Since this is coming out today(in a few hours here in the US), I figured it was about time we needed one. I'm sure anyone who clicks this already knows about the game, so why don't we just jump into whatever discussion we'd like to.
The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth
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Just played for about 2 hours. Unlocked Cain as Isaac, unlocked everyone else (except Eve) as Cain (got lucky with 3 devil deals + a dark bum to carry me through the run) and stopped after beating Satan (lucky Devil Room appearance in Mom's Heart room let me get to Sheol so early).
As far as the graphical change, I could take it or leave it. Never had a problem with the original.
Music is a massive downgrade from Danny B's. Dunno what they were thinking.Everything else is bigger and better and shinier though, which is great! Lots of fun new items, enemies (including some really tough ones) and little innovations that'll take months to fully explore, for sure.
Also intriguing- "hard mode" (haven't tried yet) and the winning streak counter.
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I agree. I only got to play for an hour before work, but I got a Mom fight under my belt and got some incredibly interesting new items. And I absolutely agree, the music is far worse than the original. I don't know why they didn't just get the ol' Baranowski for a new soundtrack. But regardless, it's fantastic. I'll be back once I play more.
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I've barely had a chance to play so far. My first run was nothing spectacular, and I ended up losing, which I blame on having not played in a while.
My second run, I got a Dark Bum (amazing item) and Brimstone. And ended up turning into Guppy. Needless to say, I kind of steamrolled that run.
Aside from that, I've done the first challenge, and that's it. Definitely looking forward to getting back into it, though!
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@Panda:
My second run, I got a Dark Bum (amazing item) and Brimstone.
Yeah, Dark Bum is ridiculous. But slightly balanced considering you can't have more than 12 of any hearts at a time.
Just beat spoilers for the first time.
! Cathedral Isaac. Much improved from the last game. First phase is pretty much the same but with crazier bullet patterns. Second is like the third from vanilla BoI (angel fetuses, light beams), but the third form is totally new. He gets up and starts flying around and teleporting, with mass light beam attacks and lots of bullets.
Overall though, I feel like it's a more skill-based fight now. In the original, I would simply be fucked if I somehow made it that far with a crappy set up, because dodging everything was so hard. This time around, things are slightly more predictable (I survived starting with only 6 hearts), yet somehow more action-packed. Fun factor+ -
Even with that, though, he seems to give out soul hearts at a one-to-one ratio to regular hearts he takes, which basically meant getting him is the equivalent of getting an item that gives you all 12 red hearts. Given that there's still items out there that are just a single +1 red heart container, that's pretty ridiculous.
Although I think perhaps I should be using the past tense. There seems to have been an update out already, probably unsurprisingly, and I would not be at all shocked if that were one of the things dialed back a bit.
Also, I just found my first really cool new thing!
(For the record, I'm not reading anything you put in spoilers, since I'm still in the mode of trying to experience things for myself, so I totally understand if you're the same).
! I was in a room with a bunch of those mobs that lob exploding attacks, and one of them must have blown up a rock or something, I didn't actually see what, but revealed a trap door, like the ones you use to go from level to level. But just in a normal room, and the 'secret room discovered' type jingle played. So of course I go into it, to see what it is, and it took me to this side-scrolling screen, for lack of a better word, where I climbed down a ladder, then up another, then exited to the side. That deposited me into one of the long-type rooms, where there were four different items I could buy for a red heart, as well as both a regular and a key-bum. The middle of the room had a trap-door to take me down to the next level, bypassing the boss. Makes me wonder how many other big additions like this there are!
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Having not played the first, yet suggesting it as a gateway for the sheer thrill of playing a rougelike game blind.. I picked this one up. It's a great little time killer and it helps since I'm not really playing to finish or win the game or anything. Got a few silly deaths, but that was mainly me playing it with an arcade stick for shits(might go back to the PS3 controller since I don't have dual sticks :( )
Looking forward to sharing my experience with this once I'm more accustomed to it.
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@Panda:
! I was in a room with a bunch of those mobs that lob exploding attacks, and one of them must have blown up a rock or something, I didn't actually see what, but revealed a trap door, like the ones you use to go from level to level. But just in a normal room, and the 'secret room discovered' type jingle played. So of course I go into it, to see what it is, and it took me to this side-scrolling screen, for lack of a better word, where I climbed down a ladder, then up another, then exited to the side. That deposited me into one of the long-type rooms, where there were four different items I could buy for a red heart, as well as both a regular and a key-bum. The middle of the room had a trap-door to take me down to the next level, bypassing the boss. Makes me wonder how many other big additions like this there are!
If you don't want to read mine, I get it, too, but:
! I got a similar one, the trap door and all, except it brought me down to a room modeled off of the original The Legend of Zelda game where you go down a ladder, climb back up, and there's an item on the other side of the room.
