freeman4200 Posted April 13, 2021 Share Posted April 13, 2021 (edited) Oh man, I seriously got to the very end on the ultra hard challenge last night! With the perfect items too. the space bar item that gives you health and bloody recharge. While I was playing I also got balls of steel twice! But those two items on ultra hard are a godsend. I cried. I was sad. Was so close to getting to second stage. It was when 4 champion sins are there. So fucking close Be glad you don't got the afterbirth and afterbirth+ challenges. Edited April 13, 2021 by freeman4200 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post ExistentialSolid Posted April 14, 2021 Author Popular Post Share Posted April 14, 2021 (edited) The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth ~ Update #4Trophies Unlocked: Awarded for: Beating the basement (floors 1 and 2) 40 times Beating the caves (floors 3 and 4) 30 times Beating the depths 20 (floors 5 and 6) 20 times Beat the Dark Room (floor 10 variant) with Isaac Kill Satan with Isaac, Azazel, Cain, and Eden Kill Isaac with Azazel, Judas, and Eden What's been happening? In the previous update, I set one goal that would prove to be a little too ambitious for one week's worth of progress: To clear "The Dark Room" and "The Chest" with all 10 of the characters currently available to me To get this done, I would have needed to complete 18 additional playthroughs of the game by the time this update released. Unfortunately, my patience only lasted me through 10 playthroughs. But that's okay! Some serious progress was made regardless and, to my surprise, I found myself getting sidetracked in an attempt to complete two additional sub-goals: Unlocking the mysterious door that was teased at the end of the last update Unlocking the "Lost" Before we dive into those sub-goals, I'd like to start off this week by talking about something I've glossed over up to this point: the characters. I've mentioned throughout previous updates that there are quite a few playable characters in The Binding of Isaac but I haven't really explained who they are or what makes each one special. You might think this would be a glaring oversight (and it is) but there's good reason for why I haven't bothered discussing the characters up to this point: they aren't terribly different from one another. There are 11 playable characters in the base version of Rebirth: Isaac, Maggy, Cain, Judas, ???, Eve, Samson, Azazel, Lazarus, Eden, and the "Lost." Besides appearance, the only things that differentiate one character from another are their starting stats and items. Three stats in particular, Health, Speed, and Damage, differ from one character to the next and are symbolized in the character select menu below with a heart, boot-in-motion, and sword icons respectively. Certain characters like Maggy start off with a helpful item that grants extra health with each use while others like ??? get the ability to poop. I still don't understand what the purpose of pooping is but it's there for all you fecal strategists out there! (Credit to Game Revolution for the image I was too lazy to screenshot myself ) Since we're up to speed on the characters of Rebirth, let's talk about those sub-goals I mentioned earlier starting with my surprise attempt to unlock the "Lost!" Unlocking the "Lost" requires you to complete one of the most absurd set of criteria I've seen in a videogame. Remember back when people were talking about unlocking Luigi in Super Mario 64 based on the whole "L is real" statue and there were a million nonsensical theories about how to get that mythical mustachioed plumber into the game? We're talking similar levels of absurdity here. This isn't a late April Fool's joke, these are the conditions you need to meet to unlock the "Lost" in base Rebirth as quoted from the PSNP guide: "As Isaac, die to a Mulliboom" on the first floor." "As Maggy, die to your own bomb on the 3rd floor." "As Judas, die to the 6th floor boss." "Azazel must die to any attack from the boss in Sheol." If these four conditions are met in sequence without any additional deaths, then you will unlock the "Lost." Seeds, preset dungeons that you can access via code input in the main menu, can be used to complete the first 3 steps, but you must complete the 4th step without any seed use. I spent about 5-7 hours attempting to unlock the "Lost" and, like a disappointed child that couldn't unlock Luigi in Super Mario 64, I failed. Using save-scumming, I attempted to methodically complete each objective in sequence without dying, however, nothing happened upon completion. I thought I must have made a mistake so I did it again...and again. I sat down and thought about what could have gone wrong and decided to try without any save-scumming. That's when this happened: (https://imgur.com/sa9k3Uv?nc=1 - in case the gif fails to load) I was seconds away from completing my goal. The boss in Sheol, Satan, appears immediately after killing the baddies that guard him in the gif above. All I had to do was kill them and die to Satan. But I choked and lost 3 hearts in less than 10 seconds. Needless to say, I was gutted and decided to stop trying to unlock the "Lost" for now. ? What about the mysterious door? Speaking of Satan, did you that, all this time, he had a moody older brother that locks himself behind a mysterious door? You didn't? Well, allow me to introduce Mega Satan! (https://imgur.com/7xw9741 - in case the gif fails