The Binding of Isaac

[James]

I absolutely love games but I'm not very good at them. This is probably the greatest gaming achievement of my life. I've unlocked Godhead. I may yet be able to stop playing this game before the year is out.

Amazing achievement! I haven't progressed past Golden God (on Vita). Whilst I'm aiming to go at least that far on Switch, I can't imagine ever being able to match your level of completion. Congrats!

[Alex79]

Had a blast on this last night on Vita after reading some of this thread again. I do enjoy the game, I've beaten Mom 6 or 7 times now, but not with all characters. I just don't get how people get so good at this game! My success really depends on what pick ups I get rather than any kind of skill. Each time I've beaten the game I've been so overpowered and got so many hearts by the end it was harder to lose than it was to win! I'm trying to get at least one win run with every character, only done three so far I think. Currently trying with Cain but my win streak at the moment is -83 haha (that is 83 losses!!)

[James]

The odds of finding a combination of items that works, or that you've learned how to be effective with, actually increases as you unlock more items and learn what each does. I still marvel at the hundreds-long win streaks that some Isaac streamers seem, effortlessly, to reach, but it does improve with time and practice, I promise!

[Stanshall]

Amazing achievement! I haven't progressed past Golden God (on Vita). Whilst I'm aiming to go at least that far on Switch, I can't imagine ever being able to match your level of completion. Congrats!

Ta, la! Turns out The Lost is actually great and has insane potential because the free devil/angel deals can result in some truly disgusting builds. Get Abaddon, The Mark, Brimstone, Guppy and Sacred Heart and you bring da ruckus. It's also pretty much the only character where Dead Cat is useful, and it's very very useful.

In my Hush run, I had Bookworm and Conjoined transformations, plus homing technological Brimstone and rubber cement! Four beams of Satanic rage curving straight into his face from anywhere in the room, and then reverberating off every wall. That's the beauty of it. Play it enough and anyone can get there.

[Alex79]

Does the Afterbirth DLC add much worth paying for? I note it's not on Vita however which is where I mainly play the game, but I have done a few runs on PS4. Shame there doesn't seem to be a sync save option so I can take my Vita progress to the big screen.

EDIT: Oh a quick Google says there is one now!?

EDIT 2: Ah but it's not auto like in some other games. You have to manually upload/download.

[KSubzero1000]

Actually, I'd like to know about the DLC as well. Is it a standalone expansion? Or is it additional content which directly ties into the main game? Would I have a better experience if I bought it before starting the game?

[James]

Afterbirth+ (and Isaac DLC in general) adds items & enemies, and tweaks to levels, rooms and modes. They are essentially massive content updates, and definitely not standalone. The Switch version was actually priced about right (£30) when the separate cost of Rebirth, Afterbirth, and Afterbirth+ are considered.

Generally, it's fine to play any version (especially with Rebirth/Afterbirth/Afterbirth+), but I tend to prefer to play with all DLC installed. It gives the most diverse experience, and greatest chance of seeing some wacky nonsense.

[KSubzero1000]

Thanks for the info! Guess I'll try and get it before diving into the game properly.

[MajorGamer]

Ta, la! Turns out The Lost is actually great and has insane potential because the free devil/angel deals can result in some truly disgusting builds. Get Abaddon, The Mark, Brimstone, Guppy and Sacred Heart and you bring da ruckus. It's also pretty much the only character where Dead Cat is useful, and it's very very useful.

The Lost really can be pretty good thanks to all the devil deals even though, in an average run, he'll be the hardest to finish. He's come a long way to when just about everyone would spam restart until they started next door to a treasure room with Holy Mantle inside.

I'd say Dead Cat can be useful to just about anyone except blue baby. Can't argue with being a step towards Guppy and being able to abuse it for devil deals you'd normally have to pass on. Of course it depends on when it shows up and what your situation is like which is true for many items. There are few items where picking it up is an instant restart. I've accidentally grabbed Cursed Eye thanks to Curse of the Blind so many times.

Now back to aimlessly doing the daily challenge towards the couple unlocks there. Lost the run today thanks to playing very badly towards the end. Curse the 5-win streak for an unlock.

[Alex79]

I had something I'd not seen before last night. Instead of a devil door opening after a boss it was a god door and I got a power up without having to sacrifice a heart. That's pretty cool in over 500 runs (which is nothing compared to most BoI players!) It's still throwing up new stuff.

[hazeredmist]

Thanks for pointing me in this direction dezm0nd!

Quite surprising to get into this really, considering I thought it was just a throwaway flash game the first time I played it on the Basement Collection on Steam years ago, and even with the Vita version feeling the same. Everything about the concept usually puts me off. Random generation, perma-death etc

...but fuuuuuuuuuck since buying the Switch version for reasons I can't explain I'm finding it's good. I get to about the 4th stage-ish usually in the main game, never made it to Mom yet (except when beating her in a challenge that doesn't count as a completion) but am now paying more attention to the items, what they can do and how to use them. Also coming round to the idea that health is kind of a currency in the game with the rooms which have a heart cost to entering and exiting etc. Also learning random things each time such as where secret rooms might appear, look inside all flames / poo you find just in case, and actually use the items I find before forgetting and dying

[Stanshall]

It's in my top three ever and was my most played game by a million miles in the year that BotW and Mario Odyssey were released on the same system. Without blowing my own trumpet, getting all the completion marks with The Lost is by far the most challenging thing I've ever done in any game. It should be on my CV. I was literally punching the air and roaring with joy and relief when I finally took down both U**** G**** and M*** S****. Absolutely unbelievable game when you get a good run going.

[dezm0nd]

It set the roguelike bar so high that only a few have come close. Spelunky and Dead Cells but neither grabbed me like Isaac.

[Alex79]

Agreed, it's the only one that's stuck for me, too. I never really liked Spelunky much, but Rogue Legacy, FTL and Risk Of Rain I played for ages - all nowhere near Isaac.

[dezm0nd]

Its like WoW in that any other roguelike (or MMO in WoWs case) just felt like a poor imitation to me.

Isaac is just the right level of difficulty, intrigue and craziness

[Stanshall]

Excuse my correction, but beating Mom is basically the tutorial! It's like, "The real Binding of Isaac starts here". You have to keep beating Mom a good few more times before you even open up the next areas, never mind the next bosses or the final bosses or the final, final, final bosses!

[ratsoalbion]

Yeah, I beat Mom on literally my first go.
Played hundreds of runs since, still not done nearly everything.

[ratsoalbion]

I just got lucky with a good build.

[hazeredmist]

I've had around 50 runs last time I checked, still no Mom Pretty relaxed about it though, each run I feel like I learn something new and I'm not coming away disillusioned or anything.

One of my mates told me about the item "brimstone" and showed me a symbol for it. I hadn't seen it, and didn't have any idea about it till he mentioned it... Literally my next run I found it in a devil room or something along those lines, and was bowled over by the beam attack! Got too cocky with it and failed the run

...never had the item again in the many runs since. Hope to see it again someday...

[Stanshall]

Edit: @ThirdMan. Didn't see it had moved on so fast.

Sorry, I wasn't trying to be awkward, dude. I think my exclamation marks may have read as aggressive or something but I was really aiming for wide-eyed wonder at how much game there is. It's not endgame after Mom, it's the actual meat of the game.