DLC #208 - Borderlands : The Pre-Sequel - Claptastic Voyage

After the eventual slog of the Borderlands : The Pre-Sequel Platinum trophy, I was actually looking forward to a story-based DLC expansion. Something to cleanse the palate at the very least.

The irony of this is, Claptastic Voyage should have been exactly that, and yet, down to some more classic Borderlands-esque shenanigans, I ended up spending way more time indulging in this package than I should have done.

Claptastic Voyage is still good, I just wish they'd learned their lesson from the main list and did a better job with the execution of it's trophies. There's absolutely no reason for a missable, non-story related trophy to be hidden that could have serious consequences on the amount of rework you have to go through should you miss it, but more on that soon.

Following on from the ending to the main game, Jack learns of a powerful, top secret code hidden away in Claptrap's memory by Tassister in order to keep it safe. It's called the "H-Source", and Jack digitalises the Vault Hunters to send them straight into Claptrap's brain to retrieve it.

You'll explore an entire new dimension, full of new environments, enemies, weapons and a brand new series of quests. The theme is a great concept for a piece of DLC - tapping into the subconscious of one of the weirdest Borderlands characters - Where his thoughts and memories are conveyed everywhere you look within different forms. The new selection of enemies includes bugs, glitches, trojans and viruses, as well as an excellent main protagonist in 5H4D0W-TP.

Glitched weapons are also a new addition to weapon rarity. Their properties will change every time you reload them, adding a hint of unpredictability to combat. This could involve extra damage dealt, a different firing mode or random elemental effects. The random volatility is a quirky idea, but this can backfire in combat, and bread and butter weapons are usually still the most effective way forward. The novelty does at least give gunplay a nice injection of variety though.

In terms of trophies, there are 10 to earn across the package, and there's not much information to take in at first glance. That's because 9 out of the 10 of these trophies are hidden, which ends up massively going against me here.

Only 5 of them are actually relevant to the new main questline arc, and the rest of these trophies are simply awarded for smaller tasks (or, actually much greater tasks, as it turns out...) which you'll uncover as you dive deeper into the DLC.

The main questline is broken down into 19 new individual quests across 5 chapters as you recover the H Source and stop 5H4D0W-TP in his quest to steal it for himself. It's exactly what you expect of any story-driven Borderlands content as you progress the questline through a series of linear missions, uncovering the new areas of the world along the way. Some of these areas will take you back to previous Borderlands lore, and as a sucker for nostalgia, it's a nice touch to see some of the old Borderlands worlds make an appearance at certain junctures here. As normal, there's also a ton of side content available to explore throughout simultaneously - Some of which is reflected in the other half of these trophies.

This includes 2 trophies dedicated to a post-questline arena mode called the Mutator. This is a repeatable arena that you'll only unlock after beating the final main quest. It's very similar to the Holodome but the twist here is that you can choose a range of modifiers to handicap yourself and reap better rewards as a result of beating 3 waves of enemies with said handicaps applied. There are 9 modifiers in total, and these include gradual loss of health, half gravity and slower reload speed. The premise is interesting, but after having exhausted the Holodome for previous levelling ventures, it felt just like another horde mode that blended into the post-game chaos.

It did help me continue the final push of my main character towards level 50 for the "Space Lord" trophy in the main list, due to the strength of the enemies being presented, and this is where I grinded out the final 4 levels for my character.

This wasn't where the real challenges lay here though, and we were in for one heck of a final stand with Borderlands : The Pre-Sequel;

Shadow of Your Former Self - Defeat 5H4D0W-TP.
Wheely Fast - Outran the Wheel in the Temple of Boom.

Just flipping back to the main questline - The "Shadow of Your Former Self" trophy, awarded for defeating 5H4D0W-TP, signals the ending of the story. It's actually a fairly smooth ride right up until you reach the end, then the difficulty spikes so badly, if you illustrated it on a graph, it would have an overhang. This is a common trap that Borderlands games have systemically been guilty of. 

