Yes, but why? There is absolutely some people that love to waste days and days of their life to get resources to build the same building over and over with small differences, but most people, at best, can only do that once or twice per week before they get nauseating with it. Yes, players like to make their own goals, but there must exist reasons for those goals. That's the job of the developers. On the contrary, the Minecraft developers seem to love to make objectives obsolete. For example, the best foods need to be cook and to cook fuel was needed, but since they introduced the campfire there's no more need to use fuel to cook. They took out something that made the players work for resources. Another example of parasitic design was the caves and clifs update. Before someone needed to mine to get underground resources and explore to get overword resources. Now we only need to explore to get both. Strip mining just disapheared.
@@arturferrao7353literally no one uses the campfires as intended, why lose time cooking specifically 4 meats per time if you can just put 64 of them in a furnace and do anything else while it its cooking?
@@zebos2432 You know you can have more than one campfire. Right? And a furnace can only cook one type of food at the same time. A campfire can cook four different types. Furthermore you can collect cooked itens with hoopers from the campfire. No need to wait.
I think the main quest has a strong place in the game... It's both a tutorial, and a gateway. It shows you all the dimensions, encourages you to learn all the basics, learn to fight and craft, and at the very end, it sets you loose with shulkers and wings to go create your own tales. In that light, the two do not have to conflict.
I find it really boring. Ok, getting wood, stone, iron, setting up farms, building your own farm and house is fantastic. I always go to the Nether - that far I go, but killing blazes and collecting ender pearls is the part that makes me feel too bored already.
instead of thinking it as "The Main Quest" its supposed to be thought as something you can do once you have done everything else, or as a way to get shulkers. Theres a reason that the youtubers beat the dragon in Hermitcraft within the first couple episodes. The end goal isn't to beat the dragon, it's to do whatever you want, that is the nature of a sandbox game.
I agree, but unfortunately most people, including Mojang themselves, consider the Ender Dragon to be the end of the game. It literally rolls the credits, bro. Everything else is just... optional side content. That's why Elytra and Shulkers are so game breakingly over powered and completely destroy the game balance, because they're intended as post-game features for after you've already done everything else that the game has to offer.
Ye I still prefer Vintage story for the same reason. Though it has a ton of things to search for in terms of a lore and a boss, it’s optionall as well and the main goal is to do whatever you want. What makes it better though is the fact that it has at least 20 times more sidequest type of activity so there is more reason to play longer and build bigger buildings in the meantime
But yes, without Notch and Minecraft, there would be no VS. It’s sad that Microsoft doesn’t progress minecraft as much as they could when even mc modders can do insane things in a really short amount of time. Speaking of contents worth of a whole update amount..
But there is a big difference between what CAN happen and what WILL happen, players follow incentives when playing any video game (video game developers even have to use incentives in order to encourage people to play their games) and we also tend to optimise those playing experiences for our convenience. As a result, people WILL frame the End as the end goal of Minecraft, they will travel the Overworld and Nether to get the resources needed to craft the Eyes of Ender to reach the stronghold, they will kill the Ender Dragon because that's the intended main goal of the game and also to get the post-end game gears and resources like Elytras, Shulker boxes and all the enchanted diamond and iron tools and armor pieces.
I've gotten many comments similar to this but I'll just respond to this one since it's got the most likes. Beating the dragon *does* present itself as the end of your playthrough, the dimension is called "The End" The credits roll after you beat the boss. Yes, the sandbox is still there, and it is likely more enjoyable if the ending is ignored, or seen as an incidental part of your journey. This, however, does not mean that the ending has no impact. People who remember the pre-1.0 days might be able to ignore it, but the game having an ending in the first place means that players will, no matter what, bring their assumptions and expectations from other linear games into survival mode. They will expect the journey to the end to be enjoyable, satisfying, and most of all, complete. But as I said in the video, this ending was implemented almost absent mindedly because the game needed some sort of ending to count as complete in Mojangs eyes. This meant that the game most people experience, has dissonant game design, the enjoyable experience of the sandbox is impeded by all the assumptions and expectations that are brought with an ending of any kind. If I continue much longer I'll just be repeating the script of the video so I'll just leave it at this. If seeing The End as an ending makes your experience worse, that isn't a flaw in someone thinking that The End is the end. It is a flaw in either the way The End presents itself, or the experience leading up to it, and as I talked about in the video, I think it's clear Mojang has been putting a lot of effort in the latter.
This is so accurate! I love this take of like “everything is working against everything in Minecraft” like everyone likes different things and wants different experiences from it. Like recently there was a thing like “why don’t all the unique drops from each side quest get added into the crafting recipe for the Ender Pearl?” Or the one mod that makes all the portal holes for the End Portal into unique Ender eyes that have to be found all over the different areas. I sort of love the idea of that, but SOOO MANY people were crying about how apparently annoying that was. It just goes to show that everyone’s got different flavors of stuff they like
My problem with that idea is that the Elytra and Shulker Boxes are so very useful, that locking them behind a ton of structure completion would feel quite bad. In my eyes, it would mean you'd have to do a ton of stuff before you can play the game freely. The End isn't just a sign-post saying "You did it!". I like Minecraft because if you want a certain resource, you can simply go and get it - if you want Prismarine, find an Ocean Monument. If you want the Mace, find a Trial Chamber.
@miimiiandco I agree, I literally have only beaten it like 1 time, since then ive never been incentivized to beat the ender dragon for the elytra. Ive never had it besides the one time and by the time I got it, to me it wasnt worth the effort. Its been years since then and every time I play I just find a sick place to base up, generally get an Idea or inspiration from something somewhere ingame like for example, i found a medium gaping hole that goes deep under ground from the surface so I turned it into a base over the hole with glass underneath and a stairway all the way down. Or my most recent, a pair of trees in snow that I manually combined into one thicky and made it into a tree house with the base going under and making thick roots for the under area. It just gets my creative juices flowing and I maintain focus until I generally am feeling accomplished and then stop for a while. Usually by the time I get diamond armor and wep, its usually the time I go in the nether then stop. The idea of having to craft tons of ender eyes or whatever their called to find the dungeon is so unappealing.
Well that would be objectively annoying. Minecraft is a sandbox, so the more player is forced to do something in specific way, the more it is coming against its very genre.
My sister is currently working on a REALLY grind-y modpack, and she keeps going on and on about how excited she is to play it with all of us. I've got 2 kids now, I don't have time for that kind of grinding, and even when I DID have time, I hated grinding. She's so sure that it's going to be this amazing pack (and for her, it will be), but the more she talks about it, the more I never want to touch it with a 10-foot pole!
i wish every game were like minecraft. Just open field of content that barrely connect and interact to eachother and player. Just you, as less effort as possible in every update and maybe cool mob vote once in a while. But only once a year, we don't want to suffocate our creativity with too much content!
@@GameChanelCompanyEvery game being in one style would genuinely be a terrible idea, it's no secret that many people don't really enjoy sandbox games and prefer more linear gameplay. You already have Minecraft, why would you want every game to become another Minecraft?
Following the “main quest” is how you get the “two week Minecraft phase” trend, since it takes around 2 weeks playing on and off to finish it. Personally, I have played Minecraft almost every day since I began, so I’m in my “14 year Minecraft phase” I guess ! I’ve always treated it like a sandbox game, with those quests as fun distractions to do once in a while, and it has worked wonderfully for me ever since ! But I know I am very far on the “intrinsically motivated” end of the spectrum, most people don’t seem to be anything close to this, especially not other adults. It’s a shame, really, I wish they could have as much fun as I do with this game.
I never follow the ''main quest" of the game and I play on an off or what now people call the ''2 week phase''... to be fair, it treat every game like that, playing the same thing over and over and over gets old real quick. It guess in my case it is a lack of creativity. I couldn't play this game every day, every week for over 10 years.
I played for about 10 years but now I'm on vintage story. And it feels like the beginning of Minecraft again. Our group tried a Minecraft modpack this summer and it just was too easy. Some people beat the modpack in under a week.
My sister and I have been playing for about that long too. I also always saw Minecraft as a sandbox game. Our current world is over 4 years old. "Beating" the game was never our goal. We love building, exploring, making mega-bases. Killing the ender dragon is only a small quest to get skulker boxes. Now those are very valuable for builders as I can carry large of amount of material to my newest build site.
In my opinion the progression of minecraft doesnt end with killing the ender dragon. Once you get an elytra and shulker boxes, thats when the game actually starts. The sandbox portion of minecraft becomes infinitely easier with those tools, so thats when i start building and using my creativity fully
I’m sorry but the elytra killed Minecraft for me. I am a very social player and historically always ran servers for me and my friends, but after the release of those wings all my friends do is speed run Elytra, even before they put down a base, and then log off for the last time and until I give up trying to do cool things with the world and reset it, then rinse and repeat. This happens every single time. The elytra trivializes one of the most important aspects of the game: exploration and travel. Why build complex rail networks when with 30 fireworks you can get everywhere you need to be and back. It drives me up the wall, but I can’t blame my friends for being like that. Mojang made a decision to include an “ending” That implies a beginning, middle and end. Minecraft previously never had an “early game, mid game, end game” but rather levels of world development. Some people’s brain goblins will tell them “whelp you finished the game time to hop off” this was an intentional game design intention, and from what mojang has been doing recently it seems that was the intention. Seriously when is the last time they added something that actually encourages sandbox play? Oooh ugly building blocks, oooh ugly plants, give me a new sandbox mechanic, PLEASE.
@@BitTheByte i agree with you that elytras are op. in my eyes horses should be used for travel, but mojang would need to make them much faster, and elytras would be much slower and their utility would be moving up and that actually encourages sandbox play? but i dont think i get your point about "when is the last time they added something that actually encourages sandbox play?" can you give an example of something that would encourage sandbox play that isnt a building related?
@ (let me specify, all of this I talk about is within the scope of Java edition) like, the ability to pose armor stands without commands, or the ability to actually customize your armor instead of the armor trims, more playermodel customization options (like the ability to actually add accessories to your models, hats, tails, jewelry, etc.), customizable clay pottery (basically like the ability to make our own pottery shards) make the archeology system more in depth, and reveal something cooler than a single item. (Imagine digging up underground structures, brushing away sand revealing a temple underground that you would otherwise destroy if you just shoveled through it.)
As a new player I gotta say: Caves update seems to be the best thing ever. While I just started visiting Nether and I am probably far from finding everything possible, I have to say: Exploring is fuuuun! Caves, structures. The more the better. I am not speedruning - I am enjoying the thrill of exploration. My houses look terrible - but who cares?
