Gaidren

My advice on enjoying this game....accept that you need to grind up levels/gear/stat increases, and don't try to "force" boss fights too much. My sanity took a hit the last couple of days as I tried to beat the 4th boss at level 62 (most videos I watch have people beating it at level 80+). Death after death after stubborn death ensued. Finally pulled it off to realize there was absolutely no way I was killing the final boss at such a low level. So yeah, like Dark Souls.....accept the fact that you need to take it slow, put in the time, and grind out gold.

Fun game though, when it isn't making me rage.

I just had a great run ruined by saying to myself "the blood bag HAS to spawn THIS time!" and spending about 10 hearts + soul hearts worth of donations and getting no blood bag. 20-ish donations and no bag. I usually see it spawn in less than 10 tries, but apparently there is no set amount you can spend and be sure to get one, so be warned!

Anybody want to guess on the approximate odds on a bag per donation based on their experiences so far?

I found the 1 starting damage brutal. I killed Mom's Heart with her despite finding no damage upgrades at all, but man did it suck.

At least the bird is considerably helpful on boss fights, since you usually do take damage at least once in any boss fight where you'd actually care about needing more damage.

The hoof stomping form is the final one. It's a loooong fight, or can be depending on how much damage (or how little) your character can put out.

@ValiantGoat: Weird, I've only ever seen the pony drop.

Another possible bug...I was holding the Book of Revelations on Womb 1 and encountered Headless Horseman instead of Death. That would have been annoying as hell if I had been trying to unlock the Super Bandage (which I still am, but I didn't get a horseman boss in the Basement so it wasn't going to happen anyways that run).

@BisonHero said:

@ValiantGoat said:

For instance beating Mom's Heart is doable without any form of damage upgrade(definitely a lot harder), but Sheol would destroy you because you can't kill anything in a remotely timely manner.

I find that happens far sooner than Sheol. For example, when you fight regular Mom, who I think is generally a harder boss fight than Mom's Heart. Instead of alternating between "spawn wave of enemies" and "wail on weak point" like her heart, the regular Mom fight has nearly constantly spawning enemies, and Mom's position moves around constantly. If you don't have a damage upgrade of some sort, that fight can go on forever, because it takes time to kill all of the constantly spawning enemies (that are in different directions no less) that are in your way, and you barely make any progress since you have to constantly deal with enemy spawns.

Comparatively, Mom's Heart might end up taking more "waves" of enemies, but you're guaranteed to make steady progress in lowering her hit points since she just sits there undefended for several seconds at a time.

Also, I find that on most playthroughs where my character is underpowered and got almost no stat boosts, the most common thing that seems to happen is that The Womb just gradually wears me down because all of the enemies have so much goddamn health that each room takes forever. If my character is strong enough to make it through the Womb, I don't think I've actually lost to Mom's Heart or anything in Sheol even once.

My 10th Mom's Heart kill involved using Eve, and I found ZERO damage upgrades all game (although I did find some upgrades to firing rate). I actually didn't find Mom (the Depths 2 boss) that awful in that every Mom stomp at least damages nearby enemies too, but damn did it take a long time.

On a more related note, I just played my first game with ??? and beat Satan. I had the Relic, Book of Revelations, and the ridiculous combo of Brimstone and Chocolate Milk. The Brimstone/Choc Milk thing HAS to be unintended, it is completely overpowered. Brimstone alone is nearly game breaking, let alone being able to spam it.

I'm fairly sure heart drops are random, but always remember you can go back for hearts later if you don't need them now. My earliest Mom's Heart kills were fueled by getting a ton of hearts from the games in the Womb 2 arcade, and coming back for them after any room I took damage in. Mom's Heart is pretty easy if you go into the fight with a decent number of hearts.

I can't imagine Lord of the Pit trivializing the last boss is intended. I suppose it could be, though....Bible is an auto-win against Mom/Mom's Heart, but it's generally harder to come by than LotP.

Interesting. I'd love to get confirmation whether that is a bug or not.

Regarding Number One, there are definately some items that overwrite the minimum range. Range Up pills won't, but Technology does (what a combo THAT is! Max range/piercing/max rate of fire!). I think anything else that changes the nature of your tears might as well (Small Rock, etc) but don't quote me on that.

Bird seems decent, but there are lots of times I'm guessing it wouldn't trigger until a room is almost cleared anyways (where a character with higher damage might have cleared the room before taking a hit). WoB looks cool, but you had better have a way to recover life to make that last half a heart worth something (could be clutch on a boss fight if you have a Bad Trip/Full Health pill backing you up, or even a Yum Heart/Book of Rev for that one extra heart once the buff is active). 1 base damage starting off is SO stinky though. She'll be really reliant on finding a damage power-up of some kind I think.