Binding Of Isaac Discussion

[springheeljack]

So I have been playing Binding of Isaac pretty regularly right now, in fact it is probably the only video-game I actually even play anymore. I gave it a try awhile ago after hearing Jim Sterling rant about how awesome it was and I have really enjoyed it even though it really pisses me off most of the time.

Anyway the reason I posted this thing was I am wondering if any of you fine people have played it and what do you think? Are you really good at it or do you die all the fucking time like I do?

What are some of your favorite items and what are some useless items that you absolutely cannot stand?
Likewise what are your most hated bosses and enemies that you have to fight?

 

[DefunctTheory]

Pretty old game for a discussion thread, but ok.

I do love me some Isaac. Haven't been playing it recently, but it comes and goes - Some months I wont think about it, some months I'll play at least 2 or 3 hours a day. Its a nice, simple, entertaining game.

Anyway... one of the most broken item combo is easily Brimstone (Charged Blood Beam), Rubber Cement (Projectile Bounces Off Walls), and Tammy's Head (Activated Collectible, One Room Recharge, Fires 10 projectiles in all directions).

Don't really have any enemies or bosses I hate. Mom kind of annoys me, but not overly so.

 

[nomotog_v1legacy]

Best rougelike ever. The way the game manages it's stacking powers, random levels and just massive variety all add up to the best realization of random generation in a game.

 

[stormtrooper9091]

Crazy hard for me lol. I tried to get into it over and over and while the immersion is there, the difficulty puts me off as I don't have enough (non-Civ) time to learn to git gud

 

[Xerosch]

This kind of game really isn't for me. At first I was interested and liked the design, but after playing about three hours I realized I don't have any fun with the gameplay. I generally avoid 'rougelikes' since then.

 

[default]

This kind of game really isn't for me. At first I was interested and liked the design, but after playing about three hours I realized I don't have any fun with the gameplay. I generally avoid 'rougelikes' since then.

Roguelike these days as a design tool is mostly just a structure of progression. A roguelike's gameplay can take any form from shooter to slasher to strategy to rhythm game. If you don't like that structure and gameplay loop I can understand why though, it's not for everyone.


I really wish I could like Isaac. It seems like a really deep and interesting game, but the gameplay itself just feels like shit to me with my biggest complaint being the limp, crappy feeling bullets (I hate the 2-and-a-half-D bullet drop, especially when shooting bullets east and west). There's very little weight or punch to the gameplay, which is something I really value. You just sort of footsie around enemy attacks and dribble different kinds of bullets at things until they die.

I also dislike the art direction. The rendering style is fine, it's just the gross-out Ed McMillen flavor I dislike. Although I do like the theme and some of the monster designs, and the way that Isaac mutates in different stacking ways as the game goes on is really fucking cool. I'm also not a fan of roguelikes that use predetermined room layouts with randomised elements. I prefer generation to be fully 'organic'.

Apart from that, all the mutations, the bosses, the depth, the secrets, the systems all look really cool. I just have trouble getting past my (superficial?) personal biases.

 

[SmallHatLogan]

Been playing since release day of the original version of the game. Probably one of my favourite games of all time. Best items? I don't know. It's all about those sweet item synergies. I guess as standalone items go D4 and D100 are great (they reroll all the passive items you've acquired) because despite the randomness you tend to get progressively more powerful.

A great item combination I once had was pyromaniac, fetus in a jar, sad bombs, ipecac, and rubber cement. So I'd shoot out a bomb, which would explode into six ipecac bombs and they would all bounce off the walls before exploding. And because I had pyromaniac they didn't damage me. And I ended up getting anarchist's cookbook. That spawns five bombs which explode into thirty ipecac shots all bouncing around the room.

Worst items. There are plenty of shitty spacebar items that I won't bother listing. As for passive items, I'm not a fan of cursed eye. Isaac's heart can be a death sentence depending on your item loadout. Bob's brain is pretty annoying and shows up way too often (usually in golden chests).

Least favourite bosses and enemies. Honestly a lot of the ones added in Afterbirth have kind of soured my experience a bit. They're way too tanky and it just kills the pacing for me. Hush and Ultra Greed are tedious as hell, I don't find them even remotely fun to fight.

 

[Alma Mare]

Been playing since release day of the original version of the game. Probably one of my favourite games of all time.

Same here.

Brilliant game, as far as I'm concerned. I've cleared most of the post-its in hardmode. It's a game that never ceases to surprise me in how it manages to make runs that are in the bag go down the shitter in a floor or two and conversely how opeless runs end up with me becoming Death, Devourer of Worlds. I've actually frozen my PC with the insanity of stacked tear effects on a Lost run.

 

[Sonmi]

As someone who used to have a lot of spare time and bothered to 100% the game, I'd say it falls pretty low as far as roguelites go.

