Recap pages are Spoilers Off by default, so all spoilers were removed. Proceed with caution. You Have Been Warned
"We've gotta find out where the Warrior is buried. We find that, we find Lilith — and Jack. That kind of data could only be held in one place: the Hyperion Info Stockade. Head to the Arid Nexus."
— Mordecai
The Vault Hunters succeeded in lowering the bridge to the Arid Nexus, and reach the Boneyard, an area with a veeeeeery familiar feeling, especially for players of Borderlands.
The main objective in the "Boneyard" area of the Nexus is to overload the Eridium pipe in order to make it explode and create a path into the Hyperion Info Stockade. The path is cleared once the Hunter crashes a vehicle into the broken section of the pipe.
And then they reach the Badlands. Which is... the city of Fyrestone, turned from a bandit camp in 1 to a Hyperion-controlled camp in this game. At the very starting point of the original game, next to the bus stop Marcus left the Vault Hunters in, there's a highway connecting the lower level with the entrance to the Stockade. Once there, the Hunters find that Jack's sending all the Eridium through pipes to Hero's Pass, the next destination.
The chapter's main areas are Arid Nexus - Boneyard and Arid Nexus - Badlands. These chapters are home to the side missions "Hungry Like the Skag", "This Just In", "Uncle Teddy" and "Get to Know Jack", as well as the following challenges:
- Arid Nexus - Boneyard: "Under Pressure", "Cult of the Vault" and "Dead Air".
- Arid Nexus - Badlands: "Beginning of the End", "Boned!" and "Hey! Over Here!"
This mission, the related sidequests and challenges, and the "Arid Nexus - Boneyard" and "Arid Nexus - Badlands" areas provide examples of:
- Batman Gambit: As revealed in "Get to Know Jack", all the actions by the Vault Hunters from the original game and new Vault Hunters during half of the sequel, actually played right into Handsome Jack's hands. The original Borderlands begins with Angel leading the original Vault Hunters - Roland, Mordecai, Lilith and Brick - against the Atlas Corporation to aid in their effort to open the Eridian Vault. Believing that the Vault contained immeasurable riches, the Hunters went along with the entire thing. Upon seeing that the Vault contained a colossal monster with more than its fair share of Combat Tentacles, they simply destroy the beast and leave, believing that it was the only consequence of the Vault's opening. Unbeknownst to the group, the opening of the Vault prompted rapid mineral growth on the planet of Pandora; namely Eridium. Handsome Jack, who was a low-ranking Hyperion lackey at this point, took advantage of the situation by alerting the corporation to the mineral's presence. In doing so, he gained the requisite power and wealth to rise to the head of Hyperion. Over the course of the next five years, Jack learns of a second Vault on Pandora - the one containing the Warrior - and the method by which it is opened. With the only Vault Key in his possession depleted, he crafts a convoluted plot to ensure that a Siren is available to interact with vast quantities of Eridium to charge the key so that he can summon and control the Warrior. Knowing that the original Vault Hunters are still alive and Angel's - his Siren daughter - tendency to assist such people, he uses the layered defences of the Control Core (his daughter's prison) as a bottleneck to lead the Vault Hunters into a trap, knowing full well that their camaraderie will prevent Lilith - another Siren - from staying behind in Sanctuary. So, by allowing them to attempt to liberate Angel, he has a Siren within easy reach regardless of the outcome.
- "Blackmail" Is Such an Ugly Word: Played with by Jack in an ECHO log during "Get to Know Jack".Jack: Mister Tassiter, "blackmail" is such a dirty little word, isn't it? Actually, you know what, come to think of it, it's not a dirty word at all. It's kind of awesome. Blackmail! Say it with me...
- Brick Joke: During "Get to Know Jack", you have to collect five echos that tell the history of Handsome Jack on Pandora. In the third one, as he is strangling someone, he explains the difference between choking and strangulation. In the fifth one, he asks his boss if he is familiar with the distinction between the two terms.
- Call-Back:
- The characters actually go back to the Arid Badlands and Fyrestone, which have been taken over by Hyperion. There's also a mission in that area where you look for gun parts and turn it in to the Fyrestone bounty board when you're done, which players of the first game should find very familiar.
- One of the ECHO logs in the "Get To Know Jack" mission has Jack instructing Angel what to say to the original Vault Hunters as Marcus drives them to Fyrestone. In addition, the same ECHO log has Hyperion's then-President, Mr. Tassiter, demanding to know why Jack has dispatched one of Hyperion's satellites to Pandora — the very same satellite seen in the first game's ending.
- When revisiting T.K. Baha's house, there is a box full of brains on the floor. During the events of 1's The Zombie Island of Dr. Ned, players get to meet Zombie T.K. Baha, who developed an obsession with brains.
- At the Fyrestone bus station you can find a red chest and a skag levelled to what the skags in the area from the original Borderlands were leveled at.
- In the Arid Nexus - Badlands, one of the challenges is to find a hidden Claptrap that's found on a cliff behind the weapon shop in Fyrestone. This is a reference to an Easter Egg in the first game where, if you looked at the cliff behind the weapons shop in Fyrestone with a scoped weapon, you'd see a Claptrap. The Pre-Sequel!'s Claptastic Voyage DLC reveals that, after Jack took control of Hyperion, he deactivated all Claptrap units, except one.
