Tales from the Borderlands: Episode 5 - The Vault of the Traveler

By: Robert Murphy

It can be quite the difficult task to come up with a satisfying conclusion to your story, you want everything you've done up until this point to come together into something that your audience will be impressed by and make the journey feel like it was really worth the time put in. Tales from the Borderlands final chapter, The Vault of the Traveler, does just that by bringing together all of the characters you've come to know and some ones you're already very familiar with to these last moments in their journey. Will there be riches? Will there be heartache? Will there be a ridiculous robot fight with a freaky alien vault monster? The answer? Hell yeah!!

Episode 5 is by in large the most emotional of all the previous Tales from the Borderlands episodes and I say that as a man who got fully emotional when I witnessed the death of the Borderlands series most famous names. Nevertheless, this final chapter focuses a great deal on the bonds that players have formed up to this point with every character they have come across. Whether it be showing respect to your sister way back in Episode 1 by keeping her gift to sparring a wacky professor's life from being taken in Episode 3, everyone has a potential role to play as the battle for the Vault of the Traveler gets underway, and I do mean everyone.

Characters who I expected to have been long gone up until this point have managed to not only stay with the story but they've also managed to find their own story tell in this final episode. It's not some long drawn out side story in any way but they have their own brief moment in the limelight to show that they didn't deserve as much scorn as I gave them. Then there is of course the main cast of characters who have all done beautifully up until now but who in this chapter have also managed to prove that there is far more to them than what players have previously seen. Loader Bot in particular is a huge winner here as he has mainly served as comic relief up until this point, now he strikes out on his own and offers far more depth than you would expect from a soulless kill bot made by Hyperion. This all capped off by some fantastic writing that just flowed from scene to scene making everything go along smoothly even though there is so much done in this last chapter. 

Not so surprisingly either is the amount of action that is brought forth for this climatic battle for the Vault. Telltale has made some valiant efforts with this series once already by trying to give some excited action scene and it was truly worthy of the Borderlands universe but it has never been their main strength. Now however, the comedy and dialogue go hand in hand with the massive battle that ensues between Rhys, Fiona and the rest of their team. A team which you get to choose from by the way. Depending on the friends you have made up until this point players can choose from any number of characters to join in the assault on the Traveler. In what can only be described as one of the best action moments for any Telltale game, players will go through a series of the usual quick time events played out like a classic fighting video game mixed with a Power Rangers themed robot battle. It's glorious! Even though it does get bogged down at points with all the moving pieces just like it did in Episode 3, it wasn't enough to make me not enjoy it 100%.

As a last note, I feel that there is a great deal of correlation for Tales of the Borderlands and the actual Borderlands games themselves. Obviously there is a huge one, they're based off of one another but what I mean by this is this last chapter seems to suggest a great deal more to come from Telltale's adaptation of Borderlands by potential making future characters for the next game. Fiona has truly grown into a character that I would love to play as, running and gunning my way through the popular shooting game, and with all the changes that have come from the Telltale's work in the previous episode you never quite know what will happen but I am anxious to find out.

The Vault of the Traveler closes out the final moments of Rhys and Fiona in an exceedingly well rounded out conclusion. Not only was the trademark humor of the Borderlands series on point as it has been but there was also some deeply emotional points here that do not always transfer over for the fast paced story we've seen from the original series. There was a deeper voice to be heard here and it blended perfectly with everything that has already been brought forth before it. With the endless possibilities that lay waiting in the shadows after this fantastic conclusion, I eagerly await what the future has in store.

