No floppy drive?

So you will have to get Mass Effect on Origin right? What do you think about that?

That gameplay looks incredible! I haven't played a Mass Effect before though. I got 2 free on Origin but this series has been on my wall of shame for quite some time.

> As for what I think about it? I wish they still released their games on more platforms than their own, I tend to favor customer choice. But I totally get why they don't. Getting their games into their own system means they don't pay the Steam tax. But since I've used Origin a couple times in the past, I'm less upset. Honestly, it's a decent system.

I agree, Origin is a really good system. I'd maybe even buy games on it but I don't know of any must play(for me) EA games. I've received quite a few free games from them though and don't mind going that route until something moves me to get it. Not sure what that would be but it's possible.

> It lets me download and play games and I had no trouble doing so. I think they went from being a mess to being stable and dependable faster than Steam did, but they also got a chance to learn from Steam's mistakes.

Launching a new digital PC game service now, in many ways, is easier than doing it back when Valve did. Plus Valve worked out lots of the kinks and paved the way so other companies can start now and many of the "right choices" are known so it's easier to begin and differentiate.

> Remember how much people used to hate Steam?

Yeah, I was a big hater for a while. With limited Internet Access the idea of Steam wasn't something I liked. When I had fast Internet and such, it was a much easier prospect.

I like having things in one place too, but I do like spreading things out as well. I like that I have DRM free games on GOG and Humble and then games on Steam too. The other stores are fine, I just wonder when we will reach "peak game store" mode and then stop getting more? Never?

Does Origin allow pre-loading?

For more BL2 speedrun fun, someone recently set the record at 1:29:26:

https://www.reddit.com/r/Borderlands/comments/5vbwvz/borderlands_2_2p_coop_speedrun_world_record_12926/

Hahaha, perfect.

https://www.myinstants.com/instant/vader-good-work/

I imagine any PC without at least Windows 7 isn't getting much gaming love these days.

It's possible those old machines could still have a life in modern times, though. XP is one thing, but even crappy PCs that came with Vista run better with 7, 8, and 10. They haven't changed a ton of the functional system requirements. I upgraded a crappy Vista pc through 7, 8, and 10 and it runs better now than ever. I use it for things I want to watch on TV but can't do so in any other way than through a browser.

That said, OS upgrades from Microsoft didn't always come with a free upgrade window like they did for 10, so you may not have a cheap/free upgrade path. If you have spare licenses and you don't mind potentially wasting one on a PC that might not have much of a life left, give it a shot.

If you have a Vista PC and this is causing you headaches I don't recommend paying for an upgrade to your OS; put that money toward a new computer.

But as for Blizzard's statement that "the games will not run on them," I bet an enterprising XP holdout could figure out how to make it work. I highly doubt there's a major audience for it, though.

Noooooo!

> I have a machine or two with XP on it kicking around

I hope by "kicking around" you mean "disconnected from the internet unless absolutely necessary," because there are some serious security issues with XP that will never get patched. One big reason Microsoft tries to get people to upgrade for really amazingly cheap (Windows 8) or free (Windows 10) is because of "vaccination" in a sense. Unsupported operating systems get infected more easily leading to more crap spreading around and more botnets. Don't be part of a botnet, Jon! :D

Haha, yeah. I've seen that done for a laugh and it really takes next to no time at all. It's nuts!

And that was even when it was still a supported OS!

But I wasn't even talking about using it directly connected, and I wasn't saying just having it there would get it infected in seconds. Just sitting there doing nothing on your network, it's fine for the most part (not entirely), but it has a nutty amount of security holes just waiting for a malware download. Even using what you'd think is secure software. Since there's no UAC like there is in Windows Vista and above, even a responsible user with a trusty install of Firefox (not including Chrome since you can't run a secure Chrome on XP anymore) can get screwed if an ad network gets compromised, which happens. Even the most trusted ones. Microsoft was handing out malware once because the ad network they used got compromised.

If you disable the hell out of unneeded services and install an outgoing firewall (your router has you covered on incoming, for the most part but again not entirely) and only use it for old games that don't work on Vista and above, and you do no web browsing, you'll heavily mitigate the risk.

And just to be clear, it's a matter of percentages. I'm not saying XP is 100% guaranteed to get malware, not by a long shot. But it's an entirely static target now since it will never change, and it's facing dynamic threats now, and anything can happen.

Did you get a key for The Witness? I just bought it and I don't have one. It doesn't say they're sold out...

NEVER MIND I'M A MORON.

For anyone buying this, you have to pick EITHER the Steam key OR DRM-free. You don't get both.

They still aren't sold out. I just didn't see the switch at the top.

Also, they just added SIXTEEN more games! The gift that keeps on giving. Time to unlock a bunch more games.

