Now that Patrick has beaten Yama and has ended his Spelunking with Scoops feature, he says he thinks the next game is going to be BOI. I'm pretty excited about this, because I've had the game for a while, but never sunk my teeth in to it, despite being a huge rougelike fan. I am changing that now.

This weekend I am going to be playing mostly BOI, so far I have had some decent success, I got an item that made my tears green and explode, I stomped my way thru the game and beat Mom for the first time, unlocking both Kane and Magdalene in the process. So I am getting the hang of it. Now I have access to the next levels.

But I still don't know much about the items. Just curious, what items would you say are the must haves? As in, you would never pass them up or swap them for some other item.

Besides this, any other tips, or just discuss thoughts on Patrick starting the game as a daily feature?

I hope both you and Patrick play the game without Wrath of the Lamb (to start with). Wrath of the Lamb is something to get when you're bored of the main game and want a much more bullshit difficulty level.

@patrickklepek

You listening? Call it "The Binding of Klepek". That's the only way.

@bisonhero:

Hmm, well i definitely have been playing with Wrath of the Lamb. But I am pretty sure there was a way to download the vanilla game from my humble bundle library, I might do that. So WOTL makes the game harder? or more complicated?

@meanl3r: WotL makes the game significantly harder. Don't install it until you have a good grasp of the vanilla game.

As for items that you should ALWAYS grab, I recommend: Brimstone, Mom's Knife, Dr. Fetus, and Epic Fetus. All of these items are ridiculously good, and once you pick them up, you really don't need any other items to complete the game from that point on. Brimstone isn't quite as good as the others, but if you use the Brimsnap glitch it's still really powerful.

As for items you shouldn't pick up, I recommend avoiding most shot-speed upgrades like the plague. They have a knock back effect that is more annoying than it's worth. Also, you should always prioritize getting damage upgrades over all else. That being said, you probably don't have the D6 yet, so you don't really have a choice of what items you grab at this point of the game.

Prior to getting the D6, Cain and Judas are the best characters in the game. Both of them start with great items that far outweigh the negatives. Maggie and Eve are both TERRIBLE characters, and you'll be at a severe disadvantage playing as them. Blue Baby is basically putting the game on super hard mode, and I wouldn't recommend playing him until again, you have a good grasp of the game. However, you need to beat the game with Blue Baby in order to unlock the D6, so good luck!

I don't think this one is going to go over so well. I found this game suffers really badly from requiring you getting just the right item spawns, and the randomness of the levels are not varied enough to keep it very interesting to watch over and over. Playing it as a game that doesn't matter as much, but when watching people play it that got to me. I really like the show though so I will watch it anyway, but I just think that's going to be a problem he runs into with that game.

Patrick made an off hand comment recently about how bad he is at RTS games. I would like to see him try to sink his teeth into one and try to get good with em. It's really not that hard. You just gotta memorize build orders and a handful of tactics and you can win most of the time. Just needs to develop an eye for spotting what tactics the enemy is using early and know what the counter to it is.

I had to pull up a FAQ multiple times during my first few playthroughs until I finally got a handle on what most of the pickups do. I probably had 15-20 hours in it before I really knew what I was doing and how different things would enhance or alter my current build.

I think it'll work well as a feature, so long as Patrick gets into it. It's definitely a highly replayable roguelike, and it would be damn near impossible to beat it on the first few sessions. Also, having Wrath of the Lamb installed (which I didn't realize at first because I bought this game months ago and never played it) made for a good time.

@bisonhero: Yeah, that's a fair point...and you can't undo WotL =/

Anyway, I'm pretty excited to see him give TBoI a whirl. I ended up putting over 400h into that game :o Personally, I'd say it's better than Spelunky, but Spelunky is still a fantastic game.

I'm also of the opinion that BoI will make for a terrible streaming experience. Spelunky works so well because the gameplay has a lot of nuance, and it's fun watching Patrick skill up by learning all the mechanics of things in the game. The fact that things can go south so fast also makes the runs pretty tense. In contrast the core gameplay of BoI is really simple, and the game revolves around picking up overpowered items. I find most runs you either don't get enough damage/health upgrades to be able to kill enemies fast enough before you're eventually whittled down, or you get ridiculously overpowered combinations that make most of the game trivial.