Well there's no bigger enjoyment-killer in minecraft than speed-running. I mean the very idea is absurd. If you like something you want to have it behind you as fast as possible or for it to last? I think answer is very obvious. Which I think You'll agree with me which one it is.
@@Lyokoheros-KLPXTV This expresses a fundamental misunderstanding of what speed-running is... The thing that people "like" in this scenario IS the act of getting their time as low as possible. There's nothing stopping these people from just...not doing a speed run on a world and just playing the game as intended. Which most speed runners do. These guys aren't just blasting speed runs 24/7. Sometimes they're practicing...sometimes they take breaks to remove the stress. In fact, breaks from timing yourself are crucial in pretty much any timed activity, to help alleviate tunnel vision and creating blind spots
Really enjoyed this view on the meta. They could fix this by adding one or two more "main quests" that run in parallel to the ender dragon, bonus points if they are actually somehow conflicting. Then we're back to choosing how to engage and we have undermined the power of the end quest as being the main quest.
with the shift towards smaller more frequent updates this will make the content that gets added feel more connected and meaningful to the game (something that has been missing with more recent additions like archeology). i’m pretty excited to see how the game improves over the next few years!! good vid mhm :)
Archaeology feels like an entirely different path to pursue the main path honestly. Or at least a side path that rewards you with exploration. I actually quite love playing as an archeologist instead of a miner to get materials. Sure it's much slower, but this is a sandbox with no time limit. The slow burn forces me to build with intention and consider world-building and stories. Basically I was sceptical of archaeology until I started engaging with it fully, now I love it more than mining.
@ i love archeology too i just want to see more of it more often. just small additions that add up and can make room for more opportunities for interest in the mechanic. chances to find small patches of random sus dirts near inside or underneath structures with loot that matches sed structure. pots spawning in most structures like bastions end cities and nether fortresses could add a lot to the looting feel that can be lacking at times. little stuff like that would be awesome. archeology FEELS really cool to do so why not have it come up more often yk? also sniffer is best mob
goals which devs provide doesnt hinder my creativity by any means. it adds variety to my gameplay. for example when im dry on ideas i may decide to go explore, find newly added structures or ruins. i think its great.
Great thoughtful video. More please. I want to see minecraft become even more of a game. More everything. More after the end dragon, more for the nether, more side items, more core parts of the progression, more for the quest in every way. I experience minecraft mostly as a game, playing with my son, looking for more challenges, more reasons to upgrade armor and tools, we want more than the end has to offer. Something to use the elytra for.
Great video! One thing I think you missed here is how the game objectives actually unlock the fullness of the sandbox. Once you “beat” the game, it becomes so much easier to access all blocks in large enough quantities to utilize the sandbox aspect with ever more complexity.
i just hope the “game” isnt super blatantly… visible, if that makes sense? i dont like when i can feel so blatantly “oh, they really want me to use this for this” in THE sandbox game
I had never thought of Minecraft this way. This stands out from other videos on the topic (and I'm addicted to 'em). Congrats, and thanks Mr. Algorithm
I think your observations are spot-on. I have always seen Minecraft as a creative outlet; even if you are playing by survival rules, it is most often to explore and grow your supply of blocks to see what you can build. When I talk to my kids about the wonders of pre-internet gaming they literally can't imagine what that was like. Trying to feel your way through Minecraft without hundreds of tutorials dropping minutes after the latest update as opposed to keeping a notebook beside your PC and slogging through weeks or months of gameplay to uncover even the direction to go Ultima 5. Just imagine buying Minecraft and playing it through to the end with NO social media, no chats, no cheats, no walkthroughs, and no Google. COULD you ever beat it? How would you know how to win? Sometimes I miss those days, but they are certainly gone forever.
Oh my god, that Paulsoaresjr video was the first tutorial video I ever saw. I watched it during the literal first time I ever opened Minecraft in 2011, I completely forgot about that. Seeing him peer through that little opening in the wall just literally SHOT me time. I haven’t felt that little space in time in so long. That felt like visiting your grandparents house to help clean things out and getting hit with that specific scent of the house, and feeling something deeper than memory, like your brain literally places you back in that place on the timeline, like you’re opening a previous instance of your own mind, just for a moment. Thank you for that, that was genuinely moving.
I was hoping to find someone else with the same comment. I am always elated when I find other people who watched Paul back in those days. I'm fortunate to have one friend who knows him, and we make references all the time. Good stuff.
when i started playing minecraft, i mostly built whatever i wanted. but over time as i watched more youtube videos of other people's builds i started to compare my own builds with theirs, in the end making me feel rather unsatisfied with my own minecraft builds i suppose overall i've spent more time watching videos on youtube than playing games myself, and when i did play minecraft, it was mostly custom maps recently i tried getting into a modpack called prominence ii rpg that very much leans into this "main quest" approach. the problem is that, for me at least, there are also way too many mods providing too many options and containing too much information in general. combined with the time investment it takes to progress in these other mods, i quickly found it to be not fun to play. games are just way more fun for me when there are clear objectives to complete after giving up on playing prominence ii rpg i started playing a map called drehmal. let's see if i'll more fun exploring this handcrafted world (as opposed to a randomly generated one)
DanTDM mod videos was my introduction to Minecraft and that era of Minecraft was super fun and really unique compared to modern TH-cam Minecraft videos, I sadly wasn't able to get Minecraft till way later but even now I love Minecraft even years later
I actually really like that there is an objective to Minecraft, and I like that they are getting closer to the redefining the story... however I think they should prioritize that, why isn't it their main objective? I wish that Mojang felt allowed to change the game, it has so much potential, they already made a step by adding a family of antagonists, like they just defined them(the pillagers), and wow, cool, I would love to see that getting done more. They should add challenges that want you to build, maybe not only challenges, maybe even characters asking you to build like in Story Mode, for a mode that is called Survival they might have to move a bit away from the sandbox aspect while still keeping the creativity. The ending also feels a bit blank now, not gonna lie, after the Enderdragon is defeated you don't really feel anything because nothing in your world changes, it would be cool if after achiving a big event something would change drastically, they can play with the feelings players already have, like for the entire game you feel lonely and empty, then you kill the dragon and the world becomes more lively because you freed the end, endermen could become more friendly, be everywhere and have more interractions. What I am trying to say is that the game should make so that you want to complete it, you want to reach that ending, insteand now people complete the end just because they're told it's the objective, but there isn't anything really engaging about it, no build up. Anyways, I was thinking of making a short comment containing myself, but you said you would've liked to view our opinions, I really enjoyed this video, I hope you can grow as a creator
It's sounds like you want to play terraria. There is nothing wrong with wanting a more progression-based system, but that is not what Minecraft is trying to be. Minecraft is purely a sandbox with the end being the only real "objective" of the game other than arbitrary achievements. The whole point of Minecraft is that you can create your own stories and do your own thing in the game. Adding training wheels to the game where you're told when are where to build something undermines that freedom. It wouldn't be Minecraft if you were instructed on what to do in any way, as that goes directly against the sandbox nature of the game. And, not to be rash, but every time Mojang have tried to use Minecrafts IP to make another game based on story, it has flopped arguably because of these reasons. There are games that do what you're describing better, and it would be a shame to see Minecraft lose its identity in favor of trying to copy them.
Nice essay! I don’t see any clash. Killing the Dragon is just another thing to do. The End doesn’t necessarily means the end of the game. I always thought Mojang called it that way to mean something like “the farthest end of the world”. The edge of the world, if you will.
I've been playing Minecraft off and on (school, work, etc getting in my way for periods) for a decade now (first started playing in 1.7.5), yet I only went to fight the dragon for the first time in 2021, on a multiplayer server with my friends. I fought the dragon on my own for the first time in April this year, and again in another multiplayer server with friends a couple of months ago. Even during periods where I was too busy or unmotivated to play, I still watched/listened to other people playing here on TH-cam (and occasionally on Twitch). While Jean has always been there, a looming goal in the worlds, I've always been more interested in what I can do/make in the world, how I can emulate or pay homage to others I've watched, and learning for myself how different builds/traps/farms work in my test worlds For me, my Dad puts it best: Minecraft is virtual Legos
Isn’t it crazy how much Minecraft has changed ever since its official release? The community has always influenced in shaping the game so it’s interesting to see how the community’s overall opinions of these updates form and later on evolve in the future. Everyone has their own way of playing Minecraft and what they think is best for Minecraft; it’s sparked many heated discussions on what needs to be done or else Minecraft is fated to be doomed and lose relevance. I don’t think such discussions that criticize Minecraft are a bad thing, it’s good that fans are trying their best to improve/spread what they love about the game (or what they used to love about it). However, it inconsequentially sets up the expectations that each upcoming update needs to add to the overarching core gameplay. Experimental snapshots are often put under scrutiny by the community because each addition needs a clear and gameplay focused reason as to why it should be in the game. If left unchecked, having that kind of mindset can lead to an obsessive amount of nitpicking and, in turn, become so toxic that we end up hating the game more than we love it. Without a doubt some updates will be more well received than others and it's good to voice what we like and what we don't like, but it’s also important to remind ourselves that Minecraft is a finished game; we should not let the frustrations of our imaginative mind ruin our love for the game. Minecraft will inevitably change as time goes on and we may not agree on some of these changes. However, whether big or small, we should celebrate the changes Minecraft attempts to make through its updates. Minecraft has offered millions of players ways to express themselves creatively and such experiences cannot be replicated easily. In the end, voicing our concerns for the game's future is necessary for healthy development, but we must not overlook the creative opportunities that each addition of every update provides and is waiting to be explored.
1.12 recipe book addition was the best addition Mojang had made for a while. It is something I would have loved as a new player. I have only positive things to say about it
Agnes' comment on naming things in your world and writing on signs really inspires me, the writing of your own quests and ideas into the game, it becomes your own.
I thought this video was interesting for sure, personally, I've always been of the opinion that minecraft can both be a game, and a limitless sandbox, terraria I think does that fairly well, but with the lack of a creative mode in terraria, it's hard to say terraria allows just as much creativity. I always thought creative mode was overlooked in these conversations about minecrafts true meaning. If you just want to build, creative mode is right there! and it gives you even more tools to build, and then downloading mods like axiom further allow more creativity. I do understand that some people enjoy the limits of survival, but that "main quest" is always there for you to complete or not complete, it was never really required and most building blocks can be obtained without even engaging with it. So overall I think minecraft SHOULD be more of a game, because it gives meaning and purpose to it's existence besides "you can build stuff." Which in my opinion isn't enough to carry the game by itself. (I know the Natural counter-argument to that last point is that minecraft has lasted 15 years, and that's true, but I raise you the nether update, and nostalgia, my comment is long enough so you can ask for elaboration if you want.)