Also one of the games, Monster Loves You, was sold out but now it's back, and that key popped into my account with the other sixteen. SO even if you bought this while they were sold out of a game, keep checking because it looks like you'll still get it if they add more keys.

More games keep trickling in. Keep checking it!

It was great having the whole crew back together again for our final episode.

This isn't *really* a final episode, just the last one with video. We'll still be doing it, just in a more convenient format. But still, it feels like the end of an era. Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes.

Yeah to expand on what Jon said, you don't need Apple products. Android or whatever will work. It'll be a downloadable MP3 if you don't want to subscribe to it but you have an Android right? Google Play has the same kind of podcast subscription thingie. Or you can use a wide variety of phone/tablet apps or Windows software to subscribe.

Ah, this sentence made it sound like you were equating podcasts with Apple

> I don't own any Apple products, so I've never even thought about podcasts.

But yeah, it'll be available in way more places now.

It's even worse if you've seen the Clone Wars. He's redeemed significantly in those. He's not in a ton of episodes but when he is they actually get the comedy right... most of the time.

It's good that you are starting with Borderlands because firstly, it's great and secondly Borderlands 2 adds some mechanics that make it a bit harder to come back and enjoy the first game. Nothing major, but nice quality of life improvements that make Borderlands 2 that much better for it. Personally I enjoy the gameplay focus on the first game over the story and dialog focus on the second. The story is pretty engaging and funny the first time but becomes less so the more times you go through the game. I really hope Borderlands 3 does something that allows you to play the game without dialog or something.

That said, the original Borderlands is a really contained game that provides a nice length campaign that, to me, never felt overlong. I play it mostly on the PS3 and the game shined on that system but still holds up very well on PC. I've always dreamed they'd bring the Mac port to Steam and also port it to Linux but that doesn't seem to likely at this point.

Anyways, glad you are enjoying the game and I look forward to more of your thoughts on it.

Yeah what Jon says is absolutely true. Overall, I remember the first game more fondly. It had more charm somehow. It was rough around the edges but I liked that. The setting, overall, is more appealing.

But Borderlands 2 ramps up the polish, a better written story, more humor (perhaps too much at times), an incredibly charismatic villain, and most importantly tons of balance and mechanics changes that really make it better. Weapon skill leveling is gone, perks are in. Gunplay feels more impactful.

Borderlands 2 is the better game, definitely, but it misses some piece of magic from the first game that I can't quite quantify.

By "those areas" I assume you're talking about DLC missions? Each mission should tell you what level it's geared toward, and the DLC ones will reset every few levels if you ignore them. So, there's really no wrong time once you reach the first threshold for them. Each one has a different initial level target I think. It's been a while so I can't remember.

I'd play the DLC after you are done with the main game campaign. You can do it whenever, but I believe the DLC story wise happens after the main storyline.

That's a good point. For the most part it doesn't matter but there's one key part of one DLC that wouldn't make a lot of sense if you haven't gotten to a certain point in the main game.

That's vague as hell, but I don't want to spoil things.

That's like saying you should watch the Star Wars prequels before the original trilogy!

Definitely go in release order. The Pre-Sequel kinda assumes you know things that happened in BL2 in a sense. It actually takes place *after* BL2 in a sense, since there are characters from BL2 telling the story. You'll spoil plot points in BL2 by playing The Pre-Sequel first.

Borderlands => Borderlands DLC => Borderlands 2 => Borderlands The Pre-Sequel.

That said, I still have yet to play the Borderlands DLC, finish up Borderlands 2(I am very close) and then the Pre-Sequel. I have games for ages.

Cool! What did you think of completing the base game? What did you think of the ending?

Ah, I forgot about finding claptraps to get backpack upgrades. I kinda like that more than spending that secondary currency on them in BL2.

Not all the way through, no. But I tried all of them for a few hours but Lilith was my jam.

I beat the game with Lilith too. Roland was also pretty fun.

Moxxi's DLC is a very different kind of expansion since it's just an arena. It's fun but not like the others.

I guess by Crawmerax you mean the General Knoxx DLC? If so, yeah you got the best ones done. Although I was getting quite annoyed with Claptrap by the end of the Robot Revolution DLC, I still enjoyed it. Zombie Island is the best I think.

I think I ended up kinda cheesing Crawmerax. It doesn't give you good enough loot to punish yourself with it unless you're on your second (or higher) playthrough.

Gaige's skill tree is tons of fun to experiment with. It looks like you put way more thought into it than I do! :)

Also Greg, your header image broke!

Weird. I wonder what's breaking it on my end!

Occasionally the avatar images break for some reason(not sure why though). All of them are simple links back to whatever service the person selected.

I meant the post's embed image. It was gone for me for an hour or so but then it was fine.