It's not intrinsically difficult, the gameplay is barebones, item balance is all over the place (get Tammy's head and Brimstone, and congratulations, you've won the game), it's what I'd describe as a very average experience, albeit one that is very addictive.

 

[CritialGaming]

When I can't be bothered to play something that requires a lot of effort I like to put on a rogue-lite and play while watching youtube. Issac and Gungeon are my current go to games. Though I haven't gotten very far in gungeon and I've only done two or three runs of Issac to Mother. I have not gotten any OP items are anything and I spend most of my runs with basic tears and useless companion pets that never seem very effective.

Still the game is fun in short bursts for me and I almost constantly have had it installed on my pc since I bought it with Afterbirth.

 

[Faaip]

This game makes me wonder if I suck at gaming.. I have around 30 or so hours and only finished it once... I think its a fun game though. I mostly played it in between classes in college to kill time

 

[Sonmi]

This game makes me wonder if I suck at gaming.. I have around 30 or so hours and only finished it once... I think its a fun game though. I mostly played it in between classes in college to kill time

By finishing it once, do you mean getting to Mom, Mom's Heart, Satan/Isaac, ???/Whatever the guy in the Dark Room is called, or Mega Satan?

Also, the original Binding of Isaac was considerably harder than Rebirth.

 

[Daymo]

I haven't played it in a long time, could never justify buying the updated version after buying the base+expansion and doing almost everything besides pass it with the photo graph and the guy with the blue hearts. It's one of the two rogue like games I could get into (the other being rogue legacy), though I've heard good things about enter the gungeon. I liked how it was quite heavily skill based with only the later hell or heaven rooms and bosses requiring good items or stats for me too beat them consistently.

 

[Faaip]

This game makes me wonder if I suck at gaming.. I have around 30 or so hours and only finished it once... I think its a fun game though. I mostly played it in between classes in college to kill time

By finishing it once, do you mean getting to Mom, Mom's Heart, Satan/Isaac, ???/Whatever the guy in the Dark Room is called, or Mega Satan?

Also, the original Binding of Isaac was considerably harder than Rebirth.

D: I just beat Mom heheh... I don't have Rebirth. Is it worth picking up?

 

[Elijin]

This game makes me wonder if I suck at gaming.. I have around 30 or so hours and only finished it once... I think its a fun game though. I mostly played it in between classes in college to kill time

By finishing it once, do you mean getting to Mom, Mom's Heart, Satan/Isaac, ???/Whatever the guy in the Dark Room is called, or Mega Satan?

Also, the original Binding of Isaac was considerably harder than Rebirth.

D: I just beat Mom heheh... I don't have Rebirth. Is it worth picking up?

Its more! So if you're liking it, its more 'it'. On the flip side there is no save file conversion so if you're really far into the original, enjoy starting over unlocking items from scratch -.-

 

[SweetLemonTea]

I've played the first one and the dlc wrath of the lamb regularly for an entire year until I got burned out, I even got the title screen where it asked me to stop playing the game. It's a great game! Trying to figure out what the items do and discovering how their effects combine was a lot of fun.

My favourite item is the holy grail its the most reliable way to get flying in the game and the +1 heart container is great too

Also the worst is Ipecac, I swear i've lost so many runs because of this stupid item, you always either end up shooting yourself or have the range too high it can't even hit the boss. NEVER PICK IT UP!

I loved the game to bits but I felt done with it so I didn't bother buying the 2nd one.

 

[JUMBO PALACE]

I picked up Rebirth after seeing Epicnamebro play it on this channel. I put a few hours in an enjoyed it but I just don't see myself investing the time and effort to learn what every single item does and think of the ways they can interact. It's a cool game, just a massive time sink I don't want to go down right now.

 

[Worgen]

Peep, I hate Peep, something about him is just super annoying to deal with. The worst item is the cursed contact, when you get hit while charging you get teleported to the last room. Pretty much ruins a run.

 

[Elijin]

This damn topic sucked me straight back into a binge.

Favourite run included the bitten leaf, freeze enemies on contact and a level 2 meat buddy. I mean I'm not saying you enter a room, walk to middle and stand still until everything including the bosses die. But.....that's exactly what you do.

 

[K12]

Pretty old game for a discussion thread, but ok.

I do love me some Isaac. Haven't been playing it recently, but it comes and goes - Some months I wont think about it, some months I'll play at least 2 or 3 hours a day. Its a nice, simple, entertaining game.

Anyway... one of the most broken item combo is easily Brimstone (Charged Blood Beam), Rubber Cement (Projectile Bounces Off Walls), and Tammy's Head (Activated Collectible, One Room Recharge, Fires 10 projectiles in all directions).

Don't really have any enemies or bosses I hate. Mom kind of annoys me, but not overly so.

The most broken combo I've had was spoon bender + technology + ludovico technique. A big purple ring that warps to kill everything more or less as soon as you enter the room. Not as OP as your combo though. Brimstone is pretty OP on it's own.