Borderlands 2 Community Playthrough (Intro Post and Guide—also, surprise, I’m a widdle early)

[f a n c y]

poasting 2 hours early bc im sleeping in mkay.

>Part Six

Chapter 10: Bright Lights, Flying City

Location(s) : The Highlands

Required Sidequest(s)

• None

Bonus Sidequest(s)

• Slap-Happy- Rewards you with the Octo gun.
• Stalker of Stalkers
• Best Mother’s Day Ever - Rewards you with the Love Thumper shield.
• Doctor’s Orders
• Safe and Sound
• Minecart Mischief

_________________________________

Chapter 11: Wildfire Preservation

Location(s) : Wildlife Exploitation Preserve


Required Sidequest(s)

• Claptrap’s Birthday Bash

Bonus Sidequest(s)

• Hidden Journals
• ^Torture Chairs
• Arms Dealing
• Swallowed Whole
• The Cold Shoulder
• Note for Self-Person - Rewards you with the Roaster gun .
• Perfectly Peaceful
• Won’t Get Fooled Again
• Clan War (The Whole Saga)
• The Overlooked: Medicine Man
• ^The Overlooked: Shields Up
• ^The Overlooked: This is Only a Test
• Rakkaholics Anonymous
• Animal Rights

_________________________________

Summary and Questions

Summary: You’ve just been betrayed by Angel, who was working for Handsome Jack this entire time. As you traverse the Highlands in the struggle to return to Sanctuary, Angel tries to share a bit of her side of the story. With her help (much to Jack’s frustration), you are able to set up a new fast travel link and return to Sanctuary. From there Angel contacts Roland and the others in the Crimson Raiders HQ, informing everyone that the Vault Key is with her. She warns that reaching her won’t be easy, however, as one will have to bypass a death wall, dangerous enemies, and finally a door that can only be voice-activated by Jack.

You travel to the Wildlife Exploitation Preserve in order to grab an upgrade for Claptrap that will allow him to bypass the deathwall. Once there, you meet with Mordecai, who informs you that his beloved pet, Bloodwing, has been kidnapped by Jack’s men. He pleads with you to rescue her. You travel through the Preserve and gun down enemies until you finally find Bloodwing—who has been mutated and driven mad by Jack. You are forced to weaken her until she can no longer fight you and you grab the upgrade from her neckpiece. Mordecai begins to suggest bringing her back to Sanctuary when Jack cruelly murders her by blowing her head up. Mordecai is devastated.

You return to Sanctuary with Claptrap’s upgraded and renewed purpose to stop Jack.


Questions

1. Newbies, what are your feelings on Angel? Do you believe she’s telling you the truth at this point, or are you convinced she and Jack are pulling another trick?
2. How did you handle defending the beacon?
3. How did you react to Bloodwing’s rescue mission? Was the fight hard for you? Were you shocked when she was killed?
4. Jack is often utilised to juxtapose tragedy with humour. How did you react to Jack’s spoon story in New Haven? How about his belated violin joke after Bloodwing’s death? Did you find these moments funny? Were you horrified? Did you feel a little bit of both?
5. Did your feelings about Claptrap change after his pitiful birthday party? Why or why not?
6. What do you predict will happen in the story?
7. Do you have a new favourite mission? Or least favourite?
8. Any cool bit of loot that you’ve picked up that’s replaced your favourites?
9. As always, got any stories you wanna share?

Bonus Quests & Questions

• Safe and Sound

1. Who did you give the pictures to and why?

•Clan War

1. Which family did you end up siding with and why?
2. What do you think of Ellie getting you to meddle in the way that she did?
3. What was your favourite incident in helping with the feud?

[Doom Bunneh]

f a n c y wrote:

Part 5

1. Did you lose any cash to any Rats??
2. Did you farm the varkids? If so, did you manage to get to Vermivorous the Invincible (only applicable to those playing TVHM+)?
3. What do you make of Tiny Tina? How about Mordecai?
4. How did your fight with Wihelm go?
5. How do you feel about Angel’s betrayal? Did you see it coming? For Vets, can you remember how you felt?
6. Any reactions to the bonus sidequests (use spoiler tags as necessary )?
7. As always, got any stories from your adventures?