- Captain Ersatz: Saturn's appearance and armaments closely resemble a Warlord Titan redesigned by Hyperion. As if its name wasn't enough of a clue...
- Continuity Nod:
- The first game had the "Lady Finger" pistol. This one ups the ante with the "Lady Fist". The quest that awards the Lady Fist can also award the Tidal Wave shotgun, based on the "T.K.'s Wave" shotgun from the original game.
- When visiting Fyrestone, a hidden ECHO log of Dr. Zed's has an offhand mention of how the original Vault Hunters helped Mr. Blake with the Claptrap uprising — this was the main plot of the Claptrap's New Robot Revolution DLC.
- In the same area, you can find an ECHO log of Handsome Jack giving Angel orders to tell the original Vault Hunters the speech she gives them while stepping off the bus.
- Egopolis: Fyrestone, the first town in 1, is now Jackville.
- Game-Breaking Bug: During the final leg of the "Get to Know Jack" sidequest, if you turn the valve to summon the rakk holding the final ECHO log before pressing a nearby button, you will have one, one chance to kill the rakk before it vanishes; otherwise its ECHO log, and subsequently the sidequest, is gone for good.
- Gilligan Cut: An audio version is used frequently in T.K. Baha's old ECHO recordings.T.K.: Well, it's the first day on Pandora. Wife wasn't too happy about the move, but she'll come around. This is the beginning of our new life together!
[next ECHO]
T.K.: Welp, my wife's dead. - Greater-Scope Villain: Handsome Jack, to a tee. It turns out very nearly everything that occurred in the story of the first game was a result of his manipulations.
- Hope Spot: Near the end of the "Boneyard" section, Roland starts talking to you again, after having been killed by Jack, about how you should go kick Jack's butt and then go out for some drinks. Then Jack comes on and says that it was just him, and that Roland still really is dead. It's played for laughs, because it isn't Roland's voice.
- Humongous Mecha: Saturn, which is the size of a building, and one of the toughest bosses in the game, since its weak spot is impossible to hit if you play solo using Maya or Salvador.
- Karmic Jackpot: The sidequest "Uncle Teddy" has two outcomes. Either you give TK Baha's weapon blueprints to his niece who wishes to sue Hyperion for infringement, or you mail them to Hyperion and stab her in the back. Picking the former nets the Lady Fist, a pistol with a very high crit damage boost bonus (and a call back to the "Lady Finger" pistol he gives the player as part of an early story missing in the first game). Picking the latter nets the Tidal Wave, based on TK's Wave, a notoriously poor weapon (also a quest reward from the first game).
- King Mook: Saturn is essentially a giant Loader.
- Lampshade Hanging: The "Uncle Teddy" mission has you collecting T.K. Baha's old ECHO logs for evidence of Hyperion stealing a gun design of his. T.K.'s niece, Una, notes that he "kept all his ECHO correspondence — like a lot of people on Pandora, evidently", lampshading the fact that you find these things everywhere and they seem to be recording near-constantly. One mission even has someone saying (literally) "Here I am taking a walk, talking into my ECHO recorder and enjoying not being torn apart and having my gun broken into four pieces — (skag roars) OH GOD THAT'S EXACTLY WHAT'S HAPPENING NOW!"
- Nostalgia Level: "Arid Nexus - Badlands" is basically the starting zone of the first game, "Fyrestone",
after Hyperion got their hands on it. - Sadistic Choice: "Uncle Teddy" in Arid Nexus - Badlands has you helping T.K. Baha's niece recover the plans for her family's weapon for a powerful unique weapon versus selling her out to Hyperion for a sub-par unique weapon and a fat wad of cash.
- Sophisticated as Hell: At the end of "Get to Know Jack":
- Quest Info: After a thorough exploration of his past, you have come to the conclusion that Handsome Jack is a douchebag who needs to die.
- Story Breadcrumbs: The "Beginning of the End" challenge requires you to find five ECHO recordings that document the fall of Fyrestone and its eventual reforming into Jackville.
- Tempting Fate:
- In the Arid Nexus, you can find an ECHO in a dead skag of a bandit who thinks it's a great day for a walk, and is thankful skags aren't about to attack him, break his favorite gun into four parts, and then eat the parts. Guess what happens next.
Carlo the Bandit: AAAGGHH!! That is exactly what is happening!- Also in Arid Nexus, you can find TK Baha's recordings. The second to last one has him talk about his interactions with the first set of Vault Hunters just before they left, before hearing that bandits were at his door. He assures himself that everything's going to be ok. If you've played the first game, you know exactly how it ended.
- Unwitting Pawn:
- The Vault Hunters end up becoming this for Jack about halfway through the game, after installing Wilheim's power core into Sanctuary, which allows Angel to hack their network and bring the shields down.
- While hinted at the tail end of "Rising Action", ECHO recordings in Arid Nexus reveal that the original Vault Hunters from the first game were also this, being manipulated by Jack to open the vault for it's real treasure; the vast quantities of Eridium stored beneath Pandora.
- Walking Spoiler: LOTS of backstory revelations take place during side missions and challenges in these areas, especially in the "Badlands" portion.