5H4D0W-TP has multiple forms and his final form is outrageous. He eventually transforms into a massive space station called EoS, dealing huge amounts of damage, spawning tough counterparts that fight alongside him, but most annoyingly, is an absolute health sponge. A successful fight takes upwards of 45 minutes to 1 hour, and I countlessly had my ass handed to me multiple times prior to this.

The general consensus from some research is also that of struggle, and it actually feels like they accidentally added a raid boss into the main questline. I was sufficiently levelled with my main character, had a powerful arsenal and even had the right types of elemental effect applied to weapons that perfectly counter robotic enemies (corrosion). The main problem is, he hits so hard, you can easily be dead in a couple of shots, and when you fight bosses that turn out to be themed on endurance, this is a combination for disaster.

The arena has some good pinch points where you can stay protected from attacks, and the glitched weapons are actually their most useful here. I found that reloading until I managed to see the glitch effect that deals huge damage per shot, and then aiming for critical hit spots, was ultimately the best method to chip away at the shield and health bar of EoS, but popping out of hiding spots and taking shots at the right moment was vital to not end up being melted instantly by a laser beam, so patience is still the most important trait for victory.

The additional enemies eventually start spawning in and create problems of their own, but it's also important to remember that they also exist as second wind opportunities, and these saved me on more than one occasion.

I hate artificial difficulty and boss fights that make you feel like you don't have any real influence on the outcome. That's never fun and Borderlands loves to crowbar in these bullet sponge bosses so it's not exactly shocking, but the fact it's included within a main questline, rather than treated as the side content for the sadistics amongst us who thrive off these things, is another oversight from a game full of them. Overall, it was just another exhausting experience with this game - but it wasn't the only one. There was time for a final "hurrah".

The "Wheely Fast" trophy, awarded for Outrunning the Wheel in the Temple of Boom doesn't fit the usual bill of a trophy of note. It's requirements are very simple and it doesn't involve any skill - However, it was the foundation for a costly error that broke my will with this game.

Towards the end of the DLC content, you'll reach the Subconscious area, and pick up a side mission called "Temple of Boom". You're asked to uncover the temple and find whatever secret hides within. During the mission finale, you're chased out the temple by a giant wheel which you have to outrun to unlock this trophy. I did not manage to do this the first time and the opportunity had slipped away without me even knowing the impact it was going to have.

Once I'd beaten the main questline, I'd noticed I still had a some secret trophies to uncover, and then it dawned on me that the only way I was going to be able to go back and grab this trophy was to play through the entire DLC with another character. This is where I turned back to my Claptrap playthrough I'd recently reached level 25 previously.

I jumped into the DLC for a second time and instantly ran into challenges. My Claptrap character was seriously under-levelled. Enemies start at level 31 upwards in this DLC and I was already struggling to make it through the earliest portions of levels. I had to jump back into the Holodome and farm experience until I was level 28 purely so I could just have a chance at surviving long enough to bypass combat areas within this DLC.

Some parts are just too difficult to bypass and I was dying far too fast. I could at least kill some of these enemies, but my weapons were ineffective and fights took way longer than necessary and I'd continue to die a lot but had no choice but to keep battling through. I couldn't even equip any of the guns I'd found within the DLC world yet, due to their minimum level requirements being beyond 30. It felt like the game was just taunting me at this point.

The biggest blocker comes right before you reach the Subconscious area of the DLC. A level 34 boss called the Denial Subroutine needs to be defeated in order to progress the story and he was essentially just way too powerful for me. I had to spend almost an entire day grinding an additional 5 levels to defeat him. This took me beyond level 30 and also allowed me to equip some stronger weapons I'd found that I couldn't previously equip.

To say I was burnt out from this entire game by this point would be a gross understatement. I reckon I'd easily spent another 20-25 hours slogging fruitlessly through this DLC again - and all I was doing was trying to earn a trophy that I should have already earned and thus could have easily avoided this entire exercise.

There are two costly mistakes the developers made here. Firstly, they made this trophy hidden on the list. It's non-story related and has no reason to be hidden from view. Naturally, I expected this to be a potential spoiler and refrained from any prior research, which is ironic given the fact that this is a mistake I've already made once with this game. Secondly, the fact it's also missable is criminal, and if you don't achieve it first time round, you'll need to go through around 75% of the entire content again just to reach the point at which you can earn this trophy. Why not provide an option to replay the mission? Borderlands has allowed you to farm missions previously. Better yet, why not just exclude it from the list entirely? I don't care to what extent it may be my fault. That's terrible game design.