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@Panda:
Even with that, though, he seems to give out soul hearts at a one-to-one ratio to regular hearts he takes, which basically meant getting him is the equivalent of getting an item that gives you all 12 red hearts. Given that there's still items out there that are just a single +1 red heart container, that's pretty ridiculous.
Although I think perhaps I should be using the past tense. There seems to have been an update out already, probably unsurprisingly, and I would not be at all shocked if that were one of the things dialed back a bit.
Also, I just found my first really cool new thing!
(For the record, I'm not reading anything you put in spoilers, since I'm still in the mode of trying to experience things for myself, so I totally understand if you're the same).
! I was in a room with a bunch of those mobs that lob exploding attacks, and one of them must have blown up a rock or something, I didn't actually see what, but revealed a trap door, like the ones you use to go from level to level. But just in a normal room, and the 'secret room discovered' type jingle played. So of course I go into it, to see what it is, and it took me to this side-scrolling screen, for lack of a better word, where I climbed down a ladder, then up another, then exited to the side. That deposited me into one of the long-type rooms, where there were four different items I could buy for a red heart, as well as both a regular and a key-bum. The middle of the room had a trap-door to take me down to the next level, bypassing the boss. Makes me wonder how many other big additions like this there are!
! That would be the Black Market with the entrance paying homage to old Zelda titles like Oracle of Seasons/Ages. You either get that or an item/chest/pick up so it's random. You can also simply get a trap door to the next floor from blowing up rocks, made different from just being a hole with no ladder. There's a ton of things they added thanks to being made with a new engine and not flash. It's a really well put together game that still holds a challenge despite all the goodies you can get now. They really balanced this game out.
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It amuses me to think that absolutely nobody in this thread is reading anybody else's posts for fear of spoiling their own experience.
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Haha don't you worry. I read anything and everything.
I'm starved for discussion of this game. There's barely anyone talking about it on gamefaqs, and I refuse to go to reddit or chans for any reason.
That said, I'm resisting reading any wiki info about new items/features. More fun to discover (most of) it organically.
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I went to the wikis almost first thing. I'm pathetic, haha. The fun I get out of Isaac, though, isn't knowing what's coming, but experiencing it and dealing with it. Even if you know about all items and the things they can do, you don't really understand that until you're in the game and it's happening. Like the Tiny Planet item was spoiled way before the remake had a trailer and when I finally got to use it, I was still confused about how to handle it. And even then, I still don't know how well it might synergize with other items.
So far, I've really been enjoying Rebirth. I think the default look of the game is way too dark. I know the dynamic lighting is the point, but I didn't even notice the shadows on the floor until I turned the gamma up to maximum. I'm still getting the hang of dealing with the new enemies, some of which are really hard to deal with and some of which are all too easy. I really like a lot of the possibilities they've given themselves, though, and the sorts of rooms that can spawn. Speaking of which, I really like the addition of big rooms. They add some challenge and give more meaning to the range stat, which was mostly pointless in the first game. There's a lot to praise here, but it's kind of hard to break it down without spoiling things.
I've been playing through the game a little slowly and infrequently, so I've cleared Mom's Heart four times and taken care of a couple challenges. Mostly just playing with Isaac, since they nerfed Cain. With the numerous extra items and heightened comboability, this game is going to have much more replay value than the first even with its DLC.
Slight item spoilers, I guess…
! I have to say that the Humbling Bundle is my new best friend. Each game I've gotten it in has ended with me maxing out items. It pays for itself really quickly and if you run into an arcade that has at least a slot machine and a blood bank with a few coins in your pocket, you can easily end up filling your pockets. Last time I got the Bundle, I also had Gimpy, a Portable Slot Machine and a blood bank that turned into an IV Bag (which I didn't take with me later) so I maxed out my soul hearts, my money and had around 50 bombs and keys before I accidentally telepilled into the first Mom boss fight. That item is a real MVP.
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Getting killed alot in this game, but it helps since I'm getting a little bit better at it. Not knowing what anything does really brings me back to those oldschool roguelikes, especially popping random pills that would either help or cripple you (like random colored potions).
Incoming more random text from a total newb at this game, and would be nothing new to anyone that played the first game.
So far I really like playing as that demon guy that vomits blood. The charge based attacking and flying movements feels more natural to me than playing with default Isaac, tho I feel I'd bite my words later. The only thing I got issues with is aiming the charged shots in combat situations that are incredibly fast paced and learning how to properly cancel shots. Also, the uprades seem really weird, tho that's probally me not knowing exactly what the stats mean in the menu. Some things seems to make me stronger, but greatly increases the charge time for shots… which is... kinda useless unless I had absolute perfect precision. So it's nice the character feels very technical :3
As for enemies I have the most problems with... Skeletons can suck a fruit.
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Yeah, the skeletons are kind of terrible to deal with if you don't have some kind of indirect attack or a long range. I almost always take points of damage from them. That Dingle boss gets me a lot, too, since I can't seem to get its charging pattern down.
