Looking for ECHO Devices, Got Frustrated by the Level Design of Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel!

Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel has some serious problem with level designs, I can tell you that. As much as I like the series, I still have to admit its flaws, and the confusing level design of the Pre-Sequel is by far the most serious and frustrating across all three games. Before I start, let me first apologize because chances are this post may not make much sense as I'm not good at explaining it in words. But as an honest fan of Borderlands, I have to pour it out of my system.

So I just defeated the Bosun. You don't have to know who that is. Let's just say that I was feeling very victorious, and so I decided to try out a side-mission, since I hadn't tried one for a while at that time. Naturally, and also because I'm a bit of a lazy bum, I picked the nearest side-mission I could find, which came in the form of an ECHO device. As soon as I picked it up, the device revealed that there was a secret chamber somewhere in that location.

Now, it has been scientifically proven that where there are chambers, there are loots.

Does it worth the trouble?

Anyway, finding the chamber was not the hard part. Heck, it was right in front of me. But it was locked and it required voice-recognition to be unlocked. Apparently, there were 3 ECHO devices lying around the place, and they were the key for me to gain access into the chamber. The first ECHO device was easy to find. It was on a bunk just outside of the chamber. Finding the second and third devices was the real challenge.

The minimap, of course, displayed the locations of each device. It appeared that one of the devices was located at a higher level. But the whole place is a fucking wreck, there were many levels and platforms to be climbed. So, the minimap didn't seem to be helping much, because I didn't know the exact location of the ECHO device and the exact level of that location. Even if I figured that out, getting to that location is the hard part.

Much easier explained with pictures

Trying to reach the second ECHO device was not easy. I won't mind if it was hard but it was mostly annoying. I hopped around the place, trying to figure out to which platform I should get to, and on and on until I got to reach where the device was. If I'm not such a greedy, loot-obsessed dork I would have stopped that instant. But I didn't. Maybe I'm just bad at platforming, I admit. That was probably the longest fetch mission I ever had. The time interval between finding the first ECHO device and the second one is probably half an hour, which can be considered long for two devices that are located very closely together.

The third device was no harder to find, but it ain't easy either. I dunno. I thought it was in the control room. That was what the minimap said. Apparently it was one floor below. There was actually a small inaccessible room underneath the control room. You have to get down there and a scav will come out and attack you. Kill him, and he'll give you the ECHO device. What the fuck. Seriously, what the hell Gearbox. You're saying is that the device was sort of "attached" to him all along, and as long as I haven't provoked him yet, he won't come out and I'll never find the device?

What the hell.

It's not that I'm complaining or spoiled with having everything easy. Trust me, if Borderlands was a puzzle game, this won't be a problem. But this a first-person shooter, as a matter of fact, a very frantic and fast-paced one. Imagine my frustration when my near-religious rampage got stalled for a task a mundane as this. I had the same kind of problem regarding the level design back in Pandora's moon. But this is more difficult, in fact it's harder than a boss fight!

I like challenge, I really do. But this isn't a challenge. This is just annoyance and a case of horrible, horrible level design for such an exciting game.