Binding of Isaac: Rebirth

[Bjorn]

Just did my first chest run, and boy was it a doozy. Ipecac + triple shot + the parasite (splitting tears). If you think that sounds like a recipe for disaster, well, you're not wrong... except I also had blank card and hierophant as well as a dark bum to keep me in spirit hearts. Before I got the hierophant I had a two of clubs card, and along with a bombs are key pill... well, I didn't have any trouble with locks, and on the rare occasion when I needed explosives a bit more precise than three ipecac shots that split into 6 more I was well stocked.

 

I'm jelly, I've yet to have been able to really abuse the Blank Card.  It either shows on a build where I'm depending on some other Active item, or it's in the store when I have no money. 

 

Pro-tip: Don't take Monstro's Lung + IPECAC.   I thought IPECAC was the rubber cement bottle, because they look just enough alike.  Whoops.  End of that run.

[Problem Machine]

Pro-tip: Don't take Monstro's Lung + IPECAC.   I thought IPECAC was the rubber cement bottle, because they look just enough alike.  Whoops.  End of that run.

But it sounds amazing. It's not amazing?

[Griddlelol]

for what it's worth, if you have a card, you can hold tab (or back/select) and it'll replace the card name with a cryptic description of what the card will do. As for pills, you'll just have to chance it if it's ???, and hope for the best.

 

That's cool! I'll try that out.

 

In other news, I got a text from my video game hating partner asking if she can "play the baby game" which I assumed meant Binding of Isaac, since last night she watched me do a (mediocre) run. She was pretty enthralled by it and was interested in how the game doesn't explain the items you pick up. 

 

It's interesting that she's taken notice of BoI since the only other games she's paid attention to are more "casual" stuff like Mario Kart and Peggle. 

[N1njaSquirrel]

Mario kart and peggle are both games for babies though.

[Bjorn]

But it sounds amazing. It's not amazing?

 

I also had Death's Touch, if that matters, but I don't think it would. The problem was the relatively short range of the Lung and the spread pattern of the attack. If I was moving forward or backward, it became hard to anticipate where the closest explosions would hit to me, and if there were any rocks in my vicinity, the spread of the lung could clip one and blow me up. Plus small rooms or rooms with LOTS of rocks were just impossible without taking damage. I did manage to get through about half a level being dying though.

 

In other news, I got a text from my video game hating partner asking if she can "play the baby game" which I assumed meant Binding of Isaac, since last night she watched me do a (mediocre) run. She was pretty enthralled by it and was interested in how the game doesn't explain the items you pick up.

It's interesting that she's taken notice of BoI since the only other games she's paid attention to are more "casual" stuff like Mario Kart and Peggle.

 

I think certain roguelikes are a good fit for non-gaming folks who are interested in playing something. Tend to have short playtimes, so if you've only got 15-30 minutes you can probably get a game in. Plus death is assumed. It's meant to be hard, so that means if you die, you're not a failure who doesn't know how to play a game.

[Count_Zero_Interrupt]

It's interesting that she's taken notice of BoI since the only other games she's paid attention to are more "casual" stuff like Mario Kart and Peggle. 

 

It's funny, my girlfriend's gaming experience was pretty much limited to Super Mario World and Tetris. She watched me play some BoI back when it first came out, and for whatever reason it piqued her interest. I eventually bought her her own copy, and in the end she wound up sinking WAY more hours into it than me. And I put in a lot of hours. She played it almost obsessively. 

 

BoI seems like such a strange game to totally hook a total non-gamer like that. I would never have guessed that it would even appeal to her. 

[Professor Video Games]

I dunno, mechanically it's really straightforward and it's 2D, so the controls are easy to pick up and the character movement is straightforward, plus there's a lot of depth once you start getting into it. As long as they're ok with all the dumb poo art, I could totally see it grabbing a gaming newbie.

[Problem Machine]

I also had Death's Touch, if that matters, but I don't think it would. The problem was the relatively short range of the Lung and the spread pattern of the attack. If I was moving forward or backward, it became hard to anticipate where the closest explosions would hit to me, and if there were any rocks in my vicinity, the spread of the lung could clip one and blow me up. Plus small rooms or rooms with LOTS of rocks were just impossible without taking damage. I did manage to get through about half a level being dying though.

Ah yeah, I ran into some of those problems with triple-shot as well. TBH I probably would have self-destructed anyway if I wasn't rolling knee-deep in spirit hearts from blank card and dark bum. Those chain reactions were getting pretty crazy.

