Binding Of Isaac: Rebirth. Frustratingly Awesome or Awesomely Frustrating.

[Starbird]

Have been getting back into the game recently.

Probably the best roguelike, with a really good soundtrack and clever design. However man but this game can annoy the hell out of me at the best of times, especially early on when the game decides to throw an especially obnoxious room at you before you have the firepower to effectively clear it, leading to a downward spiral of losing health, missing Deals with the Devil and finally holding R in frustration.

Still though...insanely addictive.

What are your thoughts on BOI?

 

[Lilani]

I bought the original Binding of Issac during a steam sale and got frustrated with the format in about 10 minutes. I really can't stand games which have frustrating difficulty spikes like that, I more prefer formulaic games with reasonable difficulty curves. It's why I never got into MegaMan but I'll play the shit out of a game with a level-up system or an MMO. Kudos for those who like a challenge, but I prefer a certain amount of fairness in my challenges.

 

[Ishal]

Binding of Isaac is one of those games that I respect for the way it handles difficulty.

There is no difficulty slider, there is only the game, and the hand your are dealt while playing it because it is random. It's like running on a treadmill, and as things progress the treadmill goes faster and faster. It can get so fast that you'll fall off. This is how the game operates. You're constantly trying to keep up with the escalating difficulty and try to work the randomness in your favor. Sometimes you can get an item that wins you the game on the first or second floor. You're no longer running on the treadmill, you're flying. Catch is that isn't likely to happen, so you have to use the games items to make it happen. You literally have to "git gud." And I LOVE that. There is nothing better than playing a game where the difficulty never really changes too drastically, you just get better the more you play. You learn how to avoid taking damage stupidly, which all new players do. You learn item synergies, you learn that sometimes high risk high reward is the way to play, or perhaps it isn't depending on what items you have. There's a really good item in the devil room, but you don't have much HP. Do you risk it? Or do you bank on getting another good item on the next floor, and hopefully have more HP when you get there?

To top it off, they even included an "easy mode" in the games re-release. There is a character that is easily unlockable who starts off with a smaller version of one of the best items in the game. You want it easy? Play him.

 

[laggyteabag]

I find the game to be really fun, but there are just a few enemies that piss me off so much, and often end up killing me no matter how much health I have, or at least almost always hit me.

- The weird stone heads that shoot blood at you until you clear the room. (Stone Grimace)
- The spiked rocks that move around the room and damage you if you touch them. (Poky & Slide)
- The skull mobs that follow you around and throw bones at you at an ungodly speed. (Bony)
- The "ball and chain" mobs that throw their heads around the room, but are still connected to their neck. (Swingers)
- The worms that shoot blood in a spiral pattern. (Nightcrawler)
- The medium sized poos that charge at you. (Squirt)

 

[Sassafrass]

I love it. It's addicting even if I do die half the time due to enemies and being a bit stupid in my item choices. Seriously, every time, I pick up Bobs Thoughts and aaaaaaaaargh why am I so fucking stupid and pick it up.

Also, fuck the skeletons, fuck Dingle and FUUUUUUUUUCK Gurdy. Those bosses can go die in a fire. I struggle on those guys every time, yet I can breeze past the major end game bosses with ease.

 

[StriderShinryu]

I think overall that Rebirth is a very good game. Because of the larger number of items, the shifted item pools and the increased number of quality qynergies it feels like there are more ways to actually be successful at the game than there were in Vanilla. Rebirth does definitely have some notable flaws though, mostly in the form of runs where you literally get no damage or tear upgrades, especially when those runs also give you a ton of HP. Sure you can often stick it out and maybe eventually find success but those runs fall into the one cardinal sin of game design, they're extremely boring. Games can do so many things to interest, excite or entertain that there's pretty much no excuse for straight up being boring.. and unfortunately Rebith is just boring on some runs. I also find it sort of weird how much flying in Rebirth seems to basically break the game. There are so many room layouts and enemy designs that are basically totally ruined by being able to fly. I know it's intentional as it's not like flying is something new to Rebirth and all of the rooms/enemies were designed by hand but still, it just feels weird.

Anyway, Rebirth is great and well worth the money. If/when it gets it's hooks in you, it will consume many hours of your life. It's not, however, anywhere close to being without flaws.

 

[bluepotatosack]

I absolutely adore these games. 137 hours on the original. Never got Platinum God though, only Golden God. Rebirth is a huge improvement on the game overall, so of course I love it just as much if not a bit more.

It is a game you really have to learn, though. If you don't know how enemies act you will not last long. It also helps to have an idea of what the items you're picking up actually do. Basically, the more time you spend with it, the more you get out of it.

