all the achievements, but i was disappointed. First of all, i played on ps and the frames was bad for the entire time, which really hurt the experience for me. I didn’t like the guns at how different they were from bl2 and i wasn’t a fan of the graphics and effects. Perhaps it’s my autism kicking in for how used i am to bl2. I did like things they did with bl3, but in general, it just didn’t feel right to me. Bl3 had great quality of life that i wish bl2 had though

I swear people say its blasphemy for thinking BL3 over BL2. BL3 is so good

dont worry friend you wont have to come to sanctuary to talk to Lilith, you ll have to return to sanctuary to talk to Ava wich is in my humble opinion huge upgrade lmao

confusing thumbnail at first glance.

The main thing I miss from BL2 is; me and my friends used to spend hours grenade and rocket launcher jumping, to find new out of map spots and glitches around all maps to discover new and never seen before areas ect. We were so sad when BL3 removed this:( it was like a completely unique exploration aspect that’s in no game but BL2

The only thing I love about BL2 is the base game story, everything else is insufferable for me. I play on console so all the quality of life mods are irrelevant.

BLTPS music playing in the background? Based.

I got the issue where I dont likes any of the vault hunters in bl3 and its just me picking who I dislike the least. Which ended up being moze. Was really hoping bl3 was gona have a huge colllection of previous vhs to play as. 4th skill trees over new vh is a huge fing miss

Borderlands 3 is awesomeeee

I think they need to bring back some of the old innacuracy mechanics

Map/enemy reset at fasttravel stations

Bl3 has one of the worst stories ever to the point that the gameplay can’t save it. I constantly feel bored and hate half the characters in 3 even old characters they bring back aren’t good.

im a borderlands 2 guy i have every game besides tales from the borderlands or what ever its called i think bl2 is alot harder plus i don't like how bl3 gives you the best guns to early and to fast bl2 im on like my 10th character lvl 60 don't even got a orange gun yet bl3 gives you those like candy

Outside of story and endgame raids 3 across the boards here..

Bl3 doesn't have a great story, but everything else about it is better than Bl2. I just like Bl3 gameplay, skill trees, and side missions

I think bl3 has the smoothest gameplay and coolest guns but the campaign is such a drag i will never again run through it, enemies and storyline and action goes to bl2 forsure

3 just had shitty antagonists, and the pacing thing I never realized, but the antagonists were trashmo

I'm definitely gonna get hate for this but as much as I despise the pacing of bl3, I actually hate bl2 story more idk what it is but it always felt slow and unless I play with friends I never finish the story, I think I only finished the story 1 time solo and with both games I don't mind replaying them because the side quests in both are real fun except loot for the love of borderlands please give unique loot for every side mission not cash ( Also gonna be hated even more but jack is just so overated, yes they are good but I do think they are a bit to hyped for what they are as a character)

I just find bl3 unsatisfying to play compared to 2

Great video 👌🏼

BL3 game feel and raids, BL2 almost everything else

People are eg

Neither. Warframe. Great content, nails the power fantasy, you can play from beginning to end without spending a single dime you can even get platinum without spending a dime and the grind is a lot more fun. And before people try to “gotcha”me I played all the borderlands games I had my fun with them and I’ve seen all I need to see but if I want a loot based game it’s warframe no contest

You have not played BL2 enough. Because BL2 is not all about shooting only guns.

Borderlands 3 has microstutter and ass long loading screens, so gameplay is shit. BL 3 travelsystem and world design is too complicated, better if you had a jetpack. BL2 is better optimized. BL2 > BL3

Bl2 all day over bl3 woke garbage

No one cares what you like more No one asked Paused at 0:01 so you don’t get my view

Only new fans prefer borderlands 3 over 2