Getting killed a lot is the heart and soul of the game. I was playing the original BOI and clearing the final final final floor regularly and it still took me quite a few of deaths and rerolls to clear the Womb levels in Rebirth for the first time, haha. I imagine 100%ing the game is going to take many more.
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So far I really like playing as that demon guy that vomits blood. The charge based attacking and flying movements feels more natural to me than playing with default Isaac, tho I feel I'd bite my words later.
Yeah, flying is never to be underestimated. It's something I'll always go for, even if it means a pricey devil deal.
I was playing the original BOI and clearing the final final final floor regularly and it still took me quite a few of deaths and rerolls to clear the Womb levels in Rebirth for the first time, haha.
Same. I was doing multiple chest runs a day in vanilla BoI, even a few weeks ago, but the womb in Rebirth kicks my ass. Always end up taking major damage, even with excellent setups (the guys that pop out of the ground and fire three shots are the absolute worst- they can now spawn right on your position for unavoidable damage. Honestly hoping for a nerf in a future patch haha).
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Just finished an incredibly weird run today. Are we keeping runs in spoilers for now? This isn't too spoilery, but if you want to maintain a virginal experience then avert your eyes (some slight item room and post-heart spoilers).
! Was working on my sixth heart kill. I had a pretty mediocre run going where I took the Dead Cat and had Bob's Brain, which kept damaging me and barely not killing me thanks to the Wafer. Plus a low power piercing triple shot which was nice. It was powerful enough to get me to the Womb, but it wasn't going to get me through the game.
! Partway through the first Womb floor, I hit one of the dice rooms and the floor pad showed one hole. I wasn't confident about the run and wanted to experiment, so I stepped on it and it rerolled every item I had picked up. The next few rooms involved me figuring out just what the hell I was working with. It turned out to be a pretty incredible combo. I had the Holy Mantle, shielding me from the first bit of damage in each room, some effect that allowed me to break through rocks (Thunder Thighs?), something that activated the My Little Unicorn effect every once in a while (Taurus?), I think the Celtic Cross (occasionally shielded upon taking damage), Cricket's Head (splash damage), Bob's Curse, several familiars (Brother Bobby, Lil Chub and Lil Haunt) and probably some other things.
! With the new setup, I plowed through the Womb and maxed health out with soul hearts. The setup I rolled into had so much defensive potential that I was rarely actually getting hurt at all. My speed and range were decreased from what I had, but the defense more than made up for it. When I beat Mom's Heart for the sixth time and unlocked Ipecac, a devil room opened up, allowing me to go through Sheol. And I plowed through that, too. The new Satan fight put up a bit of a challenge. I think the second form was easier than vanilla, but the third form moves faster and took out a number of my soul hearts. I still managed to triumph and unlock Mom's Knife.
! Sometimes the RNG is a magnificent bastard. -
Did my first cathedral fight(guess we're still doing spoilers):
! I very much enjoy the improvements with this fight. The first two phases being static like the original is fine, and that third phase really had me excited. Them beams of light be running wild. And the Cathedral itself looks beautiful. The graphics for this game are fantastic.
! And I did the first three challenges, as well. Goodness, was that third one tedious, with those asinine looping tears and whatnot. But the variety is actually great. Tried #6, the one where you can't use any form of tears, you can only use your attack flies and orbitals. THAT one's really fun. I died on it, mind you, but I'll get it tomorrow.
! I swear, I love this game more every time I play it. Such an upgrade to the original, it's astounding. And now that I've played for five hours straight, I'm off to watch other people playing for a bit. Happy [item] hunting! -
Tried the vita version..it's actually a cool game, still learning the controls
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Still spoilers? I don't know.
! Just unlocked ???, looking forward to playing him tomorrow. And I love that for each character it has that checkbox of sorts to show if you beat the Heart, Satan, The Lamb, or ??? with said character. Nice touch for keeping track of your shit. This game just keeps getting better.
! Also, holy shit, I though triple Gurdy Jr. rooms were bad, talk about QUADRUPLE GURDY JR. Goodness gracious, thank goodness I had decent damage, else I'd have died. Like honestly, normal sized room with four blue Gurdy J's is ridiculous. T'was scary.
! EDIT
! Couldn't wait until tomorrow to play again(this game is so damn addictive), so I did my first ??? run, and this game reaffirmed him once again as my favorite character. He's just so much fun; the risk of losing all your health and the utter shit(pun intended)he starts out with just make him such a great and enjoyable challenge. Anyway, got my eleventh Heart kill to unlock It Lives. Gonna be a wild ride to see the new fight with that. Now I'm ACTUALLY off to bed. G'night. -
I've had several amazing runs lately. I really should have saved the seeds on these, but it didn't occur to me at the time.
Is it just me, or is it much easier to max coins in Rebirth than vanilla? I've been running into that a lot.
Run spoilers ahead plus a secret.
! My last three winning runs were incredible with absolutely broken item combos (10th and 11th heart and then and It Lives kill).
