Borderlands 2 - Interviews, Polygon and Gamespot Australia

aries100 · August 22, 2012

Polygon has an interview with Randy Pitchford, the CEO for Gearbox Software. They talk about the game's narrative and how the story is told in the game. A quote about why they labeled Borderlands both rpg/fps:

"The RPGs we were borrowing from were like picking a character, levelling up, selecting loot, skill trees, things like that," Pitchford says. "What we specifically did not borrow from, in fact we made a very purposeful decision not to do, was things like the choose-your-own-adventure side of it with dialogue trees where you'll meet the character and there will almost be like a cut-scene presentation, then you'll be given a choice that you can respond with. And this goes back and forth with questions and answers. We very specifically did not do dialogue trees. They're cool, I like those games, but if that means RPG to you, then I think that's a mistake to blend with a first-person shooter (FPS) because the nature of that loop is completely different to that of an FPS. "You can't simultaneously have a dialogue tree with a FPS, so we borrowed from RPGS the things that you can simultaneously do with an FPS that aren't mutually exclusive."

Gamespot Australia has a podcast interview with Randy Pitchford. It is over an hour
long, so sit back, drink some coffee and listen to what he talked about with the
OZSpot; why he thinks Borderlands hit the perfect mix of FPS and RPG elements and wonders why no one has copied it yet, sexism in videogame and why the budget for Borderlands 2 was double the original's budget, and much much more.
More information.

Paul · August 22, 2012

Deus Ex would like to have a word with you, Randy.
Jeez what an idiotic attitude. Shooter cannot have actual dialogue because they are mutually exclusive ? Unbelievable someone could even say that, let alone him.

DeepO · August 22, 2012

Paul said:
Jeez what an idiotic attitude. Shooter cannot have actual dialogue because they are mutually exclusive ? Unbelievable someone could even say that, let alone him.

Indeed.
It´s especially amusing since the game is labeled as RPG/FPS

.

Drithius · August 22, 2012

Dialogue trees can indeed have their place in an FPS/RPG hybrid, but not in Borderlands. The game's strongsuit is the hectic non-stop action, especially in multiplayer. If you slow that down for the sake of superfluous dialogue, whether well-written or not, then you are harming the core gameplay.

DeepO · August 22, 2012

^That´s besides the point though (and it doesn´t make the claim that "you can't simultaneously have a dialogue tree with a FPS" any less idiotic).

Borderlands 2 - Interviews, Polygon and Gamespot Australia

aries100

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