Author Topic: The Binding of Isaac: Afterbirth+ (Nintendo Switch retail and digital) - $39.99  (Read 7671 times)

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Offline Phil

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Look at that manual with its clear Zelda NES manual influence! I've never played any version of Binding before, so this retail release made sense for me to pick up. :)

I'm currently deep in Zelda right n-- wait. That comes off really inappropriately. I mean, I'm currently playing the new Zelda a lot, I just started a new data yesterday (after only playing about four hours on day one) and played for 8 hours straight. 0_0 My point is that I don't know when I'll get to this game, but if you have questions, I'll answer them when I do play this game! :D
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Offline azeke

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I 100% both old and new (took 400+ and 500+ hours accordingly) versions of Isaac but i guess i still want more because i pre-ordered Switch cartridge too.

It shipped yesterday and hopefully i will get in around week's time (shipping from US takes a long time).

Binding of Isaac is really the only game that can pull me away from Zelda at the moment and a proof of that is that i am playing it right now over BOTW (while i competed all official content available there is still unofficial fan-mod Antibirth with it's own slew of content, so i am playing it right now).

It feels very appropriate because Binding of Isaac is very much Legend of Zelda tribute.
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Offline NWR_insanolord

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I've never played Binding of Isaac in any form before, so this seems like as good a time as any to jump in. I just want to wait and see a few reviews to make sure the port is good, because these guys have a bit of a reputation when it comes to that.
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Offline Stratos

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I think I need to read more about this game as I had no idea it was a Legend of Zelda style game. I thought it was a top-down arcade shooter of sorts. Not sure how I got that idea...
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Offline azeke

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2nd print of the game has badass new cover where angelic Isaac obliterates all the enemies that were threatening him in the first print cover:

http://imgur.com/a/msfSq

I almost regret getting first print edition.
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Offline Soren

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That new cover is way better...
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Offline Shaymin

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Europe/Australia will get it by the end of June from HeadUp Games.
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Offline Stratos

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I'm getting more and more tempted to pick this up. The fact it already needs a reprint must mean it sold extremely well already. That could be a good sign for the health of the system (cue the cries that there is nothing to buy besides Zelda...)
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Offline Phil

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2nd print of the game has badass new cover where angelic Isaac obliterates all the enemies that were threatening him in the first print cover:

http://imgur.com/a/msfSq

I almost regret getting first print edition.

You have a collectors' version, then, right? Won't the first print cover be rarer?
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Offline azeke

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You have a collectors' version, then, right? Won't the first print cover be rarer?
Why would i (or anyone) should care which version is rarer.

I got the version with manual and stickers and they're nice. But second print cover is cool too.
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Offline Phil

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You have a collectors' version, then, right? Won't the first print cover be rarer?
Why would i (or anyone) should care which version is rarer.

I got the version with manual and stickers and they're nice. But second print cover is cool too.

If one is a collector, which a fair portion of gamers are, then it matters. That's all. :)
« Last Edit: April 14, 2017, 05:50:30 PM by Phil »
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Offline nickmitch

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Do both versions have stickers?

I would consider double dipping for stickers (got the game on 3DS).
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Offline Seacor

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I purchased this game about six days ago and it is quite fun, but extremely difficult.  I am terrible at this game. I don't know what I am doing wrong, but after six days now I still can't get past Caves II which is like the third floor/level. It's quite discouraging.  I think there are at least five more floors (maybe more) and with trouble I am having now, I don't see myself being able to complete this one.

My Win Streak is -93 (deaths) and no Mom kills of course.


« Last Edit: June 09, 2017, 12:01:37 AM by Seacor »
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Offline azeke

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I purchased this game about six days ago and it is quite fun, but extremely difficult.  I am terrible at this game. I don't know what I am doing wrong, but after six days now I still can't get past Caves II which is like the third floor/level. It's quite discouraging.
Because Switch port has all the Afterbirth and Afterbirth+ stuff in it can be quite overwhelming for a new player.