! First one, I managed to get Ipecac and Technology 2. I didn't think they would work together, but the damage it adds to Tech 2 is absolutely killer. I was ripping through enemies and bosses almost instantly. I also snagged a Spirit of the Night on top of it all, so I was basically untouchable. Absolutely wrecked through the heart and, with the help of a goat's head, I went to Sheol and wrecked satan, too.
! Second one started with a first floor Mom's Knife. The next floor, I went to the item room and was somewhat disappointed. I never really liked Loki's Horns all that much, since it really doesn't add much to your attack. Unless you have Mom's Knife. Then the game spawns a knife at each of your sides and occasionally fires them out when you do. By the end, I was just a running ball of death. A bunch of power up items didn't hurt either. Mom's Heart didn't stand a chance. On victory, I opened up an angel room door and did my first Cathedral Run. I can hardly count it as a proper cathedral run, though, since I broke through each room within seconds. The Isaac fight went by so fast that he couldn't pull off a move. I saved a Chariot card and used it to run my four friggen knives through him. I didn't even get to see him change forms, it was that fast.
! Third run I started on the first floor with Chocolate Milk. They greatly improved the item in this game, letting you fire as fast as you can press the button, as well as use the charge shot. It's a pretty good item by itself, but it becomes insane when you add Polyphemus to the mix. The charged tears I made were huge, like the size of The Husk, and they made really short work of the game. When I beat Mom's first form, an extra door opened up in the back. I decided to try my luck with it and my giant tears made short work of it. I went on through the rest of the run, beat It Lives for the first time (again, hard to call this a real first encounter since I killed him so quickly) and went through Sheol for my third or fourth Satan kill.
! Some of the item synergies in this game are ridiculous. -
Is it just me, or is it much easier to max coins in Rebirth than vanilla? I've been running into that a lot.
Seems like it? Which is good because it's still gonna take awhile to donate 999 to the shop machine.
Speaking of overpowered runs…
! Just had a run with Isaac that got insane near the end. First treasure was the one that gives giant tears at close range, but that weakness was compensated for by an astounding number of range ups, shot speed ups, tear ups, damage ups, Number One, and both the Halo and all-stats up mushroom (the red one?). Plus a few familiars, Scorpio poison tears, Spider Bite slow effect, and the Mitre, which provided constant soul hearts. It Lives was dead before a second wave of spawns, Cathedral Isaac was dead before two waves of Crack the Skys, and Chest ??? was dead (my first kill there) before I had a chance to realize how hard they tried to make him with that stupid eternal fly.
SERIOUS ENDGAME SPOILERS
I only wish I'd known about bombing the angels in angel rooms (I got two angel rooms during the run…) so I could've accessed and stomped Mega Satan while I was at it. Only just read about that, immediately after this run :P -
Yeah, I'm only at 245, since each time I get an amazing cash-filled run, the donation machine breaks down early, haha.
Also, I guess this isn't so much a spoiler, but I seem to have glitched out the Dead Boy achievement. Just did my first Dark Room run and I am pretty sure I took a hell of a lot of damage, haha. Looking around the net, apparently the last patch broke that achievement, so it's pretty easy to get. Works for me, since there's one thing I never really planned on getting.
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Same here. I was confused when that happened because I beat the Dark Room boss with half a red heart left. I literally could not have taken more damage.
But yeah that would have been disgustingly frustrating to go after normally.
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I just did my first Eden runs today. I really haven't gotten around to many of the characters. First run was a bust. Started with the Breath of Life (which I still don't totally get how to use), two hearts and not a whole lot statwise. I died within a few rooms testing the Breath. I decided to give Eden another shot and this time I started out with the friggen Sacred Heart and the White Pony along with four hearts. I must have taken a hit in the luck department, though, since I kept getting stuck with curses. On Depths 2, I got stuck with the one that blinds the items you pick up, so it was with a little apprehension that I reached into the item room… and pulled out Dr. Fetus. I took on the boss rush with ease and cleared Cathedral for the fifth time, landing me the Polaroid and the Blank Card (really excited for this item).
Clear stats so far:
Isaac: Heart, Cathedral, Sheol, Boss Rush
Magdalene: Heart, Cathedral, Sheol, Dark Room
???: Heart, Cathedral
Azazel: Heart, Cathedral, Sheol, Boss Rush
Eden: Heart, Cathedral, Boss RushNot so keen on most of the characters. I've mostly been clearing to get specific items instead of 100%ing and doing boss rushes when they present themselves. Now that I have the D6, I might just stick with Isaac for a while, though ???'s items are pretty attractive. I also need to finish most of the challenges. Only completed one of them so far. I'm at the comfortable part of the game, though, where most things I want are available to me and that's pretty nice.
--- Update From New Post Merge ---
Just beat the Chest for the first time and got the Golden God achievement.