to load) To unlock the door to Mega Satan's edgy lair, you need to assemble a 2-part key. However, the only way to get these pieces is to kill some angels. You know those chill dudes that hang out in the angel rooms and give you an item? Turns out, if you place a bomb next to them, they become not-so-chill anymore and fight you to the death. Simply kill any 2 angels and you'll have enough key pieces to open the door to Mega Satan. If you'd like to watch the fight with Mega Satan, there will be a video below of me crashing the poor introvert's hideout. If you'd instead like to watch my soul leave my body, consider checking out the failed playthrough of me attempting to unlock the "Lost."Mega Satan Fight: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=osLiqGcIR0oFailed "Lost" Unlock Attempt: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JBrMY6B93-I What's next? I'm still recovering from my heartbreaking "Lost" debacle so my goals for the next update are going to be a bit tamer than last week's. In an effort to shake things up a little, I plan to: Complete any 5 challenges Finish a few of the remaining 8 playthroughs I need to complete the "Chest" and "The Dark Room" with every character I'll explain a little more about what challenges are in the next update which will be posted one week from now, on April 21st! Thank you for sticking with me and see you all soon! ? Edited April 18, 2021 by ExistentialSolid 15 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miles Posted April 14, 2021 Share Posted April 14, 2021 Nice progress updates.. though I'm interested in how you're enjoying this little apsurd game so far? 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grayhammmer Posted April 14, 2021 Share Posted April 14, 2021 I know you said you won't go into the dlc for this game, but let me just say that having the first expansion pack makes getting the lost SO much easier. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
freeman4200 Posted April 16, 2021 Share Posted April 16, 2021 Now that you got to mega satan, I can expand on ultra hard. Ultra hard is beating mega satan with only 3 hearts or whatever amount of health ups you get. But there are zero red/soul heart pick ups. And the baddies are extra tough. Champions are everywhere. Anyways, the guy saying it's easier to get the lost with the expansions is kind of right. There is a item called missing poster, it's those kind of items that are on your bottom left when you pick it up. Well you die with that and bam you turn into the lost and unlock it. The problem is the item rarely shows itself. If you look at my trophy for the lost you can see how long it took from when I started the game. Like a year. It's crazy. But have fun with the lost. Also just play on hard since you have too anyways to get full completion. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ExistentialSolid Posted April 17, 2021 Author Share Posted April 17, 2021 (edited) On 4/13/2021 at 6:27 PM, freeman4200 said: Oh man, I seriously got to the very end on the ultra hard challenge last night! With the perfect items too. the space bar item that gives you health and bloody recharge. While I was playing I also got balls of steel twice! But those two items on ultra hard are a godsend. I cried. I was sad. Was so close to getting to second stage. It was when 4 champion sins are there. So fucking close Be glad you don't got the afterbirth and afterbirth+ challenges. Ouch, I've only ever seen balls of steel twice in my entire experience with the game, let alone in a single run. I'm sure you'll get there eventually though so don't give up! On 4/14/2021 at 11:47 AM, Miles said: Nice progress updates.. though I'm interested in how you're enjoying this little apsurd game so far? Well, Isaac was enjoyable at first but the repetition has started to weigh on me. I keep finding excuses to play something else and my updates have suffered as a result. This is the type of game that can be great in short bursts, but, when trying to binge it, it ends up getting stale very quickly. So, I think what I may need to do is take a break. But not a break from regularly updating this checklist; it would just be a break from Isaac. Instead...I've been thinking about breaking my own rules and starting a certain game for this checklist that released today. It may or may not have meat in the title... I'll make an announcement tomorrow if I decide to go through with it. On 4/14/2021 at 1:38 PM, grayhammmer said: I know you said you won't go into the dlc for this game, but let me just say that having the first expansion pack makes getting the lost SO much easier. You're right, the DLC would make it much, much easier! To be honest, I'm just too much of a cheapskate to buy it until I'm sure that I'm going to push my way through it. It shouldn't take me too much longer to unlock the Lost using the method outlined in the PSNP guide, I'll just need to put in a little more practice. 