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[KarmaCow]

2nd day of owning this game and I can't get past the first level - how embarrassing. I am normally pretty good with shmups but for some reason I keep rushing this game so I always take a couple of hits before the boss and it's always down to the wire. I may need to turn the auto aim up because I've currently got it to zero. What does auto aim actually do? Does it make my bullets actually fly in a straight line because the randomness of the bullet spray is not a very good design choice imo.

I only like hard games though so i'll stick at it.

Auto aim makes it so your gun is soft locked to an enemy, so it's more to compensate for the lack of aiming indicator like with KB&M. The bullet themselves are unaffected

Spoiler

though there is an item that will make them curve toward enemies along with guns that auto track of course

.

A general tip is that tight circle strafing makes most enemies on the first floor trivial. Later on there will be enemies that lead their shots but on the first floor they will shoot where you are at the moment. Being close helps also compensate for the spread on your shots. You need to learn the enemy attacks of course but enemies usually go down before you need to reload.

 

[Snaggle]

Any tips for starting out? Who is the best character to use? Currently I'm going with Marine because he basically gets one extra hit with his armour but I have no idea what his other two items do. One is a supply drop, how do I use this? It's always greyed out.

I like the pilot's starting gun but I can't tell if it does more damage than the marines?

 

[BreezyLimbo]

It's something involving a secret level you can access on the first chamber (by

Spoiler

extinguishing the fireplace via a water barrel/water weapon

). You can retrieve a crest and if you bring it back there, it lets you access a SECOND secret level (never done it myself, though).

Thanks. I've accessed that secret level but died on it almost immediately and never tried it again.

 

[DrunkDan]

Any tips for starting out? Who is the best character to use? Currently I'm going with Marine because he basically gets one extra hit with his armour but I have no idea what his other two items do. One is a supply drop, how do I use this? It's always greyed out.

I like the pilot's starting gun but I can't tell if it does more damage than the marines?

The supply drop will only work once you pick up a non starter gun (and use some of its ammo). And I think the pilot gun is weaker than the marines - though this could be because the pilot's accuracy is lower too. Plus, the marine reloads quicker as well.

 

[spineduke]

So I've been playing some more post the key balance patch and a lot of my initial complaints about the pacing have been addressed. There's still a lot of useless weapon bloat and unnecessary encounter padding, but I'm starting to see what they were trying to acheive with this game. Some of the passives are quite fun to play with. Not much love for most of the actives though, I find a lot of them to be a waste of time. I'd still argue that HP scaling needs to be toned down or disabled completely. I rather have more enemies than bigger bullet sponges. Overall, a much better place than where it was at launch.

 

[Baloonatic]

This cursed TV! The room on the 5th floor with the platfforming and hammer dropping every so often gets me every time.

 

[danowat]

Has anything been said about when the patch is likely to be hitting the PS4?

 

[Footos22]

This cursed TV! The room on the 5th floor with the platfforming and hammer dropping every so often gets me every time.

I got lucky. is shit when you get there and its the only way to go to get to the blacksmith so its impossible to even make it there as you have to dodge roll the gaps.

 

[Out_Of_Ammo]

I got lucky. is shit when you get there and its the only way to go to get to the blacksmith so its impossible to even make it there as you have to dodge roll the gaps.

You can throw the TV over the gaps with the item button.

 

[Baloonatic]

I got lucky. is shit when you get there and its the only way to go to get to the blacksmith so its impossible to even make it there as you have to dodge roll the gaps.

You can throw the TV over the gaps with the item button.

Yeah throwing it while dodging the hammer is what the issue is for me.

I'm currently on the fifth floor and nine (!!!) hearts so fingers crossed.

Edit: Awesome, blacksmith was like two rooms away!

 

[Stoze]

Wow, anyone else get Bloodied Scarf? It changes up an aspect of the gameplay pretty drastically, so drastically that it killed my run. It always blows my mind a bit when so much effort goes into a single item like that.

 

[ThisOne]

Wow, anyone else get Bloodied Scarf? It changes up an aspect of the gameplay pretty drastically, so drastically that it killed my run. It always blows my mind a bit when so much effort goes into a single item like that.

You can drop items you don't want.

 

[Stoze]

You can drop items you don't want.

I know, I didn't want to though because it's awesome. Who knows when I'll get it again.

 

[Footos22]

You can throw the TV over the gaps with the item button.

Didn't even think of that lol oh well done now

 

[dralla]

Any tips for starting out? Who is the best character to use? Currently I'm going with Marine because he basically gets one extra hit with his armour but I have no idea what his other two items do. One is a supply drop, how do I use this? It's always greyed out.

