14 DAY TRIAL // As I mentioned before, I'm completely addicted to Borderlands. There's something about the game that really makes me want to come back for more. Endlessly more and more until I end up like one of those suicidal gamers that were found starved and exhausted to death in an arcade in front of a “Release spirit” World of Warcraft screen. Anyway, I got a chance to play a bit more Borderlands and even managed to unlock New Heaven. I haven't yet managed to actually set foot in it, because, five hours before I had to get up and come to work, I decided to stop playing and indulge, for the sake of the people around me, in “social hygiene.” In case you're not familiar with the term, it's the hygiene that's only imposed by social interactions. As long as you stay indoors, you're safe to go without it.
The biggest feat I managed yesterday, which is also the one that unlocked New Heaven, was defeating the Arid Badlands boss, Sledge. As you can assume, just like 9 toes, his name is more an Indian nickname, in the sense that it reveals a characteristic trait. So, yes, he's eight feet tall and wields a giant sledge. And a shotgun and grenades. In spite of this, it was pretty easy to defeat him, since the big lummox is somewhat weak on the thinking side of his brain. He dishes out a large amount of damage, but the human-ogre halfbreed finds it hard to navigate small corridors.
After he made it pretty clear I couldn't really fight him toe-to-toe, I pulled back through a narrow passageway with my soldier, only to find myself in a dead end. The good news is that Sledge pretty much stopped in the doorway, and seemed confused on just what to do with me. He swung his hammer around in the air and, every now and then, he pulled out his shotgun, but, confused, he didn't fire it, he just holstered it again, and started swatting flies yet again with the toe-flatter. Hurray for me, and the ability to think past the intellect of an amoeba.
Less related to my personal gameplay experience, looking through possible character builds and the skill tree of each class, I found a funny, little thing. I can't really figure out how I overlooked this, since I combed the soldier's skill tree pretty carefully, but I completely missed the “Cauterize” skill, which enables you to heal other players in co-op or multiplayer sessions. The soldier can heal his allies by... shooting them. With his guns. And the grenades. Which make perfect sense, since there's nothing more soothing than a shotgun blast to the noggin. What I do wonder is if it scores as a critical heal, for extra HP. The character build also offered some good news regarding Lilith, which I previously pegged as a definite “no, no.” What I thought to be a mage was actually more of an assassin, and the girl has some really nice skills. This makes a four out of four, and, if I'm not mistaken, it's the second RPG in which I plan to tackle all classes. The first one was Gothic I.