I haven't played much of WotL because the DLC is stupid hard and introduces a bunch of new items, but the following items/item combos are really strong:

• Mr. Boom + Bobby Bomb + Dr. Fetus (normal attack turns into a giant homing bomb that does tons of damage)
• Brimstone/Technology (lasers that shoot through anything)
• Mom's Contact + Mom's Bra + Spider Bite (stacks slow/freeze item, makes bosses never able to attack)
• Transcendence/Lord of Pit (lets you fly over everything and negate damage from stuff on the ground)

I'd prioritize damage and then health then attack speed. The more hearts you have the more times you can gamble at the Blood Donation Machine, which gives you a chance to get an additional heart. Also never max out speed unless you have godlike reflexes, because after a certain point it becomes really difficult to control.

Have they added the option to use a controller? Just couldn't get into the game back when I tried a while ago.

@meanl3r: In terms of knowing what items are must-haves, honestly I say just experiment. Grab every single item and become familiar with which ones you prefer over others. Not everyone will agree with how everyone plays. Many will never pass up Mom's Knife, but many will also prefer to go without it. Some will want Chocolate Milk, some won't. It's also a lot easier this way than trying to recollect something you've read and it's just fun to try and amass every single item you can find.

@nightriff: Nope. You can still just quickly set-up Joy2Key, but if you didn't like the gameplay with a keyboard, I'm not sure if a controller will change that much. It'll still only be four-way shooting. There will be controller support in Rebirth though.

@rjpelonia: I'll just wait for rebirth to try it again. Thanks for the info.

I'm a sucker for BoI, I've invested 130 hours in it since release. What items work and what don't is up to you, try different things and experiment during your first hours. Some people are saying you need to get good drops to complete the game, but that is utterly bullshit. You can get only good items to make the game easier, but there is no way in hell you won't get ANY good items during a full playthrough. You just keep trucking as far as you can, and usefull upgrades will allways fall in your path. Preferences are a big part of why people are saying you need certain items etc.

As for streaming it, I have no specific opinion yet. I don't think it will be nearly as exciting as Spelunky, but if it will be BAD, that I don't know...

Anyways, I'm looking forward to seeing Patrick try to tackle the challenge of getting used to BoI, and I think the game will be a lot of fun to watch for the first hours no matter what.

Cheers!

There was a poll as to what Patrick should play next. Although I'm not saying that this is what decided it, looking at the alternative really illustrate that Spelunky and Dark Souls are spectacular games, and also a great streaming experience. Some options suggested were Dungeons of Dredmor, The Binding of Isaac, FTL: Faster Than Light, Nethack, Teleglitch, Dwarf Fortress, Tales of Maj'Eyal, King's Field: The Ancient City, DoomRL, Don't Starve, Sword of the Stars: The Pit, ... I agree Isaac is no Spelunky or Dark Souls, but what is? I'd say XCOM, but that too would be boring to watch.

Guppy's Paw tends to be really good (combining well with Polaroid). It also helps you build into Guppy which is just amazing.

If we're talking Wrath I'm a sucker for Polyphemus, and ofc Habit has a ton of different ways of just breaking the game.

Once you've got a solid grip on the mechanics (let's say consistently getting to the first main boss Mom) try to unlock Cain as a playable character (if you haven't already).

I think this requires collecting 55 coins in a single playthrough, something that can be done a bit easier with the two of diamonds (an item that doubles your current amount of money).

Cain starts with one less health but he's faster, hits harder, starts with a key and has an item that gives him far better outcomes with vending machines and pills.

Also i'm a bit surprised people are saying to hold of on Wrath of the Lamb, I had it installed right off the bat when I first played and it didn't make things too hard. It also adds a lot of variables that can make runs far more interesting.

whats up lads i have been doing some research in trying to find out if the binding of isaac is going to be coming to xbox and ps, but cant get a proper answer, i was wondering if anyone hear could shed a little light on this matter for me? its great watching Patrick experiencing this game, just sad i cannot play this to. thank you very much for your help.

@nipperh2o said:

They are (re)making an enhanced version of the game from the ground up, due out later this year. It looks like it is only planned to come out for computer platforms (Windows, Mac, Linux) and Sony platforms (Vita, PS4). There hasn't been much in the way of official trailers or press releases for this remake, and maybe they're still in negotiations with Nintendo and Microsoft? Anyway, here's some info on the game:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Binding_of_Isaac:_Rebirth

@bisonhero: Thank you very much man, i appreciate you getting back to me, my first post hear and a reply this soon, the podcast brought me hear i love it.

i am an xbox gamer so i hope they do a deal with Microsoft, thanks again man