Repentance has destroyed the soul of Isaac

[kyoshilonehearted]

This is going to be a long rant so bear with me. I wanted to give all of my thoughts at once since I'm done with this game. Isaac has always been one of my favorite games ever, I've put hundreds of hours into it and for me says a hell of a lot. It was always one of those games where I could boot it up, see what wacky stuff can happen and have fun. Repentance has completely destroyed that and it seems that was the intention. Edmund basically looked at most of us who play the game to have fun and told us to go ♥♥♥♥ ourselves. Most of this will be from the perspective of playing on *normal*, because hard mode is so artificially difficult now that there is no point.

Immediately, I want to bring up my main issue that many don't bring up in critique discussion: Repentance has turned this game into an ungodly tedious, disrespectful slap to my time. On top of all the other problems which I will get to, Repentance has taken many steps too far into becoming an absolute chore. I did feel that regular runs had become tedious after hundreds of hours, that is why I eventually started playing Greed mode primarily. So now the answer to the main mode becoming tedious is to add in more chores and busywork to access the new content. Many of the new areas, enemies and bosses are so overdesigned that dealing with them actually feels like a grind and getting to the new lower areas is such a pain in the ♥♥♥♥ that having to restart feels more soul crushing than ever before and you better not miss any of those areas by accident or you can say goodbye to seeing the new content. On top of all of THAT, now you have to get the knife pieces every time if you want to fight mother. Boring sidequests that become such a slog after you've seen it 5 times or even less.

This isn't helped at all by the nerfs many of us already know about. Instead of just letting us have our damn fun, now all of us have to suffer and claw our way through the game, hoping and begging we get something that is even remotely interesting. Ed says this is all part of a "new meta". News flash Eddy: I don't give a flying ♥♥♥♥ about some "meta" ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥. This isn't Overwatch, this isn't some hardcore fighting game made for tournament play. I am not some stupid Twitch streamer or some screaming Youtuber making way too much money by acting like a moron while playing video games. This is a game that had a massive appeal because of its wackiness and synergy potential. It has been said by many, breaking the game was more than half the fun and it wasn't like you were guaranteed to break the game each time. Even non-breaking synergies could still be fun because at least many items were viable in some capacity. That is all gone. Instead of "every run being the same" as Ed seems to think it was, now, every run is the same, but in the opposite direction. Now every run consists of struggling endlessly, obtaining trash items along the way and maybe one that will seem decent. Any synergies that were once fun to see are now window dressing. You better have good health and damage though because the upcoming boss fights will absolutely destroy you, so the reliance on crucial things is more apparent than ever, but apparently this was all to mold a new "meta", by restricting the playfield even more. Great.

If the entire point was to "add more challenge" by nuking the fun elements of the game, here's how you do that and Ed doesn't even have to do any work: You as the player choose to not pick up items that will break your run. Boom, problem solved. The most hardcore of hardcore players keep the challenge intact and the rest of us still get to have fun. Instead, this DLC might as well be renamed to "Edmund's No Fun Zone". This wouldn't bother me as much if it wasn't for the aforementioned tedious slog the game has now become. If I didn't have to trudge through the mines and all that garbage and getting the knife pieces over and over while constantly getting meaningless items, maybe I could put up with this stuff slightly more. Instead I now get punched in the face for wanting to continue to enjoy the game as I did before. You know what game does difficulty near perfectly? Dark Souls, the first one. In that game, you actively choose how hard you want the game to be via your build. At no point is your hand forced to play a certain way to get through it. You can be a super hardcore player with a Deprived run or you can grind and go full poise tank boi. All is valid and that makes the game so good. Repentance is basically if the Artorias DLC completely nerfed 90% of builds, weapons and so on in Dark Souls, for the sake of creating a new "meta" that almost nobody asked for. Judging by Ed's Twitter responses from when the DLC released, it is clear as day that he is high off of his own fumes and wants to dictate how we the players have fun, as in stripping most of the fun out and not replacing it with anything. There's no new modes to play, nothing substantial. Just artificial difficulty at every step, once useful items being thrown into a grinder and a bunch of characters that, from what I have seen, are all more gimmicky characters for even more difficulty, just what I always wanted. I haven't unlocked most of them, but I can't even bring myself to care anymore. For hard mode, take everything I've said here and multiply it by 4.

