Tainted Lost Greedier Mode Is Bad

[Blants]

I'll admit right off the bat that I'm bad at this game, I don't know if I just have the reflexes of a 90 year old man or something, but I die a lot in it. I'll often blunder into avoidable projectiles, or deflect charging enemies into my own path, so I'm really not expecting to be handed a free win every time I play the game. I do have all the other completion marks for Tainted Lost, which I honestly didn't find bad at all (even Delirium), and I have the Greedier marks for the other characters, but Greedier mode for Tainted Lost is really something else.

Tainted Lost Greedier mode is one of the worst things I think I've ever experienced in this game, and a close contender for worst thing I've ever experienced in any game. It's just so frustrating and devoid of joy that I can't believe this is in a final product of anything.

The Tainted Lost character I think is a fine idea, that maybe needs a little tweaking to be less annoying, but overall works in a "glass cannon that can become completely busted and sweep the game like no other" sense, but in Greedier mode the upsides to this character are minimised, alongside his downsides being upscaled so you are left just struggling for any reprieve. It strays from "Tough but fair" to "really tough, but still kind of fair" to "Nah, just ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥".

Let's just get down to the main issue, the fact that you can die randomly to unavoidable attacks just creates so many "wow, this sucks" moments that it doesn't even feel like a game anymore. I'm basically just rolling the dice every time hoping that I get a series of items capable of wiping out enemies fast enough that they don't pose a threat to me, and also that none of them spawn directly on top of me, or just offscreen so they can cheapshot me with an attack that gives me a fraction of a second to register its existence before it's yet another game over.

This game mode also just flat out lacks the survivability to account for the Tainted Lost's playstyle. You will lose your shield in a dumb moment, and there are so few ways of obtaining a new one that you will get hit again and die. Your only hopes are the store selling cards and having one pop up after wasting a bunch of money on literally useless cards (wow, thanks for the 2 of Hearts, Queen of Hearts, Hanged Man and The World), or lucking out and getting an activated item that can mitigate some of the attacks that will fly your way (i.e book of the dead).

If I play the game cautiously, I lose money, which minimises my ability to empower myself or restore my defenses throughout the game. I'm not against that idea, but when I pretty much have no option but to play cautiously in a run where I'm not blessed with enough damage to eliminate troublesome enemies (mostly flies and spiders) fast enough in the first couple of floors, then I'm being punished for not being lucky enough for a chance to play the game properly. I'm not really able to balance my decision making between "Do I take the risk here?", if I'm too underpowered through no fault of my own, the choice is either "play cautiously or you will definitely get overwhelmed and die".

The real salt in the wound here is that I almost beat this stupid completion mark, I beat both forms of Ultra Greed, but somehow died during his death animation and didn't get anything. I wouldn't be too annoyed about that if the rate to getting to the end game was somewhat reasonable, but it isn't. I've got 277 losses in a row here, and only one time have I ever made it to the boss. Every other time I've had a powerful build, I've just been sniped by an offscreen attack from an enemy I didn't know existed, had a big enemy jiggle all over me or had something spawn on top of me without an escape route in the 0.5 seconds I have to formulate one.

You could say that this is a big whiny post because I suck at the game, and in a lot of ways it is. If there's anyone who needs to "git gud", it's me. I'm just tired of this mode feeling so busted and unfair, even in comparison to all the other busted and unfair things that are basically holding the game together at this point.

Maybe I am just playing it wrong, so if you have any advice for how to play this game mode without dying instantly, I'd be more than happy to hear it.

[SomehowIManage]

lavencas, one of the better youtubers, had a -60 winstreak until gettiing the completion mark for greedier as t. lost. just try and grind through until you get a good set of items. and even then... good luck.

[Blants]

Cool to know that Plan C DOES NOT WORK ON ULTRA GREEDIER. What an absolute joke. This is the second time I've killed this boss, and neither of them have counted.