Run details:
! Had a run with maxed health, tears, damage, high range and shot speed, decent movement speed, several effects on tears (homing, concussive, fear and poison), two orbitals (including guardian Angel) and a double shot on top of that. That was another game of me tearing through everything, ending with a ??? fight that went so fast that I couldn't even tell what his attacks were. This is why I love the D6. Being able to control the items you pick up to that degree. I rolled into a PhD on the first floor, a Thunder Thighs on another, bought the Baggy and Pill Bag in a shop (with money obtained from use of Thunder Thighs). The pills I got this round included luck ups, health ups, tear ups, range ups and, most importantly, 48 Hour Energy, which let me reroll things a bunch more. Meanwhile I ran and rolled into Cricket's Head, Blood of the Martyr, Stigmata and a bunch of other damaging items.
! The D6 in this game is way more busted than it ever was with the new charging options available. -
Got my first Heart kill with Azazel, got a Devil Deal and proceeded to get my first Satan kill there. I don't even know what happened. Sometimes it felt like I should be being hit, but I just didn't. And I think the leech familiar was giving me hearts whenever I was low. Feels sort of great getting a daring win like that without really understanding the properties items I picked up and based keeping them based whether or not "it sounds sweet!".
I haven read any spoilers behind the unlocks in this game, and I don't really mind if I'm spoiled on this theory beinf true… but I think the ending after Satan sort of hints something. The flashing backgrounds with different characters before Isaac locks himself in the chest gives me some ideas for some reason.
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Just had an insane finale with Samson.
! First treasure of the run was burning tears, which sort of sets the tone for the whole thing. All about staying far away from enemies to avoid random explosions.
So I make it to The Chest with 7 hearts, and the only initial treasure worth taking (or so I thought) was Cricket's Body. Of course, the splash damage effect meant that the entire room was filled with explosions as soon as tears started hitting something, which resulted in a lot of pain for me in the small boss-filled rooms.
Got to ??? with 1 red heart left, but Bloody Lust had pumped the burning exploding tears to such beastly proportions that they actually shredded him before I could get hit by one of my own explosions. -
Very very endgame spoilers:
! I just fought and beat Mega Satan for the first time today. Man did I completely luck out on that. I had a very weird run. Got the thin Odd Mushroom on the first floor (maximum tears, with reduced damage) and decided, normally against my better judgment, to take the Three Dollar Bill, thinking that the max tears could make good use of it. Random tears each room is a real crap shoot and there were some close calls early on, but I rolled my way into and Iron Bar and eventually a Polyphemus, giving my random shots high power and confusion on top of the high fire rate. I took the high road, picking up the Polaroid and fighting Isaac, since I had enough keys to make the Chest a worthwhile trip. I collected the key pieces along the run, of course, with some lucky angel rooms. On the first Womb floor, I lucked out again and fought Conquest, giving me the White Pony, which made navigating the remaining floors possible.
! Even with my build, I wasn't feeling that confident about taking on Mega Satan, because the random tears could have screwed me over, but on the Chest I picked up Cupid's Arrow and Cancer, giving me piercing shots and some health plus defense, respectively. If that wasn't enough, my Three Dollar Bill gave me Death's Touch shots in the last room, so I had really high damage, large sized piercing shots, just in time for the final battle. Without that luck, I'm not sure I would have survived.
! Mega Satan is a tough fight, even with that build. He's much more bullet hell than any of the other bosses and, after a while, summons other bosses for you to fight in his place. The piercing shots were key in giving me a relatively easy victory, since he has hands that block your attacks, otherwise. The increased mobility from the White Pony also helped dodge his waves of damage. After a long and drawn out fight, which is really the only way it can go, I managed to survive with two and a half hearts left, so I definitely would have died without that last minute Cancer. There isn't an achievement for beating Mega Satan, but it is the supposed toughest challenge in the game (short of doing it on hard mode), so I feel a little accomplished, haha. -
Okay, I've been incredibly negligent of the seed thing, but we should totally share seeds here. Here's a good one:
VJY3 RDHM
! First room Ludovico Technique and Brimstone shows up in a devil deal early on (third floor). You also get Proptosis and, if you go fast enough for the boss rush, which you almost certainly will, you can get either the Wafer or the Relic. Also, you get to fight Conquest in the Womb 1. The run starts off slow, but when you get that Brimstone, heads start to fly. Absolutely beast combo. I recommend using Maggie like I did, since you only get one chance for extra health to trade away for the Brimstone (<3 from the floor 3 boss).
Edit: Playtested the seed again so I could refine the description under the spoiler tag a little.
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Ooh that one sounds fun.
This is a pretty infamous one, but:
BASE MENTBasically it's an unwinnable game that makes it impossible to ever progress to the Caves (except via the incredibly rare I Am Error room). I think I got up to Basement LXVI before quitting, at which point I was an unstoppable ball of death instantly razing every room I entered. At one point all treasures start becoming Breakfast O_O
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4GH6XS99
Did it as Azazel on hard mode. I promise you won't regret it.