I'll raise you one more, the games premise isn't just you can build. It's you can build in a world, which sounds the same buts theirs a big difference.
Honestly it lost me when Beta 1.8 came out (which may as well include Release 1.0) because they chose to go down the fantasy route rather than the technical. Their hand was almost forced into adding pistons by it being one of the most popular mods of all time, at the time, and nothing similar ever followed. Command blocks were the nail in the coffin, because they’re fundamentally external to the world of the game. What I wanted was the ability to mine without spending hours strip mining, so I could spend my time in game actually creating, and creative mode doesn’t provide that because there’s no challenge, and that’s never been added in the whatever it is, 12 or 14 years since.
I once played a modded world on realms I fell in love with. It was a complete the monument type of experience. I had so much fun with the challenge, mysteries and chaos it provided. Plus there was a goal to get in each majestically built section of the large map. You’d fight your way through themed parts of the map, faced monsters that were modded just enough to be powerful but still resemble the original enemies of Minecraft. The key was a story, each section had lore and stories and once you completed the game it was fireworks and celebrations, and reallly fun of an accomplishment. I don’t normally like modded stuff but if done right with Minecraft you can have an amazing game. The cool thing was you could build or place blocks. Making it so you could accomplish these goals in your own paths. My cousin and I just tunneled to shield from the way overpowered enemies and faced the manageable ones.
Why do these two aspects of Minecraft have to clash? The "game" areas are some of the best sandbox locations. Have you ever remodeled a Nether Fortress? Or built a skeleton farm? The Trial Dungeon introduced a ton of new blocks to the game that you might not know about until you find it. Not to mention, for some people creative games in Minecraft is part of that sandbox experience. Really, everything about Minecraft is creative in some way, and that creativity is a kind of game. In practice, the two interact more than they clash, and that's what makes Minecraft special, at least the way I see it.
Love your analysis, definitely subscribing for more ❤️ I’ve come back to Minecraft after years away and I really like the latest additions, being able to discover them myself instead of just doing everything in a meta way and not having to use the wiki. I like the direction they have been going and don’t think it really hinders people’s creativity.
I got into Minecraft when it was in the 7.3 beta... I guess the Pure sandbox feeling back then (with monsters at night) was the challenge and "memorizing" crafting recipes or community ran web sites. That engaged and emersed us players "back in the day". Today's Minecraft, I do play it but sometimes I go back and play and older version. Still, you made some good points in your informative video. I enjoyed watching it. Thanks. :)
i used to be someone who obsessed over minecraft and every update, but now i feel nothing when i play it. microsoft trying to make minecraft into a forever game, just like how live service games are meant for you to sink many hours into it goes against my ethos of how games should be played. it's indieness stripped away for the search for infinite staying power goes against how indies are meant to be played. now I play games and diversify. mojang is stuck making minecraft and will never make another game ever again.
Notch only implemented the ending to spite critics, who claimed minecraft could not be a game because it didn't have an ending. It's why the game ends with that poem, to signify some depth to the experience. It's fitting that this insecure spite has haunted the game ever since. Notch's inability to take criticism with grace inadvertantly diluted the entirety of the game's purpose.
To me Minecraft always seemed more like a game with no beginning, but a unified end, the lore behind the world is yours to interpret but the goal is still there, they wrote the ending chapters but told you to write the beginning, and they hand you a bunch of set pieces to make things easier in later updates...
minecraft is a like a collection of lego sets. you're incentiviced to build each of the sets, but you can just fine use the parts to build whatever you like.
good narration . I only joined this game about 5 years ago when my kids started playing it. I was aware of it but I was too busy with Blizzard world of warcraft. so I dont know how old game was and how the changed this game is from vanilla apart from some additional content and blocks. I am interested in more creativity, recipes and redstone components to make interesting contraptions to keep us going.
I both agree and disagree. For one. The updates you mentioned as trying to be a game again. Are all self contained experiences. I think of them as game withing a game. A NPCless quest. Beating a raid with no villager dying doesn't feel the same as beating a bastion, or beating a trial, or an ancient city. And the reward given barely help beating it again. It's mostly there to fuel the sandbox part. People that love survival and beating the dragon will more than likely always be decueved by minecraft. As all of thoses are kinds of mini games that give you rewards for bearing them. Minecraft is kind of built like an mmo rpg without quests being given. You find your own quest that give you rewards that by themselves doesn't do shit. Like getting more armor for a fetch quest? What's the use. But other quests around might find it handy, or bearing the big bad might now be easier. The only thing is that minecraft has one final boss. And will never have one after that. Harder ones yes. But other bosses are built like thoses side quest like the wither, or the water temple. As it stands. Minecraft is first and for most a sandbox game. Survival isn't its main mode. It's creative. Survival is creative with steps. And that's to give a challenge to your creativity. Enjoy being creative and giving yourself objectives. Want to play a game while you are at it? Play survival. It's quite challenging. Not to beat. But it create steps to take before achieving your goals. To me the only update that really showed minecraft wanted to be a game again. Was 1.21. Mechanics in the chambers, arnt just fights and randomly generated room with random loot. Its using conventions to trick you. Players with feather falling skip the stairs by jumping down? Let put a trap on some stairs. Fighting all the time is anoying? Try to pass that jump with ranged mobs shooting at you. Feel like a room fight is too easy. Maybe try that room that make you climb and where mobs constantly fall on you. And the ominous event push that idea even more. The additional projectiles like potions or arrows. Launched by the spawner are properly displayed like a game would. It's not a barely helofing together visual with no anticipation. But to me the update that could fix it all. Would be the addition of game modes. Current game modes have a wierd name tbh. I would rename them to role or state idk. Game modes would be a collection of packs, ressource, data, etc. That would be enabled by a simple button in a world creation menu. The goal is to separate data packs that add feature, from modes that change the rules. The 3 official ones I could see. Would be. Sandbox. Curent survival. Builder. Where every natural ressource would be doubles and all mobs would be neutral. And survivalist. Where the game would have additional mechanics to survive. Shitty example, but like how subnautica add a thirst bar on higher difficulties. Maybe. But that idea of more general mechanics can damage you. And progression would see many steps added. Artificial, and with branching paths but the idea that you need more things than pearls to open the portal. And or more steps to get eachem and ressources. Like diamond are relatively far. Seems like a cool idea. Basicly just a mode making you pass through more side quest to find the final boss. And make the path harder. Going technical. That game mode pack would be a bundle of a texture pack, a data pack, a difficulty pack (the stats of mobs for easy medium hard and maybe more if you want), a custom world Gen when that finally come back, and a list of gamerules activated or not. All 3 official mode idea I gave could turn on gamerule, and difficulty only. Maybe a little world Gen touch up but that's all. It should stay normal minecraft just a easy way for casual to find a suiting play style. While players would be able to go wild with crazy modes ideas like idk. A village défense. Every 15 days waves of mobs spawn. There is a single large village you can expand. And there are pillager factions you can befriend or offend. And because it's a sandbox, you can absolutely not care about all that and just enjoy playing survival with huge waves of mobs to survive. Of course you can add the data packs and texture packs and world Gen you want above all that. And considering there is an option to take structures away. Blocking yourself from finishing the game is already a thing on world creation. So I don't see the issue. I truly think this could appears both people that want a more lineiant survival for being creative. The builder mode. And the ones that want to be forced to go play the new features. The survivalist mode. While keeping the spectator, survival and creative player states. Hope I've been short enouth (no). Lol
This video brings up some really interesting points, especially about the conflict between the sandbox and the linear game, and the direction Mojang is taking being because they want to have more control or more direct interaction between them/the game and the player. I really liked your ending monologue, and I look forward to seeing more of your videos!
This is certainly a move in the right direction. From someone who played since Alpha. The overwhelming and crushing expectation to create everything in the world is completely gone now. Yet. You can do MORE now with Minecraft than ever before!!!
Thinking this over, I think it’s somewhat easier to think of it like Legos. The first time you use them, you’d have no idea what to do with em’ & the instructions it comes with is just The Main Quest. Once you’re done, you can add onto it with newer pieces or you can start all over. You still have that set of instructions but who says you HAVE to follow them? You have the pieces, it’s up to your imagination now. I’d like to think every new update is just getting more pieces really. People’s opinions on those pieces might just be ‘wow this is just another boring red brick’ but to a new player seeing all these pieces laid out to them for the 1st time… it’s scary, beautiful, stressful, colorful, unique. Yes, the updates can sometimes add new pieces that make you just abandon the older ones, but they’re still there aren’t they? For a first-time player, it means a lot… I’d think. (Maybe I’m explaining this wrong, dunno. Maybe I’m just spitting nonsense now.)
A lot of people have been complaining about the direction of the recent updates, but I've never understood why. They're moving forward in a direction to give you reasons to explore and and to make the exploration more interesting. I saw a TH-cam say caves and cliffs wasn't a very big update, but it's actually massive. Changing ore stratification, changing cave generation, and adding caves biomes is massive to gameplay. I settle in certain places because they have lush caves. I used to settle because there was a village nearby. I think they're establishing an interesting word to be in and will build up the peripheral experience over time. They do have all the time in the world, tbh.
Wonderful video. I like your enthusiasm for creating content. I've always loved the flexibility of Minecraft as exactly that, a medium for story telling. That has also led me to never play vanilla, because it lacks enough 'stuff' to do to keep me engaged. Building and exploring are only fun for so long session after session. I play kitchen sink mod packs but only if they have a quest or progression tree of some kind. I don't want a linear story like vanilla Minecraft's. Minecraft alone does not satisfy my short attention span.
Call me crazy, but what I think would make it less linear would be changing how we open that end portal. Instead of ender eyes we could have 12 different eyes that you must kill bosses for. These bosses would be beatable in any order and be required to finish the game. You could make each bosses based on some mob like a zombie boss, skeleton boss, spider boss, etc. Or you could make it more general like an undead mob, arthropod boss, aquatic boss, etc. We already have some stuff set up for that like the Elder Guardian, Wither and Warden, maybe even something in the new pale biome like a creaking boss. If players have to beat bosses in all dimensions (I say all instead just overworld and nether in case more is added some day) before going to the end, not only does it make players have to travel and explore for each boss, but it also let them choose in what order their story will go instead of being forced into the same path everyone is playing. Of course the dragon's difficulty should also be adjusted up as right now it is way too easy to be the end goal. Of course I am sure there is mods doing something similar, but it is not in the base game's progression. It does not need to be exactly that idea, but I think we definitely need more "goals" and bosses are a clear and easy way to do it.
If you were to add an idea like that, I think Shulker Boxes and the Elytra should be relocated to a different area, since getting them would require a ton of time now, instead of the fairly breezy End quest currently.