Good:

- Consistent Borderlands humor till the end

- Emotional moments for many of the characters

- Potential for much more to come for both series

- Made the choices you've made feel like they mattered

Bad:

- Sputtering moments when the action was too much for the game

Scully Rating: 9.0 out of 10

Tales from the Borderlands: Episode 3 - Catch a Ride

By: Robert Murphy

Gary, no! Leave it to a game like Borderlands to make me feel sorry for a background character whose face I didn’t even see before it was crushed underneath an Atlas robot’s chassis. We make our way back to the ever chaotic and desolate world of Pandora again as Rhys and Fiona attempt to escape the tight spot in which they found themselves in the last episode. Things do not improve any with this latest episode however as new enemies and familiar faces join the fray to complicate the already tense situation. It would seem our team’s goal of opening a vault for all of its many riches is turning into a suicide mission to say the least.

A good portion of what happens in this latest chapter is focused on separate but still connected stories for Rhys and Fiona. Fiona discovers that the assassin that was trying to kill her and her sister last episode is actually a vault hunter that was hired by Felix to protect and guide them. She looks at Athena as somewhat of a cool older sister who can do all of these amazing things and travels the world in search of riches. This makes her question what she wants for her own future, could she possibly be this amazing vault hunter one day and fight monsters with her wits and handy sidearm? At the same time Rhys has his hands full with a budding romance that I did not see coming but it was an awkwardly enjoyable aspect to the story. Rhys has always had a heart of gold underneath all of the bravado that he spouts off from time to time and it’s nice to see that aspect come out as you spend more time separate from the main group.

The overarching story however proves to be just as compelling if for no other reason than the group’s newest member Gortys. This sweet and naïve little robot turns out to be the key to finding the vault but needs more pieces to become fully functional. Within moments of awakening she grabs the leg of a dead body and excitedly scolds it to hurry up so they can begin their journey. She is essentially a child at heart and doesn’t understand the concepts of mortality or the fact that every moment spent on Pandora is a like sitting next to a ticking time bomb waiting to explode which makes all of her interactions hysterical. Her relationship with Loader Bot was also a top notch aspect for the developers to include as the always helpful robot develops a protective bond with her.

There is also a refreshing change of pace for the story as the group moves to an unknown Atlas location in search of a part for Gortys. This takes players out of the horrible sand and monster filled landscape and sends them to a new bio-dome location that is filled with crazy plant life and yes more monsters but they’re mostly cute, sort of. It is hard not to appreciate as you walk through the different parts of the luminescent landscape and find some peace in this chaotic world, if only for a moment or two. The whole scene is really a rather enjoyable one as the color pallet changes up significantly and it also plays into some of the more intimate moments I mentioned earlier with Rhys.

What is unfortunate is what comes after all the romance and character development as the action starts to pick up. Both the beginning and the ending for Catch a Ride have some chaotic moments of action as you face off with Hyperion, hired goons and even some famous vault hunters. All of the scenes fit perfectly with the style of madness that you can experience when you play any Borderlands game but it seems that Telltale’s gaming engine has some trouble handling it. Scenes were jumping all over the place as I switched between the action that was taking place and frame rates dropped significantly to the point where it was hard to understand or enjoy what was going on in the story. There are fantastic moments hidden throughout these scenes such as Fiona furthering her new found skills and some classic Borderlands comedy but it’s hard to appreciate if the game cannot handle what it is trying to show you.

Tales from the Borderlands continues to be a worthy adaptation of the Borderlands universe in Catch a Ride. The comedy and quick witted dialogue for all the character is spot on and the story manages to mix both serious decision making situations with off the collar humor as well. Things are heating up rather quickly by the end of episode three however and it has me eagerly waiting for what’s around the corner with the final revealing moment for the story leading to new unexplored territory. As a bit of closing advice, countless articles and reviews have pointed out that the story for Catch a Ride plays out drastically different depending on who you chose to trust at the end of episode two so it is something to keep in mind for a second playthrough. It will for mine.

Good:

- Further development for Rhys and Fiona

- Gortys is adorable and the perfect missing piece for the group

- Spot on hilarious jokes and moments throughout the story

Bad:

- The frame rate and sputtering issues with the action scenes  

Scully Rating: 8.9 out of 10