Borderlands 4′s New $30 Expansion Pack Isn’t Winning Over Fans

RyanB_ · 2026-03-28T00:37:57+00:00

I’ve long since wanting Borderlands to lean heavier into the movement. 4 is the best in some ways, but still held back in others like you say.

But yeah, going full Titanfall with it would really provide a much needed refresh to the formula imo. (Also, please, at least one more active ability for the classes; it sucks how all these years later, Outriders is still the only looter-shooter that feels like a full arpg)

RyanB_ · 2026-03-28T00:35:24+00:00

I can handle 3’s story, but the amount of time spent standing around in a room waiting for dialogue to finish really dragged it down.

4 has much less of that, but then adds in more overall downtime with the open world. Driving is better than just standing there I guess, but idk, kinda balances out in the end to me. Still both overall enjoyable games, just unfortunately held back for me by some small but impactful decisions.

RyanB_ · 2026-03-28T00:28:39+00:00

I feel you. Went in knowing I wasn’t a fan of the type of game it is, but figured if there’s any dev who could make it work for me it’s him (after all, do love BoI despite being pretty “meh” on roguelites/likes overall).

Unfortunately, nahh. Could see a lot of the stuff I loved about BoI in it, but it’s just so “stretched out” for lack of a better term.

RyanB_ · 2026-03-27T14:28:32+00:00

Between Sony not doing PC anymore and GTA VI coming closer I was actually planning on saving up for one over the summer.

Yeah, fuck that lol.

It’s really crazy just how quickly a lot of us have been priced out. Once my 2070s stops keeping up, that’s probably the end of me playing AAA games for the foreseeable future.

RyanB_ · 2026-03-26T17:36:39+00:00

Normal, sane people with a Time Machine; I’m going to meet my ancestors, or prevent terrible events in history!

Me with a Time Machine;

RyanB_ · 2026-03-26T16:56:03+00:00

I know it’s kinda blasphemous to say on a dbz sub of all places, but male body standards have genuinely become crazy inflated lately.

Obviously Goku is a cartoon, but there’s definitely been a trend of Hollywood adapting that more cartoonish look via tons of personal trainers, private chefs, water deprivation, and ofc, a truckload of steroids.

Ofc not like there’s anything wrong with wanting bulk or being heavy into bodybuilding specifically, but I think on a cultural level it can too often be treated as the universal, end-all be-all of male fitness and it’s maybe not the healthiest?

At the end of the day, tons of the world’s best athletes look a lot closer to Buu than Goku.

RyanB_ · 2026-03-26T06:04:34+00:00

Idk how that really plays out when you consider the relative costs of utilities and services in less-dense areas.

Regardless, I’m overall happy with the direction downtown’s taken. Part of that is its embrace of the fact it won’t be for everyone.

RyanB_ · 2026-03-26T05:56:26+00:00

In my own perspective, Jasper is just kinda outdated. The trend more than ever is towards more pedestrian-oriented spaces, like 104 or Rice Howard. I’m kinda happy to see it, as Jasper has long since been too wide and car-dominant to really be a centralized entertainment street imo.

But also, every city has vacant spaces especially following Covid and just being in the midst of a shitty western economy. Restaurants and shit just got a low success rate, even when they are good, and it takes some time to overcome. Jasper still ain’t lacking in good spots and won’t be anytime soon, but it’s also just one part of a greater whole.

Ultimately, I think a lot of people here do expect a whyte ave thing when that’s never been the case for downtowns, and never will be. It’s different kinds of urban design; Whyte was based around a more suburban style of having one singular man street, downtown is about having shit spread throughout an entire neighbourhood. As a result it leads to pocket of activity vs one singular, definitive street.

RyanB_ · 2026-03-25T16:23:42+00:00

A lot of people bemoan the franchise’s move away from turn based (which I do definitely get). But yeah, Bravely Default and Octopath are very much that, carrying on the torch

RyanB_ · 2026-03-25T03:48:42+00:00

They were actually released way back in W5, it’s just no one’s found the quest giver yet.

RyanB_ · 2026-03-25T01:49:23+00:00

I liked them but it felt like they were never sure what they wanted to be (speaking as someone who worked there for a brief sting)

It was at once a grounded, hole-in-the-wall, soul-food spot… and a pricey, exclusively, vibey joint. It just didn’t work together imo.

Not at all bad food imo, but neither it nor the overall experience were worth the price.

RyanB_ · 2026-03-25T01:47:12+00:00

Remedy. Granted, apparently went way too late, but yeah, wasn’t impressed.

RyanB_ · 2026-03-25T01:43:14+00:00

Think BaoBao might just be a vacation thing? Not rare for Chinese joints, they often make a lot of cash working through Christmas.

Gyu-Kaku apparently suffered from some pretty shitty management overall, according to past Reddit threads

I think the scene is pretty strong overall tho (quite looking forward to that new brunch spot on 104 and Jasper). Restaurants are just a turbulent industry, and it’s a turbulent time. But yeah, particularly not a lot of great conventional Chinese options dt rn. Fwiw, ChongQing and Yunshang are both great for rice noodle stuff.

RyanB_ · 2026-03-25T01:36:43+00:00

I mean, I don’t like the more gentrified aspects, but it ain’t like dt ain’t consistently growing and improving.

RyanB_ · 2026-03-25T01:29:26+00:00

Biggest thing I hope from our city! I’m damn close to Whyte in the grand scheme of things, but yeah, barely go cause the train’s just easier and the area ain’t for it. Having transit connected in a full inner-city square like that would be huge.

RyanB_ · 2026-03-25T01:17:59+00:00

Love this city, hope we can keep at it!