I like the pilot's starting gun but I can't tell if it does more damage than the marines?

The Marine is probably best if you're just starting out. His gun is really solid and you get an extra armor piece. You use items with R2. Your default weapons doesn't use ammo so it might be greyed out. His other item is passive, you don't have to "use" it.

The Pilot has the worst starting gun and is the most difficult to use in the early game. His passive abilities and lockpick make him great for the late game.

The Hunter is great in the early game too. Her crossbow will one-shot kill a lot of enemies on the first floor. Her dog is so unreliable though. I made it to the final boss before and it didn't find a single thing

 

[Pestilence11]

2nd day of owning this game and I can't get past the first level - how embarrassing. I am normally pretty good with shmups but for some reason I keep rushing this game so I always take a couple of hits before the boss and it's always down to the wire. I may need to turn the auto aim up because I've currently got it to zero. What does auto aim actually do? Does it make my bullets actually fly in a straight line because the randomness of the bullet spray is not a very good design choice imo.

I only like hard games though so i'll stick at it.

I did the same thing with auto aim but then settled on exactly 1/4 on. Feels pretty good there with the marine since he has an accuracy passive.

 

[Harbinger of War]

Is it just me, or does it seem like as soon as a new item or gun gets unlocked, that item or gun then appears during one of the next two runs? I've been noticing this more and more over the last bunch of runs. As the item/gun pool grows even larger and the odds of getting specific item drops decreases, seeing a newly unlocked item on my very next run makes me feel like this is much than just a coincidence.

 

[dralla]

Is it just me, or does it seem like as soon as a new item or gun gets unlocked, that item or gun then appears during one of the next two runs? I've been noticing this more and more over the last bunch of runs. As the item/gun pool grows even larger and the odds of getting specific item drops decreases, seeing a newly unlocked item on my very next run makes me feel like this is much than just a coincidence.

Definitely. It happens all the time. Which is cool, because if I'm spending money on something new I'd like to see what it does.

 

[Valahart]

As I've been reading around people generally take Ammoconda as by far the hardest of the possible 2nd bosses.

I feel like the battle against it sometimes has such a random pattern of bullets, and to top that the boss moves so fast it becomes sort of impossible to perfect it if you don't have a weapon that can kill it fast enough.

It's usually doable up until the point it starts spawning those little turrets. They're so small, so spongy and so against the whole point of the battle, that 80% of the time if you don't ignore them (making the boss even more bulky) you are getting hit. Basically while the Ammoconda itself requires you to stay as far away as possible and moving all the time, the freaking turrets are going to make you want to stay close (as they are so small) and focus all of your shots (and they take a LOT). If you don't take care of them, not only do they shoot, but they also raise the boss defense!!!. I feel like it is just too much.

The way I see it, the battle could be a lot more fair (read less boring, almost fun) if the turrets were tweaked a little to either: have a lot less of HP, not shoot, or even not make the ammoconda stronger.

_______________________________


I just posted this on the Steam forums and I wanted to bring the discussion here too, as I've seen some people complaining about the same boss.

Thanks!

 

[Stoze]

Is it just me, or does it seem like as soon as a new item or gun gets unlocked, that item or gun then appears during one of the next two runs? I've been noticing this more and more over the last bunch of runs. As the item/gun pool grows even larger and the odds of getting specific item drops decreases, seeing a newly unlocked item on my very next run makes me feel like this is much than just a coincidence.

Yeah I just noticed this as well, literally two of the last items I unlocked were the first ones I got the following run. It's also may not be just the items you recently unlocked, there might be something that makes items you haven't acquired once slightly more likely to appear. I've seen Poison Vial at shops a lot but I've never taken it.

Either way if that's the case I think it's a great design decision.

 

[-MD-]

Actually finished for once, I thought this was going to be a throwaway run because my curse level seems to be cranked on my marine but I ended up on floor 5 before I knew it. Went into the final boss fight with 2 1/2 hearts, 2 armor and 3 blanks.

The bee gun is incredible, it also tanks performance to 5fps.

 

[Stoze]

Actually finished for once, I thought this was going to be a throwaway run because my curse level seems to be cranked on my marine but I ended up on floor 5 before I knew it. Went into the final boss fight with 2 1/2 hearts, 2 armor and 3 blanks.

The bee gun is incredible, it also tanks performance to 5fps.

Nice job! First time I got him was with the bee hive as well. And yeah, using it on Kill Pillars made the game a slideshow on PS4.