I've done my best to enjoy this entry into the Borderlands series, even though it's given me very easy reasons to dislike it time and time again. The good stuff is still great, but the bad stuff leaves a sour taste. It's been about as bittersweet of an experience as anything I've ever played through.

Platinum #144 - Borderlands : The Pre-Sequel

Platinum Difficulty Rating - 7/10

Deja vu. French for "Already Seen". The fleeting illusion of having previously experienced a current situation. A befitting way to define the latest instalment of a Borderlands title to the Platinum Trophy cabinet.

We're not just drawing parallels here. We're talking direct copy and paste, and whilst this wouldn't be the first series to be guilty of such when it comes to trophy lists, there are certain ideas that should have always been left behind and considered nothing more than experimental nuggets never to be revisited. Not around here though. 2k Games have other ideas.

Borderlands : The Pre-Sequel sits right between Borderlands 1 and 2 in game lore - Hence the title.

The story focuses on Jack, who is a familiar face in Borderlands 2. He is an employee of Hyperion who wants to find the hidden vault on Pandora's moon - Elpis - but a group identified as the Lost Legion, led by Colonel Zarpedon, attempts to hijack the plan and intends to destroy the planet after taking the contents of the vault.

Jack enlists the help of the Vault Hunters to prevent Colonel Zarpedon's plan, save the planet and secure the loot. It's a very typical Borderlands plot which carries across many of the same gameplay elements seen in both previous Borderlands titles.

Due to the fact you play through the majority of the game on the moon of a planet, there are a couple of new gameplay mechanics at large. You'll experience low gravity environments, which will allow you to jump higher, but move in a more slow and floaty fashion. Oxygen also becomes more relevant, and you'll have an O2 bar which slowly diminishes as you run out of air in low pressure environments. This can be replenished at gas craters and you'll need to wear an oxygen mask, which simultaneously grants powerful combat abilities. It's the sort of game mechanic that can be annoying if not managed well, and Gearbox do a good job of making it add an extra dimension to the game, yet not feel too intrusive at the same time.

The Grinder is also a new feature, and allows the player to feed 3 weapons of a single rarity into the machine with the chance of being able to receive back a weapon of greater rarity. It's an interesting new way to acquire loot, with a slight hint of gambling-esque vibes to it. There are also a couple of new weapon-based variations too, including the introduction of Laser weapons and the cryogenic elemental effect.

Outside of this, it's more of the same in every aspect, both gameplay and trophy-wise. You'll have the ability to choose from 6 different Vault Hunters. They're all new characters with their own abilities and skill trees and you can juggle multiple playthroughs at the same time with each of these characters for maximum flexibility. You'll also see many of the previous cast adopt NPC roles throughout the story including Mad Moxxi, Sir Hammerlock and Mr Torque, as well as the 4 playable Vault Hunters from the first game too. Nostalgia galore, and it was nice to see so many familiar faces.

Graphically, this is still the same cel-shaded shoot 'em up we've become accustomed to by now. The graphics look a little bit dated when you compare them to more modern cel-shaded games, but the character models are well designed and the variety as you transverse the different terrains across Elpis is vast. Boss battles are a key staple within Borderlands games, and this is maintained well here again, with a bunch of varied bosses with some excellent creativity backing them up.

Combat is punchy and hectic, and the addictive draw of hopefully looting better weaponry to improve your arsenal is ever-present. One minute you're rocking a shotgun that fires 4 shells at once and can melt an enemy away with a corrosive elemental effect, and the next you've switched out to a laser gun with a triple beam that can freeze enemies solid and shatter them with one punch. The random concoctions have always added their own unique charm to the series.

Borderlands : The Pre-Sequel also retains the game's core RPG elements. Progressively levelling your character up to spend skill points on unlocking abilities across a fully fledged skill tree allows you the freedom to build your character exactly how you want to. Progressing the story, diving off into side quests or just farming hidden bosses in order to nail that holy grail piece of loot. It's all still exactly how you remember it, and I've always preached the "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" mantra. There are some things I definitely wouldn't have kept, but as a core gaming experience, it's overall still great fun.

