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The Binding of Isaac: Afterbirth - Greed is Good
Sterica
YesRegistered User, Moderator mod
YesRegistered User, Moderator mod
WARNING: The Binding of Isaac leans very heavily on gross-out imagery and the occasional ancient meme for humor. A lot of people find the game enjoyable in spite of that, but for others the constant barrage of piss, blood, and feces is too much. So...don't say we didn't warn you.
Okay so a few years ago, Edmund McMillen and Florian Himsl made a quick and dirty flash game as McMillen wanted a fun thing to work on after the arduous development that was Super Meat Boy (note: Himsl is not part of Team Meat and this is not a Team Meat game!). So in about two months the duo released the Binding of Isaac, and then a month or so later came the Wrath of the Lamb expansion because McMillen's wife loved the game and wanted more content. To be very quick, the game is basically like the dungeons from the first Legend of Zelda. The difference is that the game has permadeath, random layouts, and a ton of random items you can find to make your character grossly overpowered. As you play you unlock new levels, items, and characters to keep things interesting. The game was a slow burn, taking a bit to really get popular, but it eventually took off like a rocket. People plunged hundreds of hours into it, and they wanted more.
The problem was that BoI was made in Flash, and they were already reaching the upper limits of how much they could add to the game (although this year Himsl did release a patch/mini-expansion he'd been working on) and there were other issues that kept the game from improving like native controller support. So McMillen got together with the people at Nicalis, and they worked with Himsl to translate his code and give the game a proper release. The result was the Binding of Isaac: Rebirth, a combination of remake and expansion pack that gave the game a superior engine with improved graphics, controller support, and a lot of new bells and whistles like tons of new content. Releasing last year, the game was definitely a hit with fans, providing even more hours of dungeon crawling weirdness.
It didn't take long for McMillen to announce an expansion, and that is Afterbirth. Besides standard features like new characters, items, and enemies, the game also features a whole new way to play via Greed Mode. This is basically like a Horde Mode where you fight waves of enemies followed by a boss wave with breaks to buy items. The game also adds daily runs, which are seeds that give you one shot to play for the highest score (the game features a scoring system now, by the way), although you can do more runs after you die that just don't go up on the leaderboard. There's also apparently more stuff still locked away, and Edmund's playing some kind of game as to how to unlock it, so that's something else to be excited for, I guess.
Rebirth is basically everywhere: PC/Mac, Xbox One, PS4, Vita, New 3DS (NOT on other 3DS systems), and Wii U. Afterbirth is currently only available for the PC/Mac, but it's coming to other hardware starting with PS4/Vita at some point later this year. The PC or Mac is probably your best bet because it gets everything first and you can also mod the game to extend the lifespan or just cheat for unlocks if you don't wanna do goddamn Lost runs.
Quick and Dirty FAQ
What happened to the music?
McMillen and DannyB have stopped working together, so Rebirth got a new soundtrack. If you really miss the old soundtrack, then here is a guide to change it.
What does [X] do?
This site will be your cheat sheet for all items.
How do I unlock-
Here you go.
Is there online co-op?
Nope, still local only.
What do the symbols under my collectibles mean?
Crossed-Out Trophy: You can't earn achievements during this run (seeded run or most challenges)
DR: Means you're on a Daily Run.
Red Pentagram: Hard Mode
Shoe: This Daily Run or Challenge ends at the Mom fight.
Heart: This Daily Run or Challenge ends at the Mom's Heart or It Lives fight.
Sword: This Daily Run or Challenge ends at the Satan Fight.
Cross: This Daily Run or Challenge ends at the Isaac fight.
Filled Box: This Daily Run or Challenge ends at the ??? fight.
Empty Box: This Daily Run or Challenge ends at the Lamb Fight.
Brimstone Icon: This Daily Run or Challenge ends at the Mega Satan fight.
What happened to my saves in Afterbirth!?
Look at the bottom of the screen for an import option. Note that things are a bit buggy and you will probably get a bunch of achievements you may have no legitimately earned. This is to be fixed sometime this week, hopefully.
Sterica on
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Pretty smokin'
Right now I think I'm going to focus on finally getting every boss kill with every character, and/or unlocking the lost, but I might want to dip in Greed mode a bit too.
Edit: I don't suppose this version added a symbol to the character select screen for having beaten Mega Satan? It still bothers me that it doesn't. I only beat it once (on my first attempt!) so I want a visible reminder of how badass I am.
