Repentance is NOT fun (angry rant)

[Danielviomusic]

I am genuinely upset with the current game. I expected to find some new bosses and fun items to wombo combo, and what I found was my game experience completly destroyed. I am so fed up with this difficulty trend, with the games being difficult because they have to. No other reason. So many bold choices were made here.

1. Normal mode is now twice as hard as old hard mode was. New hard mode is nearly impossible. Curses every damn floor, and now they are even worse than they were before.
2. Talking about curses. Wtf is wrong with curse of darkness? Like I can't see ♥♥♥♥, it's an instant run killer.
3. Nerfing items to balance? More like nerfing items to make the ones that were essential before even more essential. There are so many garbage items you depend on a good item pool way more than before. Nice.
4. And more about item nerfs, there isn't a single moment you find an item and be like 'cool, this is a good run'. Even when finding the best of the best I am just scared of the bs enemies that may appear in the next room. There is no relief or satisfaction in finding a good item.
5. New enemies are bs. Flies surrounding me shooting fire towards me? White eyes shoting >5 divine beams at once?
6. Old enemies are way stronger. Increased attack speed, shoot speed and movement speed because... Reasons. Even the first 2 floors can become a nightmare.
7. Stats nerf. Ok. So needed.
8. 'Trap' rooms, like the ones having statues shooting and buttons and that stuff. Now every single one of them has a little detail to make it even more punishing. Do you know that little safe spot you hide between statues to press the button? Well I am sorry for you, it has spikes now.
9. Devil deals are an overkill. Not only because they are more expensive, but specially because all the nerfs to those items. Angel room gives you better items (since they are mostly about survival and not raw damage they have not been nerfed too much), for free and even sometimes with some soul hearts.
10. Instant damage rooms. So fun. And fair.

I am probably leaving so many things behind, but well, you get the point. I am totally fine with any of you having the time of your lives playing Repentance, but this is a casual-killer DLC. And I am by no means a casual player since I've got 200 hours in the game. Maybe not a hardcore, but definitely not a casual.

If Edmund pretended to make hardcore players rage with this update by making it pointlessly difficult and punishing, all I can say is well done, now the game feels nearly unbreakable. But he should've also thought about all the other players. I didn't know how to insta break a run pre-Repentance and now I feel punished for no discernible reason. If you design a DLC only for the hardcore players, which may represent a <5% of the player base, all you end up doing is ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ the rest hard. Being constantly punished and having no rewards (good items, good combos...) is not fun whatsoever.

I'll repeat it, I have nothing against any of you who are enjoying this. There is nothing wrong with it and I respect that. If so, feel free to leave here your opinion, since maybe I got things wrong and overreacted. I don't think so though, I don't find this fun anymore.

EDIT: Edmund tweeted last night about difficulty increase. He says its about adapting and learning the new meta. After some time he will decide if he has to balance things. Wether he decide one thing or another, most people will be long gone by that moment. Casuals and veterans will have dropped the game because, I don't know, maybe they don't want to feel frustrated just for the promise of it getting good after 100 hours?

[The deadly Cutsman]

Originally posted by waterhorn:

People are having less fun because they are either stubborn adjust to new meta or can't play at all. I already played 200 hours of this DLC and had almost no problems (there are few tainted characters that I have to get used to). I even got 23 winstreak playing as tainted characters and I am far from pro, just know lots of mechanics or google them if I desperately need to. People cried and complained when Afterbirth dropped, people cried and complained after Afterbirth+ dropped, people ♥♥♥♥ their pants from happiness when Antibirth dropped but as soon as it came as official dlc in Repentance, people began to cry and complain and I find it funny when it's related to things that original mod had. And holy hell is there something wrong with people here that list 20 things they don't like in dlc and say how it ruins the game while ignoring 200 of things that absolutely improve it. There will be some fixes, adjustments and addition in future, but core will stay the same and I hate to say it but just learn how to play. Or install mods if you are that desperate.

And table spoon has 0 IQ but I guess that was too cerebral for you.

