Tell me, i'm not an idiot please.

[Nomestronzo19]

I bought this game recently obv, i know its hard and it has a lot of stuff in it if you count dlcs ( i have all) but its normal for a new player NOT being able to complete even a single run? 16 games i cant finish a game LMAO. seriously talking, any suggestions?

[❤NYXIC❤]

yeah, this happened to me in ab+ when i started as well, and repentance also made the game harder if i'm not wrong as well.

[Nazemec]

Originally posted by Nomestronzo19:

16 games i cant finish a game

Seems pretty normal.
Focus on dodging. Not getting hit is better than hurting other things.
Learn monsters' patterns and behaviour, and therefore how to manipulate them.

[goldfischbrain]

no worries, this is a hard game. I agree with Nazemec: try getting to know the enemies` attack patterns, that makes it easier. (btw I had a 20+ losing streak just today, so yuh, that's completely normal. don't let it frustrate you)

[Luna]

yep thats normal i lost almost 60 runs in a row once

[Nazemec]

Oh, by the way, to be sure: do not use any mod for now, whatever they do. They prevent unlocks if used before unlocking the Womb (= first won run).

[dinosaurPolitician]

yes actually! i was ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ abysmal when i started, you'll get better with practice. most runs will end poorly, that's what the reset button is for :P

[Nylocinder]

Yeah when you're learning how to play the game it's often really frustrating because there's just so much stuff to know and the only way to figure it out is by experience or by searching it up. When I first started playing I had already played wrath of the lamb so it wasn't as difficult as a jump but even after months of playing and hundreds of hours I still tend to lose more than 50% of runs.

I think that it's particularly helpful to search up what items do or even install an item description mod since it aids significantly in the confusion that comes with not having the prior knowledge that is built upon experience. I'd recommend this mod (don't worry it's not cheating it just provides information that's all) however it's important to note that if you haven't finished a run you may not be able to get it to work since mods require you to beat mom if you want to unlock things with them on.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=836319872

Now how I got into isaac was through watching youtube videos. I've found that even just watching other people play can prove very useful for learning how things work especially in regards to fighting enemies or bosses. I would steer clear of watching modded content though since it can be a lot different than repentance. It's probably best if you watch unedited runs of someone playing on a new save file. That way the game is near identical to what you're playing.

If you're just not interested in watching youtube though then here are probably the most important things I've learned:
- As a newer player you tend to focus on health more than damage. You'll find the greatest success in runs where you get a balance between health, damage, and tear modifiers
- Some runs you just get unlucky, don't blame yourself for losing all the time. You've gotta give credit where credit is due though, a win is a win even if it's an easier run
- Trust me, it's a lot easier to play when you're level headed. When you get tilted from losing again and again you just start to make stupid mistakes. Try taking a break every once in a while if you start to get frustrated
- Don't be afraid to take as long as you like to finish a floor. If you're looking to win it's worth your time to utilize all of the resources available to you. Take every item from every item room, buy things from shops if you need them, carry pills and cards with you even if you don't need them at the moment. You might not want to take damage from spike and curse rooms though
- More about cards and pills, cards always have the same effects which are summarized as a note underneath their name when picking them up. They're best utilized when you know what they do before you use them, so check what it's effects are in case you don't know. Pills on the other hand are randomized at the start of each run but each color will always have the same effect for the rest of that run. Generally speaking though pills are much more risky then cards since they can provide instantaneous advantages but can also give.. disadvantages. You may want to avoid using pills due to how random they can be
- Tinted rocks are special kinds of rocks that give you rewards when you blow them up like soul hearts, chests and more bombs. They are slightly different in color as the rest of the rocks and have an X mark on them. Search them up
- Secret rooms are special rooms that can be found when bombing certain walls with specific conditions. They can have all kinds of different stuff in them. Search them up also
- Turning on the map, found HUD, and bullet visibility can help you keep track of important stuff that's going on in the game. If it's in the settings then take advantage of it as you please

But most of all, you will improve the more that you play, no matter how hopeless it may seem at the start it's just like learning an instrument. You will learn things as you go and it's up to you to pay attention to patterns and key pieces of knowledge that make the game easier. You will see success as long as you put forth the effort. It may be tonight that you get your first win, it may be next week, but when it finally happens it's those moments of relief that make this game worthwhile. Good luck, friend!!!

