Hell it is me, with some big news! Patch 1.9.7.13 launches TODAY, and let me tell you: this is one tasty update packed with new features, balance changes, and quality of life improvements - including some that folks have been asking about for a LONG time. Ever been hesitant to grab an item or activate that card because you can’t quite remember what it does, exactly? Well no longer – because we’ve added ITEM DESCRIPTIONS for every collectible, consumable, and trinket in the game!
I believe initially this was supposed to be part of the appeal. Any item may or may not screw you over if you don’t know what it does which is in keeping with Isaac’s theme of being beat down by your circumstances. Part of gutting gud was intended to be memorizing what the often idiosyncratic items actually did. Except now with years of updates and content expansions there are so many items it’s unrealistic to keep track of it all anymore. In the early days I might have disagreed with this but now it makes sense.
At least according to the patch notes you still have to collect an item the first time to get its full description, and the new descriptions don’t show at all until you beat Mom for the first time (i.e. you clear at least one basic run), so new players still get to experience the Fun and excitement of potentially getting hosed by an unfamiliar pickup.
Except now with years of updates and content expansions there are so many items it’s unrealistic to keep track of it all anymore.
This. It made sense in Flash isaac when there were maybe 100 items, but now in Repentance+ there are just too many to count with many items looking very similar to others. Not including vague trinkets and run ending decisions like devil deals.
One of the foundational elements of Rogue and Roguelikes (that is so polarizing it isn’t part of The Berlin Interpretation) is the idea of randomized and unknown item effects. It goes back to tabletop gaming where you would find a potion and have no idea what it does, so you would give a sample to a rat you keep in a cage or splash it on a goblin prisoner. For obvious reasons, that shit went away in favor of skill checks. But in game that manifested as, on every single run, keeping a notepad next to you to know what Red potions did on that play through.
The BoI items were very much in that vein. Theoretically you would memorize them over the course of runs and learn the synergies that helped you. In practice… ain’t nobody had time for that shit.
But it is a design philosophy that wasn’t uncommon for roguelites/likes of the era.
Binding of Isaac items are explicitly in that vein, in fact, given that its version of potions (pills) are indeed randomized on every run. I haven’t checked out the new update yet but insofar as I’m aware those still are.
It is maintained through pills and cards (potions and scrolls in other rougelikes). Pills are randomized at the start of the run, cards you have to remember what each does. But also tabletop rpgs have changed since then. 2e era fantasy Vietnam isn’t what most people want to play anymore and so while random potions still exist these days you’re more likely to be able to figure what they do before being turned into a chicken
Yeah i think it should be an option to turn off. And like at my most addicted I would say git gud. But I come back for a few runs every few years and while I can remember some bs like soy milk + libra breaks the game in your favor but soy milk + brimstone is fucking unplayable. There’s so many items
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I believe initially this was supposed to be part of the appeal. Any item may or may not screw you over if you don’t know what it does which is in keeping with Isaac’s theme of being beat down by your circumstances. Part of gutting gud was intended to be memorizing what the often idiosyncratic items actually did. Except now with years of updates and content expansions there are so many items it’s unrealistic to keep track of it all anymore. In the early days I might have disagreed with this but now it makes sense.
At least according to the patch notes you still have to collect an item the first time to get its full description, and the new descriptions don’t show at all until you beat Mom for the first time (i.e. you clear at least one basic run), so new players still get to experience the Fun and excitement of potentially getting hosed by an unfamiliar pickup.
Yeah I got the impression that’s how they intended for the game to be played. I’ve had a BoI app on my phone for years to get around this.
This. It made sense in Flash isaac when there were maybe 100 items, but now in Repentance+ there are just too many to count with many items looking very similar to others. Not including vague trinkets and run ending decisions like devil deals.
To elaborate:
One of the foundational elements of Rogue and Roguelikes (that is so polarizing it isn’t part of The Berlin Interpretation) is the idea of randomized and unknown item effects. It goes back to tabletop gaming where you would find a potion and have no idea what it does, so you would give a sample to a rat you keep in a cage or splash it on a goblin prisoner. For obvious reasons, that shit went away in favor of skill checks. But in game that manifested as, on every single run, keeping a notepad next to you to know what Red potions did on that play through.
The BoI items were very much in that vein. Theoretically you would memorize them over the course of runs and learn the synergies that helped you. In practice… ain’t nobody had time for that shit.
But it is a design philosophy that wasn’t uncommon for roguelites/likes of the era.
Binding of Isaac items are explicitly in that vein, in fact, given that its version of potions (pills) are indeed randomized on every run. I haven’t checked out the new update yet but insofar as I’m aware those still are.
It is maintained through pills and cards (potions and scrolls in other rougelikes). Pills are randomized at the start of the run, cards you have to remember what each does. But also tabletop rpgs have changed since then. 2e era fantasy Vietnam isn’t what most people want to play anymore and so while random potions still exist these days you’re more likely to be able to figure what they do before being turned into a chicken
Yeah i think it should be an option to turn off. And like at my most addicted I would say git gud. But I come back for a few runs every few years and while I can remember some bs like soy milk + libra breaks the game in your favor but soy milk + brimstone is fucking unplayable. There’s so many items