! Inner Eye is the first item room, if I'm not mistaken. Some great shit all throughout, and a Cricket's head in the Cathedral never hurt anyone. And check the curse rooms and Devil Rooms, and take all the Guppy pieces; there will be three. A run to remember, that's for sure.
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I must say hardmode isn't anything crazy.
! Just more champions with less drops, eh? Nothing too crazy. Did two chest clears on hard mode, so it ain't too bad. And fuck, I didn't spoil aything in this game for myself, so holy shit did I get a surprise when I blew up the rock in the Angel Room hoping for a tinted rock. And so I got key piece two and couldn't fight what was presumably the final boss, meaning I missed at least one other key piece somewhere in the game. But you can't get those wierd angel bosses from Devil rooms, can you? Meaning that to even fight the final boss, you can't take from Devil Rooms? That doesn't seem very nice, so I hope I'm missing something here. Anyway, I just love this game, I have no time to play, but when I do, it's just fantastic.
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Just had an incredibly close ending as ???. I didn't bother saving the seed since, in the end, it could have gone either way.
! I had this decent setup mostly centered around a first floor Book of Revelations, an Inner Eye, Scorpio, Chocolate Milk and 3 Dollar Bill, giving me a source of health and chargeable poison triple shot tears with occasional random effects. Chocolate Milk got a huge buff in this game, since being able to fire as quickly as you can tap the button lets you space enemies really well.
! So I took the negative and went down to Sheol. I had the Left Hand trinket on me, so I was running into cursed chests everywhere. I opened one and, without thinking about it, took the Dead Cat, giving me nine lives, but shedding all of the health that I had collected over the floors, leaving me really vulnerable. I found the boss room early, but I wanted to build up a buffer. I took a huge chance on a challenge room with three cursed chests in it and really lucked out. I picked up Guppy's Tail and (having touched but not taken Guppy's Paw earlier) turned into Guppy, giving me a limitless source of attack flies. I went into the Satan fight with three soul hearts and a death card. Wasted them all and died near the end of the fight. That meant every time I had to redo the battle with one soul heart and no extra items. It turns out that the most annoying part of that battle, when you have one health, is those goddamned leaches that spawn during the last phase, since you can't predict where they'll show up and are already running around in circles to avoid Satan's happy feet.
! When I made it to the Dark Room, I lucked out again and got mostly soul hearts out of my chests. I melted through the floor and found the boss room pretty quickly. Went in to fight the lamb with three soul hearts and a lemon party pill and won, only getting hit once. -
! It turns out that the most annoying part of that battle, when you have one health, is those goddamned leaches that spawn during the last phase, since you can't predict where they'll show up and are already running around in circles to avoid Satan's happy feet.
Ugh. Yeah. Enemies that can literally spawn anywhere are the worst (looking at you triple-shot red guys in womb. Also final form ???).
! Trying to finish up each character's cleared-runs post-it at this point.
Took a ton of restarts with ???, but finally beat The Chest. Started with Monstro's Lung, and ended up with the Relic and Dark Bum (for survivability), Brimstone from a deal, Ludovico from a boss challenge room, blood clot from a pandora's box and death's touch from another deal, so by the Cathedral I had an insta-kill ring of manipulable death. When it rains, it often pours.
! Also finished the last challenge I had to do- Suicide King. Easily the hardest one for me.
! All that's left to do is Satan with ??? (managed The Lamb already by dying with Samson while holding The Ankh) and boss rush with Eve. …And everything with The Lost. T_TEDIT:
…And did the Eve boss rush.! Started with Tech 2, which kind of sucks on its own, but then I got IPECAC…which also kind of sucked because it shot the exploding balls realllly slowly, although the laser became insanely strong. But Chocolate Milk solved everything, because the balls would never fire unless I released the button. Death's Touch only served to make the laser stronger, as well as turn the exploding death balls into massive screen-filling scythes on the rare occasion that I accidentally loosed one.
The sheer scope of item interactions is incredible. -
The game is on sale for 33% off on Steam.
Get it if you've been waiting.
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I just had the most absurdly overpowered run.
I was playing as Azazel (who frankly I think tends to be a bit easier / more powerful in general), and managed to get two Guppy items within the first two levels, and then a third shortly after, giving me the transformation. As far as I'm concerned, that right there was already enough for a pretty well guaranteed victory. I didn't get anything else particularly interesting for a while, but just general decent upgrades that increased my power more. The next notable thing to happen was Fetus in a Jar showing up in an item room. I took it, because I'm pretty sure I hadn't picked it up before and wanted to add it to my completion, but honestly I'm not horribly crazy about it, and I actually think it was a pretty severe downgrade, since it actually replaces Azazel's brimstone, and has considerably worse synergy with the Guppy flies. Still, things probably would have been okay that way.
