Protips for "The Binding of Isaac?"

[Z of the Na'vi]

I recently purchased this game over the Autumn Steam Sale, and I absolutely adore it. I can't get enough of the randomly generated gameplay, and the sheer amount of strategy that goes into finding certain items over others, completely out of your control. It's great.

The game is also piss-bleeding difficult.

I have a friend that is a fan of those "touhou" type games, also known as "bullet-hell," and I like to compare Isaac to that, seeing as how you are constantly dodging projectiles of various color and bodily fluid. What I am searching for are some kind of tips that any expert players may have for this game? I realize that the randomization of the game every playthrough makes this a tad challenging, and I accept and embrace that.

I just find myself frustrated because I can't get anywhere past Caves II without dying. I'm getting better, I know I am, I would just like to hear some differing opinions.

Any takers?

EDIT:

http://store.steampowered.com/app/113200/

 

[Z of the Na'vi]

Huh. Nothing?

I guess everybody is too busy playing Skyrim to enjoy a nice indie game from the same mind as Super Meat Boy.

[sub]Ah well, I tried.[/sub]

 

[WarCorrespondent]

Just dodge their attacks, and pray that you unlock one of the characters.

And no, you have every right to play this game with the full item list wiki in the background, you will NEVER memorise everything.

 

[LookingGlass]

Unless you play all the time and get crazy good, or just sort of get "in the zone" on one playthrough, my guess is that you'll be in a similar situation to Yahtzee, where he said that he only beat it once or twice and it was because he got some really good upgrades.

I've only played about an hour of it total so far, but the furthest I got (I got out of both basements, and then the next area) was when I obtained this laser-eye thing that kicked all sorts of ass.


Are the unlockable characters better than Isaac?

Huh. Nothing?

I guess everybody is too busy playing Skyrim to enjoy a nice indie game from the same mind as Super Meat Boy.

[sub]Ah well, I tried.[/sub]

Some of us were actually playing Orcs Must Die! instead of Skyrim. Can't play Skyrim all day.

 

[Zealous Kringle]

It was watching a first impressions of this game that sold it to me, the music and art style were just so incredible I couldn't pass it up.

I actually played the game alongside watching a let's play by this guy, and I think that helped me navigate the dungeons a little better.

I found it pretty hard starting out too, 'keep at it' is probably the best advice I can offer, because a lot of the gameplay seems to be based on 'feel' for the controls then actually memorizing a list of tactics, very much like Gish and Meat Boy in that respect. Good drops certainly help though.

I can't say I've come up with a great deal of useful information, but practicing diagonal shots while moving and learning the enemies' different attack patterns is a good place to start.

Alternatively unlocking Cain seems to work quite well, last time I got to the end with him I was a flying, ebony-hued devil child that could fire through the terrain with bloody tears of maximum damage and a shield wall of spirit hearts covering my meager life total.

 

[willofbob]

if the devil offers you something, look up what he's offering you.

The cat may give you nine lives but it also permanently sticks you at 1 hp.

 

[DeadFOAM]

Alternatively unlocking Cain seems to work quite well, last time I got to the end with him I was a flying, ebony-hued devil child that could fire through the terrain with bloody tears of maximum damage and a shield wall of spirit hearts covering my meager life total.

I believe Cain's starting item helps by making it so pills don't do bad stuff.

Cain's starting item, the Lucky Foot, increases his luck so he finds better items.

My advice from about 45 hours of play, no particular order:

1)Learn to dodge well
2)Save keys for gold doors/shops
3)Find the hidden room on every floor if you have extra bombs
4)Never back into a corner
5)Learn to curve bullets/tears/blood/piss/whatever
6)Use the wiki for item effects
7)Buy items from the shop whenever possible
8)Blow up slot machine/blood donation/beggars when you are done with them

 

[willsham45]

It can be a heard game at times and most of it is not nesserally skill but the power ups you get.
There is a wiki page with all the items you can get.
Other what is there to say...learn the enermy types and bosses, check all shootable walls, do not use shops unless you have money at least 15. Always look out for the yellow door, if do not have a key search for one and come back. Always bomb the arcade machines. Look on your map if you see 5 rooms making a C with a empty space in the middle try placing a bomb on the wall right in the middle were a door would be. you may find a hidden wall. If you get a teliport use it as much as you can.