(SPOILER)
- Not that I am aware of, we were ON those muthas.
- We did not, in fact we kind of did the opposite - OH CRAP THERE'S A POD KILL IT KILL IT KILLITKILLITKILLIT! But maybe we should try...
- Tiny Tina is so best! Also Mord is pretty awesome. A lazy ass, but awesome.
- Wilhelm was dead easy. Nobody died, and his shields never even came up past about 20%, and I took that out right quick, and the M and A had corrosive and just chewed him up.
- Man, the first time that happened it was a weird feeling. Like, I had known Angel for so long, and yet the fact that she was talking to Jack, the fact that we just got this core for killing Wilhelm, the whole bait&switch with the train robbery...it had me on edge. So I wasn't surprised, but I was disappointed.
- I have no specific stories to share about anything...except that I still think we're a really good team, kickin' ass and takin' names.

[Airling]

(SPOILER)

f a n c y wrote:

Questions

1. Did you lose any cash to any Rats??
2. Did you farm the varkids? If so, did you manage to get to Vermivorous the Invincible (only applicable to those playing TVHM+)?
3. What do you make of Tiny Tina? How about Mordecai?
4. How did your fight with Wihelm go?
5. How do you feel about Angel’s betrayal? Did you see it coming? For Vets, can you remember how you felt?
6. Any reactions to the bonus sidequests (use spoiler tags as necessary )?
7. As always, got any stories from your adventures?

1. I don't actually know, which is funny, because I'm a bit of a hoarder in games.
3. They're both great: One is small person who acts beyond their years, the other in a grown-ass person who acts a bit like a kid.
4. So much better this time than the first time I played. Man did that fight kick our asses!
5. It's a bit of a surprise if one had played the first game, because I don't remember us really finding anything out about her there. She just helps out and that's that.
6. Oh dear, well there are so many in this section, and only Tina's are really worth mentioning. What a job they do of establishing this character.
7. We have done 3 rounds of the Bandit Slaughter stuff. Shit gets rough!

[Minato]

f a n c y wrote:

1. Did you lose any cash to any Rats??
2. Did you farm the varkids? If so, did you manage to get to Vermivorous the Invincible (only applicable to those playing TVHM+)?
3. What do you make of Tiny Tina? How about Mordecai?
4. How did your fight with Wihelm go?
5. How do you feel about Angel’s betrayal? Did you see it coming? For Vets, can you remember how you felt?
6. Any reactions to the bonus sidequests (use spoiler tags as necessary )?

1. None
2. Varkids didn't prove to be our favorite enemy type, we dispatched as quickly as we could.
3. Tiny Tina is damn hilarious, Mordekai is a bit less memorable to me as something that didn't play the first game.
4. We scrapped him easy peasy.
5. Did not see a straght arrow like her siding with a guy like Handsome Jack coming, but then i don't know much about her.
6. (SPOILER) Going out slaughtering droves of bandits just to collect little hoodornaments they've made in Ellie's, harming no one, just so Ellie can put them up all over the garage, where they look terrible left me feeling that Jack was right about us.

[Clement Rage]

pt 6

Newbies, what are your feelings on Angel? Do you believe she’s telling you the truth at this point, or are you convinced she and Jack are pulling another trick?
How did you handle defending the beacon?
How did you react to Bloodwing’s rescue mission? Was the fight hard for you? Were you shocked when she was killed?
Jack is often utilised to juxtapose tragedy with humour. How did you react to Jack’s spoon story in New Haven? How about his belated violin joke after Bloodwing’s death? Did you find these moments funny? Were you horrified? Did you feel a little bit of both?
Did your feelings about Claptrap change after his pitiful birthday party? Why or why not?
What do you predict will happen in the story?
Do you have a new favourite mission? Or least favourite?
Any cool bit of loot that you’ve picked up that’s replaced your favourites?
As always, got any stories you wanna share?

1. I think she is telling the truth, but Jack can still interfere with her, so she's still someone to be cautious of.
2. My Twin Teapot gun is useful. Corrosion for the win! Weaker in numbers than my other gun, but the effect more than makes up for it.
3. It panned out more or less as expected, except that I died less than usual (once, I think during the Bloodwing fight, and a few more times during the level.) I happened to be kitted out with a Spike shield which kept off the scags, and a rocket launcher which cut down her health fast.. I was expecting the kill switch, because that seemed like a very Jack thing to do. I liked getting the Tiny Tina and Maya origins in the ECHOs, although didn't get to hear some of them because Mordecai interrupted with something plot related. On the whole, this one was pretty fun.