[TurboPubx-16]

I tried the boss rush for the first time last night. All I really had was the Guillitine and the Knife but the bosses kept dropping red hearts so it was no problem. Of course, I only decided to start Sanic'ing at around sixteen minutes so I sacrificed a lot to make it to the rush and eventually died on the womb. I think I'll enjoy doing more races to Mom's Foot in the future to offset runs like tonight's, where I was at one hour fifteen minutes entering the 

 

Mega   

fight. 

 

I was very close to losing because I amassed eleven heart containers. I was Maggie and after seeing just the Headless Baby in the first devil deal I went all holy for almost nothing. The Scapular saved me a couple of times but other than that I just got soul hearts and eternal hearts, which I couldn't use. It was my fault, I see dog food and spoiled milk and I just start shoving it in my mouth before I can think.

 

Bjorn, I think the only way a sane person would ever get True Platinum God would be to use cheat engine. I think I'll probably download a save file or something in the future because I want to play with all of the item unlocks eventually. I've started watching Twitch again (after being pretty sure that I had experienced all of the big reveals for myself) and you'll find people like Bananasauras Rex (the Eggplant run guy) reset over and over until he has a chance to collect the items for a "breaking run," which basically means having the ability to reroll items enough times to see every item. Even after getting to an angel room with over fifty rerolls he still didn't get the last item he needed, Sacred Heart. This is not to mention all of the Isaac Pros who have serious PTSD from trying to beat everything with the Lost. So if what you need to do is use cheat engine to start with Dead Cat, or whatever then by all means go for it. I think it would be a good idea for the developers to add secondary ways to unlock these items, y'know, if I what if I want is to play Rebirth for a couple of hundred hours, but not spend that time resetting to get the only items that will allow me to win.

[Bjorn]

Bjorn, I think the only way a sane person would ever get True Platinum God would be to use cheat engine. I think I'll probably download a save file or something in the future because I want to play with all of the item unlocks eventually. I've started watching Twitch again (after being pretty sure that I had experienced all of the big reveals for myself) and you'll find people like Bananasauras Rex (the Eggplant run guy) reset over and over until he has a chance to collect the items for a "breaking run," which basically means having the ability to reroll items enough times to see every item. Even after getting to an angel room with over fifty rerolls he still didn't get the last item he needed, Sacred Heart. This is not to mention all of the Isaac Pros who have serious PTSD from trying to beat everything with the Lost. So if what you need to do is use cheat engine to start with Dead Cat, or whatever then by all means go for it. I think it would be a good idea for the developers to add secondary ways to unlock these items, y'know, if I what if I want is to play Rebirth for a couple of hundred hours, but not spend that time resetting to get the only items that will allow me to win.

 

I actually did use CE last night to do the Lost runs.  Over the last week since I unlocked the Lost, I've had about a couple of dozen serious attempts with it and about 400 or so resets.  And the best I ever got was Caves 2.  So I just loaded myself up with a bunch of good items.  And even starting from Basement 1 loaded, I still took the odd hit here and there and burned through a few cat lives.  I'm most of the way through the character unlocks at this point.  I've got maybe 8 or so successful runs left to unlock all the character stuff, mostly going back through on Hard to beat the Heart.  I wanted to get the Lost stuff unlocked so I'd have a better chance of seeing those items while I'm going through the rest of my unlocks.  I don't particularly like cheating, but you're right, the amount of luck + skill necessary for successful Lost runs is just too ridiculous. 

 

I really like the challenge level of the Blue Baby.  It's hard, but there are a dozen items or so that will give you a great shot at it.  It's not like needing multiple items just to have a prayer of making it like the Lost. 

 

Only played one run tonight, and Lazarus got what might be my favorite combo so far: Fire Mind + Ipecac.  Explosive shots that poison and leave behind a pillar of fire that incinerates things.  Then in the Chest, the first item I got was Pyromaniac.  Apparently the game thought the end of my run needed to be even easier than it had been. 

[Griddlelol]

Woo! I beat Mom last night. I happened to constantly get damage + upgrades and nothing else. Was one shotting most enemies, and bosses died before they got chance to attack. 

 

My partner has gotten pretty good at it! She made it to necropolis which I thought was impressive. I think it is because the mechanics are so simple and the art style is so...different. It's cool though, she claims to both love and hate it, which kinda sums up every rogue-like I've ever played.

[Treasure Goblin]

Ha, I just remembered that I thought, "Huh, I should probably buy a Steam controller when it comes out because The Binding of Isaac remake is going to be here in just over a year."

 

Valve, you scamps!

 

What controller can I use on a Mac?

 

I've been playing rebirth on mac with a PS3 controller and using GamePad Companion.  Apparently it's a program that I paid for at some point but I don't remember doing that so it can't be much.  It also works with X360 controllers, I haven't tried any others.  

