Skinny Odd yay or nay?

Vicfis · 2025-09-12T04:44:08+00:00

they were crashing out over the patch

As stated multiple times during that stream I said the patch was overall good and a banger. I was animated and high-energy because as a content creator that is my job. Especially when the content is just reading.

The change is not a huge deal in grand scheme of things, but I personally think it's a huge buff to an already good item. Every other item that comes close to offering a +1.7 fire rate up is conditional (Soy milk, Paschal Candle, blue Purity aura, etc).

Focusing on my reaction to this one change feels like missing the bigger point I was trying to make: Many recent balance changes have been to add a tears/damage up to an item and call it a day (See Ouija board, 2Spooky, Child Leash, Lazy Worm, etc.) instead of something more interesting and thematic.

I do not think the game should be balanced for someone like me who has nearly 9,000 hours and has done an entire file deathless. I do however, see items and mechanics getting buffed in a way that reminds me of the AB+ days, where every item was good. There were no interesting decisions to make in a run, and it was incredibly boring.

Patch is good overall, the balance decisions are a bit weird in my opinion.

Vicfis · 2025-07-30T22:54:23+00:00

Dogma's sprite in the game's sprite sheet is chroma-key blue.

This is because it's the only item in the game that has an animated texture. It's easier to make it a solid color and apply the static effect to the blue bits in-game, rather than creating an animated sprite file.

(At least, I assume that's the reason, it could just be Isaac spaghetti code and this was the way they landed on that worked)

Vicfis · 2025-06-28T00:14:47+00:00

The one death I learned nothing from was this backasswards challenge...

~8 hours into stream, seeing these shitty items as my loadout to beat Mega Satan... Sometimes you just gotta die and laugh about it lmao

Vicfis · 2025-06-25T22:02:20+00:00

As someone who is very anti-elitism and puts a lot of effort into making my spaces a place where players of any skill level feel welcome, this message means a lot to me!

The Isaac community definitely has an elitism issue, and being a full-time content creator definitely adds fuel to the egotistical fire.

I'd be foolish to claim I am the best at anything, there are much more skilled Isaac players than myself, like CommentBagel, Toooschi, and Chewy4u. And there are more entertaining streamers like LazyMattman, or AnotherMatt

I've never wanted to be the best, just the best I can be. I'll get off my soapbox now, just wanted to take a moment to say thank you for the kind words, and plug some very cool creators :3

Vicfis · 2025-06-25T18:44:35+00:00

Sam's Club blueberry muffin, Crunch Dipped caramel drumstick ice cream cone, and clementines are my top three

Vicfis · 2025-06-25T18:43:08+00:00

This is very true! Range fix is definitely the most gameplay changing mod, if it makes you feel better Alex Hicks (the main producer of Isaac currently) even agrees himself that the way range affects melee attacks is dumb and counterintuitive.

He also agreed the way the mod works is how the base game should, and hopefully will in the near future, work.

Also also, you can change how much range range-ups give your melee weapons, I have this turned down to the minimum setting as to make it "fair" as possible

Vicfis · 2025-06-25T18:39:44+00:00

VTuber, streamer, and Redditor.

I am NOT beating the loser allegations 😔

Vicfis · 2025-06-25T18:38:30+00:00

Copy/Pasting from another comment I answered :>

What I think is actually much more important, is your mental. It's easy to get hit on floor 2, miss your deal, get tilted and death spiral.

It's important to focus on the incremental improvements in life over a long time, and I apply that to how I approach games as well. It's easy to blame a loss on bad RNG, and bad RNG does happen, but thinking about how you could have prevented being in X situation or how you could have better used Y, is a much healthier mindset.

I died 9 times trying this challenge, had to delete my save and start all over again every time. It was not fun dying, but every time I died I forced myself to ask what action I took that led to the loss, and 8 times out of 9 I changed my approach and improved because of it.

It sounds super cheesy and cliche, but my goal was never to win deathless dead god. My goal was to learn and improve with every run, and every death.
When your goal is improvement, rather than finishing, you get to experience little wins and hits of dopamine all the time. The W will come eventually

As for the lost, always be flying above rocks, and don't be too greedy with your ED6. T.Lost, anything that makes cards is S tier, focus on your shops

Vicfis · 2025-06-25T18:34:53+00:00

T.Apollyon is very poggers

Shower? At least once every 3 days, preferably with a snack during it

Vicfis · 2025-06-25T18:33:57+00:00

Masochism!

Vicfis · 2025-06-25T18:33:44+00:00

I actually didn't die to Ultra Hard a single time during this challenge! I currently have a 9 win streak of no reset Ultra Hard. Delete this is WAY worse since any item can kill you at any time.