Flash forward to the depths, where I come across a 6-pip die room. I figure why not, re-roll, and among other things, end up back with my brimstone shot, Bob's brain, and I'm Lord of the Flies instead of Guppy. Now I'm back to being absurdly powerful (even more so than before, in fact). I kill Mom in plenty of time to get the boss rush room, which I absolutely tear to shreds; my power is high enough that a hit with Bob's brain one-shots most of the bosses, and my absurd numbers of flies also rips one apart in mere moments. The boss rush ends, and the item that drops is a Forget-me-now. I figure why not, and pop it.
On my second time through the depths (and I have no idea if this was a coincidence, or perhaps just the way things work), I ran into a 6-pip die room again. What the heck, I figure, and go for it.
I'll be totally honest, if I ended up with anything particularly interesting at that point, I couldn't tell you what it was. I was still generating flies, but that's about the only thing of note. Aside from the fact that my brimstone shot (which took forever to charge at that point) one-shotted literally everything I came across. The Fallen didn't even get to split into two. Neither Isaac nor Blue Baby got to go into any phases, which was actually kind of amusing, since they both ended up doing their rising up and sprouting wings animation at the same time as they did their dying animation. Speaking purely in terms of raw damage, I have to assume that if there is any such thing as a maximum, I was at it.
As I type this, it makes me realize that I really, really should have saved the seed, but I'm still totally unused to doing that, so I'm afraid there's no dice (haha) there.
Edit:
To make it up, have this seed: NFNZH7L0
It might take some additional doing to replicate the run I had, since there was once again a 6-pip die room which I took, but it ended up even more amazing than the one described above. I can't remember the exact steps I took, so if it doesn't seem to be all that great, try playing around a bit. I did the run as Judas. As one tip, silly as it might seem, take and stick with the Ring Worm trinket.
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ZPKG DTVT
Isaac is probably your best bet to make sure you get the items. Regardless, Proptosis and Polyphemus made me cry. Plus like 5 other one damage ups. And Cricket's head in the first item room. Have fun.
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@Panda:
my power is high enough that a hit with Bob's brain one-shots most of the bosses,
Bob's Brain scales!? I always skip picking it up, but maybe it's not as garbage as I thought. Hmm…
! …Forgive me Edmund, for I have sinned...
...By save scumming to win both hard mode runs with The Lost. It was absolutely not going to happen by legit means; mostly owing to my lack of skill, partly owing to the amount of time it would take for RNJesus to be on my side with The Holy Mantle, Dead Cat, etc.
! Dark Room run didn't have anything special treasure room wise, really. Just a bunch of familiars + BFF, and a series of great [free] Devil Deals (Demon Baby, Death's Touch, The Pact, Rotten Baby, Book of Belial).
Chest run actually had all those same Devil Deals (EXACTLY the same ones. must be a set sequence), but I also got Gnawed Leaf and Guillotine, which meant most bosses could be beaten by setting and forgetting. Including Isaac and ???, who rarely got close enough for Guillotine damage, but who were pelted with Demon Baby shots as I sat there, invincible.
! All that's left now is boss rush with the Lost, which may actually be trickier since it does rely on good early rolls. -
@CCC:
Bob's Brain scales!? I always skip picking it up, but maybe it's not as garbage as I thought. Hmm…
I suppose it must? I hadn't even thought of that, to be honest. I'm of slightly mixed feelings about Bob's Brain. Possible scaling aside, it's generally pretty darn amazing damage, not to mention crowd control, and it's a huge boost against stationary type bosses with basically no chance of accidentally hurting yourself. On the other hand, I'm an idiot and a horrible player and am constantly blowing myself up with it over the course of the general rooms. On the whole, though, I'd probably look at it as a much better version of Ipecac, since it has similar benefits, but you can still keep your normal tears as an alternative.
Speaking of Ipecac, I actually intentionally picked it up late in one of my earlier runs, even though I knew for a fact it would ruin what was almost definitely a winner, just because it was too hilarious not to. Prior to picking it up, I had Loki's Horns, Parasite (I think is what it's called? the one that splits your shots), and Cricket's Body. I just had to see if Ipecac would do what I thought it would. For the record, yes, exploding lobbed shots all over the screen constantly. I will say, if that run had happened to include Pyromaniac, it would have been the most hilarious god-mode type run ever. Alas.
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Yeah. Bob's Brain tends to ruin my runs. Usually in cramped Womb rooms where you're trying to navigate tiny walkways while aiming at cluster flies or laser eyes.
I once managed a Dark Room run with IPECAC, Pyromaniac, and 2 heart containers total (and not much else). Basically just consisted of me firing at walls to make sure I didn't die while hoping things would get close enough to go boom.
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So Krampus' Head got nerfed like crazy in the latest patch to come out. It now has a 6 room charge time, doubled from its former 3 room charge time.
Honestly, I can in no way say it wasn't warranted, but it's still kind of sad to see. I'll now never be able to recreate the run where I had Krampus' head, the 9-volt, and the AAA battery trinket. Krampus' head every single room totally won me that run, and it was great fun.