You make very good points. However as i have my 3 "Realms" for playing multiplayer, we have defeated the End Dragon in every Realm. Thusly returning the game to full sand box mode. Now it's all about our back story again.
This was a really well made, well scripted, edited and produced video essay especially for a channel of your current size as of watching this, Im honoured to be one of the first here! Earned my subscription EASILY please keep making the awesome well thought out bids, super interesting and insightful!
It my be my adhd but I go through cycles on Minecraft, usually, around spring time I get excited about it, I start a new world, I obsess with it for weeks, sometimes a few months, until a different game gets my attention (usually Sims or whatever new/old game I get obsessed with). But Minecraft, like The Sims, has been with me since the beginning, since before biomes, and I like that it's a sandbox where I can do whatever I want.
I never care about the main quest (I beat the dragon once with friends, never bothered otherwise), but what I love about the updates is that if I’m a bit burnt out on building and role playing, I can go out on an adventure and explore and with the updates, these adventures are quite varied. Having been on those adventures I often find I’m creatively invigorated to build again. So for me the updates help this ebb and flow of building and exploring, of creativity and adventure.
The idea of a "Main Quest" is interesting. I like to look at Terraria for how their progression is done. You have a guide there and he leads you and gives you tips, but otherwise you figure it out on your own. You can take as long as you want or tackle side bosses or explore the world and build what you want. Minecraft could be like this, obviously not the whole boss battle progression or talkable NPC thing but Minecraft being 3D could add more depth (sorry) to this. Limitations can breed creativity, which is why I like the limited worlds of Legacy Console Edition. It can give you a direction if you're directionless or you could ignore this quest altogether (I personally haven't beat the Ender Dragon in almost a decade lol) or tackle it in unique ways, since it's still a sandbox and craft that story along the way yourself.
I don’t know if an end-less Minecraft would have survived. I think adding that little bit of story with the (maybe) promise if more has gotten and KEPT a lot of peoples’ attentions
I honestly wish there were more RPG like elements in Minecraft vanilla. The dungeons made me so happy because why haven’t they been in the game all these years it fits the aesthetic perfectly. I just hope they keep adding things that make Minecraft more magical, both figuratively and literally. I hope they’ll add more weapons for different kinds of combat and new ways to get around quicker. Terraria’s class system would fit perfectly in Minecraft. (I just want magic items like wands and teleportation magic in the game)
I really enjoyed this video in terms of a clear analysis of some great design ideas. Also great structure with no time wasted. You're going to go far! Over on my channel there is a video on minecraft that I think you might find interesting, although it certainly seems long and dry compared to yours!
Honestly, I never really thought much about the tutorial/sory. But I do think it is good that there's a push to more narrative at its core. The only thing that sort of hurts is... Minecraft is a lot less weirdly scary. I'm someone who played a lot before 1.0, and played a good deal up to 1.3 but never really tried to do the End dimension stuff. Simply put--I never used the wiki until very modernly. We were part of the old community. Running around in random avatars making our own story. I think what really feels 'different' about modern minecraft is... 1) Enemies spawn so much more often to make farming them easier. 2) There are resources everywhere. 3) Everywhere has more...something in it. This is what feels different to me. Minecraft used to be so empty, but in a good feeling way. I honestly want to play again with the spawn rates for all mobs reduced and villages much rarer. Just so it feels more like an isolated experience again. The 'fullness' of Minecraft is where I feel it got completely confused for me. Playing now, it feels like no matter were I am, I see the distant glow of lights of civilization at night. If I try to set up a base, its a constant fight against the unnending spawn of enemies so I don't get bored. I used to be able to build a house on a desert island and not worry about say, creepers too often. You'd get a creeper every couple of days. They were a rare danger. Now if I do the same, I'll have 6 creepers on my porch so I HAVE to light my entire living area or build more notable walls.
i think adding more to the actual quest and adding more to the objective or more objectives is a good decision. because the original message, to create whatever you want with no bounds and no rules, is still there no matter what; and giving more to do in a game is appealing to those who do want something to do besides create. both sides will still be there in the end, it just gives more options do do in a game where their entire thing and their entire reason is that you can do whatever.
In my opinion, nothing can really impede the sandbox nature of the game, so them adding more "game" to Minecraft is simply a net positive, but they don't do that as much as they should
@@CreativelyJakewhat fundamentals would they even be able to change that wouldnt lead to a huge community outrage? you can no longer place blocks in minecraft, they completely overhaul the damage system so now you don't have health you have degrees of injury that give you debuffs as you get hurt. these would conpletely change the game, and not for the better. it wouldn't be minecraft anymore.
@@infebris Oh, I just mean like... the enchantment system, the xp system, the hunger- actually just anything that was added around the time the dragon was added. Notch really screwed over the other devs bigtime I think But like, genuinely I think it's appalling to see... they don't revisit old content even like SWAMPS. instead they give us a NEW mangrove swamp, and a NEW pale garden biome with trees *inspired* by willow trees, with moss hanging from their leaves. still no willow trees or even patches of mud in the normal swamp biome! but hey, frogs spawn there. so thats alright i guess they... also definitely took their concepts for a birch forest revamp and put that energy into making the cherry grove instead, but thats a little less direct. I wish they'd at LEAST go back to random things more - like how .. heres a good example: they went back to bats! bats got a remodel, and now they actually fit the rest of the game now! They even use the new animation system. I do find it funny how mojang keeps pushing their quality standard higher and higher, but now its like... well, shouldnt the old mobs not look out of place next to the new mobs? or how they changed the fundamentals of worldgen in 1.18! That was really nice... or yknow, 1.9! the combat! I think upending traditional progression would be so refreshing, ESPECIALLY enchanting, but ... for material progression, they can't because it'd ruin peoples progression in existing worlds. So like, even if copper tools were an interesting idea, I don't think they could add them. etc. but i dream of it I also dream of enchanting being changed to be more engaging. ...i also know some of the devs really wish the hunger system was overhauled.
@@CreativelyJake Well that's what I meant, tbh. They're not integrating these side quests enough into the game progression. It'd be nice if there were more viable, alternate options for progression in the game, instead of just the surprisingly linear progression that the game currently has. Even subnautica, a game with a set in stone map and story, has some non linear progression choices, like building habitats in specific biomes for specific resources, choosing to enter the lost river or lava zone through "blah" entrance. They've actually done better with some smaller features recently, like armadillos and wolf armor, as well as bundles. They're both technically optional, but they're very well integrated, fully realized features that makes you see them as a viable option for your gameplay. It's not just a "fun" side quest that gives you nothing. A big thing of course is that the game feels incomplete again, and messy, because they haven't updated the older fundamental systems, like you said, such as enchanting, combat, villager trading. For me personally, there is no viable reason to enchant, or trade with villagers. Those who do use those systems are either building massive things, or are min maxers/getting op for the sake of it, and not because they need to. I feel like there are just so many features in the game now that have no actual use for gameplay/aren't needed for progression, unlike other games that have good game design that try and use all their features within the gameplay
I've spent a large portion of gaming life for the past 14 or so years playing mostly sandbox games, or only really engaging with the sandbox elements in games (eg: I have over 800 hours in Fallout 4, over 3/4 of that is base building. I have never completed the main story). But as I grow older, I'm starting to lose interest with this. I'm starting to crave story, narrative, hand crafted experiences, set pieces, highs and lows. I think it's a lot easier for devs to create interesting mechanics and an interesting sandbox to enjoy them in then it is for them to craft an engaging story to unravel as you play. I don't think Minecraft is ever going to have an engaging story, it's better as a sandbox.
to be honest I was kinda hoping this would happen with them addin archeology and the sniffers. slowly but surely finding out what minecraft was before we came.
I loved the video! I largely agree with the points made too. There is a tension between the linearity of main quest line and the sandbox aspects of the game. I find the main quest line to be largely outdated. I think the initial intent of it was to compel players to explore. The question of “how do I beat the game” forces the player to mine, go to the nether, and ultimately the end. However I think as the game has developed more intricate biomes and structures to explore, they should have been folded into the main quest line. Ocean Monuments, Ancient Cities, Woodland Mansions, Trial Chambers and Bastions all feel just as important for players to witness as a Nether Fortress and a Stronghold before “completing” the game. These structures do provide “more sand to play with” but many of them also force players to interact with the world in a novel way. If the purpose of the main quest line is to compel players to witness what the game has to offer, then they should be included before a player can reach the endgame.
That's true, I do frequently fire up old versions, especially since they have decided not to fix the Buffet worlds that broke 2 years ago. & Beta gives you a whole different experience. Also true that it it the ultimate cheap replacement for bucket LEGOs.
For many years I played minecraft as a game, to make me less bored. From 1.0 to 1.18 I disliked the terrain generation and never felt inspired to really build with the land. So I turned to mass-farming and fast travel and villager trading gulags. In the last few years though, minecraft has become a slow burn meditation for me. I don't make any auto-farms, I don't chase netherite and enchantments, I haven't even beaten the ender dragon. And the world I have now, 3 years old this month, is my digital home in every sense of that word. I play Minecraft when I need to clear my head, or when I've had a big event occur in my life. Because the buildings I make at those times hold the memories of those times. My 7 year world from 2012 still exists and I sometimes still tour it. It is an accidental museum of my childhood memories. This most recent world is made with intention to be exactly that, but for my adult life.
i have… so much i want to say. for now ill just leave a comment for the algorithm, but. like. i will be back! and leave another comment!! ive spent a lot of time discussing minecrafts design, and recently have really been thinking about how its old direction clashes with its new direction. i think… survival mode itself is such an interesting case study. and well, i cant write my full thoughts right now, but i will!
The sandbox aspect was what got me into playing it in 2012. When I actually played my friend taught me how to make a pick axe and mine and I said "oh wow, there's actually a game here!" But the old problem of needing the community to know how to do anything was real. Today's Minecraft has everything it needs to be a more beginner-friendly game, it just needs to add a bit more lore. We have written books and archaeology mechanics, why not find diaries from people long ago discovering how to make a working portal, or records of brewing experiments. Allays could build a working portal if you give them the obsidian, or carry clues to game progression that you can receive for rescuing them... The ways you could implement clear game progression are as myriad as the ways people build adventure maps!
I have been engaging with survival alot more recently. new updates and features pique my interest but taking on the challenge of conquering the end defeating trials and exploring different biomes and learning what's possible with resources around me is fun to do every now and then
When i first discovered Minecraft i honestly didn’t know anything about it. I mean I’d seen my brother playing it with his friend but apart from that i had no idea. And I feel like playing it as an experience to be enjoyed rather than a game to be beat makes it feel so much more different than it is now. Maybe it was because of the time or the newness or maybe it’s all just rose tinted glass, but Minecraft back then just felt so limitless.