4. Jack's spoon story is flat out horrifying. The violin story didn't bother me as much, it just drives home how little he cares about anything happening. Jack treats the world like he's playing a video game.

5. Not especially. I think something will happen to claptrap later,, he'll reveal either a selfless or vicious side at an important moment.

6. Whatever is in that vault isn't what any of us expect. It didn't go well last time, it's not going to be different this time. Angel is telling the truth, but Jack is listening and will have a surprise for us.

7. Enjoyed that showdown in the churchyard, although I wish there was some kind of quick draw mini-game. I think we're the ugly. Finding Tannis' journals was difficult, but fun, as they're in the most improbable places imaginable. Took me forever to find the one on the bridge.

8. My Ponderous Corrosive Spike Shield is obsolete now, as is Flame of the Firehawk, which is a shame. I have a new Jakobs Sniper rifle that can do 4,000 damage to Loaders on a crit.

9. Died a lot on the Gluttonous Thresher until I figured out to flee across the river and snipe across the bridge. Didn't intend to do Hammerlock's mission, but found the ECHOs by accident while looking for Tannis' diaries, and killed the Threshers and Crystalisks just trying to stay alive while exploring.

side quests Gave pictures to Moxxxi. Ethics, mostly. Didn't interfere in clan war.

[f a n c y]

>Part Seven

Chapter 12: The Once and Future Slab

Location : Thousand Cuts

Required Sidequest(s)

• None

Bonus Sidequest(s)

• The Bane Rewards you with The Bane gun.
• Shoot This Guy in the Face
• Poetic Liscense

_________________________________

Chapter 13: The Man Who Would Be Jack

Location : Opportunity

Required Sidequest(s)

• Home Movies
• Written by the Victor
• Statuesque - Rewards you with a custom head!

Bonus Sidequest(s)

• Hell Hath No Fury
• Rocko’s Modern Strife
• DEfend Slab Tower
• Hyperion Contract 873
• 3:10 to Kaboom
• Breaking the Bank
• Showdown - Rewards you with the Deputy’s Badge relic.
• Animal Rescue: Medicine
• ^Animal Rescue: Food
• ^Animal Rescue: Shelter

_________________________________

Summary and Questions

Summary: Back at the Crimson Raider’s Headquarters, Roland sends you on a mission to deliver a note to an ex-Crimson Raider known as the ‘Slab King’ in Thousand Cuts. You arrive in Thousand Cuts where you power through bandits in order to reach the King, all whilst being accused of being a Hyperion Assassin and listening to the King lament the death of his pup, Dusty. You finally reach the fortress where the King resides, but before he will work with you, the King has you fight several more of his men in order to prove your worth. After killing the last of his Slabs, the Slab King jumps down to your level and reveals himself to be Brick.

Brick agrees to help you penetrate the bunker with the use of his buzzards—that’s when you’re attacked by Jack’s mortars. You and Brick quickly destroy the beacons that are guiding the mortars and return to Sanctuary. There, Angel communicates tells you how to bypass the door that will only open for Jack. She instructs you to travel to Opportunity and kill one of his doubles in order to obtain a bio-scan and voice modulator.

You go through Opportunity, activating kiosks spouting out propaganda voiced by Jack and murdering his double, obtaining all you need to get past Jack’s door. You’re testing out how you sound as Jack when Angel yells out in pain.

“You seriously thought you could hide from me, Angel?” Jack says to her.

You return to Sanctuary where Lilith and Roland are having an argument as to whether or not Lilith is tagging along with Roland to get the Vault Key. Things are set in motion to break in.


Questions

1. You’ve been given a chance to explore Opportunity, Jack’s vision of a quintessential town. Visually, it’s a stark contrast to what you’ve seen on the harsh lands of Pandora, which is dotted with abandoned infrastructure and bandit slums, but in what ways do you find Opportunity and everything it represents similar to bandit camps and the like of Pandora? Do you think Jack is that much different from any of the bandits you’ve encountered?
2. Do you think the idea of a utopia such as Opportunity is in and of itself a bad thing? If so, in what ways would you take in order to bring ‘order’ to Pandora?
3. Are you in any way shape or form sympathetic to Jack’s plight in ‘civilising’ Pandora?
4. Did the propaganda you encountered remind you of anything in particular either recently or in history?
5. (Newbies) What do you predict will happen with Angel? Do you think Lilith should stay in Sanctuary or help fight?
6. (Vets) Now we’ve seen all the old Vault Hunters! Who was your favourite reveal/made you fangasm the hardest??

