The Binding of Isaac

Well, I beat the game with the last unlockable character and once more with the item that unlocks for doing so. Quite fun, unfortunately though there aren't any more endings besides ending 10. There are a few more achievements for me to get but the don't take damage ones are super hard and the others are luck dependent. For some reason I've never been lucky enough to fight Lokii in the Depths. Anyway, I'm looking forward to the Halloween update and may still poke at the game to get some of the remaining items I haven't seen yet.

An interesting review written by a pastor: http://www.pastemagazine.com/article...

Man what a good playthrough:
IMAGE(http://i.imgur.com/rA9UE.jpg)

Picked up Lord of the Pit and Mr Bomb early in the game, so loot and bombs was never a problem. Then I got lucky and got the laser eye (Technology) and a $1 bill, so I milked the slot machine for all it was worth.

Unfortunately didn't make it all the way to the end... health just got so scarce once I hit The Womb. Would've been nice to have the Charm of the Vampire for that regen, but still, a very fun playthrough and my first time picking up the laser eye.

IMAGE(http://img827.imageshack.us/img827/433/poopp.png)

Spoiler:

Yes, there's a hidden fifth character who starts with the 'poop' skill.

I think I did pretty well for my first playthrough. Got the laser tears so things got a lot easier. Then I picked up my ghostly little brother, mom's heels, the belt, mr. bomb, and a constant supply of balls of steel pills. I killed mom with the Bible.

I don't expect to do nearly as well on my next try but it was very nice of the game to welcome me so graciously.

I found an item that makes Isaac pee instead of cry. At least he looks happier...

LobsterMobster wrote:

I found an item that makes Isaac pee instead of cry. At least he looks happier...

It's a cool upgrade, but I just hate the fact that it minimizes his range.

jollyeskimo wrote:
LobsterMobster wrote:

I found an item that makes Isaac pee instead of cry. At least he looks happier...

It's a cool upgrade, but I just hate the fact that it minimizes his range.

Low range sucks.

Growth Hormones, The Inner Eye, Technology, Wiggle Worm.
IMAGE(http://i.imgur.com/HXY8r.jpg)

I wept a single tear...

... and then it turned into a sinusoidal laser that's out of sync with the one that is emanating from sister maggy's bottom.

IMAGE(http://img560.imageshack.us/img560/7761/milkc.jpg)

Spoiler:

Chocolate Milk + Max's Head + Mini-Mushroom = Shots bigger than Judas!

FINALLY beat mom the first time. Only took me 68 tries!

If you guys ever get the chance, try the Battery + The Nail... it's probably the most broken combo I've experienced so far:

Spoiler:

Battery's recharge mechanic is far too easy to exploit, making it possible to use any powerup at least once per room (provided there are enemies). Combine that with The Nail's two extra soul hearts per use, I was basically always above the 12 hearts that the game is capable of displaying. It counts the extras, of course, but I mean once you have that many hearts does it really matter?

http://i.imgur.com/GV4FN.jpg

Sephirotic wrote:

FINALLY beat mom the first time. Only took me 68 tries!

I finally beat her this weekend as well. How do you know how many tries it took?

Spoiler:

I got a dollar from a slot machine (unlocking Cain finally), bought the Bible on the penultimate level and had the card "The Emperor". When I got to the last level, I just used the card to teleport to Mom and used the Bible to kill her. Easy peasy.

Tscott wrote:

I finally beat her this weekend as well. How do you know how many tries it took?

If you look at the statistics screen from the main menu it will tell you how many times you've died.

jollyeskimo wrote:

If you guys ever get the chance, try the Battery + The Nail... it's probably the most broken combo I've experienced so far:

Spoiler:

Battery's recharge mechanic is far too easy to exploit, making it possible to use any powerup at least once per room (provided there are enemies). Combine that with The Nail's two extra soul hearts per use, I was basically always above the 12 hearts that the game is capable of displaying. It counts the extras, of course, but I mean once you have that many hearts does it really matter?

http://i.imgur.com/GV4FN.jpg

Revelations does something similar, albeit on half the scale. That's how I beat it with Judas.

Damn, another play-through with Battery + Nail... this completely breaks the game because health just becomes an afterthought and it turns into a roflstomp. I'm probably going to pass on this combo if I ever come across it again.

And again, Mom has died at my hands, this time I crushed her heart, too! Take that, mother!

Took me four or five attempts, but I finally beat the game with '? ? ?' - see my previous post. One you've done that, a new item will be unlocked.

Spoiler:

Upon completion of the game with the fifth character, Isaac will receive a default item just like Cain (Book of Belial), Magdalena (heart), and ? (The Poop). Rather handy: If you find an item you don't like, let's say another speed upgrade, you can roll the D6 and it'll swap said item for another random item. Also works in shops. Obviously, the D6 has a cooldown just like all the other specials.

Now bring on the Halloween update!

jollyeskimo wrote:

Damn, another play-through with Battery + Nail... this completely breaks the game because health just becomes an afterthought and it turns into a roflstomp. I'm probably going to pass on this combo if I ever come across it again.