[squat_instructor]

at the end of the day Greed is very susceptible to breaking so you can go for that and try to get something like Spindown Dice to be able to obtain otherwise banned items or something like Book of Shadows + 4.5 Volt for infinite invulnerability. You can also commit to a 2h T.Cain run with Clicker and roll yourself into T.Lost before the final fight

[ploeppsel605]

what I do in both greed and greedier is I only go for discount items unless it's something crucial (for tainted lost something like blank card/holy mantel etc.). This gives you twice the amount off items you would get normally with the downside beeing it's more rng based but trust me it's worth it. Keep your holy card untill you get blank card or book of shadows (if you don't feel you'll get those just use it to not lose the run immidiatly). Also try to avoid to many enemys in the room so pushing that button early can be pretty usefull. With plan C you need something like birthright to work on ultra greed because it's death animation takes to long if I'm not mistaken

[randomguy]

why are you playing any form of greed mode if you expect fair or fun

[kone]

I love Tainted Lost on the regular path but yea, here is a nightmare. After seeing the OP I went to take it on without breaking the game. After a handful of attempts to win its clear you have to play very forcefully and not play defensively.

Obtain good damage/dps items early to fight every wave for max money with less time building up hordes. Never risk money on cards and if you get hit early, might as well kill the run. Enter every devil room since Mom's Knife, Damocles, Brimstone and Legemeton are x factors and you might see at least one of them in the run. Consider every single possibility for the run and never spend money on a weak familiar, 15 cent non-dps boss item or even most offensive active items. Pump every coin into 7 cent sale items and reroll when it's something undesirable. You can also D20 + Greed Mode break the game as an option to just get this done. D6, Flip, Spindown Dice, C Section, Tech X and Anima Sola for Ultra Greed also put the run in a significant advantage state.

This gamemode with this character is really, really rough the more I think about it. The stars have to align even more depending on your skill level.

[Luna]

tainted lost greedier took the second most deaths out of any mark so yea this one sucks

(first was tainted eve delirium but maybe its bc i never understood the character)

[Blants]

Originally posted by randomguy:

why are you playing any form of greed mode if you expect fair or fun

I honestly found Greed/ier mode to be kind of fun for all the other characters. I don't think there was anything exceptionally unfair or unreasonable outside of the general lameness that entails Greedier mode's premise (oh wow, less money, more annoying enemies and an extra boss sure is fun game design), but I've just found Tainted Lost to be just total garbage.

I've found slightly more luck actually buying cards than other people are suggesting when fishing for another Holy Card. Obviously I'm less than qualified to give advice on the matter, but a card like Strength, Devil or Magician can give you enough killing power to get through a floor's worth of waves, and I find that the game is usually "swingy" enough that getting through a single floor and getting a single powerful item is enough to get you a lot further.

I've also NEVER seen the Blank Card or Book of Shadows as Tainted Lost in Greedier. I've used both in the regular gamemode, but never in Greedier.

[Blants]

Alright, if you all wanted some good news for the year 2022, I've completed this challenge. I lucked out and found the blank card towards the end of the run and was able to find a holy card. I had okay damage (~9), twisted pair, conjoined, whatever the "hold 2 spacebar items" item is, a book of telepathy, the "recharge when you deal damage" thing and this mode was still absolute ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥. This whole SERIOUSLY needs fixing to be even remotely viable to play.

Here are some ideas:
1. Stop enemies from spawning on top of the player at the start of waves. Surely it can't be too hard to just check where the player is positioned when a wave starts, and blacklist some formations of enemies from spawning

2. Fix all the jumping/charging enemies that can blindside you from offscreen, and enemies that behave erratically like the spiders that usually run away from you to lay the spider-generating sacks, but will sometimes freak out and skitter all over you with no warning and usually after you've chased them down and have been hosing them with tears for 10 seconds when your attention span is waning so they'll hit you mid-yawn while whittling down the healthbar of a champion one that will split into 2 more after it dies.

3. Decrease the amount of enemies that spawn in the first floor. I have no idea why you get 1.5x as many enemies compared to all the following floors. It's insane.

4. Don't spawn high level enemies in the first floor. Similar to the previous point, but do we need champion versions of the flaming meat/ham enemies gating in to screw you over? It's really dumb.

5. Add a fun hat for the character to wear. I don't really think this would help anyone, but it would at least make the mode more enjoyable

[Luna]

Originally posted by Blants:

3. Decrease the amount of enemies that spawn in the first floor. I have no idea why you get 1.5x as many enemies compared to all the following floors. It's insane.

they already did this but yea lowering the enemies even more would be nice

[Demabel]

Tainted Lost Greedier Mode is so OP. Sometimes tou have 3 holy card in a row and have so nice item without useless h-up forever.