Being lucky in videogames.

IanExMachina

Last night I was playing 'The Binding of Isaac' a game which has a lot of elements regulated by chance (what items you find, what enemies you face, what bosses you face, level layouts etc.)

I had decided to play as ??? who is a challenge character, he is a dead blue child who does not have permanent heart containers for health (as he is dead) but instead uses faith hearts that are rarer to find and once they are gone they are gone. (Unlike normal health containers which can be refilled.)

In the first item room I get Dr. Foetus an item which means instead of shooting tears like usual I shoot bombs!

Woo drastically reduced difficulty!

I fight the miniboss Wrath a few levels later and he drops Mr. Mega which means all my bombs are bigger and more damaging.

Woo even easier difficulty. (Assuming I don't blow myself up.)

Then I find the Book of Revelations which every so many rooms is charged up and I can use it to gain an extra faith heart.

So at this point I'm firing mega bombs and adding to my health every 6 rooms of so.

The last shop I go into has both the Compass and the Map items in it which I buy.

These together allow me to see the entire level layout rather than wandering blindly room to room.

This allows me to breeze through the Womb levels where exploration carries a higher risk and lower reward.

After blowing up Mom's heart I follow the same tactic in Sheol (where the risk is super high being it an extra final level added in the halloween update) and obliterate Satan.

If it weren't for the lucky item pick ups I'd probably have never made beat everything with the challenge character.

Saigyouji

The best combo I've had so far is Chocolate Milk (Charge attack) + Technology (Laser) + Inner Eye (Spread shot). Still didn't get past the Depths, though.

IanExMachina

^

Personally I avoid chocolate milk, I like being able to hold down the shoot button.

Saigyouji

At max charge, Technology can hit an entire room, so... *shrug*

IanExMachina

Ooh one other good point for chocolate milk, if you get brimstone you can fire instantly.

Pretty gamebreaking.

Saigyouji

Brimstone is a game breaker all on its own anyway.

IanExMachina

It kind of is, however if you aren't careful enemies can still get you whilst you wait for it to charge, and you can't fire early like chocolate milk.