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@Panda:
So Krampus' Head got nerfed like crazy in the latest patch to come out. It now has a 6 room charge time, doubled from its former 3 room charge time.
Honestly, I can in no way say it wasn't warranted, but it's still kind of sad to see. I'll now never be able to recreate the run where I had Krampus' head, the 9-volt, and the AAA battery trinket. Krampus' head every single room totally won me that run, and it was great fun.
I was kinda surprised to see it, too. Nonetheless, it's a good change. Is there a whole new patch, or just that?
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There was a patch, yes, but I have no idea what else might have been changed, if anything.
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From someone on gamefaqs (apparently from the changelog files):
- Improve Steam Cloud sync
- Fix random disconnect for Sony controllers
- Fix crash on trinket pool reset
- Fix Gemini + BFFS
- Fix Technology 2 + Chocolate Milk
- Eden's start items are seeded more reliably
- Fix collectible spawn position for There's Options and Negative
- Fix Holy Mantle continue exploit
- Fix seed exploit for challenge runs
- Fix hard mode affecting room drops other than hearts
- Fix P2 blood donation exploit
- Fix P2 anti-gravity
- Fix P2 being able to use bombs
- Fix Devil Deal exploit with half soul heart
- Fix invincible Carrion Queen
- Fix Blue Baby restart issue
- Fix Haunt not invincible for the first few frames
- Fix 60fps interpolation for Cube of Meat 2
- Fix picked up item disappearing when exiting during pickup animation
- Limit Halo of Flies count to 10
- Change Lil' Brimstone deal to 2 hearts
- Change Ticking Spider collision damage to half a heart
- Change Head of Krampus to 6 charges
- Improve Dark Bum mechanics
Other big change besides Krampus is that hard mode isn't stingy with keys and bombs anymore :P
edit: Also: Apparently the teleporting of ??? and LUMPS also was fixed, it just wasn't mentioned.
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So, is anyone excited about Afterbirth? Nobody's really brought it up in this thread and Edmund has been releasing new information on it weekly for a couple of months now. It's going to be a pretty huge update apparently, with over 100 new items, a new character, a new branching path for the end and a bunch more. You can check out everything he's officially released so far at http://bindingofisaac.com.
I'm pretty excited, since I've clocked 271 hours into Isaac as is. Recently, I've been cleaning house on the remaining achievements, before the Lost is updated to be a little easier (with spectral tears and D4 to start). I'm almost there…
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SO CLOSE[/hide]
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IT IS DONE
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–- Update From New Post Merge ---
In more relevant news, the latest Afterbirth update is actually really cool.
! Buttons are a very simple but inspired addition to the game. They bring out the Zelda feel and it looks like they're being used to expand the gameplay in interesting ways. They're only mentioned buttons being used to unlock doors and drop enemies, but I wonder is that's the extent of it. That challenge room they have a gif of is a cool use of it and I hope to see more stuff as creative as that. I am ready for Afterbirth to come out and require me to beat the game with The Lost a whole bunch more.
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So that's the story behind the patch
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I didn't know it already ended. I was watching bits of the ARG unfold over the reddit, which involved hilariously cultish observations and guesses related to the game. I can't get too invested in that stuff personally, but it was a lot of fun to follow. Now to keep checking the wiki to memorize a bunch of new things…
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There was an ARG?
How in the world did people even know this was a thing, let alone solve it, is what I want to know. Clearly it's just not my sort of thing, I guess.
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@Panda:
There was an ARG?
How in the world did people even know this was a thing, let alone solve it, is what I want to know. Clearly it's just not my sort of thing, I guess.
People were looking for one since the initial release due to some strange glitches in the game, which may just have actually been glitches, including the greed machine not progressing past 109 coins. When those were fixed, so was the greed machine, though maxing it out didn't seem to mean much. A new wave of achievements was patched in the other day, including a symbolic one for filling the machine and that had a clue in it. Then Edmund started sending cryptic tweets and the community, still in conspiracy mode, jumped right on them. That's about how everyone discovered it.
I am going to have so much fun getting the new 1001% achievement now…
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Yeah I was following the whole thing on reddit too… Pretty fun stuff!
Too bad the glowing hourglass trick basically no longer works to cheese the greed machine (machine jams up after 1 coin after enough resets). It's gonna be a long slog to get all those unlocks up to 999.
EDIT: ...Or so I thought. After a few hours of failed attempts, I managed to break greed mode properly today. Carried a 2 of Diamonds the whole way through an Azazel run, in the hopes of finding a Blank Card in a shop, which happened in The Shop (the floor). Problem was, there was no battery on sale to make the whole mechanism run properly, but I managed a janky version by buying items until The Habit popped up. From there it was just a matter of recharging blank card via damage, buying hearts to heal, and buying unlimited treasure items. An hour later, I wound up with glowing hourglass and chaos card, and then it only took an hour of grinding Ultra Greed (machine accepted 6 coins at a time, this time) to get to 999.