[Clement Rage]

Shoot This Guy in the Face

I'm already looking forward to this one.

[Clement Rage]

pt 7

You’ve been given a chance to explore Opportunity, Jack’s vision of a quintessential town. Visually, it’s a stark contrast to what you’ve seen on the harsh lands of Pandora, which is dotted with abandoned infrastructure and bandit slums, but in what ways do you find Opportunity and everything it represents similar to bandit camps and the like of Pandora? Do you think Jack is that much different from any of the bandits you’ve encountered?
Do you think the idea of a utopia such as Opportunity is in and of itself a bad thing? If so, in what ways would you take in order to bring ‘order’ to Pandora?
Are you in any way shape or form sympathetic to Jack’s plight in ‘civilising’ Pandora?
Did the propaganda you encountered remind you of anything in particular either recently or in history?
(Newbies) What do you predict will happen with Angel? Do you think Lilith should stay in Sanctuary or help fight?
(Vets) Now we’ve seen all the old Vault Hunters! Who was your favourite reveal/made you fangasm the hardest??

1. Honestly, Opportunity seems a lot like many of the other ruins we've seen on Pandora before. I expect that Dahl et al had their own strongholds, this one isn't any different.
2. As Utopias go, it sure isn't very secure. I was able to easily go on the rampage, including breaching a dam, breaking into the command centre, two assassinations, with enough time to waste for some petty vandalism. I'm even dying less than usual. Some kind of checkpoint at the gate would help. Lynchwood is a lot tougher to crack.

Clement's patented 'conquer the world' plan:

1. Pay the bandits to keep order in their own territories, subject to my rules.
2. Issue IDs to use hyperion facilities. Don't go hunting in the wilderness, make them come to me for medicine and stuff. Avoid oppressing Sanctuary, the bloodshots are doing fine on their own.
3. Remove vault hunter subscription to New U station after they cost me more money than I'm making from the respawns. Admittedly, that will take a while.
4. Ensure my gated communities have gates. Scrap wildlife exploitation preserve. Making dangerous animals more dangerous is not a useful endeavor.
5.Giant gold statues of me are to be made of easy to replace materials to save costs when they are inevitably vandalised. Same are to be regularly air dropped into bandit strongholds, to provide them with occupational therapy.

3. After that spoon story? No.

4. Not really, I don't know of any company that builds giant statues of their CEOs.

5. Jack always knows everything we're doing instantly so far, down to which specific statue I'm breaking. I can't imagine he's suddenly out of the loop this time. Lilith should stay away. Her powers are affected by iridium and so is the vault key. Not a good idea to mix the two until you know what you're doing.

[BforBrigitta]

>Part Eight

Chapter 14: Where Angels Fear to Tread

Location : Thousand Cuts

Required Sidequest(s)

• None

Bonus Sidequest(s)

• None

_________________________________

Chapter 15: Where Angels Fear to Tread Part 2

Location : Opportunity

Required Sidequest(s)

• Bearer of Bad News

Bonus Sidequest(s)

• Demon Hunter (unlocks after Animal Shelter)
• Hyperion Slaughter (All Five Rounds)

_________________________________

Summary and Questions

Summary: After convincing Claptrap to help steal the Vault Key, you travel to Thousand Cuts and power your way through Hyperion defences until you’ve made it to the Bunker, where you take down more guards, including a combative aircraft called BNK3R, with Brick’s and the Slabs help.

Once the BNK3R is taken out, you travel to Control Core Angel, where you finally meet Angel face to face. You find out that Jack has been keeping Angel imprisoned for years, pumping her full of Eridum, in order to charge the Vault Key. You are told that in order to destroy the Vault Key, you must kill Angel. This sends Jack into a fury and he sends more Hyperion firepower in an attempt to stop you. Luckily, Roland shows up to help.

So does Lilith.