I think it's probably the best gun in the game for bosses (that I have unlocked and used) considering you don't really need to focus on aiming or shooting with it and it still does bonkers damage. Just hold down the button and the screen turns into that Oprah gif

 

[-MD-]

Nice job! First time I got him was with the bee hive as well. And yeah, using it on Kill Pillars made the game a slideshow on PS4.

I think it's probably the best gun in the game for bosses (that I have unlocked and used) considering you don't really need to focus on aiming or shooting with it and it still does bonkers damage. Just hold down the button and the screen turns into that Oprah gif

Thanks, the run prior to this one I had gone into the Dragun fight with the Stinger, got the boss to his last piece of HP and I ran out of ammo, one or two more rockets would've finished it. Was brutal, this run made up for it though.

And yeah I think the bee is the best single target gun in the game, at least from what I've unlocked so far.

 

[King Tubby]

Game is super fun. Took a while to grow on me but I enjoy the feeling of getting better and better. Still haven't gotten past the 4th chamber though. Damn Pillars.

Anyone using alternate bindings? I changed dodge to L3, reload to R3, blank to L1, weapon menu to R2, use item to square, and removed the L3+R3 combo for blanks. It feels a lot better this way, since now I can reload and switch weapons without taking my fingers off the sticks. Only issue is with items that you use often like the jetpack. I'll fiddle with the controls a bit more.

 

[Ketch]

Actually finished for once, I thought this was going to be a throwaway run because my curse level seems to be cranked on my marine but I ended up on floor 5 before I knew it. Went into the final boss fight with 2 1/2 hearts, 2 armor and 3 blanks.

The bee gun is incredible, it also tanks performance to 5fps.

what is the 31 next to the skull?

 

[-MD-]

what is the 31 next to the skull?

Total player deaths, I think.

 

[sqwarlock]

That moment when you reach floor three for the first time, have one hit point left, and then you don't pay attention when walking into a room and fall into a pit. Fuck my life.

 

[jim2point0]

I don't think I'll ever beat this damn game. It's way freakin hard. Everything moves so fast that I don't now how I could possibly get beyond floor 3. Half the time when I dodge roll, I end up rolling into another bullet.

The best run I had was with scatter shot and the gun that shoots ice cubes. It can perma freeze most enemies and keep them there until they die.

Also, I've never seen a secret room. How are you supposed to know where they are?

 

[Salty Catfish]

I don't think I'll ever beat this damn game. It's way freakin hard. Everything moves so fast that I don't now how I could possibly get beyond floor 3. Half the time when I dodge roll, I end up rolling into another bullet.

The best run I had was with scatter shot and the gun that shoots ice cubes. It can perma freeze most enemies and keep them there until they die.

Also, I've never seen a secret room. How are you supposed to know where they are?

If you hit a wall with a non-starting gun, it'll crack if there's a secret room behind it. Use a blank and it'll open up.

 

[PRjumpman124]

I made it to floor five for the first time... and then a giant skeleton punched me with an arm made of bullets.

 

[Snaggle]

Ok managed to make it onto level 2 consistently last night, not sure why I was having so much trouble with it before...I think I was rushing it. First stage has become pretty easy although the Gatling Gull still gives me a bit of trouble.

At first I got up to level 2 with The Hunter mainly because I picked up an awesome triple shot crossbow and a Magnum all in the first stage, the magnum made short work of the boss.

I also jumped into the start/pause screen and went to the Ammonomicon book thing (which I had never seen before) and actually started looking at the items my character started with/had acquired....lol this was a godsend....finally I can see what all the stuff I'm picking up actually does. W00T! That was one of my main complaints about Isaac so was a little surprised to see this feature in the menu.

Although I was able to make it to the second stage with a few different characters I really like the Marine's default gun and leaves less up to chance when trying to complete the first level. Those abilities the Pilot gets (extra usable item and more ammo capacity) I would imagine come in real handy later on though.

I've left the auto-aim on zero though so it seems to be ok for the time being.

Anyone have any tips for the Iron Maidens on level 2? Is there any way to stop those things they fire out from coming back? And spinning around and exploding? Lol for realz? They really OP.

 

[Salty Catfish]

Anyone have any tips for the Iron Maidens on level 2? Is there any way to stop those things they fire out from coming back? And spinning around and exploding? Lol for realz? They really OP.

They're a pain in the ass; the only real tip I have is to just hit them with your most powerful weapon as quickly as you can, even if you risk taking a hit. If you try to dodge around and take them slowly, I find that I usually end up losing more health than if I just went for it right away (especially if there's other enemies in the mix).

 

[Chronospherics]

For the people struggling I would say just stick it out.