I’m a very, very slow player. It doesn’t help that I let my young son destroy all my blocks when he plays the game. I’ve only ever gotten to the Nether, protected my portal and tunneled so that I didn’t have to fight any creatures, merely peeking through holes whenever I came upon a cave system. Whenever I lose a fight (often) I go and build a new building out of new material, or in a new shape. I don’t know if I ever began playing Minecraft for the sandbox part of it, but I definitely play it for the low priority the end takes. I know I have something to work toward while exploring and getting lost and constantly dying (can you tell I’ve never enchanted anything yet) and making some epic or cute bases from which to sally forth and fight. ❤ Exploring is my favorite part of the play.
Actually youtube kinda treats all engagement as a reason to boost a video, positive or negative. Thumbs up has more impact on the content that will go to your feed and thumbs down has more impact on what goes to other people's feed. That said, positive attention does mean its more likely a video keeps getting recommendations and too much negative means the video will eventually burn out and fall off the recommendations list as it runs out of people to show it to.
ngl i never thought of it like that before! i do think it's good that the game has a set path and is trying to stand on its own, u don't really have to do it but it's good for a game to have a starting goal. mojang is making the game in a way where u can be completely creative with it if u want but if u want a goal it gives one to u, i think having both is good even if they can clash a bit
And then there are those that play survival mode exclusively but have never even tried to get to the end. We still choose to plot our own course, to write our own story.
I started with Beta 1.8. I already felt Minecraft 1.0 was going the wrong direction. Enchantments, potions, the End dimensions felt like extra unnecessary hassles that kept me away from the fun part of the game - exploring, building, having quite calm moments. Too much like those ordinary RPGs. I love Skyrim, but I don't feel like Minecraft should imitate Skyrim, that is the wrong direction. I don't like the one-use items and rare collectibles you need to farm too much for. I like more than you can build many things out of simplicity. I don't love the monsters and bosses as much as the calm moments with sun setting over the ocean in a pine forest beach and hearing piano music in the background, while just resting or building a wooden villa in Art Nouveau style or something. I find them rather distracting and unsuitable. Nether used to be basically worthless before 1.16, but now it is beautiful and unique. Probably the best update in game history, but I don't know if they will pull it of again. Cave update was also good - but too little, too late. Village update was good, but villages have felt to feel overpowered. I have lately been playing on a server called BuildTheEarth, specifically BTE Nordic + Baltic. A server like that was my dream for many years, until someone really made that. It feels like that captures what the core idea of Minecraft always was to me - build things in a virtual world. Again, most Minecraft updates have still been pretty good and awesome. I love that we have copper and andesite and diorite and campfires and 10 wood types and different colored beds and terracotta and concrete etc.
I wish there were more challenges like the end dragon, warden, wither etc. Once I figure out how to beat one, the thrill is gone. I'm just harvesting loot when I go to the end now.
A primary contradiction in for example sandbox vs play through doesn’t need to be a problem that breaks things. There is a whole category of “problems that inspire” that are fundamental to our species growth even if English doesn’t have a good word for it.
This kind of hints at something I've realized over the years: Minecraft hasso many problems baked into its identity. They weren't really noticable when it was a small indy game, but now that it's got a bloodstained tech mega corporation behind it, the issues are far more apparent. Fixing things like exploration being counterintuitive, the inventory problem, enchanting being absolutely terrible, all the spaghetti code... Mojang can try new ideas to circumvent the issues all they want but the unfortunate reality is that actually _fixing_ these things would require a fundamental rework to the game itself. They have to rebuild everything from the ground up, but if they do that, would it still be Minecraft?
Maybe I'm just an outlier, but I see all these critiques of Minecraft on youtube and have to wonder just how honest the creators are being with their hand-wringing. I bought Minecraft in 2019 and it took me 3 years to even think about going after the ender dragon. It's a masterful sandbox balancing act where the world it gives you is beautiful and interesting enough as it is, while at the same time being completely and utterly breakable and moldable. It's a canvas for creativity, a haven for cosy grinding, a challenge for exploration & combat, and for many people a space for social interaction. These "gamey" bits, from the dragon to the trial chambers and beyond, aren't at odds with the rest of the experience. They are just more things that you can choose to do; more challenges that you can approach in your own style and at your own pace. Mojang/Microsoft have never made the game worse by adding content. Personally I don't think such a thing would even be possible. I mean, it could potentially be made worse by _removing_ content, or dramatically changing certain mechanics, or tanking the game's performance (the Switch version has become pretty much unplayable over the past couple of years) but that's not what most youtubers tend to really talk about in essays such as this.
After stepping away from Minecraft for years, I always thought thought the stuff Mojang added were making Minecraft better: the mob votes, the new structures, and colored concrete etc. and was confused on what players were complaining about if stuff was being added. Now I can see that after 15 years, Minecraft is just now recently enhancing survival the CORE of mode of the game.
Minecraft should have two modes: listed objectives mode And sandbox mode. Listed objectives with the Ender Dragon being the last goal. Sand box mode: excatly what you think.
Wow the TH-cam algorithm finally shows me small creators, and I'm really happy your on of those creators to blow up on the algorithm, as you video is very uniqe and well made. I liked how instead of trying to say if the game is "good" or "bad" (like most essays on it now adays), you explained the interesting idea of the main quest, as well as how the progression path and sandbox co-existed over the many differant versions of the game, it is a very good analysis! Anyways very good video, def subbing for the next one, also nice to see you are a pikmin 2 fan! (purple pikmin #1 goofy boy👾)
I really am sorry to expose myself as a poser but I have not played pikmin 2, just listened through the ost. I've only played 1, 3 and 4 and they are all amazing. I'll get around to Pikmin 2 eventually I promise! (I'll probably make a video about it too lol)
@@Phosph0ra well haha, while I do call myself a pikmin fan, I have actually only played Pikmin 2 (and never actually complited it, which I might do soon), just like you I think the ost and pikimin themselfs are amazing, and I also like being part of the community. I'm exited to see your video about the game when you do get to playing it, the Wii port of Pikmin 2 was and still is one of my fav games of all time, and seeing your style of video on such a game would be amazing to see, looking forward to it and whatever other vids u might make in the future!
"More sand for the sandbox" is a perfect way to put it.
Though Minecraft always established itself as a game the player has to make for themselves.
Yeah that why Minecraft community have much mod creator than the rest other game because almost anyone can play except people with motion sickness
Yes, but why? There is absolutely some people that love to waste days and days of their life to get resources to build the same building over and over with small differences, but most people, at best, can only do that once or twice per week before they get nauseating with it.
Yes, players like to make their own goals, but there must exist reasons for those goals. That's the job of the developers.
On the contrary, the Minecraft developers seem to love to make objectives obsolete. For example, the best foods need to be cook and to cook fuel was needed, but since they introduced the campfire there's no more need to use fuel to cook. They took out something that made the players work for resources.
Another example of parasitic design was the caves and clifs update. Before someone needed to mine to get underground resources and explore to get overword resources. Now we only need to explore to get both. Strip mining just disapheared.
yet i still cannot eat a warden.
@@arturferrao7353literally no one uses the campfires as intended, why lose time cooking specifically 4 meats per time if you can just put 64 of them in a furnace and do anything else while it its cooking?
@@zebos2432 You know you can have more than one campfire. Right?
And a furnace can only cook one type of food at the same time. A campfire can cook four different types.
Furthermore you can collect cooked itens with hoopers from the campfire. No need to wait.
I think the main quest has a strong place in the game... It's both a tutorial, and a gateway. It shows you all the dimensions, encourages you to learn all the basics, learn to fight and craft, and at the very end, it sets you loose with shulkers and wings to go create your own tales. In that light, the two do not have to conflict.
I find it really boring. Ok, getting wood, stone, iron, setting up farms, building your own farm and house is fantastic. I always go to the Nether - that far I go, but killing blazes and collecting ender pearls is the part that makes me feel too bored already.
@@tj-co9go absolutely, but imagine doing it for the first time.
@@tj-co9go ㅋㅋ
@@tj-co9go Well what part of the game IS fun for you?
@@SobiTheRobot building and exploring
in the main world
i like little things. fishing the fish in the lake. Lighting a campfire. berries. Pets. Etc
instead of thinking it as "The Main Quest" its supposed to be thought as something you can do once you have done everything else, or as a way to get shulkers. Theres a reason that the youtubers beat the dragon in Hermitcraft within the first couple episodes. The end goal isn't to beat the dragon, it's to do whatever you want, that is the nature of a sandbox game.
I agree, but unfortunately most people, including Mojang themselves, consider the Ender Dragon to be the end of the game. It literally rolls the credits, bro.
Everything else is just... optional side content.
That's why Elytra and Shulkers are so game breakingly over powered and completely destroy the game balance, because they're intended as post-game features for after you've already done everything else that the game has to offer.
Ye I still prefer Vintage story for the same reason. Though it has a ton of things to search for in terms of a lore and a boss, it’s optionall as well and the main goal is to do whatever you want.
What makes it better though is the fact that it has at least 20 times more sidequest type of activity so there is more reason to play longer and build bigger buildings in the meantime
But yes, without Notch and Minecraft, there would be no VS. It’s sad that Microsoft doesn’t progress minecraft as much as they could when even mc modders can do insane things in a really short amount of time. Speaking of contents worth of a whole update amount..
But there is a big difference between what CAN happen and what WILL happen, players follow incentives when playing any video game (video game developers even have to use incentives in order to encourage people to play their games) and we also tend to optimise those playing experiences for our convenience. As a result, people WILL frame the End as the end goal of Minecraft, they will travel the Overworld and Nether to get the resources needed to craft the Eyes of Ender to reach the stronghold, they will kill the Ender Dragon because that's the intended main goal of the game and also to get the post-end game gears and resources like Elytras, Shulker boxes and all the enchanted diamond and iron tools and armor pieces.
I've gotten many comments similar to this but I'll just respond to this one since it's got the most likes.
Beating the dragon *does* present itself as the end of your playthrough, the dimension is called "The End" The credits roll after you beat the boss. Yes, the sandbox is still there, and it is likely more enjoyable if the ending is ignored, or seen as an incidental part of your journey. This, however, does not mean that the ending has no impact. People who remember the pre-1.0 days might be able to ignore it, but the game having an ending in the first place means that players will, no matter what, bring their assumptions and expectations from other linear games into survival mode. They will expect the journey to the end to be enjoyable, satisfying, and most of all, complete. But as I said in the video, this ending was implemented almost absent mindedly because the game needed some sort of ending to count as complete in Mojangs eyes. This meant that the game most people experience, has dissonant game design, the enjoyable experience of the sandbox is impeded by all the assumptions and expectations that are brought with an ending of any kind.