In terms of the trophy list, there are a total of 51 trophies contained within, including the Platinum Trophy, and this is where the uglier side of the Deja vu kicks in.

Borderlands : The Pre-Sequel is still a primarily co-operative experience, obviously designed to be played with others, but does still cater to the solo player. It does contain some co-operative only elements to the trophy list, but these can all be earned if you have access to multiple controllers where local split-screen can be used to unlock trophies. Otherwise, you'll need to venture online.

The "Multi-Face-eted" trophy, awarded for Defeating the Empyrean Sentinel, marks the end of the main story arc, and this is where the main focus of this trophy list lies.

As is the same with previous Borderlands titles, the game does not have a traditional option to choose a set difficulty level upon beginning the game, and in typical RPG fashion, the strength of enemies will scale alongside your own levelling progression. The challenge through difficulty comes from the option to enter an exclusive version of New Game + mode one you beat the game for the first time. These are called True Vault Hunter Mode and Ultimate Vault Hunter Mode, and are really important to the levelling process, which has a direct impact on a couple of trophies we'll touch upon later.

Leading up to this particular trophy, there are 12 trophies in total awarded for beating main story missions and I progressed through the main story (and the majority of the entire game) as a solo player. The game does a good job of maintaining balance for difficulty depending on how many players are present, and the drop-in feature is convenient if you ever need to open the lobby up to allow other players to support you. This is useful for a couple of boss fights, especially towards the end of the game, but outside of these, it's fairly plain sailing and even as a solo player, shouldn't give you too much trouble.

Tackling the main story actually ended up being the most relaxing part of this entire list, but that's always been the case with Borderlands games. The main questline has always felt like the calm before the storm, and the extracurricular activities have always been where the true challenges lie, and here is no exception.

The "Challenger" trophy, awarded for Completing level 1 of all challenges with a single character, returns and it presents itself in the exact same form as it did in Borderlands 2. This was my least favourite trophy back then, mainly for it's nonsensical grinding requirements and punishing RNG that you had absolutely no influence over. Both are still present within this trophy.

As before, there are a big list of in-game challenges for you to complete (130 in total), split into different categories and tiered up to 5 levels depending on the quantity of what you're required to fulfil. Obtaining level 1 on the majority of these is fairly straight-forward, but for a small handful of them, they're a little bit more complicated than that.

Firstly, the grindy element to this trophy. Some of the challenges are hidden and need to be unlocked. Level 1 of the "Over Achiever" challenge only requires you to get 10 long range kills with the shotgun. However, you'll need to reach level 5 of the "Take It All" challenge, which requires you get 750 point blank kills with the shotgun. They did this exact nonsense for the same trophy in Borderlands 2. Same challenge requirements on a blatant copy and paste job. I absolutely hate the fact they either overlooked this or knew what they were doing and just did it anyway. There's absolutely no need to grind 750 point blank shotgun kills as a pre-requisite to unlocking a level 1 challenge where 98% of all other level 1 challenges are available from the start.

The same requirements also exist within the rocket launcher challenge category. You need to reach level 5 of the "Collateral Damage" challenge by accumulating 200 splash kills with rocket launchers, just in order to unlock the level 1 challenge "Missile Magnet" - Which merely requires 5 kills with a direct hit via a rocket. It's not quite 750 kills, but 200 kills is still alot once you quickly realise that rocket launcher ammo is expensive and hard to come by, and when you combine hours of griding for almost 1000 kills, just to unlock a couple of level 1 challenges, it just feels like an unnecessary waste of time that didn't need to be repeated from a previous trophy list.

Secondly, the RNG element. I mentioned a new gameplay feature in the form of the Grinder, and this has it's own dedicated challenge category too. 

The "Greater Than the Sum of it's Parts" challenge requires you to obtain 20 Luneshine weapons from the Grinder, which requires you to spend Moonstones every time you grind a set of weapons in order to possibly obtain a Luneshine weapon. Notice the deliberate use of terminology. This is where the RNG comes in.