Steam: Chagrin LoL: Bonhomie
Azazel got a nerf, but it was a damage nerf and it's bugged so basically do not play Azazel. Also Box of Friends got nerfed to four charges so Lilith is SOMEWHAT weaker in Greed and pretty bad in regular.
ineedmayo.com Eidolon Journal Updated
good thing I completed all of Azael's post it note before this
it's a fun game that I was surprised I like it as much as I do
With four charges...well, she has to be at least DECENT, because Incubus isn't that much of a liability and she still has an excellent boss spike, but I'm worried that exploring floors will be tedious now. I wish they had at least stopped at three charges.
running into a curse room, hit a button, and your 999 donation machine spawns before you realize it and it blows up
Blows up? Like permanently?
holy crap
naked baby goes in basement to escape mother driven crazy by satan who slaughtered all his pets as well as previous brothers and sisters. dad abandoning them had something to do with it.
the end!
Someone did a big write-up that Edmund linked, but I don't have it handy.
I think the missing poster is because his crazy mother locked him in his room.
His mother being abusive I don't think is in question at least.
I like that dad is mega satan. Need dads key to go see him after all.
I don't know if there is a proper story. Dad leaving caused your mentally ill mother to become abusive, so you escape into a twisted dream world.
but they're listening to every word I say
I only took it because I got a devil deal with it and Guppy's Collar together on like floor 2, I figured it gave me super good odds for Guppy. Never got the third.
Steam: Chagrin LoL: Bonhomie
-Dad and Mom are married.
-They lose a ton of pregnancies to miscarriages.
-Their first child to come to term is Maggie, who is much beloved.
-Something happens to Maggie.
-Isaac is born, but is unwanted.
-Circumstances surrounding the death of Maggie and/or birth of Isaac drives Dad away.
-Mom blames Isaac for breaking up the family/not living up to Maggie and neglects/abuses him (but he doesn't know anything else).
-Mom finally snaps and tries to kill Isaac.
-Isaac goes insane hiding from Mom and is never seen again, presumably suffocating locked in a chest in the basement.
Hedge bet: Maggie was the first pregnancy they lost, and the happy photo of Mom, Dad, and Maggie is actually Isaac being raised as "Maggie" (Mom definitely tried this at some point, but I assume it was probably not until after Dad was gone).
On Ed's blog there's a link to some fan video that he said did a great job of capturing his mindset when he came up with the game, but I forget what's in it.
EDIT: Oh, I actually remembered that ending slightly wrong.
It's good if you have a low health character and get it super early. Usually you can make up the 1 or 2 hearts you lose pretty quickly.
but they're listening to every word I say
Whaaaat? Haven't played that much Afterbirth yet, but I have 100% completion in Rebirth and it's easily one of my favourite items. Has saved me on so many runs, and not just for the Lost and Guppy chance.
But red hearts containers in rebirth are kind of bad anyway - I try to roll 100% soul hearts most of the time, though Afterbirth's new items has probably changed that. 9 lives is possibly not great for beginners though.
In the late game it's obviously less good, but sometimes turning into Guppy can really make up for the loss of red heart.
No you don't. That's the way around the way to actually get to mega satan.
Also yeah, unless you've somehow had one of those runs where most of your collectibles were health ups, 9 lives is usually a good choice.
Losing only 1 or 2 hearts for all the extra lives it gives you is totally worth it.
You have to do the other way to unlock "Dad's key". I think the implication is that the items are sort of the same. Both imply dad = satan.
but they're listening to every word I say
I picked up Lil Larva a while ago (gives blue flies when destroying poop), and now in Sheol I had a bunch of coins and picked up a Wheel of Fortune, spawned a slot machine and just went to town on it. Eventually picked up everything it dropped, including... A Card Against Humanity.
There was a conveniently large room nearby, so I filled it up with poop and now I have like 100 blue flies.
I only wish I'd waited until just before the boss room to do this, but I imagine I'll still have a bunch left at the end.
Edit: Woo, I beat Mega Satan for the second time! And now I have a symbol to prove it!!
Steam: Chagrin LoL: Bonhomie
The Party bombs which gives a chance on explosions dropping items and the bomber man upgrade which gives the explosion a cross effect with 5 explosions.
I was able to get all my items to 99 within 3 levels. It was nuts
Yesterday's daily confirmed that it works beautifully with ludovico. It does weaker hits, but way more frequently. So your dps goes way up.
Been playing Keeper, but he's such a garbage character. You need swallowed penny/piggy bank to really get anywhere.
It's also a total game changer for The Lost.
Starting with holy mantle certainly helps, too.
He's better after you unlock some things, but BOY is requiring one to beat shit with a bad character to make them less bad such awful backwards design.