See, at this point there has been a decade worth of various versions of Binding of Isaac and each of them brought more and more and complicated and harder stuff on top of each other. Afterbirth and Afterbirth+ were especially controversial for how hard they made first levels with enemies like invincible stone statues, portals spawning in enemies and bosses like Rag Man and Mega Rag.

My advice is to learn how the game works. Study enemies' moving and shooting patterns. Work on your dodging.

Don't just take all items you find. Look at http://platinumgod.co.uk/ guide to know for sure what stuff will do to you exactly. If item is actively bad or doesn't fit your current build -- just don't take it!

For stats -- prioritize damage ups, and tears ups.

Learn how manage your resources -- keys are the crucial to open golden rooms with items, bombs are used to bomb walls for secret rooms and tinted rocks for blue hearts and maybe to kill enemies if in a pinch.

Pills are kinda a gamble when you eat them for the first time but after that they will be marked and you can opt not to eat these same coloured pills if they're bad. All the pills (and cards) effects are described at: http://platinumgod.co.uk/

Hearts -- there are red hearts, blue hearts, black hearts and even kinda white hearts and gold hearts. You will mostly be dealing with red and blue ones. Red hearts are your permanent hearts and if you get damaged empty container still stays, blue hearts are temporary and lost forever. When you get "Health Up" from item or a pill it means you get another red heart container.

Not letting your red hearts to be damaged (so called "red damage") is crucial because if you beat a level without allowing enemies to damage to your red hearts -- Deal with the Devil room will open. In there you can trade in your permanent red hearts containers for devil items that are generally much stronger than regular golden room items.

If you find blue heart (by bombing tinted rocks marked by "X" for example) it will "shield" your red hearts. Another way of avoiding "red heart damage" is not to have red hearts period -- but that kinda stuff might be too early for you yet.

I advise you to play some of the challenges because they teach you how to play a game with various pre-set item combinations. For example "Solar system" teaches you how to use orbital items offensively because you can't shoot and have to rely on orbiting flies to do damage. I recommend completing "High Brow" challenge first because it unlocks Jera rune that doubles all things on the floor in current room -- very useful.
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Offline Seacor

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Azeke, thanks for taking the time to write this. This is very helpful.
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Offline Nemo

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Azeke, I also found your advice very helpful.

I'm about 30 hours in now and I have questions about game modes and stuff.

1) Do all modes unlock stuff? Does playing hard mode unlock more stuff or should I keep playing normal mode for a while?

2) I haven't made it through greed mode successfully yet. It's that worth doing? Should I be fighting the optional 11th wave? What are the best types of items to prioritize for this mode? It's it best to pick up coins during the fight it leave them until the waves are done?

3) It's there a point to doing the daily challenge? I've yet to unlock anything from it. Is it just for fun?

4) It's there a benefit to beating the game fast our with a high score?

I think I have more questions, but that's all I can remember. Sorry if it's disorganized- I'm using my phone. Thanks
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Offline azeke

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1) Do all modes unlock stuff?
Yes. Each character has it's own Post-It note with icons representing completion of certain level/boss with this character.

You can check complete list here:

http://bindingofisaacrebirth.gamepedia.com/Completion_Mark

Does playing hard mode unlock more stuff or should I keep playing normal mode for a while?
Regardless if it's normal or hard -- unlockable is the same. The only difference is the colour of the icon -- regular black for normal or black with red highlight for hard completion.

However, if you go for "complete" playthrough you need to do all stuff on Hard with all character plus all the challenges plus some special achievements.

That's quite an undertaking though -- because usually this kind of completion requires several hundred of hours. "Speedruns" from zero to 1 000 001% (latest name for full completion achievement) usually take around 40~ hours and extreme dedication and skill.

2) I haven't made it through greed mode successfully yet. It's that worth doing?
Completing Greed mode with Azazel unlocks Lilith. Overall Greed mode unlocks are not as useful despite this mode being of the hardest things to do in the game.