The Grinder can be expensive, and in actual fact, the lowest amount of Moonstones required to grind is 0, however, this cost is relative to weapon level, so the higher level the weapons you're trying to grind, the higher the Moonstone cost. There may be a fairly reasonable cost-based alternative to complete this challenge, but by the time I'd begun focusing on it, grinds were costing me 12 Moonstones per attempt, which is expensive for only the possibility of obtaining a Luneshine weapon.

I don't know the exact odds, but I've seen it generally theorised as a 30% chance each grind, which isn't exactly terrible, but I did need an effective farming method, and luckily, the Holodome was a key contributor here. I could simultaneously grind for both levels and Moonstones within the Holodome, but that was only half the battle. Since the Grinder also requires 3 weapons to grind each time, I had to find an effective method of obtaining guns too. There's a couple of slot machines in Mad Moxxi's bar in Concordia - Not too far from the Grinder - and these will grant weapons for successful spins. Again, it's expensive, but money earned from the Holodome also went towards further spins.

This wasn't quite as annoying as the seemingly eternal search for Jimmy Jenkins in Borderlands 2, but the similarly uncontrollable variables were just as exhausting, and on top of the level 5 grinds mentioned above, there seemed to be way more effort put into this particular trophy than what was necessary should more reasonable requirements have been implemented. Just so much effort required to simply complete a couple of level 1 challenges as part of this trophy - And this wasn't even the longest part of the post-main questline grind either.

The "Space Lord" trophy, awarded for Reaching level 50, is yet another staple trophy requirement of the Borderlands series, and yet again, this will require much more than a single playthrough of the main story to achieve.

My main character choice was Athena, which ended up being a fatal decision in regards to completion efficiency of this list, and by the time I'd realised this, I was fully committed, so didn't really have much choice but to continue on.

By the time I'd beaten the main questline and completed all side missions, I had still only reached level 31, so the natural transition from this point is to begin a new game in True Vault Hunter Mode. This allows for enemies and quests to scale beyond level 30 and therefore grant more experience, which is eventually capped in Normal mode. This is a necessary requirement to pursue level 50 at a reasonable rate, however, the game instantly feels harder as a consequence, and by this point, I actually pivoted away from the main game and began to explore the 2 DLC content packs as my method of progressing towards level 50.

I did briefly mention it in the Holodome review, but this DLC became an essential part of this trophy. Being able to kill waves of enemies within the Holodome was the most effective way to level, but it also meant we were yet again embroiled in another grind. I used this method to reach level 40 before defecting to the Claptastic Voyage DLC to continue progression - Mainly for a change of scenery more than anything else. Even upon beating that entire DLC package, I had still only reached level 47 - but the Claptastic Voyage DLC also continues a post-story arena mode I took advantage of to knock out the remaining few levels to the end.

An entire initial playthrough, starting a second True Vault Hunter playthrough, completing an entire DLC questline and grinding kills in 2 different arena modes across 2 different DLC packages. Just to reach level 50 - And we still weren't finished with the grind.

The "That Helped, Right?" trophy, awarded for Experiencing all Vault Hunter Modes using VaultHunter.EXE, relates to the specific choice of choosing Claptrap as your starting character. When I said above that picking Athena was a fatal decision, this is exactly what I was referring to.

In order to experience all Vault Hunter Modes with Claptrap's showdown skill, you'll need to earn 25 skill points. At 1 skill point per level, this equates to reaching 25 levels, which is way higher than any of the other playable characters showdown related trophy. So, in an ideal world, it would have made this trophy list much easier to choose Claptrap from the start and continue the pursuit towards the "Space Lord" trophy with Claptrap, which I didn't do.

Claptrap's skill mode will randomly generate an ability each time it's triggered, and these modes are all scattered throughout his skill tree. The furthest unlockable skill, which is the "Pirate Ship" ability, requires 23 skill points to reach, so you'll need to progress Claptrap to level 25, meaning I had to play through around 80% of the main questline all over again just to trigger this random skill mode. This game really did push the limits on what it would make you do just to fulfil simple tasks linked to trophies.