Even people that enjoy the new DLC and are really good at the game complain about stuff, so it's not about stubbornness.
And a table spoon doesn't have IQ, it's an innanimate object... maybe try something that's actually alive or something numerical as comparison... but maybe that's too cerebral for you...

[waterhorn]

Originally posted by G:

Originally posted by waterhorn:

Yes, devil deals are less attractive now but that does not mean you can completely write them off and risk-reward aspect is greatly improved.

So, nerfing the best devil deal items, nerfing things like being able to take a devil deal that'd kill you (to respawn w/ something like Judas' Shadow) and adding garbage to the pool increases the risk-reward? What? If anything it makes the 'reward' part of risk-reward worse. There's really not much point in 'risking' going for devil deals now, especially since you can guarantee at least 1 angel room.

Only one item got unfairly nerfed and that's Maw of the Void, other items are still fine, there were re-added some items that used to be devil deals in flash and are subpar, but that's on Antibirth devs. Don't know anything about "being able to take a devil deal that'd kill you (to respawn w/ something like Judas' Shadow)", I know you now can't take deal you can't pay for but I managed to pay for 3 spirit Blindfold deal with 1 spirit heart, I guess it depends.

The risk-reward part is the most prominent in the very first deal with the devil that's guaranteed. Would you come inside and hope for good item that really will help you with run in next floors or you'll won't even enter and hope for angel deal 1-3 floors later, which is not guaranteed to be great but has big chance to be and also you don't have to pay. Or you can come inside and decide if there are items that are worth paying and if not you have split chance of deals that you even can try to influence depending on what deal you want more. Stealing devil items is still possible. Also choice depends on what character you play as. I always go for angel deals as spirit heart only characters, but will definitely peek devil deal room as Eve, Magdalene or Lost.

[Dyne]

edit: actually i realised i dont care about writing like 3 paragraphs arguing with randoms about this game lmao

[waterhorn]

Originally posted by The deadly Cutsman:

Even people that enjoy the new DLC and are really good at the game complain about stuff, so it's not about stubbornness.
And a table spoon doesn't have IQ, it's an innanimate object... maybe try something that's actually alive or something numerical as comparison... but maybe that's too cerebral for you...

Enjoying the new DLC and complaining about few things that are not ideal = "Repentance ruined the game! Winning is LITERALLY impossible now, everything is ♥♥♥♥♥♥, I wish Edmund rot in hell, look at X thing it's unplayable I will become back my money!"
If you look at my previous messages even me, a great fan of the DLC say stuff like "90% is fun and balanced" or "I have ALMOST no problems" because I know there are some flaws and stuff I don't fully agree with, but it would be foolish to expect it ot be perfect for everyone, it's impossible. I am thankful for every bit thats fixed or getting fixed, I play the game and learn new ways of beating it, new mechanics and synergies. Even if I lose and even get angry, I just calm down and try again, having fun winning unwinnable and getting that gratified feeling of beating hard task, instead of crying how it's not fun and bad or being stubbornly ignorant about things. I know I won't convince a lot of folks here and I don't try, but I do hope some of people will listen and stop believing haters.

And jesus h. christ, have you ever heard of something called metaphor?!! I used my own phrase, but there exist sayings like "dumb as doorknob" or "dumb as bags of rocks", so what you'll say – "Ooooh but doorknob does not have intelligence, how can it be dumb?". I'd call you a donkey, but that would be an insult to donkeys.

[The deadly Cutsman]

Originally posted by waterhorn:

Enjoying the new DLC and complaining about few things that are not ideal = "Repentance ruined the game! Winning is LITERALLY impossible now, everything is ♥♥♥♥♥♥, I wish Edmund rot in hell, look at X thing it's unplayable I will become back my money!"
If you look at my previous messages even me, a great fan of the DLC say stuff like "90% is fun and balanced" or "I have ALMOST no problems" because I know there are some flaws and stuff I don't fully agree with, but it would be foolish to expect it ot be perfect for everyone, it's impossible. I am thankful for every bit thats fixed or getting fixed, I play the game and learn new ways of beating it, new mechanics and synergies. Even if I lose and even get angry, I just calm down and try again, having fun winning unwinnable and getting that gratified feeling of beating hard task, instead of crying how it's not fun and bad or being stubbornly ignorant about things. I know I won't convince a lot of folks here and I don't try, but I do hope some of people will listen and stop believing haters.