23 hours ago, freeman4200 said: Now that you got to mega satan, I can expand on ultra hard. Ultra hard is beating mega satan with only 3 hearts or whatever amount of health ups you get. But there are zero red/soul heart pick ups. And the baddies are extra tough. Champions are everywhere. Anyways, the guy saying it's easier to get the lost with the expansions is kind of right. There is a item called missing poster, it's those kind of items that are on your bottom left when you pick it up. Well you die with that and bam you turn into the lost and unlock it. The problem is the item rarely shows itself. If you look at my trophy for the lost you can see how long it took from when I started the game. Like a year. It's crazy. But have fun with the lost. Also just play on hard since you have too anyways to get full completion. I didn't even know there was such a thing as ultra hard until you mentioned it. ? It definitely sounds like a challenge, though it will probably have to wait until I've decided to start the DLC (assuming ultra hard is necessary for any trophies). Thanks for the tip! I've run across the missing poster 2-3 times in runs but I think I will hold off on grabbing the expansions until I platinum the base game first. I'm sure I'll unlock the Lost the normal way soon enough! Edited April 17, 2021 by ExistentialSolid 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trumpet_Boi_208 Posted April 17, 2021 Share Posted April 17, 2021 (edited) 3 hours ago, ExistentialSolid said: Well, Isaac was enjoyable at first but the repetition has started to weigh on me. I keep finding excuses to play something else and my updates have suffered as a result. This is the type of game that can be great in short bursts, but, when trying to binge it, it ends up getting stale very quickly. So, I think what I may need to do is take a break. But not a break from regularly updating this checklist; it would just be a break from Isaac. So I’m not the only one feels that way about TBOI? I also went into this game, confident I could earn the platinum, and I did have fun for a while. However, once the sheer size of this platinum got wrapped around my head, I started drifting away from the game. The existence of garbage runs, where you don’t get any good items, wasn’t really helping, either. Maybe I’ve just played too much Dead Cells at the time, because garbage runs do exist there if you put too many items into your item pool. Regardless, it’s quite interesting to read about your journeys towards some soul-crushingly difficult platinums, especially TBOI. It’s actually encouraged me to give Splasher a try one of these days! Edited April 17, 2021 by Trumpet_Boi_208 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
freeman4200 Posted April 17, 2021 Share Posted April 17, 2021 Since I didn't start boi for the plat I had so much fun and loved learning the intricacies of the game. Only until months later after getting good at the game did I think about getting the plat. But when I did it hurt my enjoyment of the game. So now it's just about having the best run I can make with what I get. Don't rush it. Do a run on hard and then one on greed. Then take a break for a hour or two. Makes it much more fun than trying to grind run after run. My goal is to plat the game by repentances release on ps4. Hopefully you can too! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miles Posted April 17, 2021 Share Posted April 17, 2021 15 hours ago, ExistentialSolid said: Well, Isaac was enjoyable at first but the repetition has started to weigh on me. I keep finding excuses to play something else and my updates have suffered as a result. This is the type of game that can be great in short bursts, but, when trying to binge it, it ends up getting stale very quickly. Agreed, its not a game you want to be grinding in long sessions for trophies. Also, from what Ive seen, playing it with all DLCs installed seems to be the way to go, giving you more content and variety. Some of the stuff they added with Repentence is game changing, making it feel like an entirely new game. I had no idea how Afterbirth worked at first so I didnt think about getting it until the plat was done but eh, kinda regret that now but its whatever I think some SMB updates would be nice for sure. I'm not too sure how I feel about the game from watching gameplay, so some insight from a good player is always welcome. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arcesius Posted April 17, 2021 Share Posted April 17, 2021 15 hours ago, ExistentialSolid said: Istead... I've been thinking about breaking my own rules and starting a certain game for this checklist that released today. It may or may not have meat in the title... Do it! ? I enjoy your updates regardless of the game you are playing, but as @Miles mentioned, I, too, am not sure what to think of the game yet. Would be awesome to have your opinion!! 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moridin83 Posted April 17, 2021 Share Posted April 17, 2021 15 hours ago, ExistentialSolid said: Well, Isaac was enjoyable at first but the repetition has started to weigh on me. I keep finding excuses to play something else and my updates have suffered as a result. This is the type of game that can be great in short bursts, but, when trying to binge it, it ends up getting stale very quickly. I feel the same. I'm in the end game for the plat now, and my runs consist of getting to the item room on the first floor and rerolling for the Book of Revelations (for Super Meat Boy) or Pyromaniac (Infinite reroll method for the other 5 items I need), and restarting if I don't get it. It's tremendously repetitive and not much fun. I absolutely still like the game, and would recommend it to anyone looking for a good game to play normally, but the plat hunt has definitively made the game worse for me. Unfortunately, I'm too stubborn to quit, so it's back to banging my head against a wall! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post ExistentialSolid Posted April 17, 2021 Author Popular Post Share Posted April 17, 2021 (edited) ~ Change of Plans ~ Hey everyone! As some of you have already noticed, my progress in The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth has been slowing to a crawl over these past few weeks and I feel I owe you all an explanation considering Rebirth won the popular vote in our most recent poll.I'll be blunt: I've been losing interest in the game. Trudging through the same floors run after run has been a mind-numbing experience and I can't pretend to still be enjoying myself after 20+ playthroughs (and over 40 runs) of the same enemies, bosses, and room layouts. New items can only do so much to alleviate the repetition that sets in and I often find myself drawn to other games as a result. Roguelikes have always been difficult games for me to focus on for long periods of time and, to my disappointment, Rebirth has been no different. Ordinarily, this wouldn't be a big deal. We could just roll with the slower pace and less frequent progress updates until the game is finished. But, I've realized over the past few weeks that this approach wouldn't be fun for anyone. Documenting my progress at a snail's pace for 1-2 more months while trying my best to make the mundane sound exciting in my updates would be a disservice to you all and I don't want to continue shoving out content that I'm not terribly proud of. That's why I've decided that taking a break from Rebirth is going to be my best course of action. I would like to reevaluate my approach and return to the game once I have a clearer picture of how I'm going to get this done at my current pace. Normally, I would announce the start of our 4th poll and play the next game that manages to come out on top. However, yesterday, a new game came out with a seemingly brutal trophy list and I think I'd like to break my own rules to give it a shot...We're going to be spending this self-imposed break playing: Super Meat Boy Forever If you'd like to take a quick peek at the trophy list, I've leave a link here: https://psnprofiles.com/trophies/12747-super-meat-boy-forever Unlike the previous games I've played for this thread, I will not be posting a plan of action for SMB: Forever. Instead, we're going to dive in immediately and set our own goals as we push through it. The basics of the game, which I normally cover in the plan of action post, will instead be covered in the first update which is going to be scheduled for 5 days from now on April 22nd! Thank you for your patience everyone! We will reassess and return to Rebirth once the updates for SMB: Forever have concluded! In the meantime, I hope to see you all soon, hopefully alongside a few of the early no-death runs! ? Edited April 18, 2021 by ExistentialSolid 22 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HusKy Posted April 17, 2021 Share Posted April 17, 2021 SMBF? I think this game will be very interesting to follow. Good luck! 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FrediPy_ Posted April 17, 2021 Share Posted April 17, 2021 Nice challenge! I think this is the best for you and for the interest of the thread, I know well how BoI can get quite repetitive and tiresome if played a lot over a short period of time, it works better as a one-playthrough-per-session game. Especially if you tend to get tired of roguelites as you say. Good luck with SMBF, I started it yesterday and it looks like this will not be an easy plat at all. I don’t know if as hard as the original one, but definitely hard enough! 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arcesius Posted April 17, 2021 Share Posted April 17, 2021 5 days from now? We need more frequent updates than that!! ? In all seriousness though.. I hope it turns out to be great! It looks gorgeous, that's for sure... Good luck, and have fun!! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eqill5 Posted April 17, 2021 Share Posted April 17, 2021 Destroyed by boredom Im glad you’ve taken it upon yourself to change things up, I was thinking to myself not long ago that I hope you don’t persevere with a game you’re not enjoying anymore just because of us following the thread. Your mental health and enjoyment of what you’re doing is top priority! Although you may feel like the updates are becoming mundane, I still think they’ve been incredibly well written and are very good to read! I have to ask though, why does BOI require this obscene amount of playthroughs? Do you gain anything from them or are they purely trophy based? Looking forward to your take on SMBF, I really need to make on a move on with the first one!! 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