There are 7 default modes to experience, which are available as soon as you access Showdown mode, and there are 6 available to purchase with skill points throughout Claptrap's skill tree. Once you've reached level 25, you will have access to all Vault Hunter Modes, and you can reset and redistribute your points towards other branches of the skill tree to unlock the modes you're missing, so there is that at least.

These modes are all RNG based (shock, horror), so it's just a matter of ticking them off once you experience them when using Claptrap's showdown mode. Just to add to the above, there are also 2 co-operative only modes to also experience - Medbot and Nonsensical sacrifice - and these are both where I spent most of the time attempting to get this trophy. Even though the modes are all RNG based, I'd managed to see most of them fairly easily, but when I booted up the second player in split-screen for the last 2 modes, it took a couple of hours to see them both.

You can still witness the other modes in co-op gameplay, so there is still a lot of trial and error here. Medbot happened fairly quickly but it took me a few hours to see Nonsensical sacrifice - With an approach based on nothing more than waiting for the showdown to cool down and triggering it again hoping for the best. It eventually worked.

Just a final side note on this trophy. I do completely appreciate that, had I followed the game to a roadmap, this would have meant I only had to play through the game once and my stance on this list would have been completely different in lieu of avoiding a heck of a lot of rework. However, I have always maintained a standard of playing games blind, tackling the obstacles of a trophy list organically and then reviewing them in full retrospect of my own experience.

This is one of those situations where I regret living by those standards, and not just having to scale a brand new character all the way up to level 25, but experiencing yet more completely naff RNG directly related to this trophy. The same naff RNG that soured both this game and Borderlands 2. It's worth an extra mark on it's own.

Outside of this, the list has a couple of awkward co-op trophies, even if you have access to additional controllers. You'll need a party of 4 for the "Who You Gonna Call?" trophy, awarded for Completing the "Sub-Level 13" missions with 3 other players. This will be difficult to earn online at this stage in the game's lifecycle, and if you choose the split-screen method, you will require 4 controllers to obtain it. There are some other trophies which will require at least another player, but this one is the main blocker due it's necessity to be completed with 4 people/controllers.

Character specific trophies will also require you to use each of the playable characters and unlock a trophy for using their relevant Showdown skill, but Claptrap aside, these can be picked up fairly early on in the game and don't require too much rework.

Borderlands : The Pre-Sequel copies much of the formula of Borderlands 2, right down to it's trophy list, and I wouldn't go as far to suggest it's put me off, but I'd also be lying if I said the trophy list didn't have me worn down by the end. Some people may argue that a 7/10 is a little on the steep side for difficulty, but I honestly believe this ultimately just turned into a big, grindy blur that felt like it was never going to end, and I'm praying to the heavens this is the last time we see any more Borderlands-esque RNG.

Notable Trophies -

Multi-Face-eted - Defeated the Empyrean Sentinel.
Challenger - Completed level 1 of all challenges with a single character.
Space Lord - Reached level 50.
That Helped, Right? - Experienced all Vault Hunter Modes using VaultHunter.EXE.

Hardest Trophy -

Space Lord

Reached level 50

DLC #207 - Borderlands : The Pre-Sequel - The Holodome Onslaught

Oh, Borderlands. Why do you insist on being such a complicated beast? It's not that I mind doing things back to front, I just don't know why we insist on ending up in this position again - Yet here we are, slogging through DLC as a backdoor tactical approach to obtaining another Borderlands Platinum trophy.

The Holodome Onslaught will instantly feel familiar to anyone who has played Borderlands before. It's very similar to the Mad Moxxi's Underdome Riot DLC from Borderlands 1 - A horde mode where you fend off waves of enemies through a set number of rounds until everything is dead.

It's slightly on the lighter side in terms of depth of content compared to last time, but that isn't necessarily a bad thing. Underdome Riot was guilty of serious content padding with up to 20 waves of enemies in a single round that made it feel like it just went on forever. I don't like the way they've essentially just copy and pasted a previously used concept, but at least they've been sensible with it's scale on this occasion. We don't need generic horde mode offerings that outstay their welcome.