If I continue much longer I'll just be repeating the script of the video so I'll just leave it at this. If seeing The End as an ending makes your experience worse, that isn't a flaw in someone thinking that The End is the end. It is a flaw in either the way The End presents itself, or the experience leading up to it, and as I talked about in the video, I think it's clear Mojang has been putting a lot of effort in the latter.
This is so accurate! I love this take of like “everything is working against everything in Minecraft” like everyone likes different things and wants different experiences from it.
Like recently there was a thing like “why don’t all the unique drops from each side quest get added into the crafting recipe for the Ender Pearl?” Or the one mod that makes all the portal holes for the End Portal into unique Ender eyes that have to be found all over the different areas. I sort of love the idea of that, but SOOO MANY people were crying about how apparently annoying that was. It just goes to show that everyone’s got different flavors of stuff they like
My problem with that idea is that the Elytra and Shulker Boxes are so very useful, that locking them behind a ton of structure completion would feel quite bad. In my eyes, it would mean you'd have to do a ton of stuff before you can play the game freely. The End isn't just a sign-post saying "You did it!".
I like Minecraft because if you want a certain resource, you can simply go and get it - if you want Prismarine, find an Ocean Monument. If you want the Mace, find a Trial Chamber.
@miimiiandco I agree, I literally have only beaten it like 1 time, since then ive never been incentivized to beat the ender dragon for the elytra. Ive never had it besides the one time and by the time I got it, to me it wasnt worth the effort.
Its been years since then and every time I play I just find a sick place to base up, generally get an Idea or inspiration from something somewhere ingame like for example, i found a medium gaping hole that goes deep under ground from the surface so I turned it into a base over the hole with glass underneath and a stairway all the way down. Or my most recent, a pair of trees in snow that I manually combined into one thicky and made it into a tree house with the base going under and making thick roots for the under area.
It just gets my creative juices flowing and I maintain focus until I generally am feeling accomplished and then stop for a while. Usually by the time I get diamond armor and wep, its usually the time I go in the nether then stop. The idea of having to craft tons of ender eyes or whatever their called to find the dungeon is so unappealing.
@@miimiiandco Just play creative mode at that point
Well that would be objectively annoying. Minecraft is a sandbox, so the more player is forced to do something in specific way, the more it is coming against its very genre.
My sister is currently working on a REALLY grind-y modpack, and she keeps going on and on about how excited she is to play it with all of us. I've got 2 kids now, I don't have time for that kind of grinding, and even when I DID have time, I hated grinding. She's so sure that it's going to be this amazing pack (and for her, it will be), but the more she talks about it, the more I never want to touch it with a 10-foot pole!
inventing your own goals is an important skill for long time players.
Inventing your own goals is just an important skill over all, in any game or even life.
i wish every game were like minecraft. Just open field of content that barrely connect and interact to eachother and player. Just you, as less effort as possible in every update and maybe cool mob vote once in a while. But only once a year, we don't want to suffocate our creativity with too much content!
@@GameChanelCompanyEvery game being in one style would genuinely be a terrible idea, it's no secret that many people don't really enjoy sandbox games and prefer more linear gameplay. You already have Minecraft, why would you want every game to become another Minecraft?
@@fedethegreat88 google sarcasm dude
@GameChanelCompany I really need to stop reading TH-cam comments when sleep deprived
Following the “main quest” is how you get the “two week Minecraft phase” trend, since it takes around 2 weeks playing on and off to finish it.
Personally, I have played Minecraft almost every day since I began, so I’m in my “14 year Minecraft phase” I guess ! I’ve always treated it like a sandbox game, with those quests as fun distractions to do once in a while, and it has worked wonderfully for me ever since !
But I know I am very far on the “intrinsically motivated” end of the spectrum, most people don’t seem to be anything close to this, especially not other adults. It’s a shame, really, I wish they could have as much fun as I do with this game.
Beautiful comment friend
I never follow the ''main quest" of the game and I play on an off or what now people call the ''2 week phase''... to be fair, it treat every game like that, playing the same thing over and over and over gets old real quick.
It guess in my case it is a lack of creativity. I couldn't play this game every day, every week for over 10 years.
I played for about 10 years but now I'm on vintage story. And it feels like the beginning of Minecraft again.
Our group tried a Minecraft modpack this summer and it just was too easy. Some people beat the modpack in under a week.
My sister and I have been playing for about that long too. I also always saw Minecraft as a sandbox game. Our current world is over 4 years old. "Beating" the game was never our goal. We love building, exploring, making mega-bases. Killing the ender dragon is only a small quest to get skulker boxes. Now those are very valuable for builders as I can carry large of amount of material to my newest build site.
@@macmcleod1188 You played too easy of a modpack, bro. Get your group to play Gregtech: New Horizons
In my opinion the progression of minecraft doesnt end with killing the ender dragon. Once you get an elytra and shulker boxes, thats when the game actually starts. The sandbox portion of minecraft becomes infinitely easier with those tools, so thats when i start building and using my creativity fully
the whole early game for me is gearing up and killing dragon, obtaining elytra. mid game is building a base. end game is after base completion
I’m sorry but the elytra killed Minecraft for me. I am a very social player and historically always ran servers for me and my friends, but after the release of those wings all my friends do is speed run Elytra, even before they put down a base, and then log off for the last time and until I give up trying to do cool things with the world and reset it, then rinse and repeat. This happens every single time.
The elytra trivializes one of the most important aspects of the game: exploration and travel.
Why build complex rail networks when with 30 fireworks you can get everywhere you need to be and back.
It drives me up the wall, but I can’t blame my friends for being like that. Mojang made a decision to include an “ending”
That implies a beginning, middle and end. Minecraft previously never had an “early game, mid game, end game” but rather levels of world development. Some people’s brain goblins will tell them “whelp you finished the game time to hop off” this was an intentional game design intention, and from what mojang has been doing recently it seems that was the intention.
Seriously when is the last time they added something that actually encourages sandbox play? Oooh ugly building blocks, oooh ugly plants, give me a new sandbox mechanic, PLEASE.
@@BitTheByte i agree with you that elytras are op. in my eyes horses should be used for travel, but mojang would need to make them much faster, and elytras would be much slower and their utility would be moving up and that actually encourages sandbox play? but i dont think i get your point about "when is the last time they added something that actually encourages sandbox play?" can you give an example of something that would encourage sandbox play that isnt a building related?
@ (let me specify, all of this I talk about is within the scope of Java edition) like, the ability to pose armor stands without commands, or the ability to actually customize your armor instead of the armor trims, more playermodel customization options (like the ability to actually add accessories to your models, hats, tails, jewelry, etc.), customizable clay pottery (basically like the ability to make our own pottery shards) make the archeology system more in depth, and reveal something cooler than a single item. (Imagine digging up underground structures, brushing away sand revealing a temple underground that you would otherwise destroy if you just shoveled through it.)
@@BitTheByteoooohhhh Mojang/Microsoft, I think you need to hire this person
As a new player I gotta say: Caves update seems to be the best thing ever. While I just started visiting Nether and I am probably far from finding everything possible, I have to say: Exploring is fuuuun! Caves, structures. The more the better. I am not speedruning - I am enjoying the thrill of exploration. My houses look terrible - but who cares?
Well there's no bigger enjoyment-killer in minecraft than speed-running. I mean the very idea is absurd. If you like something you want to have it behind you as fast as possible or for it to last? I think answer is very obvious. Which I think You'll agree with me which one it is.
@@Lyokoheros-KLPXTV This expresses a fundamental misunderstanding of what speed-running is...
The thing that people "like" in this scenario IS the act of getting their time as low as possible. There's nothing stopping these people from just...not doing a speed run on a world and just playing the game as intended. Which most speed runners do.
These guys aren't just blasting speed runs 24/7. Sometimes they're practicing...sometimes they take breaks to remove the stress. In fact, breaks from timing yourself are crucial in pretty much any timed activity, to help alleviate tunnel vision and creating blind spots
Really enjoyed this view on the meta. They could fix this by adding one or two more "main quests" that run in parallel to the ender dragon, bonus points if they are actually somehow conflicting. Then we're back to choosing how to engage and we have undermined the power of the end quest as being the main quest.
with the shift towards smaller more frequent updates this will make the content that gets added feel more connected and meaningful to the game (something that has been missing with more recent additions like archeology). i’m pretty excited to see how the game improves over the next few years!! good vid mhm :)
Archaeology feels like an entirely different path to pursue the main path honestly. Or at least a side path that rewards you with exploration. I actually quite love playing as an archeologist instead of a miner to get materials. Sure it's much slower, but this is a sandbox with no time limit. The slow burn forces me to build with intention and consider world-building and stories.
Basically I was sceptical of archaeology until I started engaging with it fully, now I love it more than mining.
@ i love archeology too i just want to see more of it more often. just small additions that add up and can make room for more opportunities for interest in the mechanic. chances to find small patches of random sus dirts near inside or underneath structures with loot that matches sed structure. pots spawning in most structures like bastions end cities and nether fortresses could add a lot to the looting feel that can be lacking at times. little stuff like that would be awesome. archeology FEELS really cool to do so why not have it come up more often yk? also sniffer is best mob
goals which devs provide doesnt hinder my creativity by any means. it adds variety to my gameplay. for example when im dry on ideas i may decide to go explore, find newly added structures or ruins. i think its great.
Great thoughtful video. More please. I want to see minecraft become even more of a game. More everything. More after the end dragon, more for the nether, more side items, more core parts of the progression, more for the quest in every way. I experience minecraft mostly as a game, playing with my son, looking for more challenges, more reasons to upgrade armor and tools, we want more than the end has to offer. Something to use the elytra for.
This might be some of the more fascinating content I've seen in my feed in a while. Keep em coming!
Great video! One thing I think you missed here is how the game objectives actually unlock the fullness of the sandbox. Once you “beat” the game, it becomes so much easier to access all blocks in large enough quantities to utilize the sandbox aspect with ever more complexity.