Let me make this clear: The difficulty is NOT my main problem. My main problems are the absolute sludge the game has become to play and the anti-fun mentality that Edmund has taken. There were plenty of ways for people to make their own anti-fun but since that has been forced onto the rest of us and after hours upon hours of going through this DLC with nothing gained, Isaac as a whole has been ruined for me. I just can't bring myself to care about it and that is what bothers me the most. This was a game that I would always boot up if I felt indecisive on what to play. It was my go to for a quick fun time to see what happens. Now, I know exactly what happens; Boredom and nothing interesting that worth the time wasted. If I wanted an endless punch in the ♥♥♥♥ for nothing gained, I would simply go out and continue *life*. If I wanted a constant reminder that nothing I do or obtain matters, I would look outside. I don't need a game that I once loved now drive me ever closer to my eventual suicide. To clarify, I actually own this game on Xbox so mods are not an option for me, but I wanted to get my thoughts out there regardless. If you are able to find fun from this DLC, good on you, honestly I envy you more than anything. I wish I could still enjoy it all but that ship has sailed.

I've probably missed something else I wanted to say but that's me rant. With this, I am closing the book on the Binding of Isaac. Lot's of great memories made and that's all I have left with the game.

[TamanduaGirl]

You should probably seek some mental help to avoid that suicide, especially since you are at the point that a game is such a large trigger for you. You wouldn't walk on a broken leg. You wouldn't ignore the warning lights on the car and drive it till it is destroyed. Why ignore the blaring alarms coming from your mental health?

If you don't know where to start or think you can't afford it, this video can be helpful. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fXsfSAJ5AQk

[kyoshilonehearted]

Originally posted by TamanduaGirl:

You should probably seek some mental help to avoid that suicide, especially since you are at the point that a game is such a large trigger for you. You wouldn't walk on a broken leg. You wouldn't ignore the warning lights on the car and drive it till it is destroyed. Why ignore the blaring alarms coming from your mental health?

If you don't know where to start or think you can't afford it, this video can be helpful. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fXsfSAJ5AQk

I appreciate the sentiment, I'm just not doing so great anymore, my mental health has always been shaky at best and these days it is a never ending train wreck. Being a diagnosed anxiety ridden, diagnosed autistic, no life doesn't help.

I guess the reason why the game (and other things) hits me to my core so hard now is, well, in every other aspect of my life everything I do is for nothing, mostly just endless futility. Gaming is one of the only things that I can feel like I am actually making some kind of difference in any capacity, as sad as that is. Isaac was always one of my favorites and now the game only reminds me of what the rest of my life reminds me of on a daily basis.

Obviously this is a tad odd to discuss in such a place, but apparently mental health is a theme of Isaac so it weirdly fits.

[squat_instructor]

Recent reviews: 82% positive
All time: 77% positive

[ÆRGØ]

I dont get it. Maybe because I only bought the game in december? I played the first binding of isaac to 100% and intend to do the same with this game. I am having lots of fun with it.

[some]

i feel like your issue is mostly pointed toward repantance so why dont you just uninstall the dlc and start a new save from afterbirth or rebirth i dont know if the nerf were made in those version too and even if they are ,just find a ver 1.0 of rebirth in kickass or the piratebay i wont judge you since you bought the game already... after all games are just pixel on a screen nothing more nothing less

[HeraldOfOpera]

Originally posted by squat_instructor:

Recent reviews: 82% positive
All time: 77% positive

I don't know off the top of my head what Steam thinks "recent" means but it's been like a year or something so your argument is probably valid.

[TamanduaGirl]

Originally posted by kyoshilonehearted:

I appreciate the sentiment, I'm just not doing so great anymore, my mental health has always been shaky at best and these days it is a never ending train wreck. Being a diagnosed anxiety ridden, diagnosed autistic, no life doesn't help.

I guess the reason why the game (and other things) hits me to my core so hard now is, well, in every other aspect of my life everything I do is for nothing, mostly just endless futility. Gaming is one of the only things that I can feel like I am actually making some kind of difference in any capacity, as sad as that is. Isaac was always one of my favorites and now the game only reminds me of what the rest of my life reminds me of on a daily basis.

Obviously this is a tad odd to discuss in such a place, but apparently mental health is a theme of Isaac so it weirdly fits.