You will get better, that's what these games are about, learning.

For some with experience with this type of gameplay (shooters), that process will be easier, and faster especially, but it'll still happen. Just focus on incremental goals (beating the next boss / floor) rather than beating the whole thing, and you'll get there.

 

[Incendiary]

Had a really good run: Proton Pack, Sniper Rifle, Hegemony Carbine,Space Turtle, Wax Wings, Elder Blank, Shock Rounds.

Was wiping the floor with everything - except I didn't get a single ammo drop the whole run, and the fourth floor shop was locked and I didn't get a key drop either. Ended up buying it to the fourth floor boss I hadn't ever faced before. Sad, but I feel like I'm getting way better at the game.

 

[Seligrafo]

Really enjoying this game (and thread) but YIKES, I'm awful at it. I feel like everyone is, at this point.

 

[mbpm1]

I need to stop using molotov weapons and burning myself with them

 

[Gsnap]

I don't think I'll ever beat this damn game. It's way freakin hard. Everything moves so fast that I don't now how I could possibly get beyond floor 3. Half the time when I dodge roll, I end up rolling into another bullet.

The best run I had was with scatter shot and the gun that shoots ice cubes. It can perma freeze most enemies and keep them there until they die.

Also, I've never seen a secret room. How are you supposed to know where they are?

Nah, you can do it. That's what I though at first. Getting to the floor 2 boss used to be a "good run". But now I'm disappointed in myself if I don't make it to floor 4 (and I haven't even beaten the game yet). Also, things feel fast now, but once you understand the enemies more, things won't feel like they're moving so fast. These are the kinds of games that you just get better and better at every time you play. Not only because you're getting better as a player (which you will, of course), but also because the game is constantly unlocking newer and better items to use, constantly unlocking new ways to get items (via various npcs and extra challenges, not just via chests), meaning more items per run, and constantly rewarding your knowledge as well, sometimes even more than your raw skill. For instance, knowing when to not use keys, or simply having more experience with more items so you know which ones to not waste money on. So many little things like that, completely independent of raw bullet hell skill, can contribute quite strongly to whether or not you have a good run.

 

[Ozium]

WOOOOW.
I finally have 3 shields to give this elevator repair man.
And I can't go down the hole BECAUSE I HAVE FLYING.

this just happened to me

salty af

 

[terrdactycalsrock]

So whats up with the elevator guy? He said to meet him on the second level, but hes never there

 

[-MD-]

this just happened to me

salty af

Is it an item? Can't you just drop it?

 

[MrPanic]

Just earned the achievement for flawless-ing all bosses in one run, feels good man.

this just happened to me

salty af

You can drop passive items on the map screen.

So whats up with the elevator guy? He said to meet him on the second level, but hes never there

Drop down the entrance elevator shaft.

 

[mbpm1]

.

 

[Chronospherics]

Was having a good run earlier then my PS4 told me that Ratchet and Clank had installed.

Should have stuck it out, but I didn't. Shame, would have been my first successful run with the Convict, most of mine have been with the pilot.

I wish there was a way to get the alien engine more consistently because that thing seems crazy good for speedruns and other silly but fun combat strategies.

 

[spineduke]

Yeah the game has grown on me as well. I was very harsh on it initially but for all is flaws it has that "one more run" element to it.

 

[danowat]

Middle of floor 3 (haven't got past floor 3 yet) and I am on the run of my life, had to put the PS4 in rest mode because I just can't face the risk of losing it all!

 

[Footos22]

Nice job! First time I got him was with the bee hive as well. And yeah, using it on Kill Pillars made the game a slideshow on PS4.

I think it's probably the best gun in the game for bosses (that I have unlocked and used) considering you don't really need to focus on aiming or shooting with it and it still does bonkers damage. Just hold down the button and the screen turns into that Oprah gif

Best gun for pillars is def the BSG hits all 4 for massive dmg with one shot.

 

[Footos22]

this just happened to me

salty af

If you use the robot its easy but if you do use the robot you need to give him 6 because reasons.

Edit: Sorry double post

 

[PepperedHam]

Has anything been said about when the patch is likely to be hitting the PS4?

Would love to know this as well. Hoping this doesn't turn into an Isaac situation where the time between patches is just enough to aggravate you.

 

[Jaroof]

Just used the rail gun for the first time.

 

[Stoze]

High Priest is by far the hardest boss in the game for me. I was doing well trying to get a full 6 hearts going into floor 5 but he kicked my shit in too hard and made it impossible.The worst is when he does the dissapearing thing and spawns a bullet circle like right on top of me.