Nice video! Goof food for thought. I want more "game" out of Mojang. A good balance between challenges and sandboxing
i just hope the “game” isnt super blatantly… visible, if that makes sense? i dont like when i can feel so blatantly “oh, they really want me to use this for this” in THE sandbox game
I had never thought of Minecraft this way. This stands out from other videos on the topic (and I'm addicted to 'em). Congrats, and thanks Mr. Algorithm
I think your observations are spot-on. I have always seen Minecraft as a creative outlet; even if you are playing by survival rules, it is most often to explore and grow your supply of blocks to see what you can build. When I talk to my kids about the wonders of pre-internet gaming they literally can't imagine what that was like. Trying to feel your way through Minecraft without hundreds of tutorials dropping minutes after the latest update as opposed to keeping a notebook beside your PC and slogging through weeks or months of gameplay to uncover even the direction to go Ultima 5. Just imagine buying Minecraft and playing it through to the end with NO social media, no chats, no cheats, no walkthroughs, and no Google. COULD you ever beat it? How would you know how to win?
Sometimes I miss those days, but they are certainly gone forever.
Oh my god, that Paulsoaresjr video was the first tutorial video I ever saw. I watched it during the literal first time I ever opened Minecraft in 2011, I completely forgot about that. Seeing him peer through that little opening in the wall just literally SHOT me time. I haven’t felt that little space in time in so long. That felt like visiting your grandparents house to help clean things out and getting hit with that specific scent of the house, and feeling something deeper than memory, like your brain literally places you back in that place on the timeline, like you’re opening a previous instance of your own mind, just for a moment. Thank you for that, that was genuinely moving.
I was hoping to find someone else with the same comment. I am always elated when I find other people who watched Paul back in those days. I'm fortunate to have one friend who knows him, and we make references all the time. Good stuff.
ME TOO OMG
when i started playing minecraft, i mostly built whatever i wanted. but over time as i watched more youtube videos of other people's builds i started to compare my own builds with theirs, in the end making me feel rather unsatisfied with my own minecraft builds
i suppose overall i've spent more time watching videos on youtube than playing games myself, and when i did play minecraft, it was mostly custom maps
recently i tried getting into a modpack called prominence ii rpg that very much leans into this "main quest" approach. the problem is that, for me at least, there are also way too many mods providing too many options and containing too much information in general. combined with the time investment it takes to progress in these other mods, i quickly found it to be not fun to play. games are just way more fun for me when there are clear objectives to complete
after giving up on playing prominence ii rpg i started playing a map called drehmal. let's see if i'll more fun exploring this handcrafted world (as opposed to a randomly generated one)
DanTDM mod videos was my introduction to Minecraft and that era of Minecraft was super fun and really unique compared to modern TH-cam Minecraft videos, I sadly wasn't able to get Minecraft till way later but even now I love Minecraft even years later
More sand to the sandbox is a great quote
Yes please make another. The philosophy of Minecraft has many layers and dimensions. I dig your take.
I actually really like that there is an objective to Minecraft, and I like that they are getting closer to the redefining the story... however I think they should prioritize that, why isn't it their main objective? I wish that Mojang felt allowed to change the game, it has so much potential, they already made a step by adding a family of antagonists, like they just defined them(the pillagers), and wow, cool, I would love to see that getting done more. They should add challenges that want you to build, maybe not only challenges, maybe even characters asking you to build like in Story Mode, for a mode that is called Survival they might have to move a bit away from the sandbox aspect while still keeping the creativity. The ending also feels a bit blank now, not gonna lie, after the Enderdragon is defeated you don't really feel anything because nothing in your world changes, it would be cool if after achiving a big event something would change drastically, they can play with the feelings players already have, like for the entire game you feel lonely and empty, then you kill the dragon and the world becomes more lively because you freed the end, endermen could become more friendly, be everywhere and have more interractions. What I am trying to say is that the game should make so that you want to complete it, you want to reach that ending, insteand now people complete the end just because they're told it's the objective, but there isn't anything really engaging about it, no build up.
Anyways, I was thinking of making a short comment containing myself, but you said you would've liked to view our opinions, I really enjoyed this video, I hope you can grow as a creator
It's sounds like you want to play terraria. There is nothing wrong with wanting a more progression-based system, but that is not what Minecraft is trying to be. Minecraft is purely a sandbox with the end being the only real "objective" of the game other than arbitrary achievements. The whole point of Minecraft is that you can create your own stories and do your own thing in the game. Adding training wheels to the game where you're told when are where to build something undermines that freedom. It wouldn't be Minecraft if you were instructed on what to do in any way, as that goes directly against the sandbox nature of the game. And, not to be rash, but every time Mojang have tried to use Minecrafts IP to make another game based on story, it has flopped arguably because of these reasons. There are games that do what you're describing better, and it would be a shame to see Minecraft lose its identity in favor of trying to copy them.
I think you just want a completely different type of game. Try terraria
Nice essay! I don’t see any clash. Killing the Dragon is just another thing to do. The End doesn’t necessarily means the end of the game. I always thought Mojang called it that way to mean something like “the farthest end of the world”. The edge of the world, if you will.
I've been playing Minecraft off and on (school, work, etc getting in my way for periods) for a decade now (first started playing in 1.7.5), yet I only went to fight the dragon for the first time in 2021, on a multiplayer server with my friends. I fought the dragon on my own for the first time in April this year, and again in another multiplayer server with friends a couple of months ago. Even during periods where I was too busy or unmotivated to play, I still watched/listened to other people playing here on TH-cam (and occasionally on Twitch). While Jean has always been there, a looming goal in the worlds, I've always been more interested in what I can do/make in the world, how I can emulate or pay homage to others I've watched, and learning for myself how different builds/traps/farms work in my test worlds
For me, my Dad puts it best: Minecraft is virtual Legos
Isn’t it crazy how much Minecraft has changed ever since its official release? The community has always influenced in shaping the game so it’s interesting to see how the community’s overall opinions of these updates form and later on evolve in the future. Everyone has their own way of playing Minecraft and what they think is best for Minecraft; it’s sparked many heated discussions on what needs to be done or else Minecraft is fated to be doomed and lose relevance.
I don’t think such discussions that criticize Minecraft are a bad thing, it’s good that fans are trying their best to improve/spread what they love about the game (or what they used to love about it). However, it inconsequentially sets up the expectations that each upcoming update needs to add to the overarching core gameplay. Experimental snapshots are often put under scrutiny by the community because each addition needs a clear and gameplay focused reason as to why it should be in the game. If left unchecked, having that kind of mindset can lead to an obsessive amount of nitpicking and, in turn, become so toxic that we end up hating the game more than we love it.
Without a doubt some updates will be more well received than others and it's good to voice what we like and what we don't like, but it’s also important to remind ourselves that Minecraft is a finished game; we should not let the frustrations of our imaginative mind ruin our love for the game. Minecraft will inevitably change as time goes on and we may not agree on some of these changes. However, whether big or small, we should celebrate the changes Minecraft attempts to make through its updates. Minecraft has offered millions of players ways to express themselves creatively and such experiences cannot be replicated easily. In the end, voicing our concerns for the game's future is necessary for healthy development, but we must not overlook the creative opportunities that each addition of every update provides and is waiting to be explored.
1.12 recipe book addition was the best addition Mojang had made for a while. It is something I would have loved as a new player. I have only positive things to say about it
Agnes' comment on naming things in your world and writing on signs really inspires me, the writing of your own quests and ideas into the game, it becomes your own.
I thought this video was interesting for sure, personally, I've always been of the opinion that minecraft can both be a game, and a limitless sandbox, terraria I think does that fairly well, but with the lack of a creative mode in terraria, it's hard to say terraria allows just as much creativity. I always thought creative mode was overlooked in these conversations about minecrafts true meaning. If you just want to build, creative mode is right there! and it gives you even more tools to build, and then downloading mods like axiom further allow more creativity.
I do understand that some people enjoy the limits of survival, but that "main quest" is always there for you to complete or not complete, it was never really required and most building blocks can be obtained without even engaging with it. So overall I think minecraft SHOULD be more of a game, because it gives meaning and purpose to it's existence besides "you can build stuff." Which in my opinion isn't enough to carry the game by itself.
(I know the Natural counter-argument to that last point is that minecraft has lasted 15 years, and that's true, but I raise you the nether update, and nostalgia, my comment is long enough so you can ask for elaboration if you want.)
I'll raise you one more, the games premise isn't just you can build. It's you can build in a world, which sounds the same buts theirs a big difference.
Great points you brought up! While everyone is constantly breaking the game down. I like this!
Chat this video is so informative and epic, ur so right i agree
D:
@warriorlore1theforgetful539 cornball ahh
Honestly it lost me when Beta 1.8 came out (which may as well include Release 1.0) because they chose to go down the fantasy route rather than the technical.
Their hand was almost forced into adding pistons by it being one of the most popular mods of all time, at the time, and nothing similar ever followed.
Command blocks were the nail in the coffin, because they’re fundamentally external to the world of the game.
What I wanted was the ability to mine without spending hours strip mining, so I could spend my time in game actually creating, and creative mode doesn’t provide that because there’s no challenge, and that’s never been added in the whatever it is, 12 or 14 years since.
I once played a modded world on realms I fell in love with. It was a complete the monument type of experience. I had so much fun with the challenge, mysteries and chaos it provided. Plus there was a goal to get in each majestically built section of the large map. You’d fight your way through themed parts of the map, faced monsters that were modded just enough to be powerful but still resemble the original enemies of Minecraft. The key was a story, each section had lore and stories and once you completed the game it was fireworks and celebrations, and reallly fun of an accomplishment.
I don’t normally like modded stuff but if done right with Minecraft you can have an amazing game. The cool thing was you could build or place blocks. Making it so you could accomplish these goals in your own paths. My cousin and I just tunneled to shield from the way overpowered enemies and faced the manageable ones.
Minecraft wasn't a game before as we all know it was a word processor and scientific calculator
Why do these two aspects of Minecraft have to clash? The "game" areas are some of the best sandbox locations. Have you ever remodeled a Nether Fortress? Or built a skeleton farm? The Trial Dungeon introduced a ton of new blocks to the game that you might not know about until you find it. Not to mention, for some people creative games in Minecraft is part of that sandbox experience. Really, everything about Minecraft is creative in some way, and that creativity is a kind of game. In practice, the two interact more than they clash, and that's what makes Minecraft special, at least the way I see it.
Love your analysis, definitely subscribing for more ❤️ I’ve come back to Minecraft after years away and I really like the latest additions, being able to discover them myself instead of just doing everything in a meta way and not having to use the wiki. I like the direction they have been going and don’t think it really hinders people’s creativity.