And jesus h. christ, have you ever heard of something called metaphor?!! I used my own phrase, but there exist sayings like "dumb as doorknob" or "dumb as bags of rocks", so what you'll say – "Ooooh but doorknob does not have intelligence, how can it be dumb?". I'd call you a donkey, but that would be an insult to donkeys.

Ok spoon head, go play with your non applicable metaphores somewhere else.

[waterhorn]

Originally posted by G:

They made it so you can't take a devil deal that would leave you with 0 hearts and kill you, so you can't make use of it with your respawn items. Again, more changes to make devil deals worse.

I am pretty sure you can take them if you have enough hearts to pay for a deal, but that's something I can't say with 100% certainty

Originally posted by G:

Except that's not how it works at all, there's really no 'reward' from checking the first devil deal room, the risk of getting garbage and missing out on your guaranteed angel item is far too high now, especially compared to the so-called reward you'd get. Missing out on a single devil room for a guaranteed angel room does absolutely nothing detrimental to run seeing as how you'll likely get more devil rooms later. The characters you mentioned that benefit from taking devil deals will take them regardless of the item, if you're playing Eve you'd take Brother Bobby simply because it removes a heart, and if you're playing Lost you'd take whatever because it's free.

Except I had few runs where I ignored first devil room despite having enough hp to pay for any deal, thinking the angel deal will carry me. Flash forward me 2 floors later getting Jar of Wisps which is not bad item but I had much better spacebar item on me so I had to leave it there. And imagine if the first devil deal had item like Mark or Eye of Belial (the item that I had in my first devil deal in the last run I played). Hell, even nerfed Maw of the Void on the floor 2 is better than subpar or outright useless angel deal on floor 4-5, that's the risk-reward I meant. I agree that now angel deals meta is much stronger, but I still think it's good idea to risk and peek first devil deal if you have enough hp. And hey, if it does not work, sacrifice room can pull you in the direction you need.

[waterhorn]

Originally posted by The deadly Cutsman:

Ok spoon head, go play with your non applicable metaphores somewhere else.

See how much better it is once you admit you were dumb?

[The deadly Cutsman]

Originally posted by waterhorn:

See how much better it is once you admit you were dumb?

Suuureee buddy... Don't worry, it's all over. The scary man won't bother you anymore, you won, yay!

[PreLife]

Originally posted by waterhorn:

Originally posted by Backstabba:

Ya that's one of the main things I don't like about this DLC's balance decisions:

Nerfs brimstone while calling it an "auto win" item.

Then they also add in revelation which is an unnerfed holy brimstone and is even more of an "auto win" then old brimstone while not even costing you max hp to get.

The devs balance decisions seem very inconsistent if not outright hypocritical this DLC.

It's only inconsistent because you know ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥.
1. Brimstone nerf is barely noticeable and still carries runs. If you feel like it's underpowered can't win with it anymore, seek medical help.
2. Revelation is an item that was in Antibirth, but it was bugged. It used to give brain worm homing effect but they changed it probably because godhead and sacred heart already has similar effect and they made it much more interesting.
3. Despire revelation being really strong, the white brimstone from it has much less synergies than real brimstone and you can't reduce it charge time.

Yes, devil deals are less attractive now but that does not mean you can completely write them off and risk-reward aspect is greatly improved.

brimstone deals 38% less damage than it used to, a pretty huge nerf , and revelation deals 15% more than brimstone used to. revelation deals 87% more damage than current brimstone on top of the regular tears you can fire
idk what 2 means but 3... what? revelation is completely supplementary so it synergies with every item in the game
brimstone also doesn’t have enough synergies that the revelation beam doesn’t work with to write home about. brimstone nerf is complete nonsense when an equivalent item is added that is 1. free and 2. much better than the original item even without the nerf

even more math: at standard tears, Isaac will hit an enemy an average of 4 times a second with brimstone! but with revelation, isaac gets a +6x dps on average! How embarrassing for brimstone!