Overall Azazel has the most useful unlocks across the board: Abaddon, Satanic Bible and The Nail are easily in the Top 5 best BoI items. And the character is kinda supposed to be "easy" character so it's beneficial to do his unlocks as early as possible. Maggy mostly unlocks items that give you hearts and so they're pretty good, Lilith's unlocks are also very good.

Should I be fighting the optional 11th wave? What are the best types of items to prioritize for this mode? It's it best to pick up coins during the fight it leave them until the waves are done?
Greed mode gives you several coins with each new wave, giving you more with eave, starting with 1 then 2 and so on. If you feel you can't survive the next wave you can press the button and stop waves at the expense a half-heart, however coin reward starts from 1 once again from the next wave.

That means it's beneficial not to press the button and kill all the waves in one go.

Unless you have a Jera rune (that doubles everything in a room) there is no point to avoid coins as long as you don't press a button and keep killing waves in time. With Jera you take all 10 wave for maximum coins on the floor and then double that.

The last optional wave doesn't give you coins but if you complete it -- Deal with the Devil room (or Angel Room) opens. DwtD are actually kinda bad in this mode compared to regular modes but they're still worth risking fighting two bosses at once for a possibility of good devil item.

Best items are always Damage Ups and Tears Up -- just like in regular modes. Tears however hit a cap after a while (so taking any more Tears Up items does nothing) but damage can be increased with no limit. Also all items and/or cards with room effect or floor effect are extremely useful in this mode because you can activate a card that gives you stats boost (like Empress, Strength, or Devil) for a room and then stay in the big room killing all waves without leaving while keeping the boost. That's why characters like Judas (whose Book of Belial increases damage) and Eve (Whore of Babylon activates when Eve only has 1 red hearts damage or less and gives speed and damage) are so good in Greed mode because you can stay in the main room for the entire duration of all waves while keeping the boost. Lilith has an item that even stacks with itself each four waves and she's the easiest character in that mode.

3) It's there a point to doing the daily challenge? I've yet to unlock anything from it. Is it just for fun?
There are 2 achievements for doing daily challenges: one for starting 30 daily challenges and one for completing 5 daily challenges in a row. You can skip days if you see that daily uses a character you don't like, like Lost or Keeper but need to make 5 win streak for second one.

Note that Switch version is prone to crashing after you complete the daily challenge. So after you see the end screen tally of points press B instead of A to prevent that.

4) It's there a benefit to beating the game fast our with a high score?
No, it's just competitive stuff for high-level players and addicts.

However, certain boss challenges and levels only appear if you get to certain boss in less than 20 minutes and to later boss in less than 30 minutes. There is also an achievement for killing one of the very late-game bosses in less than 15 minutes.
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Offline Nemo

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Ok. Thanks for all your advice. I've played this game a ton more and have really been enjoying it. I've unlocked every character[edit: every non-secret character]. (It took me forever to beat greed mode with Azazel - partly because I was awful at fighting greed. I have a much better strategy for fighting greed now.) I've beaten the final boss 3 or so times. I've unlocked well over half of the secrets.

The one thing that really makes me mad is trying to unlock the Lost. Every other thing in the game seems to be mostly skill based. This is BS luck. I got Mom's Box again today. I even got the Missing Poster to spawn... but no sacrifice room. Sure, I ran into two or so sacrifice rooms on earlier floors... really frustrating.

Is there a point in the game (like after mom's heart) that sacrifice rooms stop spawning? I can't recall seeing them after that point, but I also never really paid attention to sacrifice rooms up until now.
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Offline azeke

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The one thing that really makes me mad is trying to unlock the Lost. Every other thing in the game seems to be mostly skill based. This is BS luck. I got Mom's Box again today. I even got the Missing Poster to spawn... but no sacrifice room. Sure, I ran into two or so sacrifice rooms on earlier floors... really frustrating.
Usually it's better to try hit several targets at once with one run when there is a possibility that one of these may not happen due to circumstances.

I would recommend going for other achievements but always keeping Missing Poster in mind. It should pop up by itself eventually.