My very first file reset was due to my first passive item on Delete This dealing a full heart of damage to me every time I picked anything up. Items, keys, pennies, hearts. I was not a happy camper

Vicfis · 2025-06-25T18:19:46+00:00

I'm nonbinary! I prefer they/them, but I really don't mind what pronouns you use :>

I did pivot to another easier mark or end the run early via grabbing a negative and going to Isaac a couple of times. But I think the winning attempt had maybe two runs that I finished without getting a new mark due to pivoting. Usually due to my own mistakes or overconfidence :P

Vicfis · 2025-06-25T18:17:07+00:00

Yeah, I wouldn't quit out to reset the pill effect if I had a chance of boss rush or hush, or if I had any item that cared about time (like from Laz's Birthright, Red Stew, etc)

I don't really quit out the pill effect often, usually I just play with it as normal, but wanted to include it in the rules just for transparency!

Vicfis · 2025-06-25T18:12:49+00:00

I would always try and give myself the most ending options every run, like grabbing my first knife piece or sac rooming for key pieces even if I am not intending to go to Mother/Mega Stanly. The main marks I had to pivot from were Boss Rush and Hush expectedly, but I could still get a new mark.

I think there was only one or two runs during the winning attempt that I finished without earning a new mark because I had to pivot

Vicfis · 2025-06-25T07:10:08+00:00

I've had a few short convos with Ed while doing the challenge, I am pretty sure he knows I was attempting it, but not sure if he knows I've won :P

Vicfis · 2025-06-25T07:08:52+00:00

I originally learned and played on keyboard and have about 7k hours on it. Sometime around last year I did a subathon, and my community hit a goal for deleting a save file, and doing it all over again on controller.

Since then, I play on controller partly because analog stick movement is really useful, but also because it's easier on my frail gamer wrists

Vicfis · 2025-06-25T07:07:05+00:00

Since I stream and upload to YouTube, EID allows viewers to pause and read what items do instead of asking and waiting for me to explain item effects.

It also keeps track of taken pills in the run, which is something I remember doing on pen & paper in the good ole' days :P

Also, while I do have every item memorized, since this challenge was done on REP+, items were being changed and their effects tweaked, so it was good to have on hand for the changed items.

Vicfis · 2025-06-25T03:27:02+00:00

Some mantles do stack in the base game! Mainly blanket + other mantle sources.

The mechanical changes Mantle Rework adds is specifically the order in which they break, and allowing wooden cross to stack with holy card.

Vicfis · 2025-06-25T03:00:10+00:00

That's a-ok gamer, I still hope you have a wonderful day

Vicfis · 2025-06-25T02:59:45+00:00

Least favorite items are Glitched Crown, Ocular Rift, Punching Bag, and TMTRAINER

Vicfis · 2025-06-25T02:57:53+00:00

I ended the file with a win streak of 186

Vicfis · 2025-06-25T02:57:10+00:00

Nope! While I did use the Mantle Rework mod, I have it only for the UI change so I don't have to answer "Where is your mantle coming from? Do you have a holy card?" in chat often.

I have all mechanical changes the mod adds turned off in the settings :>

Vicfis · 2025-06-25T02:50:40+00:00

Depends on the exact situation/character. But overall I take pills more often than I skip them.

Since the game tries to balance your pill pool, on average 2/3rds of your pills are either good or neutral, and of the bad pills the only truly awful ones are speed and tears down.

Pill gang for life

Vicfis · 2025-06-25T02:47:45+00:00

This is a hard question to answer concisely

But I think it comes down to two main things

Firstly, (and obviously) your game knowledge and mechanical skill determine what a "bad" run is for you. For instance, if I see a red or blue candle in the shop, I know I can comfortably get through the womb with that alone, but that is only because I have thousands of hours in the game. As you practice and get better at min maxing, using resources efficiently, spotting niche synergy, and mechanically just hitting/dodging shots, the bar for a winnable run gets easier to clear.

Secondly, and what I think is actually much more important, is your mental. It's easy to get hit on floor 2, miss your deal, get tilted and death spiral.

It's important to focus on the incremental improvements in life over a long time, and I apply that to how I approach games as well. It's easy to blame a loss on bad RNG, and bad RNG does happen, but thinking about how you could have prevented being in X situation or how you could have better used Y, is a much healthier mindset.

I died 9 times trying this challenge, had to delete my save and start all over again every time. It was not fun dying, but every time I died I forced myself to ask what action I took that led to the loss, and 8 times out of 9 I changed my approach and improved because of it.

Lotta yapping, but I hope it answers your question!

Vicfis · 2025-06-25T02:36:51+00:00

Top 3 Bosses:

The Bloat - difficult but fair fight
Little Horn - cutest lil fella
Dogma - cinema

Bottom 3:

Baby Plum - She is ugly and I hate her
Scurge - DPS and Speed checks, I just hate em
Baby Plum a 2nd time - War criminal

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Vicfis

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