Hey guys, I just grabbed this game through the Voxatron bundle and I'm having mixed feelings about the entire thing. It seems like the game simply gets harder and harder the more times you beat it, and yet I've been seeing threads from various places saying how they've gotten amazing runs with Cain/Judas. Is this simply a luck thing where they get specific item combos (Brimstone+Choco Milk) and lucky drops, or is it a skill thing or simply that the game helps with the drop rate as well as longer chapters and tougher bosses.

Also, is there an easier way to tell where the projectiles are landing? I'm having a real tough time figuring out where airborne projectiles will hit and though I usually luck out and dodge them I'd like it to be a 100% chance of knowing where they land rather than waiting for a shadow and having it be too late.

Thanks!

Getting lucky with what items you find plays a huge part in how well your run goes. With that said, if you're good at the game, you don't need awesome items to beat the game. I think one of the biggest factors is getting a lot of the passive upgrades rather than usable items, since you can only carry one of those at a time.

As far as telling where projectiles will land, a lot of it just comes from repetition. After playing the game 50+ times, you get a good sense of how all the enemies fire and what kind of range they have.

i just remembered i bought the voxatron bundle. Rest of the night you don't even stand a chance.

@ADAMWD: Thanks! I was also wondering whether or not there was some behind the scenes calculations on heart drops? I might just be paranoid but it seems like when I'm at full HP I get hearts galore, but when I'm at half a heart all I get are keys and bombs. Maybe it's me.

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.

Everything comes down to randomness, almost all items are spawned/dropped randomly, except for some bosses that always drop the same item(ie: Horsemen always drop cubes of meat). Hearts, bombs and keys are also random even if sometimes it seems like the game is just trying to be a dick to you. At first the game is mainly about learning enemy tendencies, if they really have any at all, and getting used to the various items.

From my experience getting through the game for the first time was the hardest part, after that it seemed much easier. Now I beat the game practically every run unless I'm getting extremely unlucky by getting useless/bad items. The new level, Sheol, added in the Halloween update is pretty tough but the original portion of the game becomes pretty easy after some time/experience.

@Wunder_: The game does literally get harder when you beat it more, but your skill also increases and, like all roguelikes, you've also got a little luck thrown in.