Actually if your Switch version hasn't been updated yet there was a bug that let you get achievements on Victory Runs which meant that Lost achievement were super easy now because you turn into Lost on your third Victory Run with insane stats and lots of items.

Is there a point in the game (like after mom's heart) that sacrifice rooms stop spawning? I can't recall seeing them after that point, but I also never really paid attention to sacrifice rooms up until now.
Yes, sacrifice rooms after Caves are less probable, however they do appear in Cathedral and Dark Room on a very rare occasions.

By the way that update apart from very important fixes that prevented players from completing the game also added more items from Booster Packs. While on PC these items were just dropped into the pools without much care, on Switch there are specific achievements tied to unlocking most of the new items which is a better practice that also helps with game balance.
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Offline azeke

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I am on my second save file now with over 370 hours in game. Unlocked Keeper, and did entire "dark" progression (Satan -- Lamb -- Mega Satan) with him so that's already half of the progression done on the hardest character in the game. Just this morning did "kill Lamb without picking keys" -- second hardest challenge in the game. Now only "Ultra Hard" remains...

I am kinda dreading having to do Lost without my crutch of doing it on Victory Laps on overpowered stats...
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Offline Nemo

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2nd save file? That's crazy. You already did everything once?

I did finally unlock the Lost after 45ish hours of making it my goal. I've done all of his stuff on hard mode. Most other characters I've just been playing on normal mode.

I've spent a lot of time on the Ultra Hard challenge and haven't had any success. I actually still have quite a few challenges I've yet to even try.

I haven't done much with the Keeper. Didn't know about the no lock picking achievement.

I think there is also an achievement for beating the game in under 20 minutes. Speed is not my strong suit. What boss counts for that, I wonder...

Today I finally beat the daily run 5 times in a row. I've really struggled to play it 31 times in a row. I keep forgetting to log on on some random day. Should be the easiest achievement, really.

I think I still need 90 achievements or so, but I've come a long way. I don't think I want to beat everything in hard, though.
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Offline azeke

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2nd save file? That's crazy. You already did everything once?
I did everything on PC back in March. "Everything" as per definition it was back then. They've added more items since, so my collection page is missing these items.

As i was i looking a date for my last achievement on Steam, i was reminded that back then i kept an Excel file tracking my progression:



Good times (huge spike with 42 achievements on 24.12.2016 is because i loaded in full Rebirth save file to play Antibirth mod -- steam achievements activated but i still had to complete them later legitimately in-game itself).

On Switch's first save file i have most of the secrets and only missing collection achievements that require me getting all the items in the game at least once. Before the update game was bugged and you couldn't unlock two challenges because a certain item's unlock condition (Loki's horns) never procced.

So after they updated the game on Switch they fixed that however they also added several new items and some of them have unknown unlock conditions (namely Broken Modem) so i still can't achieve full collection until someone finally figures it out.

So until then all i could is to play an occasional daily run. That was getting stale and that's why i started a new file.

I spent most of my weekend watching people playing La-Mulana blind and playing as Lost on Switch handheld mode at the same time. Got Lost Boss Rush and Lost Mega Satan (chaos card killing Mega Satan's first phase for the win).

I am only missing Lost's Greed mode marks and the way i do it is to break the game through D20. I will unlock D20 with Isaac completing Chest and then will have to grind away playing as Eve in Greed mode hoping D20 spawns and i can break the game, become super overpowered and turn into Lost through Switcher or Missing Poster and kill Ultra Greed(-ier). Doing Greed mode with Lost is too painful otherwise.
« Last Edit: November 19, 2017, 11:23:56 PM by azeke »
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Offline ShyGuy

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Azeke, I saw how many hours you have into the game on the Switch. Are you the most hardcore Binding of Isaac player in the world?

Offline azeke

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Azeke, I saw how many hours you have into the game on the Switch.
I am on my second save file now with over 370 hours in game.

Are you the most hardcore Binding of Isaac player in the world?
I don't think i am even in the top 100 000...
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