At a gameplay event for Borderlands 3, our author Leya had the chance to play FL4K for the first time. Afterwards, she conducted an interview with Paul Sage, the creative director of the loot shooter, who provided a lot of background information about the new pet class.
The background: At a gameplay event for Borderlands 3, various media representatives were allowed to play the character FL4K for the first time. He is an android and fights alongside his three pet companions. We at MeinMMO were present at this event and got to play FL4K for 5 hours.
After we played, there was also the opportunity to talk with the creative director of Borderlands 3. Paul Sage was primarily responsible for FL4K’s presence in the game and shared some insights about the gameplay and the character’s development.
Pokémon inspired the concept for FL4K
MeinMMO: Hello Paul, we briefly talked before the event about how FL4K is largely your creation. Why is FL4K in the game now, and what makes him special?
Paul Sage: “There are two aspects that are important for FL4K and his creation in the game. Scott Kester is our art director, and he was eager to have a robot as a character. That’s the basis for the idea of FL4K. Scott created a concept drawing for him with his team. When we saw the drawings, everyone immediately agreed that we needed this character in the game.
The second aspect is that FL4K has pets. That was the idea I pushed forward because I strongly felt that we needed a class with pets. So not just one animal, but multiple animals.
The idea comes from older days. We have many Pokémon fans in the industry who love battling and raising pets. Even when I worked on Ultima Online, we had pets in the game. So we wanted animals in Borderlands 3 that you can name and that feel like your own.
During the development process, when we were working on FL4K’s skills, we wanted the animals to always be present. That was really difficult. So it was a large team effort to get FL4K into the game.
He should fulfill the need to have a “care class” in the game that takes care of its animals.”
There are synergies between animals and certain skills
MeinMMO: When I was playing with FL4K, I noticed that the animals are represented in different talent trees. A pet also appears next to one of the three active action skills. Are the skills that appear next to the animals also a perfect match for the respective animal, or does it not matter how I mix them?
Note: For a better understanding, you can find the talent trees in the following article:
Paul Sage: “It is indeed the case that the animals complement well with the skills in their talent tree. This also applies to the action skill. However, early in the development process, we decided that the animals should function independently of the skills next to them.
We wanted to ensure that players who like a certain animal can play with it in different ways.
I’ll give you an example: we have our Gamma Burst skill. That is the ability to teleport an animal to a specific location, make it grow really large, deal more damage, and give it more health. The Gamma Burst was initially fixed with the Skag. You can still notice that because they are next to each other in the talent tree. But then we asked ourselves, why shouldn’t we also give our Spiderant and Jabber that [the action skill]?
As we delved deeper into the subject, we simply wanted more flexibility to allow for more strategic decisions.
I think the animals and skills in a talent tree can complement each other well, especially the passive skills in the tree.
I also believe that we have succeeded in allowing players to mix the different skills with the animals as they wish. The Rakk Attack works great with the Jabber when it uses its weapon to shoot. The Spiderant actually belongs to the Rakk Attack, due to its ranged attack. So it works well with both to fight from a distance.”
FL4K is all about making decisions
MeinMMO: While playing, I thought it was particularly cool that the animals can also be incapacitated and we can revive them.
Paul Sage: Yes, with FL4K it is indeed a lot about making decisions. Your pet could be incapacitated in an area that is currently dangerous. Going to your pet to revive it could get you killed.
But if you don’t do it, you have to manage without the pet for about 2 minutes, making you weaker. So you have to decide whether you really want to be without the animal for that long.
MeinMMO: Exactly what you just said happened to me! My pet was down on the ground, right next to the boss enemy. I knew I would die if I ran to the pet to revive it. But I can’t stand it when the pet is down, so I of course went for it and naturally died immediately.
Paul Sage laughing: “Yes, we’re playing with your emotions!”
FL4K is really a crazy cat lady
MeinMMO: By the way, I was surprised by FL4K’s personality. He is so sarcastic and doesn’t like people at all, but is very loving and caring towards his pets. Why is that?
Paul Sage: “FL4K was meant to be a sarcastic character. Sarcasm is something we can all relate to. A sarcastic FL4K is funny for us because he shouldn’t be robotic.
FL4K is actually a bit like a cat lady. Do you know the term? It’s someone who has a lot of cats but doesn’t talk to people very often. I equate FL4K with that.
FL4K feels more connected to animals because they don’t disappoint you like humans sometimes do. I believe that is a safety net for FL4K. Yes, I think that’s the reason… FL4K has a trust in animals that he simply does not have in humans.”
More from the gameplay event: We have already published a few articles that arose from the gameplay event. In addition, there is a video about our first impressions that was created in cooperation with our colleagues at GameStar.
- How an MMORPG from 1997 inspired modern Borderlands 3
- Why Borderlands 3 will be bigger and better but brings nothing new