I understand the feeling that's how I got hooked to Isaac myself but I only started playing after repentance so I've not felt the effects of any major changes. Game breaking combos are definitely still there, or I'd not have beat mom's heart as the lost. When I fist got it and played it and died a lot I thought I made a mistake but then I kept playing and making progress with unlocks and that feels great.

But I do also understand the feeling when creative choices ruin something you loved when they don't mesh with your ideals. So I agree the best thing to do right now is take a break and walk away. Then maybe in the future you can play it without the DLC once it's less raw or maybe even retry with the DLC eventually.

I'd still also recommenced getting back into some therapy. You can find the right fit for you that can help teach you coping mechanism that will work for you. It's not easy but the effort put in can pay off and have you feeling better about things.

[abisalspider]

I'll never understand how people found "run between two rooms for 60 minutes and then steamroll every boss upon entering the door" fun after the first five or so times. Yeah, figuirng out a trick to break the game the fist time is kinda cool, but the actual process of Breakfasting Isaac was almost always just a chore. Might as well just open the game console and give yourself all the items at that point (and you can still do that, btw).

Grabbing the knife pieces is pretty exciting in comparison (not with Jacob and Essau, but it is with most other characters). The problem with the Knife is that it just sucks power level wise. If it was a second Mom's Knife, and there was something cool/unique in the Corpse, then I wouldn't mind subjecting myself to the Mines every run.

The Dark Souls comparison seems really stupid too. You can cheese the game as Azazel or Tainted Cain or suffer as Tainted Jacob or Tainted Lost in TBoI. The Frampt trick to farm infinite souls in Dark Souls 1 was removed and THAT would be the equivalent of breaking the game in Isaac.

Not that I think Repentance was perfect (Devil Room needs a buff, Placebo/Blank Card interactions that dont break the game like the teleports were unnecessarily nerfed and should be buffed back, there are still 40 or so items in the game that I feel still need a buff, Mines and the Corpse are too hard and not worthwhile, Greed Mode and Delirium werent fixed and they were ****ing bad in Afterbirth and are even worse now) but the Beast WAS the most fun I've had with Isaac since Wrath of the Lamb, I enjoyed all the new Challenges, and the Tainted characters easily doublled the amount of time I had spent in the game.

[gurrt]

bro... my ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ god

[Brig Lig Smoke]

just read it, and if you think repentance is so bad.... why don't you just uninstall it...?


if you don't want to unisntall it however, just keep playing it until you eventually get good at the game, then, you won't have to rely so much on broken items to win

[MarcoPants]

Bro just uninstall/disable Repentance if you hate it that much

Also a tldr would be much appreciated

[Spark7979]

Originally posted by HeraldOfOpera:

Originally posted by squat_instructor:

Recent reviews: 82% positive
All time: 77% positive

I don't know off the top of my head what Steam thinks "recent" means but it's been like a year or something so your argument is probably valid.

That's not even a bloody argument.

OP there are mods out there which make the game less of a slog you know? Mods that reverse the nerfs. You can always cheat to unlock what you want hell that's what I did, ain't got time to grind like a nerd. I think your opinions are totally valid. The grind does suck, but it doesn't have to be this way.

[UwU]

Originally posted by Spark7979:

Originally posted by HeraldOfOpera:

I don't know off the top of my head what Steam thinks "recent" means but it's been like a year or something so your argument is probably valid.

That's not even a bloody argument.

OP there are mods out there which make the game less of a slog you know? Mods that reverse the nerfs. You can always cheat to unlock what you want hell that's what I did, ain't got time to grind like a nerd. I think your opinions are totally valid. The grind does suck, but it doesn't have to be this way.

Next time read the whole post first, before suggesting something stupid that OP already said he can't do

[Spark7979]

Originally posted by UwU:

Originally posted by Spark7979:

That's not even a bloody argument.

OP there are mods out there which make the game less of a slog you know? Mods that reverse the nerfs. You can always cheat to unlock what you want hell that's what I did, ain't got time to grind like a nerd. I think your opinions are totally valid. The grind does suck, but it doesn't have to be this way.

Next time read the whole post first, before suggesting something stupid that OP already said he can't do

I'm not gonna read all that lol. Is he on console or something?

[UwU]

Originally posted by Spark7979:

Originally posted by UwU:

Next time read the whole post first, before suggesting something stupid that OP already said he can't do

I'm not gonna read all that lol. Is he on console or something?

Commenting without reading...
Yes, xbox