You carry on fighting, Jack pleading with you to spare Angel’s life all the while, and Angel telling you to ignore Jack’s manipulation. Angel dies and Roland moves in to take the Vault Key, but is stopped by Jack who shoots him in the back. Roland falls to the floor, dead. Infuriated, Lilith attempts to attack Jack, but Jack stunts her power with a special collar and orders her to kill you. You’re sent to Sanctuary instead.

With Roland murdered and Lilith abducted, you, Mordecai, and the rest of the Raiders are thrown off balance.


Questions

1. Of all the fights you had to take on in these chapters, which was the most frustrating: Infiltrating the Hyperion forces in Thousand Cuts, taking down the BNK3R at ‘The Bunker’, or destroying the Eridium pumps whilst fending off Hyperion fire? Which was the most rewarding/fun?
2. The password to get into Angel’s chambers is: I love you. What do you make of Jack and Angel’s relationship? Do you believe that Jack genuinely loves her (on some level)?
3. How did you react to Angel’s death? How about Roland’s?
4. What do you reckon will happen story-wise now?
5. On a lighter note, did you pick up any sweet loot from your boss fights?

[Clement Rage]

pt 8

Of all the fights you had to take on in these chapters, which was the most frustrating: Infiltrating the Hyperion forces in Thousand Cuts, taking down the BNK3R at ‘The Bunker’, or destroying the Eridium pumps whilst fending off Hyperion fire? Which was the most rewarding/fun?
The password to get into Angel’s chambers is: I love you. What do you make of Jack and Angel’s relationship? Do you believe that Jack genuinely loves her (on some level)?
How did you react to Angel’s death? How about Roland’s?
What do you reckon will happen story-wise now?
On a lighter note, did you pick up any sweet loot from your boss fights?

1. BNK3R was by far the hardest. Took me a long time to figure out how to do enough damage hint (burstfire sniper rifle) and I actually had to Fast Travel out to refill my ammunition because I couldn't afford to buy any. I think it stopped creating repair surveyors because it took pity on me, but I could be wrong on that.

Also used the Bane for the first time, found the curse pretty cute actually. Angel's reactor was tricky to a point, but Corrosive Gun worked out pretty well, and I had to repeat it three times because it glitched when Jack turned off the bridge, with Roland frozen in midair. Reactor was the most fun, working together with the others.

2. Jack probably does, he didn't have to show up in person. They must have a lot of history we never saw, makes it tricky to judge.

3. Angel's death... I was ambivalent towards, I don't really know much about her, and I'm not that fond of 'please kill me' missions in general. Roland's death felt kind of cheap to be honest, Jack teleporting in at the exact right moment in the exact right spot and succeeding where his army of robots failed with a shot that really should have been stopped by Roland's Shield. But that's just me being overly strict, and possibly too invested in him, because he's the character I most didn't want to die. I was expecting something to happen to Lilith once we brought a Siren into a room designed to restrain Sirens.

4. Some kind of attack on Sanctuary. Rescue mission for Lilith. Climactic fight in Vault.

5. I get most of my favourite loot as mission rewards, like the Twin Teapot. Got a Conquering Corrosive Shield from a Constructor (I think) that is going to see some use, though.

[f a n c y]

>Part Nine

Chapter 16: Toil and Trouble

Location : Sawdust Cauldron

Required Sidequest(s)

• To Grandma’s House We Go

Bonus Sidequest(s)

• This Just In
• BFFs - Awards you with the ‘Order’ gun
• The Chosen One
• Monster Mash (All 3 Parts)
• A Real Boy - Awards you with the ‘Fibber’ gun when you complete all three parts
• Kill Yourself
• Capture the Flags
• The Lost Treasure
• The Great Escape

_________________________________

Summary and Questions

Summary:
The death of Roland and Bloodwing and the loss of Lith has left your team shaken, but not broken. Mordecai sends you on a mission to break into the Hyperion Info Stockade in the Eridium Blight to try and find out where the Warrior is. Meanwhile, Jack vows to kill you personally, threatening any bandit who’s thinking of getting to you first.

Jack cuts off your access to the Stockade, but you manage to bypass this by blowing a path. You prepare your final assault on Jack.


