@CT Phipps
See, as always, I'm on the contrary. While BL2 is fine the first couple of times, NG++ onward it's all about the meta and breaking the game to even be able to handle oneself. All weapons are shit unless you do X, period. All the classes are differentiated by having worse stats. Otherwise all weapons in the class are. But I know you are talking about the humour and the story. The "humour" and the "story", I say. The third time it's not so funny. Out of Mr Torgue, Krieg and some other loose line, BL2 is all about memes and references.
In the other hand, the first one (and The Pre-Sequel at an extent) had a story that didn't consist in you being a superhero. It made sense. The atmosphere was spot on, and weapons, even the randomized ones felt very different from one another. Burst long range SMGs, LMGs that can hit something, revolvers that range from McCree's and a hand cannon, shotguns ala Dinner Bell. My favourite was a Hyperion SMG (HK42?) that could reliably hit afar, and had such fire rate that it provoked me a headache when getting trigger happy. Also, guns lasted more than a single level. A Bloody Justice carried me 20 levels since I got it.
It feels like a space Fallout with sparse shows of high-tech cyberpunk style elements.
My only real complaint with it is no toggleable FoV, terrible UI (not fixed for 2, just more PC friendly), underwhelming final boss and a bit tubby on the gritty side of things.
The only real thing I liked from 2 was Tiny Tina's Raid on Dragon Keep. That one's great (and of course bloody needed for high levels)
And *every Borderlands fan. Don't overstate it.