da-Noob123 Posted April 17, 2021 Share Posted April 17, 2021 From what I have read about BoI, it doesn't surprise me that it burnt you out. It is most definitely a long haul and better to step away before you start to loathe it. So enjoy SMBF and give us the details ASAP. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe Dubz Posted April 18, 2021 Share Posted April 18, 2021 Understandable swap my friend, I can't say I blame you! It took me more than 9 months to get that plat, it is a real grind. I am very interested to hear about SMBF, looking forward to the change ? 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post ExistentialSolid Posted April 19, 2021 Author Popular Post Share Posted April 19, 2021 (edited) On 4/16/2021 at 11:40 PM, Trumpet_Boi_208 said: So I’m not the only one feels that way about TBOI? I also went into this game, confident I could earn the platinum, and I did have fun for a while. However, once the sheer size of this platinum got wrapped around my head, I started drifting away from the game. The existence of garbage runs, where you don’t get any good items, wasn’t really helping, either. Maybe I’ve just played too much Dead Cells at the time, because garbage runs do exist there if you put too many items into your item pool. Regardless, it’s quite interesting to read about your journeys towards some soul-crushingly difficult platinums, especially TBOI. It’s actually encouraged me to give Splasher a try one of these days! You're definitely not the only one. The platinum demands so much of the player's time but offers so little to incentivize further play, that I've dreaded having to dive back in for more runs. And I know exactly what you mean with garbage runs. Items that don't increase your health or damage output often feel trivial and it only takes a few bad items to completely ruin a run (or at least make things considerably more difficult). Being stuck in late-game with no health and dealing little damage has made me miserable on more than one occasion. ? Thanks, I really appreciate it! ? That's awesome, Splasher could always use a little more love; I hope you enjoy it when you get around to it! On 4/17/2021 at 2:09 AM, freeman4200 said: Since I didn't start boi for the plat I had so much fun and loved learning the intricacies of the game. Only until months later after getting good at the game did I think about getting the plat. But when I did it hurt my enjoyment of the game. So now it's just about having the best run I can make with what I get. Don't rush it. Do a run on hard and then one on greed. Then take a break for a hour or two. Makes it much more fun than trying to grind run after run. My goal is to plat the game by repentances release on ps4. Hopefully you can too! I think your experience with BOI has been much more organic than mine in the sense that you've been hunting the platinum because you've had a lot of fun with the game and want to see everything it has to offer! ? I've instead been pushing for the platinum in some deranged attempt to get destroyed (although, with my excessive save-scumming, it would be easy to argue otherwise). Thanks for the advice! I plan to chip away at the game until I come up with some way to earn the game's platinum with my patience intact but I hope to earn that plat before Repentance releases as well. Good luck! On 4/17/2021 at 11:57 AM, Miles said: Agreed, its not a game you want to be grinding in long sessions for trophies. Also, from what Ive seen, playing it with all DLCs installed seems to be the way to go, giving you more content and variety. Some of the stuff they added with Repentence is game changing, making it feel like an entirely new game. I had no idea how Afterbirth worked at first so I didnt think about getting it until the plat was done but eh, kinda regret that now but its whatever I think some SMB updates would be nice for sure. I'm not too sure how I feel about the game from watching gameplay, so some insight from a good player is always welcome. I'm sure you're right. I've tried to avoid any details on the DLCs to keep things simple and minimize any confusion on the road to the platinum (base Rebirth is intimidating enough as it is ?) but I hear that they do add a lot to the experience. I'll be sure to do some research when it's time to reevaluate my plan to earn Rebirth's platinum to see whether it would be worth adding the DLC and all of their added baggage (items/modes/characters) into the picture! I haven't been sure how I feel from watching the gameplay either if I'm being honest. ? Let's hope it ends up being fun! On 4/17/2021 at 0:09 PM, Arcesius said: Do it! I enjoy your updates regardless of the game you are playing, but as @Miles mentioned, I, too, am not sure what to think of the game yet. Would be awesome to have your opinion!! I really appreciate it; thanks for the push! ? Looks like I'll be an SMBF guinea pig! On 4/17/2021 at 0:30 PM, Moridin83 said: I feel the same. I'm in the end game for the plat now, and my runs consist of getting to the item room on the first floor and rerolling for the Book of Revelations (for Super Meat Boy) or Pyromaniac (Infinite reroll method for the other 5 items I need), and restarting if I don't get it. It's tremendously repetitive and not much fun. I absolutely still like the game, and would recommend it to anyone looking for a good game to play normally, but the plat hunt has definitively made the game worse for me. Unfortunately, I'm too stubborn to quit, so it's back to banging my head against a wall! Considering we started playing Rebirth at around the same time, your pace has been insane to watch so major props to you for doing what I failed to do and sticking with this game to the end! I wish I had your patience ? I see you've wrapped up the two Lost runs nearly a week ago while I couldn't even unlock the Lost before then. ? Early congrats on your well-earned platinum! Being stubborn is a skill so destroy that wall with your head already! On 4/17/2021 at 1:21 PM, HusKy said: SMBF? I think this game will be very interesting to follow. Good luck! I'm glad you think so! Thank you! ? On 