Questions

1. How did you handle navigating Sawtooth Cauldron in comparison to other maps?
2. Angel has referred to Jack as a coward in the past. Do you actually believe Jack will actually come out to actually fight you?
3. Assuming that this final plan to take down Jack works, what do you think it will mean for the future of Pandora? Are the bandits still a concern? Or do you see this fight as one for the bandits, even as they try to kill you and you kill them?
4. Do you believe it inevitable that another ‘Jack’ will try to civilise Pandora, (especially considering Jack’s apparent roots as a bandit himself)?
5. As always, got any stories???

[f a n c y]

Pardon the tidiness! Have been losing hella track of time and space and everything these days

[BforBrigitta]

It’s too goddamn tidy!!! I need mess, damnit, MESS!!!!!

[Clement Rage]

pt 9

How did you handle navigating Sawtooth Cauldron in comparison to other maps?

Awkward to find your way around, I went there to do sidequests before I realised the main plot was taking me there anyway.

I usually just run past encounters rather than waste time with them, and occasionally humiliatingly fall off cliffs.

Angel has referred to Jack as a coward in the past. Do you actually believe Jack will actually come out to actually fight you?

Yes, but I suspect a giant robot of some kind will be involved. Angel hates Jack, her perspective might be skewed.

Assuming that this final plan to take down Jack works, what do you think it will mean for the future of Pandora? Are the bandits still a concern? Or do you see this fight as one for the bandits, even as they try to kill you and you kill them?

It's just another cycle in a long line of failed attempt to civilise Pandora. There'll just be Hyperion ruins as well as Dahl ones on the surface. Pandora won't improve especially.

Do you believe it inevitable that another ‘Jack’ will try to civilise Pandora, (especially considering Jack’s apparent roots as a bandit himself)?

Depends on if it's still full of valuable resources or not. None of the corps were trying to civilise Pandora for its own sake, they just wanted to create mines and such.

As always, got any stories???

Y'know, I never thought I'd actually get to kill a hundred bandits, but this canyon proved me wrong. I just throw my six fire grenades and run away. I accidentally completed two quests because of the amount of bandits you have to kill to get up the tower.

The Sawteeth are definitely the toughest bandit crew there is so far. Although oddly the Bloodshots seem to have the most territory.

[f a n c y]

>Part Ten

Chapter 18: The Talon of God

Location : Hero’s Pass

Bonus Sidequest(s)

• You. Will. Die. (Seriously.) - would recommend doing with friends.

_________________________________

Summary and Questions

Summary:
This is it. You make a final tour around Sanctuary to talk to the townsfolk there who each give you a weapon to take into battle. Afterwards, you travel to the Eridium Blight to meet up with Claptrap. After struggling to hack the gate to Hero’s Pass, you and Claptrap charge in, but Claptrap is prevented from going very far with you by his ultimate kryptonite: stairs.

After fighting through Hero’s Pass with the help of Brick and Mordecai, you reach the Vault of the Warrior. You battle Jack at the start, but just as you seem to have the upper hand, Jack uses the Vault Key to summon the Warrior.

After a gruelling battle with the ancient beast and freeing Lilith from her constraints, Jack rants on and on in denial of his own defeat. With a final blow, you end Jack’s life and Pandora is ultimately saved.


Questions

1. How effective was the game in conveying the gravity of your final battle with Jack in Sanctuary? Were you getting emotional/riled up as the personalities of Sanctuary were bidding you good luck?
2. Final thoughts on Claptrap? Do you kinda wish the developers hadn’t prevented Claptrap from partaking in the final battle?
3. How did you manage getting through Hero’s Pass? Did it feel like Brick and Mordecai made a difference?
4. Describe the moment you finally put the Warrior to rest.
5. Did you let Lilith have the final blow? Why or why not?
6. You’ve completed the game!! How do you feel? What are your thoughts on this game overall? Are you going to run through it again in a different mode?
   
   Now that you’ve finished, we’re going to revisit some reoccurring questions for the last time...
   
7. Have you caught onto any more pop culture references? What's been your favourite?
8. Favourite bit of bandit dialogue that you’ve heard?
9. What have been your least favourite enemies to deal overall and why?
10. Favourite bit of loot that you’ve picked up and/or been given?
11. What was your favourite mission to do? Your least favourite? Why?
12. What was your gear going into the final fight with Jack?
13. What are your hopes, thoughts, speculations of what’s going to go into Borderlands 3?
14. Finally...got any stories for the community?