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The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth |OT| Pixel Heart Mother

maty

Member
I'm missing 3 items to get platinum god: black lotus, blood bag and godhead.

Blood bag will probably appear soon enough but the other 2... :/
 

SerTapTap

Member
...how on earth are you missing blood bag. just find any room with a blood machine and a slot machine, spend all your money, get heart drops, use heart drops on blood machine, use coins from blood machine in slot machine, repeat until blood machine explodes. Should only take a few tries. It's probably my most gotten item

For godhead yeah you're going to want sharp plug and D6 abuse

edit:

someone got a 2:53 run through The Chest due to a Brimstone/Tammy's Head seed
 

Vlad

Member
...how on earth are you missing blood bag. just find any room with a blood machine and a slot machine, spend all your money, get heart drops, use heart drops on blood machine, use coins from blood machine in slot machine, repeat until blood machine explodes. Should only take a few tries. It's probably my most gotten item

Personally, I hardly ever get it. Every time I try doing just that, I end up with the portable blood bank instead.
 

maty

Member
...how on earth are you missing blood bag. just find any room with a blood machine and a slot machine, spend all your money, get heart drops, use heart drops on blood machine, use coins from blood machine in slot machine, repeat until blood machine explodes. Should only take a few tries. It's probably my most gotten item

For godhead yeah you're going to want sharp plug and D6 abuse

I always get IV bag instead :(
 

SerTapTap

Member
I absolutely hate the IV bag, only seen it twice though and I most have gotten 8 or so blood bags by now. I always figured IV bag was rarer.
 

CassSept

Member
IS gambling worse in Hard Mode too? BTW boss rush is always champions if Mom was a champion, in case you want to avoid it (honestly it didn't feel that different with all champions. Champ Carrion Queen and Gurdy are actually easier.)

Oh I don't know if it's harder but with the reduced item drops I feel like there are less opportunities to play around with it.

Yeah I know about the boss rush but it was annoying, I had an ok-yet-not-op build and trying to get through it was draining so it hurt when I died, I really had to concentrate and I failed after 10 minutes :(
 

aku:jiki

Member
I used to love Blood Bag in Flash Isaac but I value the IV bag higher in this one. Probably has to do with the fact that devil rooms seem more common now and I spend frivolously in them. My goal in like every run is soul hearts only. The shop is way better now, too, so I do want that monayyyy.

I wouldn't say that gambling is less profitable on hard. That would further invalidate Cain for pretty much no good reason, plus I don't feel like it's any worse and I play a lot of hard.
 

jblank83

Member
Gambling seems almost worthless. Best you can get from a slot is hp up and shell game is skatole. Cain gets enough drops to further its uselessness. That said, gambling on hard is even worse.

CASINO:
Blood Bag (HP up)
Pretty Fly
Dollar
Skatole
Crystal Ball
Soul Hearts/Cards/Trinkets

BEGGARS:
Health Up
Devil Room items

Beggar is almost a guaranteed HP up if you have 15 coins, and even a good gamble at 7 coins. Devil Room drops from demon beggar are the best if you have the spare health and plenty of red heart drops on a floor. Pretty Fly and Skatole are great if you're walking around with 50 coins, and dropping coins in a gambling machine means a bunch of keys and bombs anyway.

I always, always gamble on beggars. The pay out is too good and too easy. I usually gamble the casino if I have lots of coins and am not worried about wasting 2-3 minutes. And I'll use them if I'm desperate for keys. If I find a blue gambling machine I'm usually happy. That thing's payouts are great (spirit hearts, cards, trinkets). The crystal ball is great as well ("the world" card effect + chance of spirit heart drops).

As far as odds, I don't know about hard mode. I do know that the chance to win on the machines is 33% normally, or 50% if you have luck foot. Blood machine is something like 1/15 to drop IV/Blood Bag. I don't know the odds on beggars, but from personal experience it's easy to get them to pay out. I can't remember the last time I spent more than 10 coins or 8 hearts on one.
 

SerTapTap

Member
Trying to get 4 Cube of Meat / Ball of Bandages is exasperating.

Only reasonable approach seems to be to get Monster Manual + Sharp Plug abuse

Even if you get Book of Revs first floor it's not a sure thing. I got it as a starting item in an Eve run. Didn't complete either. Ugh
 

jblank83

Member
Speaking of Book of Revelations, it is extremely rare now.