I'm not saying this is good by any stretch. It's actually very unspectacular and ordinary. However, it does serve purposes to other ends, and my biggest positives of this experience are linked to how the Holodome arena can be used to ease the requirements of other trophies within the main list.

Firstly, it's a good source of experience points for both the enemies you'll kill within the arena and turning in missions for beating the Holodome. One of the trophies within the main list requires you to reach level 50 with any character, and this content is my first stop in exhausting all viable options that'll allow me to reach that milestone without having to indulge in too much repetition.

Secondly, the Holodome is also a good source of Moonstones, which enemies drop fairly frequently here, and you'll need a ton of these in relation to the achievement of some other trophies within the main list, so it turns out to be a great farming location too.

The package also comes complete with 3 additional trophies of it's own, and these follow a very simple route to completion;

The initial phase of the Holodome will see you go through 5 successive rounds, and beating all of these will net you the first trophy within the list. Each round contains between 4 to 6 waves of enemies, scaling in volume, but nothing too outrageous in terms of overall difficulty. If you're like me, and you've beaten the game, and you're using the Holodome to squeeze out some extra levelling, you should have powerful enough weapons to deal with the majority of the enemies fairly adequately.

However, once the initial 5 rounds have been beaten, you'll unlock a final Badass round. Of the 2 outstanding trophies, you'll unlock one of these for beating the Badass round, but for the final Gold trophy, you'll need to go a step further;

I Welcome Your Attack, Fool - Completed the Badass Round without going into Fight For Your Life.

Tackling this trophy as a solo player turned out to be a bit of a rough experience. The Badass Round of the Holodome contains 7 waves, and throws some tough enemies into the mix that are capable of taking you down in a couple of hits if you're not careful.

"Fight for your life" mode is activated when you lose all your health and go down. In solo play, you'll be able to revive yourself by killing an enemy to earn a "second wind" and continue fighting, but this will also void the trophy so you need to be able to progress through all 7 waves without being downed. 

The key is to take your time and be patient. Some of the weaker enemies can be held off at distance with sniper rifles or plasma rifles, but some enemies will need to be fought in close quarters in order to realistically kill them, and this is where the problems arise. Ophas and Virtuous Ophas are dangerous in close quarters because of their powerful melee attacks, but they also spawn Putti - Small creatures which provide health regeneration capabilities to protect the Opha when in danger, so the tactic to pick them off at range with a slower firing weapon wasn't a viable approach because they'd regain their health back too quickly. This forced me into fighting them at close range with an effective Shotgun and Melee combo, but it's a treacherous catch 22 scenario that cost me my life numerous times.

Additionally to this, Guardian Ponders and Guardian Reapers are also incredibly dangerous, and will actively instigate close range fights with their ability to teleport. This often means they'll end up directly at your feet without warning and they both have high damage attacks that can kill you almost instantly. The main thing that makes this frustrating is the lack of ability to get away from a fight courtesy of the space atmosphere that makes your movement floaty and slow, so in most instances where a Ponder or Reaper would suddenly spawn within close proximity, it was rare I'd be able to move quickly enough to escape death. Another annoying way to die that occurred far too often.

There are smaller inconveniences at play too. The arena has an open floor that exposes an insta-kill saw blade trap that caught me out a couple of times, and ammunition management will also become crucial, even if you've upgraded your backpack capacity.

The approach of taking my time and ensuring I did everything I could to fight enemies from a reasonable distance eventually paid off, though I'd estimate it took me over 20 attempts to finally unlock this trophy. You get a feel for spawn patterns and understanding the importance of dispatching the more dangerous foes quickly. It does become a tiring exercise, especially those failed attempts that reach the latter waves - That's over 30 minutes of wasted effort each time. The motivation of levelling proves to be a nice ongoing incentive outside of the Gold trophy. I managed to go from level 32 to level 37 whilst chasing down the 3 trophies in this set, though this did slow down significantly towards the end and I'd just about squeezed the maximum value out of this content from a levelling perspective.

A successful round - and achievement of this trophy - will probably take around 45 minutes, but after around 20 runs of varying degrees of progress, that's a substantial accumulation of time for one trophy. Now to work out how I tackle the remaining 13 levels.