[Senator Jim Death]

There's a pretty heavy experience component to playing Isaac, really. Things that are minor and old hat to veteran players (which enemies do a whole heart of contact damage, or which ones shoot homing shots, or which ones will unexpectedly move right at you) are pretty important for the new player to get to learn; I think it's probably "oops" style enemy damage that wears down the new player ("oops, forgot that guy jumps right at me" "oops, forgot that guy drops a troll bomb when he dies" "oops, didn't remember red fires shoot at you" etc.). That, and meeting bosses you haven't fought often or at all, since pattern observation isn't always easy in this game depending on your speed and how predictable the particular boss's patterns are. Most enemy attack tells happen pretty quickly, too, and so, for instance, you'll probably get hit a lot clearing out one of those lines of spitting head things until you can get a feel for about how quickly they'll shoot and how close you can get when clearing them out.

The problem is that the durable way to learn those things is, really, by encountering them over and over again, which means just grinding along failing over and over until one day you don't. That means just playing a lot of Isaac, which I certainly encourage you to do. Some of the things you just have to get a feel for, rather than being able to learn ahead of time.

Then there are the YASD types of deaths that players of almost any skill can bumble into: walking into a curse room without enough health to get back out again, or sacrificing all your health buffer trying to win an item from devil bums and getting killed before you can build it back up, or picking up an item that makes your shots explosive when you aren't comfortable with aiming, or getting the Curse of the Tower or Bob's Brain when you're not prepared for them, etc. etc.

I imagine it's easy for a new player to look at all the stuff there is to learn and get overwhelmed. It's probably best to just play and learn things as you go. It might not hurt to look up exactly what a given trinket, item, or card (or whatever) does right before (or after) you get it, if you want to save yourself some time. Not knowing exactly what some unfamiliar thing does is kind of the quintessential Isaac learning experience, but if you aren't in the mindset for dealing with that kind of obscurity it can get frustrating pretty quick. That's all up to you and how comfortable you are with maybe not knowing exactly why something is happening. I've played quite a bit of Isaac and I still have those "hold on, what just exploded on me" moments.

[The Renderer]

It is very normal. The main reason is that you have to get used to the enemies and what they do so you can successfully fight them without getting hit too often. It just takes a little practice.

[ViridianZe]

Ive been playing since it's release when i was younger so i know not of these struggles but i would suggest learning the mobs you fight against as you fight them they all do the same patterns usually and given time you will pick it up

[E3kHatena]

As you play, three things are gonna happen:

-You'll learn the patterns the more common enemies use and how to avoid their attacks

-You'll learn the game's quirks and design language and begin to figure out where hidden rooms and other secrets lie, as well as which items to avoid and which ones to pick up.

-You'll unlock new items and characters for completing achievements, which in turn can help you unlock more things.

These three things will help you build momentum over your first few hours, and soon enough you'll be hot on your way to beating Mom and unlocking new final chapters. You have to stick with it to get up to that point though.

While also not fully in the spirit of the game (and obviously not helpful if you also play Isaac on consoles), if you have the DLC, there are a decent handful of assist and quality-of-life mods on the Steam workshop that can make the game easier; things like external item descriptions, reworks on the boss armor system and item rebalances, and new items and characters.

[dinosaurPolitician]

seconding everyone's recommendations for you to use External Item Descriptions. It's a wonderful quality of life mod that I personally rely on whenever I play!

[HeraldOfOpera]

Originally posted by dinosaurPolitician:

seconding everyone's recommendations for you to use External Item Descriptions. It's a wonderful quality of life mod that I personally rely on whenever I play!

Meanwhile, I'm seconding the guy who pointed out that this locks all achievements unless you've won at least one unmodded run.

[Craig]

It takes a while before things start to click. Unlocks will makes things progressively more manageable as well.

[Σ-ZEZ]

Git Gud, sissy