The Binding of Patrick: 02/25/2014

Second day playing for me and I almost beat the game too. Also got the same Brimstone ability, which took some getting used to. Didn't actually get to Mom, but I think I was a few rooms away. So damn close! I've been taking notes in order to keep track of each item and its effect instead of looking at wikis, which has been fun in its own little way.

Anyway, nicely done Patrick!

I think Patrick looking at the chat is fine...except he nearly spent more time looking over at the chat than he did at the game itself and was missing obvious things happening in the game as a result. E.g. that secret passage opening and what the "balls of steel" pill did. There's also stuff like he intentionally and successfully made a bomb bridge earlier in the play, but then inexplicably forgot how to do it a few minutes later, which again, I chalk up to being distracted by the chat.

I'm sure this will all be a non-issue in another day anyway as he'll have enough familiarity with the game that he won't need to go to the chat much, so no biggie.

Pretty entertaining so far, but there is a lot of downtime where Patrick is either wandering aimlessly in a cleared room or not moving at all because he's reading the chat. Hopefully he can decrease this a little as he does more runs.

You start to learn it as you go, but I did have to have a list of the tarot cards open at all times. Just, for the life of me, can't remember what those damn tarot cards do...

I have over 300 hours clocked and there are still some items I don't know off the top of my head.

@patrickklepek:

I think you're doing a good job at avoiding spoilers, for the most part. The only suggestion I would have is just to go with your gut on things like what to buy in the shop, as opposed to throwing it to the chat to find out what would be the most useful - mostly because that's how you're going to encounter the most spoilers unintentionally. You did pack a week of solo Isaac info into these two streams via chat tips.

Just remember that for most people, seeing you make uninformed decisions and then learning from them is hugely entertaining! Try to ignore the 5-10% that will yell at you for "not playing right."

Love the feature.

To the dick in the chat at 47:23

I'm disgusted at this. Man, I put so many hours into Issac and still haven't beaten Mom yet. Congrats to though patrick. That was a crazy crazy final run. You're on this weird kick of finishing games from a feature within the first episode or so now. Quit being so good at games!

That was a great run. :D You were pretty OP by the end of it, Dead Cat or no. Lucky that you got those Faith Hearts (the armor type hearts) and that extra bit of health right before Mom.

Good points all around.

Can anyone tell me when the next episode begins? (I don't have twitter installed and no access to a desktop)

@patrickklepek: I know that I might be in the minority here, but I actually enjoyed the constant mystery surrounding items. It sure did hurt when I took a pill that nearly killed me, or picked up the cat that made my play through miserable, but I do believe its part of the experience. I also, however, don't see issue with anyone that would have a better experience pausing the game, and looking it up on the wiki. Too many judge-mental people here that want to tell you how to play a game, but I'm sure you've already gotten used to that after you play through Dark Souls. At the very end of my time with Binding of Isaac, I had a 13 page (hand-written) journal in front of me with notes on all the items, and sometimes the harder monsters. I'm sure that if I ended up streaming the game, it would have been a boring mess with me pausing the game every time I had to think.

Good luck Patrick!

According to Steam I put 7 hours into this game (with the expansion) and I never even GOT to Mom once...

Patrick got some good powers but the expansion must really make this game more difficult.

The big thing that annoyed me was that lack of a journal. So many items and just no way to remember what they all do. And then some worked differently when combined with other items. And then all the weird crazy secret shit that is just never explained either.

While I agree that a lack of a journal is kinda annoying at times, it seems like a pretty conscious decision on the creator's side. It's a part of the design of Issac to be obtuse in a lot of ways. I always found the mystery and unexpected nature of items, pills, tarot cards to be half the fun of Issac. If you're into playing "seriously" I can see why it'd be a hindrance, but if you're going for fun having a run get screwed up adds to the entertainment value to me. It's another layer of dice-rolling on top of the level design, just one that is player decided and informed.

@patrickklepek The only thing that I think might be against the spirit of the game is straight-up asking the chat what an item or card does, discovery of that is part of the learning curve of the game, no? If it helps you keep playing the game though, do it, it's a fun game to watch!

Why's there gotta be so much poop.

@assinass said:

To the dick in the chat at 47:23

LOVE IT.

"We gotta learn the items" was his excuse for buying that book over the hearts at the end of the first run and then he doesn't even use it to find out what it does! Oh Patrick.

I beat Mom on my first try with a ridiculous carry run that was significantly more OP than what Patrick got. I said "Pfft, I don't know what people are talking about, this game isn't hard at all!"

I then proceeded to lose roughly 8 billion times in a row.

I dunno as much as I love this feature and I think the game itself is probably pretty cool... I just think it is gross to look at and honestly I don't want to watch it because of that. I probably will but I dunno I may just skip this one simply cause the game just isn't pleasant to watch at a point. I love this feature and would love to see more of it though.

And don't get me wrong, I used to work in the funeral business and have seen things 200x more gross than this that most people wouldn't even imagine up, but it still doesn't mean I want to see some of the stuff in this game. Nothing against the game itself, I actually do own it through a humble bundle I accidentally got it on, but just never played it cause it just isn't pleasant to look at.

Unrelated note.... I think there should be a Dungeons of Dredmor one of these. One of the skill trees are even X-Files Based now which is right up patrick's alley.

vv

^^

^ There are some of the skill trees that were added in one of the expansions pretty awesome game. Probably would be wise to use the No Time To Grind mode if doing it though. Paranormal Investigator being one of them.

Plus the entire game is 7 bucks and includes all the xpacs. Been playing it recently and man I just can't help thinking how fun it would be for one of these if you wanted more of a turn based classicy style rogue like for the rogue like feature. Really funny too.

Patrick killing that beggar in rage was fantastic.

@assinass: That dick was right. Patrick was missing multiple things that were incredibly obvious, like the fact that creating a bridge requires bombing the rock so it will fall into the gap, which should be a no-brainer. Then, he bombed a wall trying to get into a secret room, even though the secret room was on his map, so it was obvious that he couldn't get to it from the room he was in. Personally, I wasn't annoyed that he was missing things at all, but his reaction to it rubbed me the wrong way. So thin-skinned and jerk-y.

I personally don't enjoy playing this game at all, but it was a great choice for something to watch.

I like how in a span of just ONE DAY Patrick goes from "I want to discover this for myself" to just waiting around to see what the chat tells him to do.

I've never even gotten to Mom, Patrick nailing it was great. I'm learning a lot from these streams. I recommend FTL for the next rogue-like feature.