4/17/2021 at 1:44 PM, FrediPy_ said: Nice challenge! I think this is the best for you and for the interest of the thread, I know well how BoI can get quite repetitive and tiresome if played a lot over a short period of time, it works better as a one-playthrough-per-session game. Especially if you tend to get tired of roguelites as you say. Good luck with SMBF, I started it yesterday and it looks like this will not be an easy plat at all. I don’t know if as hard as the original one, but definitely hard enough! Thanks, I think so too! ? Rebirth does seem better suited to a one-playthrough-per-session approach; it feels designed to be pick-up-and-play rather than binge until you can't see straight anymore. Maybe my problem with roguelites is that I love to binge rather than play a little here and there, so I get sick of them faster than I otherwise would had I paced myself. Thanks! From the time I've spent in the first world, I can tell it's definitely going to present a challenge! Not being able to decide which direction I run in is going to take some getting used to. ? Good luck to you as well! On 4/17/2021 at 1:50 PM, Arcesius said: 5 days from now? We need more frequent updates than that!! In all seriousness though.. I hope it turns out to be great! It looks gorgeous, that's for sure... Good luck, and have fun!! I was actually thinking about trying updates every 4 days again like I was aiming for back when I was playing Ikaruga, but it's just too much work! ? Thank you, I know a lot of us have been on the fence about the game considering the game's lukewarm reception among critics (the shift to an autorunner hasn't gone over well either), but I'm hopeful it'll be a good time regardless! ? On 4/17/2021 at 2:39 PM, Eqill5 said: Destroyed by boredom Im glad you’ve taken it upon yourself to change things up, I was thinking to myself not long ago that I hope you don’t persevere with a game you’re not enjoying anymore just because of us following the thread. Your mental health and enjoyment of what you’re doing is top priority! Although you may feel like the updates are becoming mundane, I still think they’ve been incredibly well written and are very good to read! I have to ask though, why does BOI require this obscene amount of playthroughs? Do you gain anything from them or are they purely trophy based? Looking forward to your take on SMBF, I really need to make on a move on with the first one!! Haha Boredom has been my greatest enemy for as long as I've hunted trophies It's why I'll never be a completionist. I hope I haven't worried anyone! Don't worry, I'm not afraid to change things up if things start going wrong! Thank you for the kind words about my updates! It really made my day! ? Great question! I totally forgot to mention why all of these playthroughs are necessary in the updates. ? BOI requires a ridiculous amount of playthroughs to unlock each of the in-game items. So, for each of the game's characters, you earn a new item if you can beat "The Chest," "The Dark Room," the boss rush, the first 8 floors on hard mode, etc. (around 3-5 playthroughs worth of objectives depending on how efficient you are) and it all adds up very quickly considering there's 10 characters not counting the "Lost." The challenge mode adds an extra 20 playthroughs on top of that so there's a loooot to work through even before you reach the post-game grind of having to find all of these unlocked items in actual runs. You really should! Considering your recent Cloudberry Kingdom completion, I bet you'd crush SMB! On 4/17/2021 at 3:08 PM, da-Noob123 said: From what I have read about BoI, it doesn't surprise me that it burnt you out. It is most definitely a long haul and better to step away before you start to loathe it. So enjoy SMBF and give us the details ASAP. That's good advice, I bet I would have enjoyed more of the games I've played if I took a step back when repetition was starting to set in. ? I think I end up worrying that I'll never return to a game if I leave it on the backburner so I usually just push through and despise it afterwards. Will do! ? 23 hours ago, Joe Dubz said: Understandable swap my friend, I can't say I blame you! It took me more than 9 months to get that plat, it is a real grind. I am very interested to hear about SMBF, looking forward to the change Thanks for understanding. 9 months sounds like a much more enjoyable pace than what I was pushing myself through. ? Let's hope SMBF ends up being worth the swap! --- Thank you for the support everyone! Edited April 19, 2021 by ExistentialSolid 10 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnlMatrix Posted April 19, 2021 Share Posted April 19, 2021 On 17.4.2021 at 7:16 PM, ExistentialSolid said: ~ Change of Plans ~ Quite funny xD. I got SMB forever two days ago and thought about changing my nominated game yet again in favor of it. (If you would have allowed the change, given I already changed my nominated game once.) Glad to see that you're already approaching the game. Looking forward to your updates. My opinion so far: It's really fun. Could be quite hard though. Screw it, we're going in. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ghost Posted April 21, 2021 Share Posted April 21, 2021 (edited) Enjoy SMB Forever and best of luck on the journey ? Edited April 21, 2021 by Ghost spelling 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post ExistentialSolid Posted April 22, 2021 Author Popular Post Share Posted April 22, 2021 (edited) Super Meat Boy Forever ~ Update #1Trophies Unlocked: Awarded for: Finding 1 Pacifier / Finding 1 Warp Zone Beating Big Slugger, Manic, The Lab Guardian, and Dr. Fetus Punching 1000 things Unlocking Prototype Boy, Meatsona, and Mega Bandage Beating Chipper Grove Light World without dying / Beating The Clinic Light World without dying Beating Tetanus City Light World without dying / Beating The Lab Light World without dying What's been happening? We've got a new game this week and there's a lot of ground to cover before we get up to speed! Let's start off with some basics! Unlike the straightforward platforming of the original Super Meat Boy, Super Meat Boy Forever is a procedurally generated auto-runner. How exactly does a platformer incorporate "procedural generation?" Well, it's complicated. See, there are 11 worlds in SMB Forever and each one is composed of 6 levels (not including the boss levels). Each of these levels is made up of several "chunks" that are pieced together from a library of 7200 other possible chunks. Now, a "chunk" is essentially a small section of a level that was designed by the level designers over at Team Meat. By combining these chunks in different arrangements, you can generate a seemingly endless set of levels. To find specific level arrangements, you may want to take advantage of "seeds" (level sets that can be generated via codes prior to starting a new game). So, if you and a friend want to play the through the same levels, you'll need to make sure that you both use the same seed so that the correct levels are generated. Note that collectibles and level difficulty will vary from seed to seed. Now that we have some idea of how the levels are put together, let's talk about the changes that were made to transform SMB into an auto-runner. An auto-runner, for anyone unfamiliar, is a game where character movement cannot be directly controlled by the player. In the case of Super Meat Boy Forever, all control is relegated to two buttons, and . Pressing will help you jump, wall jump, and punch enemies while in the air. Pressing will let you slide when on the ground and dive while in the air. Even though your control of Meat Boy is limited to two buttons, there's still depth and nuance to the movement so don't assume that things will be any easier just because running is automated! We'll spend some time in the next update talking about some of the intricacies of movement. Enough with the basics, let's talk trophies! I hear you! You're not here to listen to me ramble on about seeds. You wanna hear about the challenge already! Well, it's time to talk about the trophy list. Like the original Super Meat Boy, SMB Forever features death run trophies, trophies that are awarded for clearing large sections of the game without losing a life. In this case, there are 11 such trophies, one for each of SMB Forever's worlds. Most of the goals I set at the end of these updates will be centered around my attempts to earn each of these death run trophies. Because of the game's procedural approach to level design, the levels I play are probably going to be very different from the ones you play (unless you use the same seed). As an unfortunate result, videos of successful death runs may not be helpful at all. However, I will be posting my runs alongside the seed I'm using for anyone that may want to follow along. If you want SMB Forever to be as easy as possible, I would encourage you to wait for other players to compare the difficulty of various seeds in an effort to find seeds that are "easier" than others. The seed I'm using was randomly generated and is not necessarily "easier" or "harder" than any other player's seed selection. Regardless, I spent the last few days practicing and managed to finish the first 4 light worlds and their corresponding death runs! If you'd like to watch any of the runs yourself, I've posted all 4 below. The seed that each run was performed on will be listed in the description of each video.Oak Boy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eqdrbnJfgAw Straight Jacket Girl: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MsjuvOZREzE Vaccine Boy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NB5qIcW552Q Research Girl: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=no-Jz2pgScA I'll highlight my favorite of the bunch below if you're looking for a quick fix!Super Meat Boy Forever - Tetanus City Light World What's next? Since I'm nearly finished with the first 5 light worlds and will soon begin work on the 5 dark worlds, my goals for the next update are to: Complete the fifth light world and it's corresponding death run Complete the first two dark worlds and their corresponding death runs There is still a ton to cover, but we'll get through it gradually over the course of these updates! Since this game is still fairly new and information is limited, if there are any questions you have about the game, feel free to leave them in the replies and I'll try my best to answer! The next update, with any progress I make towards these goals, will be posted 5 days from now on April 27th! Thank you for sticking with me and I'll see you all soon! ? Edited April 22, 2021 by ExistentialSolid 17 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post ExistentialSolid Posted April 25, 2021 Author Popular Post Share Posted April 25, 2021 (edited) On 4/19/2021 at 3:38 PM, JohnlMatrix said: Quite funny xD. I got SMB forever two days ago and thought about changing my nominated game yet again in favor of it. (If you would have allowed the change, given I already changed my nominated game once.) Glad to see that you're already approaching the game. Looking forward to your updates. My opinion so far: It's really fun. Could be quite hard though. Screw it, we're going in. Yeah, I was excited to see if the challenge of SMBF could live up to the original and figured it might be perfect for this thread (I really needed a break from Isaac anyway)! ? After some time with the game though, I think I've completely underestimated its difficulty. I didn't have much trouble getting death runs finished in the relatively tame light worlds so I eventually started thinking, "eh, this plat isn't going to be that bad" but I've since been completely blindsided by the first dark world where I've been consistently getting torn to shreds by some of the later stages. The difficulty of "Path to Pain" (5X) in particular is absurd. I lost well over 100 lives on my first run through and 90+ on my second. Even with strategies that seem consistent, the game demands so much precision that I'm really struggling to keep up (which is a good thing)! (About the nominations, everyone is free to swap their nominated game as many times as they'd like so no worries there!) On 4/21/2021 at 3:05 PM, Ghost said: Enjoy SMB Forever and best of luck on the journey Thank you! ? Ever since SMB Forever started ramping up the difficulty, I've been enjoying myself quite a bit! Let's hope it's still as enjoyable later on! Edited April 25, 2021 by ExistentialSolid 10 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post JohnlMatrix Posted April 26, 2021 Popular Post Share Posted April 26, 2021 (edited) For anyone interested, here's my experience with SMBF so far. Although I was skeptical of the game being an autorunner at first, I almost instantly grew to like it. The gameplay is very smooth, the movement incredibly precise and the level design and soundtrack are superb. I played through the game once (the light world that is, with the exception of 0xDEADBEEF) and managed to get the no-death runs for those worlds (Chipper Grove, The Clinic, Tetanus Ville, The Lab, The Other Side). I found those worlds not to be too difficult to complete after a little practice. S-Ranks were also no problem. I'm almost done S-Ranking Chipper Grove dark and obtaining every pacifier in it. Even in this dark world, the first one, the difficulty ramps up significantly. Where SMB's dark Forest was quite easy and the next dark worlds became harder and harder, I wonder if the difficulty of the dark worlds in SMBF stays the same throughout or if it increases just like in the original. I can't say anything about the "glitch world" 0xDEADBEEF. It seems to be the SMBF equivalent to the Cotton Alley. However it doesn't have a dark version (or a light version, depends on how you look at it). I only watched someone on youtube play through 0xDEADBEEF and good lord, this one might require serious practice, but we'll see once I get there. Edited April 26, 2021 by JohnlMatrix 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post ExistentialSolid Posted April 27, 2021 Author Popular Post Share Posted April 27, 2021 (edited) Super Meat Boy Forever ~ Update #1.9 (?)Sorry everyone! Today's update is going to be a short one. I'll explain more below! Trophies Unlocked: Awarded for: Beating Omega Alpha (boss of the fifth light world) Beating the Other Side Light World without dying Unlocking Classic Boy and Classic Girl Unlocking MZero What's been happening? Super Meat Boy Forever has been wiping the floor with me. In the last update, I planned to: Complete the fifth light world and it's corresponding death run Complete the first two dark worlds and their corresponding death runs While I did manage to wrap up the fifth light world's deathless run, I was unable to string together a deathless run of the first or second dark worlds. So, what happened? I spent over 10 hours and 2000+ lives practicing to earn the Teak Girl trophy (for clearing the Chipper Grove Dark World without dying) but couldn't get it done. Below are screenshots of my statistics before and after my attempts to earn the trophy. *Note that my playtime and death count doubled. What's next? We're at a strange point in my progression where I honestly have no idea how long any given objective is going to take. To keep things moving along, I'm going to keep pushing over the next few days until I unlock the Teak Boy trophy for clearing the first dark world without dying. Once I unlock the Teak Boy trophy, I will post a more complete update along with a video of my deathless run. I plan to cover more info about dark worlds, discuss some of the intricacies of movement I briefly mentioned in the first update, and will announce the expected release date of the third update. If two weeks pass and I have not unlocked the Teak Girl trophy, I will come up with a new plan of action. In the meantime, I'll leave my deathless run of the last of the light worlds below if you'd like to check it out. Other Side Light World Deathless: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uclruBTt_yA Sorry for the brief update today! Thank you for sticking with me regardless and I'll see you all soon! ? Edited April 29, 2021 by ExistentialSolid 11 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now