In 65 hours, I've only had it twice.

Thing used to show up fairly often in vanilla.
 

I Wanna Be The Guy

U-S-A! U-S-A! U-S-A!
Hold the fuck up. Why the hell was Satan so much harder than he usually is just now? I wasn't prepared for this. Those exploding worm things were flying all over the place messing me up. I'm pretty sure they aren't normally in the satan fight.
 

SerTapTap

Member
Hold the fuck up. Why the hell was Satan so much harder than he usually is just now? I wasn't prepared for this. Those exploding worm things were flying all over the place messing me up. I'm pretty sure they aren't normally in the satan fight.

The black leeches? Those should always be in the fight, otherwise his last form would be completely pathetic once you know what to expect. Unless Everything is Terrible adds those or something, but they're always there for me
 

I Wanna Be The Guy

U-S-A! U-S-A! U-S-A!
They are? Maybe I've just been so overpowered in previous satan fights I haven't noticed or something. But I could have sworn when it does the stomping attacks I haven't had to worry about much else.
 

jblank83

Member
How were the others changed? I only ever reached Satan (barely) in BOI

Mom is the same.
Mom's Heart has more bullets and the brimstone shots, as well as different enemy spawns and patterns.
Isaac has more bullets and more light rays.
Blue Baby has more bullets.
 

SerTapTap

Member
Jeez and I thought they felt easy as-is. I love the idea of the bullet hell patterns but almost all of them are way easier to dodge than stuff like Brimstones you get 200ms to dodge,
Mama Gurdy
's spikes-everywhere attack, or Leeches blocking shots against Satan when you have crappy tears.

Or those infernal little red spiders
 

jblank83

Member
Jeez and I thought they felt easy as-is. I love the idea of the bullet hell patterns but almost all of them are way easier to dodge than stuff like Brimstones you get 200ms to dodge,
Mama Gurdy
's spikes-everywhere attack, or Leeches blocking shots against Satan when you have crappy tears.

Or those infernal little red spiders

Even with the new patterns and bullet density, I feel that normal in Rebirth is easier than BoI Flash. I haven't gone back and done a damage analysis, but fighting Isaac and Blue Baby was a real challenge except with the most OP builds. There are some other changes I didn't mention that made it so, such as reaction shots, enemy spawn rate, homing shots, and so on, as well as general damage dealt and hit points.

However, hard might be harder. Dunno. I haven't played much hard yet. I've just been unlocking everything.
 

SerTapTap

Member
Even with the new patterns and bullet density, I still feel that normal in Rebirth is easier than BoI Flash. I haven't gone back and done a damage analysis, but fighting Isaac and Blue Baby was a real challenge except with the most OP builds. There are some other changes I didn't mention that made it so, such as reaction shots, enemy spawn rate, homing shots, and so on, as well as general damage dealt and hit points.

However, hard might be harder. Dunno. I haven't played much hard yet. I've just been unlocking everything.

It sounds like the boss patterns are harder, but it's easier to come across good items. Also half the good items in the game don't totally override eachother like in vanilla isaac, and bosses can drop several more actually useful items (love those injections in the boss pool) where it was nearly 100% health items in Flash version. Plus several broken items are fixed, lots of sucky ones have buffs or interact properly with OP builds making them useful (lol tammy's head), and items added to rebirth are pretty decent.

Also I think devil deals are way more common in normal mode
 

CassSept

Member
That's kinda unfair, the patterns were changed but also several mechanics. Mom's Heart was way easier, but both Isaac and Blue Baby were much harder due to less predictable tear patterns. Isaac was significantly harder than Satan.

I'm on mobile so I won't type up all the differences, but the difficulty curve has been much improved by making Womb and Mom's Heart more difficult (Depths and Mom were more threatening in BoI than Womb and Heart) and bumping Isaac down to be more in libe with Satan.

Edit: beaten (damn you mobile), but it's way easier to avoid damage in new incarnations of Isaac and Blue Baby, really
 

Leezard

Member
That's kinda unfair, the patterns were changed but also several mechanics. Mom's Heart was way easier, but both Isaac and Blue Baby were much harder due to less predictable tear patterns. Isaac was significantly harder than Satan.