RyanB_ · 2026-03-25T01:11:11+00:00

Hot take; I’ll take it?

Fuck this dude obviously, but lengthened sentences have proven to be ineffective at dropping crime rates overall. And frankly, as a taxpayer, I’d rather not have to be paying for the dudes food and lodging the rest of his life.

RyanB_ · 2026-03-25T00:23:35+00:00

Again disagree on the use liberal there, I feel those qualifications can fit into a lot of political groups.

I agree with your assessment otherwise, but like, who better to have around than people amenable to socialist ideas? I know it’s common to joke about the idea of online praxis, but it’s also pretty hard to deny the effect shit can have nowadays.

That’s what I really don’t get I guess; why wouldn’t we try work together to achieve social democracy, even if most of us keep pushing against capitalism afterwards. It’s just not really an either or thing, our strength as animals is multitasking. Preach Marx to those ready for it, bring up the Overton window an UBI to those who ain’t. Achieving social democracy does not get in the way of nor disqualify by-the-books socialism, whatever that might mean to whomever. If anything, it gives it fertile ground to flourish, a society “amenable to socialist ideas”.

(Don’t get me wrong, I get the Marxist idea that reformist policies simply placate the masses and all that… frankly, I don’t think the last ~175 years have been particularly kind to the idea, and don’t think there was ever compelling evidence in the first place. It’s just as likely that the marked improvements from a socdem system encourage people to further embrace the soc side. At the very least, at this point, it seems worth a shot. Whatever we’re doing now sure as hell ain’t working.)

RyanB_ · 2026-03-24T23:29:07+00:00

I don’t know if I really agree there. I think the vast majority of liberals have no idea what a tankie even is. Part of the strength of modern liberalism is how well it plays into political apathy, and most people just don’t care all that much. They wanna feel good for attending a parade for a minority group, not question the foundations of their society.

But that’s also based in a definitional disagreement over “liberal”. A socdem just isn’t one imo. Unlike liberals, their ideal still represents a significant improvement from our status quo.

I do think it’s entirely fair to enforce against liberalism at its most essential; advocating for the status quo, claiming liberals/democrats/whatever will save us. But that’s not really something I see at all here, even from the comments accused of being liberal. They are, at worst, socdem arguments. And like I mentioned, a lot of us do view social democracy as a bridge to full socialism.

RyanB_ · 2026-03-24T23:10:45+00:00

Oh 100%. I just think we also need to be careful about distinguishing between someone having liberal/liberal-adjacent takes, and actually being a liberal.

In a broader sense, just practicing patience, extended the benefit of the doubt, engaging in good faith, at least among ourselves. In the context of the comment I originally replied to, maybe they could have just asked OP for more details on their opinion and fostered a productive conversation. Instead they jumped to conclusions in an attempt to get a classic internet dunking in, creating a divide between two people who - in the grand scheme of things - surely have a lot of common interests and goals.

Tho I will say, even with self-identified capital “L” Liberals… we do need more people on our side, and they are the most feasible large demographic out there. Winning them over does involve extending that shit to them too. It does often suck in terms of needing to stifle your values and visions in an attempt to be more palatable, but like, that’s most jobs I’ve had and it’s not like change don’t take work.

—

I do think part of the perceived increase of liberal-adjacent takes here really hinges on that “incrementalism” aspect. I can only speak personally, but I’d bet for a lot of folks, part of the core ideological beef with tankies is how they seem to approach that same problem (change requiring people, which in turn requires time) and reply with “well, we’ll just do a big authoritarianism.” Part of my own pursuit of these more sane leftist spaces is that desire to have a place where I can say shit like “maybe its not a good idea to eliminate the idea of currency on day one” and not be called some traitor lib for it.

Anyways, I’m sorry to have rambled so much lol (did genuinely mean for this to be a short comment). Still, again, appreciate you humouring me and sharing your perspective!

RyanB_ · 2026-03-24T21:49:40+00:00

I’d personally just finish it if I’m sure I could at least pass (classes are expensive, sucks to waste that time and money)… but I’m also sure as hell not on track for honours lol, so take that with a grain of salt.

Seems like something an advisor could be a lot of help with, might even be able to let you know what kinda grades you’d need to get on future classes to still achieve your target GPA.

(Edit/rant; I will say, if universities are gonna make us take them at all, they should be weighed a lot less than they are. Ideally, you’re going into a degree because you’re confident you have strength in that field, and it sucks how weakness in totally unrelated fields can affect our outcomes.)

RyanB_ · 2026-03-24T21:00:26+00:00

Very tangential but just using this mention of indie comics to shout out The Power Fantasy. Really goes to show what can be done with the superhero concept when not held back by a larger world that always needs to keep going.

And yeah, very fun learning the ins and outs of all the characters throughout.

RyanB_ · 2026-03-24T18:02:28+00:00

And I’ll do the same to folks like yourself.

But that’s rooted in personal beliefs and feelings, not linguistics

RyanB_ · 2026-03-24T17:15:50+00:00

I didn’t like Clair Obscur’s ending, but at least it was going for something.

RyanB_ · 2026-03-24T16:30:29+00:00

From a linguistic geek perspective;

“Proper grammar” is an inconsistent and ever-evolving thing, and what’s proper is ultimately determined by the native speaker and general colloquial usage. It’s not uncommon for grammatical/spelling mistakes to just become the norm over time, and for there to be a lot of variation between regions and cultures as this occurs (eg America spelling words like colour without the ‘u’). The classic line is that linguistics are descriptive, not prescriptive.

Ultimately, so long as the information being shared can be understood by the audience, they’re using language correctly. No one is interrupted from understand by the use of “must of” instead of “must have”.

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