Battery + Yum Heart is pretty ridiculous as well. I think that alone contributed the most to my first "win" in this game over the weekend.

It's also a bit of fun with Judas too. Battery might just be broken in general.

EDIT: Which isn't a bad thing since this isn't a competitive game. But it's definitely one of those items you always want to buy or find in a run.

The update is supposed to go live this noon/evening (US/Europe):

-Added chapter 5 (unlocked after 10 mom kills)
-Added 3+ new bosses
-Added 4 new enemies
-Added 20+ new items
-Added one new unlockable character (Eve)
-Added one new "FINAL" ending.
-Added 6+ new achievements
-Added 2 new music tracks
-Added updated collection viewer
-Added 4 new tarot cards (finishig the major arcana)

Fixes:
-lots of small bugs were fixed
-load time fixed
-a few minor item balances

They nerfed the Nail. Now it only grants 1 faith heart per use. It's no longer clear to me if I should pick it up if I already have the Book of Revelations, but maybe that's how it should be.

LobsterMobster wrote:

They nerfed the Nail. Now it only grants 1 faith heart per use. It's no longer clear to me if I should pick it up if I already have the Book of Revelations, but maybe that's how it should be.

Blood Bag looks like it's going to be the new hotness for overpowered Battery combos...restores all health and +1 max health.

jollyeskimo wrote:
LobsterMobster wrote:

They nerfed the Nail. Now it only grants 1 faith heart per use. It's no longer clear to me if I should pick it up if I already have the Book of Revelations, but maybe that's how it should be.

Blood Bag looks like it's going to be the new hotness for overpowered Battery combos...restores all health and +1 max health.

Wiki doesn't show it as a usable item so it's consumed on use right?

shoptroll wrote:
jollyeskimo wrote:
LobsterMobster wrote:

They nerfed the Nail. Now it only grants 1 faith heart per use. It's no longer clear to me if I should pick it up if I already have the Book of Revelations, but maybe that's how it should be.

Blood Bag looks like it's going to be the new hotness for overpowered Battery combos...restores all health and +1 max health.

Wiki doesn't show it as a usable item so it's consumed on use right?

Whoops, totally missed that... too good to be true I guess.

I made the mistake of starting this game up late last night after it updated. Long story short, I only got 3 and a half hours of sleep.

Blood bag is indeed consumed on use. I won one from a "health" slot machine. Also got a rather disgusting power up that made the flies like me and do no damage to me.

Spoiler:

nice, but I was wearing sh*t on my head the whole game

I was doing really well until I made a deal with the devil and got Brimstone. A VERY powerful attack, but takes a long time to power up- it was hard for me to get used to. Mom finally killed me, but I had her down to 1/3 her health when I went down.

Took down mum! Or mom if you prefer!

Spoiler:

Used the Bible to instantly kill her, woo!

Not bad, only 9 deaths and 4 hours in for my first win.

Got mom down to a sliver last night on a science choc milk playthrough.
Freaking flesh zombie I didn't see got me.

jollyeskimo wrote:

Whoops, totally missed that... too good to be true I guess.

So I discovered the 9-volt battery in a shop last night. I really hope it stacks with the regular battery because that would be an incredibly ridiculous build with the right item.

Picked this up in the latest humble bundle, can't believe I overlooked this before, I love this game! Got even better when I configured my 360 controller for it, so I figured I'd share the method to get it working like I did for Voxatron.

I use JoyToKey which is free, though you can license it if you use it often. There is no functional difference between the registered and unregistered version though.

Once downloaded and extracted (there is no installer) run the program and create a new profile using the "Create" button on the bottom left. Name your profile "The Binding of Isaac".

Next, click the options tab and set the options like so (note the input thresholds, anything less than 30% for stick 1 was causing issues with unwanted movement for me):

IMAGE(http://i135.photobucket.com/albums/q133/serengeti000/isaac1.jpg)

Once that's done, click the Joystick 1 tab and set the key bindings like so (to set a key, double click the key in the list, press the button to bind, then click ok), comments are optional:

IMAGE(http://i135.photobucket.com/albums/q133/serengeti000/isaac2.jpg)

Save your configuration file using the file menu, then from the preferences menu select "Associate config files with applications...". Click "Add" to add a new association, and fill it out like so:

IMAGE(http://i135.photobucket.com/albums/q133/serengeti000/isaac3-1.jpg)

Click "OK" twice and you're done.

Your left stick should now control movement and you can use either the right stick, or the ABXY buttons for shooting. LT is bombs, RT is the "Space" item and LB is the "Q" pill or tarot card. Start can be used to pause/unpause the game.

Enjoy!

Another trick I found that might be helpful: If you find yourself in a room with spike-surrounded loot and no decapitation powerup, you can actually walk diagonally across non-adjacent spike traps without taking damage.

Standing equidistant from both spikes and then pressing both movement keys at the same time works great once you get the hang of it.

IMAGE(http://i.imgur.com/DJWpk.jpg)