 

[ohnoitsabear]

I love it. It's addicting even if I do die half the time due to enemies and being a bit stupid in my item choices. Seriously, every time, I pick up Bobs Thoughts and aaaaaaaaargh why am I so fucking stupid and pick it up.

Also, fuck the skeletons, fuck Dingle and FUUUUUUUUUCK Gurdy. Those bosses can go die in a fire. I struggle on those guys every time, yet I can breeze past the major end game bosses with ease.

A strategy that makes Gurdy 100x easier: stand behind her. She can't fire at you, so she just spawns enemies. The flies can usually be dealt with in 1-2 hits, just move back and forth when she spawns them. The clots pretty much aren't relevant, because they're usually respawned before they start spewing stuff at you.

I kind of felt dirty when I figured out this strategy, because it pretty much breaks the entire fight.

 

[bluepotatosack]

Also, fuck the skeletons, fuck Dingle and FUUUUUUUUUCK Gurdy. Those bosses can go die in a fire. I struggle on those guys every time, yet I can breeze past the major end game bosses with ease.

Make sure to watch Dingle's face, he gives a different expression for when he's going to shoot some projectiles or rush you. Any time he rushes you, it will be three dashes and then he'll stop to take a breather. Also when he whistles he's either about to shoot you or spawn little dingles, I forget which.

Gurdy is possibly the easiest boss in the game after you get her pattern down. She puts her hands to her mouth every time she's about to shoot at you. So just kill the lesser enemies that come pre-spawned quick and start shooting her. If you start on the bottom of the screen, just keep shooting her until she does the tell and then move to her side. Keep shooting until the tell shows up again and move back to the bottom. Rinse and repeat.

 

[EvilRoy]

One of my favorite Rouglikes, although bizarrely I found that Rebirth made the game way easier for me. It was actually only later that I felt it was getting notably difficult as I started to unlock harder bits and throw more and more items into the mix. I think it might be because the vast majority of items that I couldn't deal with got pulled or rebalanced - and the initial items are all generally pretty good in Rebirth, so it isn't until later on that you really mix in the shit items.

I will definitely echo the Bony hate here though. I have no idea how you can realistically clear a room of four without taking damage. Aside from that my only complaint is that the boss rotation is kinda shitty. I see the horsemen over and over and over for some reason, but when I did the boss rush after Mom I saw easily six boss monsters that I had never come across before - so like, what is that? I'm fighting the same five assholes over and over and there were a plethora of different bosses I hadn't even seen before?

 

[bluepotatosack]

I see the horsemen over and over and over for some reason, but when I did the boss rush after Mom I saw easily six boss monsters that I had never come across before - so like, what is that?

Any chance you were using the Book of Revelations? That'll guarantee the boss on that floor will be one of the horsemen if possible.

 

[Diablo2000]

Just had the weirdest run. Technology + Ludovich Technique, it created a giant ring of laser that killed everything that touched it's edges and it's center.
Mom's Heart got destroyed in less than 5 seconds. And I finished Boss Rush without any dificult... I am pretty I actually GAINED Hp while doing Boss Rush mode.

Binding of Isaac it's that, luck. Sometimes the game will flat out give you godly items making dificult for you to lose, another times it will slap you like the whore that you are and spit on your face while you are down.

 

[Jandau]

The "frustrating" part of the game is the random aspect of it - some runs you'll get awesome items and pretty much have the run of the town, some games you'll get crap, as well as horrible enemy spawns, and get wrecked in the first few floors.

But that's the nature of the game - you aren't SUPPOSED to win every time. And the random nature of the game is what makes it more fun - the various items combine in unexpected ways and can radically change how the game plays. It's chaos, but a glorious one. One thing to note is that the game gets easier as you play, with each run unlocking new and more powerful items.

If you are having trouble starting out with the game, I'd suggest sticking to Magdalene as your character. A high starting health and a health restoring item make her quite forgiving to new players. Even her downside, her low speed, is somewhat helpful to inexperienced players, as it makes her easier to control (high speed characters can get out of hand).

 

[bartholen_v1legacy]

I played the shit out of the original, something like 300 hours and got every Steam achievement unlocked. The sequel hasn't therefore been as addicting, because I get the feeling I've seen it all before. The balance is definitely tweaked, but some aspects are still grotesquely unbalanced. Eve remains the worst character in the game, since if you don't get any damage upgrades in the first 2 levels, you can pretty much just kiss any chances of victory goodbye, and even if you try to play with Whore of Babylon constantly active, if you don't get soul hearts for one floor you're done. Krampus' Rage will decimate any boss I've come across so far, save Isaac himself. Still, it's nice that most of the upgrades that were completely worthless in the original (8-ball and Cat o' Nine Tails most of all) have been given at least some Oomph, so you don't get the feeling you got fucked over.

