I, like many, am fairly excited for Borderlands 4. Gearbox, whereas not a saintly studio with a historical past of nothing however bangers and excellent news, nonetheless has a knack for creating thrilling gunplay like nobody else. Years in the past, the unique Borderlands was one of many first video games I purchased myself, and Borderlands 2 holds a robust grip on my coronary heart even nonetheless.
I missed Borderlands 3. I had different stuff happening and did not have the need for the collection’ model of pop culture-laden humour on the time. However, going again to it now with contemporary eyes and no data of its story, I am left with one main takeaway. Dude, Gearbox has acquired to do one thing miraculous to cope with Ava.
Contemplate this your spoiler warning for Borderlands 3, as you type of have to understand how that sport ends to know the issue. Roughly a 3rd of the way in which via Borderlands 3, Ava and Maya (a beloved returning character from Borderlands 2) include you to a vault. Ava, not meant to be there as a consequence of being a toddler, is lectured by Maya as you go inside and get your loot. While you go away the vault, the pair are attacked by the antagonistic Calypso twins. Ava, capable of do nothing, talks trash to the evil siblings which ends up in a scuffle and Maya’s premature loss of life and her Siren powers getting leached.
The twins weren’t there to kill Maya, however to soak up the powers of the useless vault monster. They did not even know you could possibly leach Siren powers. It is a loss of life straight attributable to Ava’s actions. Later, if you return to the primary hub, Ava berates the chief of the Crimson Raiders, Lilith, for Maya’s loss of life, blaming her for the loss even if Lilith had little or no to do with the entire affair. Ava does have character progress all through the remainder of the story, easing up on the blame sport, however by the top of the story she’s left in control of the Crimson Raiders and inherets Maya’s powers, each boons she didn’t deserve.
Now, I might study after hitting credit that this induced fairly the uproar among Borderlands 3 fans back in 2019. Her aggro persona and the results of her actions rubbed people the incorrect manner. Having skilled this contemporary, I can completely see the place they’re coming from. She is actually grating, and by some means manages to suit a extra aggravating position than Claptrap. Claptrap. The character deliberately written to be annoying.
However the issue is that this: You’ll be able to’t actually ignore Ava going ahead! She’s been positioned in an extremely essential place narratively. Not solely does she lead the de facto “good man faction”, she’s a Siren too. You’ll be able to’t actually sweep Ava below the rug except you outright kill her, which Gearbox has confirmed reluctant to do besides in probably the most exhausting hitting emotional moments. If Ava does get domed or sucked out an airlock, because it stands it will not get the identical unhappy response as Roland or Bloodwing. It’s going to be met by cheers.
There may be hope although. Gearbox has confirmed fairly expert at redeeming characters. Tiny Tina – now simply Tina – is maybe the best instance of this. She too proved considerably abrasive in Borderlands 2, however the Assault on Dragon Hold DLC did lots for her character. Then, when she returns in Borderlands 3, she’s nonetheless acquired her distinct model of humour however in a sport with a extra trendy tone, the end result being this excellent transition from this hyper memey child to an older-sister-esque wacky aspect character. It really works brilliantly, and is an actual spotlight of the sport.
Nevertheless it’s price noting that Tina is strictly that: a aspect character. Ava doesn’t get the luxary of being a love-it-or-hate-it aspect expertise. She has been positioned proper on the centre of the story going ahead.
As such Gearbox has two decisions: It will possibly both completely revamp Ava as a personality, accelerating her arc and doing quite a lot of rising up off display screen within the hope it’s going to please the followers, or it might probably hope that Ava as she’s left on the finish of Borderlands 3 is a refreshing blast from the previous when positioned straight subsequent to newer personalities.
It is a powerful one. However even with this Ava drawback, I’ve hope for Borderlands 4’s narrative. The oldsters who’ve labored on prior video games have confirmed their price in relation to creating lovable characters, and whereas they’ve their work lower out for them with Ava, I’ll nonetheless select to go in with an open thoughts.