The third installation in Gearbox’s multi-million dollar franchise, Borderlands 3, is still kicking. Actually, they just put out a big patch for the game that fixes a lot of long-running issues. This is of course, right after their Halloween event and announcement of an upcoming DLC campaign. Though their patches don’t have the best track record, it’s safe to say that Borderlands 3 is still pretty popular. I mean, there have even been Free-To-Play Events!
With that said, let’s take a look back at the twists and turns of the story in this title. Fans have been waiting for the end or at least some progression to this story for years, so could it possibly live up to the hype? Unfortunately, not at all, as we’ll be looking at some of the worst twists in this overly complicated and mostly contrived series of events.
10 Maya’s Unfuffiling Death
First and foremost let’s talk about Maya. Maya is the Siren everyone loved from Borderlands 2. She was a rad, creative, and overall badass Siren who took flak from no-one. Yet, in BL3, she’s immediately put in a “motherly” role and sacrifices herself for one of the franchise’s worst characters Ava.
A sacrifice that was 100% Ava’s fault. It was an ultimately unfulfilling end to a beloved character who willingly gave her powers and throne to another character who wasn’t at all worthy of them. Seriously, Ava is awful, bring Maya back
9 Aurelia And Troy’s Poorly Explored Relationship
This next one is hidden a bit deep in the audio logs on Eden-6. But, as it turns out, during the terms of their deal the bionic Calypso and the cold-hearted Hammerlock twin got it on. Ultimately this serves no purpose, but it did ultimately hurt both Aurelia and Troy’s character arcs. Aurelia was someone who did things for herself and for money.
She let no one in emotionally or physically. And the implication that she slept with Troy potentially out of fear for her life or favorable business conditions leaves a real rotten taste in our mouths.
8 Everyone Important Is A Siren
Ultimately this plays into another one of our problems with Borderlands 3 but why are all the main cast sirens? Tyreen, Troy, Lilith, Maya, Tannis, Angel, Ava, even Amara! Technically Troy and Tyreen only count as one but still. The reason they’re all together in this story is explained in the Eridian Logs found on each planet, but their reasoning is still ham-fisted.
Sirens were meant to be these special, penultimate creatures who anyone would potential be. Yet, 6 out of 7 of them are humans who live on the same planet. It just seems asinine. Where are the alien Sirens? Where are the ones that aren’t just some trigger-happy Vault Hunters?
7 Lillith Enabling Ava’s Horrible Attitude
I think we’ve made it clear that we’re not the biggest fans of Ava. Now, we don’t just absolutely hate her. The side-quest where we have to find her journal on Athena is hilarious and one of the funnier parts of the game. But, it seems like the Gearbox writers don’t quite get how to make a likable child character. You know, someone like Clementine from The Walking Dead or Nanako from Persona 4.
Though if the gameplay is important to you, there are other great comparisons in terms of shooters. Anyway, a perfect example of this poor writing is Ava’s “rush into danger” attitude. Sure, that works if you’re a hardcore well-trained Siren like Lilith. But, as a kid who can barely hold her own? It’s nothing but reckless. Especially when it puts other, better characters in danger.
6 Tannis Waiting Until It’s Too Late To Reveal Her Powers
So, the fact that Tannis is a Siren is actually pretty cool. It was a long-running fan theory after BL2 that Angel had passed her powers on and now we finally know who. Quite frankly, there’s no one better for her tech-based powers than a genius-level scientist.
But, Tannis waits way too long to reveal it. Especially considering that Maya was killed by someone who is at least 1/3 machine. Thinking back on it, her powers could’ve helped out with most of the issues in the story! At the very least she could’ve done something about Tyreen’s digital streaming platform.
5 Tyreens Fusion Form With The Destroyer
So, throughout the entire game, we’re basically working for Tyreen. She has multiple lines that praise us for our unintentionally great work. Basically, Tyreen and Troy just want the big bad monsters in the vault, so us unlocking them and knocking the monsters out couldn’t be more helpful. But, what do we get when Tyreen finally fuses with the Destroyer? A slightly tall cliche monster.
Why would this world-destroying monstrosity only be the size of like a 1 story building? Heck, the tentacles that Tyreen falls into before she fuses seemed bigger than the final form.
4 The Eridians Worked For The Sirens
The story of the Eridians and the Sirens is something that was hinted at since the very first game. A lot of Eridian tech seems perfect for Sirens and the purple element Eridium is a fantastic catalyst for powering them up. It was just too convenient to be true, so fans knew that there had to be some correlation between the two species. And, finally, it’s answered in BL3! But, not how we hoped.
The Eridians built the vaults with the help of the Guardians and the Sirens in order to contain some horrible monstrosities. But, where did the Sirens come from? Why were there so many horrifying monsters around? Who is the new “master” the Guardians hint at when players finish all the Hunting Grounds?
3 Where’d The Watcher Go?
Another thread that seems to have been dropped completely is the Watcher. This was a character in The Pre-Sequel that was very obviously a Guardian of a different breed. Instead of blue or purple color scheme, this one was red, could speak English, and seemed to have an agenda. The big cliffhanger at the end of the game was The Watcher telling Lilith the grab everyone she could because the war was coming.
Then, BL3 happened and there’s no mention of this war, this character, or this plotline anywhere. Literally, it seems to just be gone! Fans speculated the might be saving it for BL4 or a DLC, but the total lack of any nods towards it throughout the entire game makes us think differently.
2 Elpis Is Actually A Giant Key For Pandora
One of the biggest disappointments within the Borderlands franchise is the release boss-fight at the end of the first game. Players spent tons of time fighting their way to Pandora’s vault only to fight part of a weird tentacle monster to get to the credits? It was massively unfulfilling. Luckily, they patched this fight and addressed it in later DLC so tons of rewards dropped after. Now, in Borderlands 3, the writers reveal that Elpis, the moon that the Pre-Sequel takes place on is actually a Vault Key for Pandora itself.
The entire planet is a vault! How cool, we get to explore the inside of a planet! Nope, disappointing us once again, Elpis just frees the Destroyer for Tyreen to meld with and give us a mediocre boss fight. It’s a real big case of lame Deja Vu.
1 Zero’s Obvious Betrayal
A finally, we’ll end on a twist so cliche and boring that we almost didn’t consider it one. Katagawa Jr was the head of Maliwan during the beginning of BL3. He was obsessed with obtaining Atlas and getting Rhys on his side. Frankly, there are a lot of similarities between this bloodthirsty CEO and how Rhys was at the beginning of Tales From The Borderlands.
Now, leading up to his boss fight, there were tons and tons of hints that Zero might’ve betrayed us. And none of them were subtle. In fact, they were so obviously pointing towards it that most people instinctively knew it was a misdirect. Lo and behold, turns out it was Katagawa the whole time pretending to be Zero, and Zero didn’t defend himself for the sake of “radio silence”.