Even even more math: at the tears soft cap, for full damage potential brimstone will hit 8 times in 1.6 seconds. this is 5 hits a second, or exactly the natural tears cap. Brimstone is a side grade to regular tears lmfao

[WitchAmy]

Originally posted by waterhorn:

Only one item got unfairly nerfed and that's Maw of the Void

Kinda don't agree. Before Maw had an insane rate of black heart drop and also gave an additional damage up.
Black hearts are supposed to be rare, so no surprise most of black heart generation items got nerfed.
Also that dmg up was reduntant, since the ring dealt an insane amount of damage anyway.
Even with these nerfs, Maw is an insane dps upgrade and I would always take it if I saw it, unless it would kill me.

While I disagree with your opinion, I fully respect it. I don't want you to change yours, just wanted to point out my arguments.

[PreLife]

through this number crunching, I’ve learned that brimstone is dead onion that costs two hp, and that you are statistically better off taking bozo over brimstone, both for hp and damage potential. proves how aggressive nerfing old items was while completely disregarding balance for the new ones


bonus: you can now say with full confidence that trisagion is better than brimstone, now that trisag deals knockback. unbelievable

[Ipepemypants]

Originally posted by PreLife:

through this number crunching, I’ve learned that brimstone is dead onion that costs two hp, and that you are statistically better off taking bozo over brimstone, both for hp and damage potential. proves how aggressive nerfing old items was while completely disregarding balance for the new ones


bonus: you can now say with full confidence that trisagion is better than brimstone, now that trisag deals knockback. unbelievable

You are forgetting that brimstone also has infinite range and instantly hits its target.
Brimstone also has lots of stupid good synergies especially as of repentance.
(To give you two examples chocolate milk+proptosis+brimstone allowed me to melt through dogma and the ultra horsemen and haemo+cursed eye+ lead pencil + brim fills the entire screen with brimstone lasers which is as good as you would expect it to be)
Now if we look at dead onion's wiki page we can see that most of the time it either gets overridden or it results in an anti-synergy which reduces it to only being really useful with items that benefit from lower shot speed.

And trisagion is definitely not better than brimstone lol.
All it takes is one or two shot speed ups (which is 15% of the boss room item pool) and it becomes a damage down (lets not forget that repentance added shot speed pills which makes taking pills even more of a gamble if you have this item).
It also doesn't have many insta-win synergies except for like homing i guess.

[SandTag]

Originally posted by Blind, the Bound Demon:

Originally posted by waterhorn:

Only one item got unfairly nerfed and that's Maw of the Void

Kinda don't agree. Before Maw had an insane rate of black heart drop and also gave an additional damage up.
Black hearts are supposed to be rare, so no surprise most of black heart generation items got nerfed.
Also that dmg up was reduntant, since the ring dealt an insane amount of damage anyway.
Even with these nerfs, Maw is an insane dps upgrade and I would always take it if I saw it, unless it would kill me.

While I disagree with your opinion, I fully respect it. I don't want you to change yours, just wanted to point out my arguments.

for a two heart DD item? get a grip.

[WitchAmy]

Originally posted by SandTag:

Originally posted by Blind, the Bound Demon:

Kinda don't agree. Before Maw had an insane rate of black heart drop and also gave an additional damage up.
Black hearts are supposed to be rare, so no surprise most of black heart generation items got nerfed.
Also that dmg up was reduntant, since the ring dealt an insane amount of damage anyway.
Even with these nerfs, Maw is an insane dps upgrade and I would always take it if I saw it, unless it would kill me.

While I disagree with your opinion, I fully respect it. I don't want you to change yours, just wanted to point out my arguments.

for a two heart DD item? get a grip.

For me it's a reasonable price for a significant dps up.

[SandTag]

Add "bug that resets all of your achievement timestamps" to the list of reasons why this dlc is ♥♥♥♥, no idea what caused it.