It feels the win streak counter is there purely for taunting though. Isn't it pretty much pointless in a game where random luck pretty much decides if you're going to win or lose?

 

[communist gamer]

I played the original, might buy the expansion. The game is very good and fun (well maybe fun is a wrong word here) but sufferes from a lot of problems too. The luck factor is the worst. I can blast through some runs within like seconds because i get very good items, and a few devil rooms. Then there are thouse times when i get NO keys, the only upgrades are half assed shit like that cat that gives you nine lives but only one heart or other useless stuff. A nother thing that frustrates me is the way the bosses work. Usualy its not a problem, the bosses scale up nicley so you wont get mauld at the very level. Other times it's like "you want to play game? TOO BAD HERE IS THE HEADLESS HORSE MAN!". Some cherecters are useless some are well working (eva, god dam you why are you even here?). I gave up on it outside of a few quick runs before bed or on a slow day.

 

[Lilikins]

Ill usually play it once a day for about 30 min or so...sometimes more and sometimes less.

After clocking in exactly 100 hours at the current time (and more to follow) I still havent gotten bored of it hehe. All the random item pools etc etc make each run quite unique and fun to play, though I will admit that I restart a game if I go into the first treasure room and get something useless such as 'Kaboom' or something like that.
Though it is true that the game is exceptionally frustrating at times. No comment on the Challenges haha. For the life of me I cannot beat that third challenge, the misses beat it on her first try...I despise Soy Milk with every beat of my heart..

Seeing as everyones speaking about enemies/bosses that annoy them the most, I spose Ill pitch in my 'favorites'..

Bony (for reasons mentioned above)
The masks/hearts...I loathe them with every fiber of my being, especially if its a relatively small room with lots of rocks and like 5 of the damned things.

The boss I have the most trouble with ehh...I spose Ill go for The Haunt. I usually meet him on the first floor where my char is still beyond crappy, and he just takes ages to kill properly then. Im ever so happy hes not implemented in the boss rush haha.

 

[Dornedas]

Perfect a reason to vent about Binding Of Isaac.

First things first: Do I like it?
Well I clocked around 450 hours in the original to get the Platinum God achievement (A bug prevented it).
And I got Platinum God in Rebirth yesterday after around 180 hours(But I still need Uranium God or whatever it's called).
The answer is pretty clear isn't it?

But I will only talk to you about Rebirth today.
First the things I like:
Item Synergies. They are a really cool new feature, fun and have the ability to be absolutely op.
The luck stat has now more uses than 3 ore 4 items and that's pretty rad.
I really like the boss rush room.
Mega Satan is a nice and hard final end boss.
The challenges during which you can't shoot tears are a nice change of pace.

Now the things I don't like that much
Some of the not so balanced stuff (I think Ghost-boss is a little bit to strong for a tier 1 boss but that's mainly because I think his "servants" have to much hp)
Gurdy Jr. (Mainly because of my incompetence to kill it without getting hit. And that is embarrassing after 600 hours of experience)
The requirement to unlock The Lost (You have to die with specific characters to specific monsters in a specific order). Mainly because it is absolutely counter-intuitive and doesn't really fit.
I think the focus on poop doesn't really fit the tone of the game.
And finally : Screw the game for demanding that I pick up every item at least once to get the f*cking achievements. I spend the last week grinding with Isaac to get Steven and Godhead and only managed to get Steven. I mean seriously I already unlocked the items. I got the achievements for unlocking them. What reason is there to demand that I pick them up?
I beat the game 2 times on hard mode without taking damage but No that's not enough for it.

I could probably go on about this longer but I don't have time for that. I have to grind for Godhead. After all I'm pretty sure that I get money and women once I have all the achievements. That's how achievements work don't they?

Edit: After another 5 hours of grinding: Finally got Godhead. But the point still stands.

 

[baddude1337]

Really liking it. Rebirth just feels better in it's controls and performance over the flash-based original. The Co-op is neatly implemented and really fun too.

 

[EvilRoy]

I see the horsemen over and over and over for some reason, but when I did the boss rush after Mom I saw easily six boss monsters that I had never come across before - so like, what is that?

Any chance you were using the Book of Revelations? That'll guarantee the boss on that floor will be one of the horsemen if possible.

No, I actually don't care for a lot of the items that do guaranteed bosses just on a "what they do" basis so I usually skip em. I played again the other day for an hour or so (like five runs) and didn't hit one horseman, but still didn't see a lot of the rarer bosses. It may just be me remembering the horsemen more starkly, but I really do think I just get the shittiest boss rolls.

 

[communist gamer]

I hate anime bullshit games but long live the queen was fun for me (for a strange reason). Roug like were never my thing too, but the binding of isaac is a great game IMHO