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The Binding of Isaac
This game is just too good to not have its own thread. I still play it regularly while listening to music or podcasts or whatever, because it's always fun. Basically it's an archetypical roguelike. Every playthrough is different and there are no savestates. As is McMillen's style, the art style is also pretty interesting by combining relatively cute drawings with really grim and horrifying subject matter. However, since there are so many items in the damn thing, particularly with the Wrath of the Lamb DLC, you hardly can play it without having the Wiki open in the background.
Today I managed to beat Satan for like the 2nd time or so. I did so with Cain having a fully upgraded Meat Boy and a Ghost Baby tow, while having previously traded two Hearts for Spirit of the Night (because the ability to fly is just one of the best things you can have in this game. I basically always trade life containers for an item that gives flight). Managed to sustain myself by using the Safety Cap as my Trinket spawning Pills for me, and a Book of Revelations. Never found a Health upgrade other than Health Up pills, but thanks to Cain's Lucky Foot I can't find bad pills so it's a safe gamble. Went into Satan with more than the entire top right in Soul Hearts and 4 full red Hearts, and killed him with 1 or 2 red hearts left. That fucker is really hard to kill.
Today I managed to beat Satan for like the 2nd time or so. I did so with Cain having a fully upgraded Meat Boy and a Ghost Baby tow, while having previously traded two Hearts for Spirit of the Night (because the ability to fly is just one of the best things you can have in this game. I basically always trade life containers for an item that gives flight). Managed to sustain myself by using the Safety Cap as my Trinket spawning Pills for me, and a Book of Revelations. Never found a Health upgrade other than Health Up pills, but thanks to Cain's Lucky Foot I can't find bad pills so it's a safe gamble. Went into Satan with more than the entire top right in Soul Hearts and 4 full red Hearts, and killed him with 1 or 2 red hearts left. That fucker is really hard to kill.
Post edited by chaosof99 on
Comments
I'll be back for Rebirth though.
I'll also say this. It is one of those rare times that it has an ending that is open to interpretation and it completely works.
Some of the new items I love: Epic Fetus, Ipecac, Blank Card, Best Friends Forever, Placenta.
I also once had a run with The Ludovico Technique and Strange Attractor, which was brilliant because the single floating tear you have draws in enemies like a damn black hole and deals damage to them.
Also, this:
2) In the Options there is an advanced/extended hud. Activating it gives you an item tracker on the right hand side of the screen and the timer permanently on the top of the screen. This is good to help you with getting to Boss Rush and the Hush fight which are only available if you beat Mom within 20 minutes or Mom's Heart/It Lives within 30. The second one is easier to achieve, particularly if you pick up any form of mapping since the Womb floors have fewer special rooms of interest. To notice is that if you only have Treasure Map that the Boss fight is usually the room farthest from the starting room, and if you have the Blue Map that the second secret room (the one with the grey question mark). Both Boss Rush and Hush are not easy, but if you are capable of them they provide a lot of items beforehand and can be very good sources of upgrades.
3) Related to the above: If you play on PC and play in a windowed mode, try increasing the size of that window. This lets you see more of the screen and is particularly helpful on large rooms and Greed mode. It is a little bit "cheaty" though.
4) Speaking of secret rooms, it is often easy to find them even without a Blue Map type of effect. Secret Rooms are always adjacent to at least three other rooms. Super-Secret Rooms are never adjacent to more than one room. Neither can be attached to a "thin" or "small" layout room" (introduced in afterbirth) or the Boss Room. They can also not be adjacent to a room on a side where the wall is unreachable (either because rocks are in the way or because there is a gap you can't cross).
5) Use cursed rooms and red chests. For a long time I thought both of these were awful and usually not worth the risk, but both of them can provide access to devil deal items, particularly Guppy items. Guppy items are especially valuable because the Guppy transformation is so very powerful with the flight and Mulligan ability.
6) Look for tinted rocks. They often provide spirit hearts (the blue ones) which will protect your life. This is important to get Devil deals as taking "red heart damage" on a floor severely reduces the likelihood of one showing up after you defeat the boss. Devil deals have some of the best items in the game in them (Mom's Knife, Brimstone, Maw of the Void) and thus you want to have them. Also if you are unaware there is a mechanic called "precedent". If you refuse to take an item the first time a devil deal shows up (or are unable because its only red chests or a Krampus fight) makes it possible that you may get angel rooms instead of devil deals when you are eligible again. Angel deals give you free items but are mostly pretty shitty unless you get really lucky. Taking a Devil deal locks you out of getting Angel Rooms. This also happens if you find a Black market from a crawl space and trade a heart container for a shop item. Angel Rooms have their use when you try to go after a Mega Satan victory but I try to avoid them mostly. In general, in BoI damage is worth a lot more than health.
7) Speaking of shops, don't forget that you can bomb the donation machine if you are short on money. Best is to place a bomb between it and the shopkeeper which will also blow up the shopkeeper which can yield some money (but occasionally will spawn some spiders, so look out). Bombing the machine raises your chances of finding a devil deal (as does bombing beggars). Donating to the machine raises the chance of Angel rooms. At first you should be looking to donate as often as possible since this unlocks some items at specific amounts and also increases the "shop level" which permanently increases the number of items that show up in the shop for sale even if you drop below that donation amount. One of the best items in the game, the Stop Watch, unlocks at 999 (don't donate more because the machine rolls over). Unfortunately it has recently been severely nerfed.
8) Play the challenges. They provide unlocks for completing them, some of which are very valuable, particularly the runes.
9) I also recommend watching some streamers or youtubers that play the game often (like for example Northernlion). The game is huge and some things you don't pick up on immediately. Watching other people play helps a lot.
10) The Afterbirth expansion added a new game mode. Greed mode is has a new interesting mechanic in only providing money as item drops from defeating waves. Some of the best items in that mode are the D20 and Blank Card (the latter if you find a 2 of Diamonds card). Both of them can go "infinite" if the shop sells battery charges. Don't forget that you can reroll the shop into selling battery charges with the reroll machine by spending either money on it or bombing it. Bombs are pretty scarce in greed mode though unless you use the D20.
11) Greed mode also has secret rooms. They are pretty hard to find though so don't go around bombing every wall as that is pretty wasteful. You can usually ignore secret rooms but if you get an item like Blue Map or Spelunker's Hat for cheap they can be decent enough.
Homing and laser tears with max damage made it very easy. Prayer card is probably my favorite activated item; I was constantly running into batteries and ended up using it once or twice every floor.