I'm on mobile so I won't type up all the differences, but the difficulty curve has been much improved by making Womb and Mom's Heart more difficult (Depths and Mom were more threatening in BoI than Womb and Heart) and bumping Isaac down to be more in libe with Satan.

Edit: beaten (damn you mobile), but it's way easier to avoid damage in new incarnations of Isaac and Blue Baby, really

Agreed, I found Isaac and Blue Baby harder in the original, mostly due to less predictable tear patterns as you say.
 

jblank83

Member
I wouldn't say it's all about items. Isaac and Blue Baby are just easier. Their reaction shots are easier to avoid, as mentioned. Their follower spawning is less frantic as well. I mean, no matter my items, if I make it to the cathedral, I almost always defeat them both.

This is just normal, though. I haven't reached them on hard mode.
 

SerTapTap

Member
I wouldn't say it's all about items. Isaac and Blue Baby are just easier. Their reaction shots are easier to avoid, as mentioned. Their follower spawning is less frantic as well. I mean, no matter my items, if I make it to the cathedral, I almost always defeat them both.

This is just normal, though. I haven't reached them on hard mode.

I dont' think hard changes most patterns at all. A minor change to
Mega Satan
is the only change I'm aware of so far. It's mostly just "No Pickups: The Game"
 

SerTapTap

Member
The hopeful answer should be "not yet". Let's hope Edmund puts something good in this expansion he's cooking up.

Come to think of it, there's a character in Hitogata Happa that basically lets you play like something similar (more like a bullet hell boss than bullet hell player character) and it's really fun. It's "balanced" by her being really expensive though so you effectively have far less lives. I don't really see it working in Isaac. Though it could have been an interesting gimmick for
The Lost
instead of just making it...suck
 

SerTapTap

Member
Ok. I platinum god' the first and I'm close here.

Gambling does suck, as nothing interesting can come of it. Note I'm talking about slot and shell.

Pickups don't suck. Also I'm pretty sure shell game got buffed, I don't recall it ever dropping multiple pickups in the original and I ALWAYS ignored it. It seems...okay but not super great now. Slot is always cool at least with lots of money/blood machine.
 

autoduelist

Member
Hold the fuck up. Why the hell was Satan so much harder than he usually is just now? I wasn't prepared for this. Those exploding worm things were flying all over the place messing me up. I'm pretty sure they aren't normally in the satan fight.

I've been struggling with Satan ever since I completed
The Lost
hard runs.

Satan used to be pizza cake, now I dread it.

I think I've flown past 'being in the zone' full circle and should probably take a break from it for awhile.
 

SerTapTap

Member
Is there any religious significance to (super true final boss spoilers)
the X on Mega Satan's forehead? It used to be an inverted cross in Isaac classic, now it's a straight cross (seems a bit odd?) on normal satan and an X on Mega Satan
 

Leezard

Member
Pickups don't suck. Also I'm pretty sure shell game got buffed, I don't recall it ever dropping multiple pickups in the original and I ALWAYS ignored it. It seems...okay but not super great now. Slot is always cool at least with lots of money/blood machine.

Shell game always dropped 2 of the same pickup, i.e. some combination of hearts, some combination of bombs, etc.
 

Kuroyume

Banned
Surprised you don't unlock anything for killing
Mega Satan
. Awesome boss anyway. And I loved the ending.

Is there any religious significance to (super true final boss spoilers)
the X on Mega Satan's forehead? It used to be an inverted cross in Isaac classic, now it's a straight cross (seems a bit odd?) on normal satan and an X on Mega Satan

I think it may be a nod to Charles Manson?
 

aku:jiki

Member
I dont' think hard changes most patterns at all. A minor change to
Mega Satan
is the only change I'm aware of so far. It's mostly just "No Pickups: The Game"
Correct, hard changes nothing but makes pickups less plentiful, adds a few more random champions per room (about the same level as Champion Belt) and apparently adds a room or two to the floor layout. It has no direct impact on combat. This is why it's so dull!

I feel like I need to just restart the Lost until I get brimstone :/
Don't worry about it, this is what everyone does. Even the most famous Isaac players spend most of their time restarting the Lost until they get something they can work with. There's just too much stuff in every item pool that doesn't do a single thing for Lost, so you're just wasting your time if you make an effort when your first item room has Stem Cells or whatever.