 

I was just having a really successful run until I managed to accidentally pick up cursed eye, which meant I kept warping out of the room when I was 

fighting Mega Satan

I had the wafer and my hearts maxed out, but after getting warped throughout the floor constantly every time I took damage I eventually ran out of hearts.  I don't like cursed eye.  

EDIT: I also had curse of the darkness on that floor too, thanks game.  

[mikemariano]

I've been playing rebirth on mac with a PS3 controller and using GamePad Companion.  Apparently it's a program that I paid for at some point but I don't remember doing that so it can't be much.  It also works with X360 controllers, I haven't tried any others.  

 

Cool, good to know.  Thanks!

[TurboPubx-16]

Bjorn, your tip about the Starter Deck a few pages back has been very useful. 

 

Today I got The Knife and hoofed it to the boss rush, where I picked up Taurus. Taurus gives you the Unicorn Horn effect after you've dealt a bit of damage to a room. While you're in Unicorn mode you still hold your knife out. That was easily the fastest ??? fight I've ever had.

 

Also, I used the Credit Card for the first time tonight. I implore people to finish all of the challenges, even though they can be tough and annoying. The items you unlock from completing them are some of the very best.

[Problem Machine]

Just finished my first dark room run, and boy was it something else. I had a promising run to start with, antigrav tears plus a bunch of damage, but went ahead and rerolled it in a die room anyway and holy shit. Ludovico technique + tech 2 + common cold + infested tears + 3 dollar bill + money = power... which was awesome, but not nearly as awesome as it became once I got technology 1 and my ludo tear turned into a FLOATING CIRCULAR LASER OF DEATH.

I beat the lamb without getting hit once -- I actually got homing tears for that room, which made the circle distort into whatever shape it needed to to cross over its target as many times as possible, which was a pretty interesting effect.

 

Man, the item synergy in this game is awesome.

[Bjorn]

That's awesome! I have gotten Ludo + Brimstone, which has a similar effect, but haven't got it with Tech yet.

And fuck Dr. Fetus. Fuck Dr. Fetus sideways with his own bombs. I have no idea why I picked him up last night. Slogged through most of the run with it (it's soooo slow), then got 3 rooms away from the end of the Dark Room on Hard, had a Chaos Card saved for the boss, and just could not get through this one room with two Adversaries even with what ended up being 11 total lives (Dead Cat + Collar worked twice).

I'm kind of digging Hard though. It changes up your item prioritization, as health, keys and bombs are more rare. Enemies aren't harder, you just get way more champions, and are far likelier to run into a champion who does a full heart of damage in the early levels.

[TurboPubx-16]

Today I got Taurus again, but it activated upon entering every room. That's five seconds of unicorn that starts immediately, per room. Is this a bug? This must be a bug.

 

Ok, I hate doing this but I succumbed to my curiosity and looked it up. Taurus starts snowballing your speed stat once you enter a room with enemies, and once your speed crosses a threshold, the unicorn effect activates. But if your base speed is already over that threshold...

[Problem Machine]

I'd noticed there seemed to be a lot of variance in how long it took to get going, interesting that that's how it works. Taurus is a quality fucking item even without that, though, since the only rooms that don't last long enough to trigger it are the ones that are so easy you don't need it.

[Bjorn]

The only thing I don't like about Taurus is the initial hit to your speed.  I've gotten it early on slow characters, and it makes exploring or backtracking take forever.  Other than that, yeah, top shelf item. 

 

I did not realize that's how it worked mechanically.  That's crazy. 

[Problem Machine]

Ipecac + Loki's Horns

[Bjorn]

Ipecac + Loki's Horns

 

I lol'd hard at that.  I can only image.

 

I had another horribly long run on Hard, taking Isaac all the way to the Chest.  I got the most defensively protected character I've ever had.  Holy Mantle, Wafer, 3 orbitals, The Soul (new item that projects a forcefield around you that pushes a lot of projectiles away from you) and Infamy.  I rerolled so many items with the D6, and good defensive stuff kept coming up, so I couldn't not take them. I was functionally unkillable, but I got absolutely dick for damage upgrades until the Chest, meaning every fight took forever. 

 

I also polished off my last Challenge.  I wish there were more, the challenges are some of my favorite things in the game. 

[Problem Machine]

I lol'd hard at that.  I can only image.

Afterwards I watched this run of Northernlion's, and it put my ipecac suffering in a bit more perspective.

[Bjorn]

Oh geez, Sad Bombs, Ipecac, Bob's Brain and Rubber Cement.  That's brutal. 

[TurboPubx-16]

Oh, that video reminds me: if you've been playing for a while bit still haven't unlocked the Cellar, it's probably because you always kill the big guy in Gemini first and the little guy second.

[Problem Machine]

Good to know, thanks!