Personally, I would give it a shot as long as the first item room had any sort of damage up. Stuff like Cricket's Head, Magic Mush, Polyphemus, Mom's Knife or Proptosis are obviously preferrable, but I'd take Odd Mushroom, Stigmata, Halo, Capricorn and so on too. Just need to have something to start the run off on the right foot.
 
No. You have to beat the "normal" boss before going to
Mega Satan
, then it counts. Do not touch the chest. I do not believe you can kill
Mega Satan
first then finish up the other boss so order counts.

Son of a...
So you can get an icon for beating
Mega satan
? Crap. I fought him once or twice and won, but didn't get anything. I hope I'm just misunderstanding.

edit: No wait, I think you were saying it was an icon for beating the
dark room/ chest
. Phew, ok, panic maybe over.

Is there actually any reason to fight
Mega satan
again if I've already beaten him once?
 

SerTapTap

Member
Christ, you guys. I just had not very amazing tears, $3 bill (random temporarly tear upgrade every room) CURSED EYE (I hate myself why do I keep accidentally picking this up), Dead Cat, Anhk AND guppy's collar. I just fought
The Lamb
TWELVE TIMES IN A ROW with one health each time. I won, but I didn't even get the unlock I was going for (I was Eden, turned into ??? just before running out of lives...now ??? has
Dark Room
but not Satan, awkward)

Anyway, I beat
The Lamb
without taking a single hit despite a mediocre at best build so that's pretty badass. Even if it did take 12 tries. Ugh, I'm going to bed.

Son of a...
So you can get an icon for beating
Mega satan
? Crap. I fought him once or twice and won, but didn't get anything. I hope I'm just misunderstanding.

edit: No wait, I think you were saying it was an icon for beating the
dark room/ chest
. Phew, ok, panic maybe over.

Is there actually any reason to fight
Mega satan
again if I've already beaten him once?

On the char select screen? No. It does change your save file icon though. And no I don't believe there's any real reason to do so.
 
If I'm playing for fun I usually pass brimstone up.

I just don't find it enjoyable. I value high tears above everything. It's just fun.

Soy milk was a little TOO weak for me though.
 

Haunted

Member
I wish the Machine Gun tears were balanced differently. Such a cool, fun effect - but it never feels like an improvement in dps, sometimes even feels like a step back.

Real shame.
 

FerranMG

Member
Plenty of mid-game questions regarding bosses and progression:

- After killing Mom's Heart, the other day I got the chance to either grab the chest, or go down to the next level? Is there any benefit in grabbing the chest time after time, or should I just keep going to the next level?
- Am I supposed to try to play with all the different characters, or can I just pick my favorite one and always play as them? So far, Azazel has been the only one with which I've been able to defeat Mom's Heart, and I've grown used to him.
- I played Satan the other day after beating Mom's Heart. What other bosses are there? Do I have to do anything special to fight them?
- There is a character (Eden?) that I haven't used yet, but I've seen that in the character selection screen it says something like "Eden. Tokens: n". I assume this means I can only use this character n amount of times? How do I increase this?
 

Haunted

Member
Plenty of mid-game questions regarding bosses and progression:

- After killing Mom's Heart, the other day I got the chance to either grab the chest, or go down to the next level? Is there any benefit in grabbing the chest time after time, or should I just keep going to the next level?
- Am I supposed to try to play with all the different characters, or can I just pick my favorite one and always play as them? So far, Azazel has been the only one with which I've been able to defeat Mom's Heart, and I've grown used to him.
- I played Satan the other day after beating Mom's Heart. What other bosses are there? Do I have to do anything special to fight them?
- There is a character (Eden?) that I haven't used yet, but I've seen that in the character selection screen it says something like "Eden. Tokens: n". I assume this means I can only use this character n amount of times? How do I increase this?

1) You can beat Mom's Heart 9 times and get 9 different endings along with a new item unlock for each. After that, you can go on the next level(s) every time.

2) You get new items and achievements by beating the game with each character. Every time you complete a run for the first time with a new character, you unlock something.

3) There is 1 alternate boss to Satan and 2 more beyond him. You have to do some special things to get to them, yes.

4) Every time you complete a run, you get 1 Eden token.

Hope that helps!
 
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