I got into Minecraft when it was in the 7.3 beta... I guess the Pure sandbox feeling back then (with monsters at night) was the challenge and "memorizing" crafting recipes or community ran web sites. That engaged and emersed us players "back in the day". Today's Minecraft, I do play it but sometimes I go back and play and older version. Still, you made some good points in your informative video. I enjoyed watching it. Thanks. :)
i used to be someone who obsessed over minecraft and every update, but now i feel nothing when i play it. microsoft trying to make minecraft into a forever game, just like how live service games are meant for you to sink many hours into it goes against my ethos of how games should be played. it's indieness stripped away for the search for infinite staying power goes against how indies are meant to be played.
now I play games and diversify. mojang is stuck making minecraft and will never make another game ever again.
Loved this vid. Pointed out a lot that I wouldn’t have connected on my own
I love your style and i am excited to see more videos from you.
Notch only implemented the ending to spite critics, who claimed minecraft could not be a game because it didn't have an ending. It's why the game ends with that poem, to signify some depth to the experience.
It's fitting that this insecure spite has haunted the game ever since. Notch's inability to take criticism with grace inadvertantly diluted the entirety of the game's purpose.
To me Minecraft always seemed more like a game with no beginning, but a unified end, the lore behind the world is yours to interpret but the goal is still there, they wrote the ending chapters but told you to write the beginning, and they hand you a bunch of set pieces to make things easier in later updates...
minecraft is a like a collection of lego sets. you're incentiviced to build each of the sets, but you can just fine use the parts to build whatever you like.
good narration . I only joined this game about 5 years ago when my kids started playing it. I was aware of it but I was too busy with Blizzard world of warcraft.
so I dont know how old game was and how the changed this game is from vanilla apart from some additional content and blocks.
I am interested in more creativity, recipes and redstone components to make interesting contraptions to keep us going.
I both agree and disagree.
For one. The updates you mentioned as trying to be a game again. Are all self contained experiences. I think of them as game withing a game. A NPCless quest. Beating a raid with no villager dying doesn't feel the same as beating a bastion, or beating a trial, or an ancient city.
And the reward given barely help beating it again. It's mostly there to fuel the sandbox part.
People that love survival and beating the dragon will more than likely always be decueved by minecraft. As all of thoses are kinds of mini games that give you rewards for bearing them.
Minecraft is kind of built like an mmo rpg without quests being given. You find your own quest that give you rewards that by themselves doesn't do shit. Like getting more armor for a fetch quest? What's the use.
But other quests around might find it handy, or bearing the big bad might now be easier.
The only thing is that minecraft has one final boss. And will never have one after that. Harder ones yes. But other bosses are built like thoses side quest like the wither, or the water temple.
As it stands. Minecraft is first and for most a sandbox game. Survival isn't its main mode. It's creative.
Survival is creative with steps. And that's to give a challenge to your creativity. Enjoy being creative and giving yourself objectives. Want to play a game while you are at it? Play survival. It's quite challenging. Not to beat. But it create steps to take before achieving your goals.
To me the only update that really showed minecraft wanted to be a game again. Was 1.21. Mechanics in the chambers, arnt just fights and randomly generated room with random loot.
Its using conventions to trick you. Players with feather falling skip the stairs by jumping down? Let put a trap on some stairs.
Fighting all the time is anoying? Try to pass that jump with ranged mobs shooting at you.
Feel like a room fight is too easy. Maybe try that room that make you climb and where mobs constantly fall on you.
And the ominous event push that idea even more. The additional projectiles like potions or arrows. Launched by the spawner are properly displayed like a game would. It's not a barely helofing together visual with no anticipation.
But to me the update that could fix it all. Would be the addition of game modes. Current game modes have a wierd name tbh. I would rename them to role or state idk.
Game modes would be a collection of packs, ressource, data, etc. That would be enabled by a simple button in a world creation menu.
The goal is to separate data packs that add feature, from modes that change the rules.
The 3 official ones I could see. Would be.
Sandbox. Curent survival.
Builder. Where every natural ressource would be doubles and all mobs would be neutral.
And survivalist. Where the game would have additional mechanics to survive. Shitty example, but like how subnautica add a thirst bar on higher difficulties. Maybe. But that idea of more general mechanics can damage you. And progression would see many steps added. Artificial, and with branching paths but the idea that you need more things than pearls to open the portal. And or more steps to get eachem and ressources. Like diamond are relatively far. Seems like a cool idea.
Basicly just a mode making you pass through more side quest to find the final boss. And make the path harder.
Going technical. That game mode pack would be a bundle of a texture pack, a data pack, a difficulty pack (the stats of mobs for easy medium hard and maybe more if you want), a custom world Gen when that finally come back, and a list of gamerules activated or not.
All 3 official mode idea I gave could turn on gamerule, and difficulty only. Maybe a little world Gen touch up but that's all. It should stay normal minecraft just a easy way for casual to find a suiting play style.
While players would be able to go wild with crazy modes ideas like idk. A village défense. Every 15 days waves of mobs spawn. There is a single large village you can expand. And there are pillager factions you can befriend or offend. And because it's a sandbox, you can absolutely not care about all that and just enjoy playing survival with huge waves of mobs to survive.
Of course you can add the data packs and texture packs and world Gen you want above all that. And considering there is an option to take structures away. Blocking yourself from finishing the game is already a thing on world creation. So I don't see the issue.
I truly think this could appears both people that want a more lineiant survival for being creative. The builder mode. And the ones that want to be forced to go play the new features. The survivalist mode.
While keeping the spectator, survival and creative player states.
Hope I've been short enouth (no). Lol
This video brings up some really interesting points, especially about the conflict between the sandbox and the linear game, and the direction Mojang is taking being because they want to have more control or more direct interaction between them/the game and the player.
I really liked your ending monologue, and I look forward to seeing more of your videos!
This is certainly a move in the right direction.
From someone who played since Alpha.
The overwhelming and crushing expectation to create everything in the world is completely gone now.
Yet.
You can do MORE now with Minecraft than ever before!!!
Thinking this over, I think it’s somewhat easier to think of it like Legos. The first time you use them, you’d have no idea what to do with em’ & the instructions it comes with is just The Main Quest.
Once you’re done, you can add onto it with newer pieces or you can start all over. You still have that set of instructions but who says you HAVE to follow them? You have the pieces, it’s up to your imagination now.
I’d like to think every new update is just getting more pieces really. People’s opinions on those pieces might just be ‘wow this is just another boring red brick’ but to a new player seeing all these pieces laid out to them for the 1st time… it’s scary, beautiful, stressful, colorful, unique.
Yes, the updates can sometimes add new pieces that make you just abandon the older ones, but they’re still there aren’t they? For a first-time player, it means a lot… I’d think. (Maybe I’m explaining this wrong, dunno. Maybe I’m just spitting nonsense now.)
A lot of people have been complaining about the direction of the recent updates, but I've never understood why. They're moving forward in a direction to give you reasons to explore and and to make the exploration more interesting. I saw a TH-cam say caves and cliffs wasn't a very big update, but it's actually massive.
Changing ore stratification, changing cave generation, and adding caves biomes is massive to gameplay. I settle in certain places because they have lush caves. I used to settle because there was a village nearby.
I think they're establishing an interesting word to be in and will build up the peripheral experience over time. They do have all the time in the world, tbh.
Wonderful video. I like your enthusiasm for creating content. I've always loved the flexibility of Minecraft as exactly that, a medium for story telling. That has also led me to never play vanilla, because it lacks enough 'stuff' to do to keep me engaged. Building and exploring are only fun for so long session after session. I play kitchen sink mod packs but only if they have a quest or progression tree of some kind. I don't want a linear story like vanilla Minecraft's. Minecraft alone does not satisfy my short attention span.
Call me crazy, but what I think would make it less linear would be changing how we open that end portal.
Instead of ender eyes we could have 12 different eyes that you must kill bosses for. These bosses would be beatable in any order and be required to finish the game. You could make each bosses based on some mob like a zombie boss, skeleton boss, spider boss, etc. Or you could make it more general like an undead mob, arthropod boss, aquatic boss, etc. We already have some stuff set up for that like the Elder Guardian, Wither and Warden, maybe even something in the new pale biome like a creaking boss. If players have to beat bosses in all dimensions (I say all instead just overworld and nether in case more is added some day) before going to the end, not only does it make players have to travel and explore for each boss, but it also let them choose in what order their story will go instead of being forced into the same path everyone is playing. Of course the dragon's difficulty should also be adjusted up as right now it is way too easy to be the end goal.
Of course I am sure there is mods doing something similar, but it is not in the base game's progression. It does not need to be exactly that idea, but I think we definitely need more "goals" and bosses are a clear and easy way to do it.
If you were to add an idea like that, I think Shulker Boxes and the Elytra should be relocated to a different area, since getting them would require a ton of time now, instead of the fairly breezy End quest currently.
You make very good points.
However as i have my 3 "Realms" for playing multiplayer, we have defeated the End Dragon in every Realm.
Thusly returning the game to full sand box mode.
Now it's all about our back story again.
This was a really well made, well scripted, edited and produced video essay especially for a channel of your current size as of watching this, Im honoured to be one of the first here!
Earned my subscription EASILY please keep making the awesome well thought out bids, super interesting and insightful!
It my be my adhd but I go through cycles on Minecraft, usually, around spring time I get excited about it, I start a new world, I obsess with it for weeks, sometimes a few months, until a different game gets my attention (usually Sims or whatever new/old game I get obsessed with). But Minecraft, like The Sims, has been with me since the beginning, since before biomes, and I like that it's a sandbox where I can do whatever I want.
great video. nice storytelling and clever conclusions about the games indirect narrative. Good job, keep up the great videos!
I never care about the main quest (I beat the dragon once with friends, never bothered otherwise), but what I love about the updates is that if I’m a bit burnt out on building and role playing, I can go out on an adventure and explore and with the updates, these adventures are quite varied. Having been on those adventures I often find I’m creatively invigorated to build again. So for me the updates help this ebb and flow of building and exploring, of creativity and adventure.
This video has really good prose and very pleasant narration!
The idea of a "Main Quest" is interesting. I like to look at Terraria for how their progression is done. You have a guide there and he leads you and gives you tips, but otherwise you figure it out on your own. You can take as long as you want or tackle side bosses or explore the world and build what you want.
Minecraft could be like this, obviously not the whole boss battle progression or talkable NPC thing but Minecraft being 3D could add more depth (sorry) to this.
Limitations can breed creativity, which is why I like the limited worlds of Legacy Console Edition. It can give you a direction if you're directionless or you could ignore this quest altogether (I personally haven't beat the Ender Dragon in almost a decade lol) or tackle it in unique ways, since it's still a sandbox and craft that story along the way yourself.
I don’t know if an end-less Minecraft would have survived. I think adding that little bit of story with the (maybe) promise if more has gotten and KEPT a lot of peoples’ attentions
Great video, reminds me of the narative takes of whitelite. Bravo!
You' have such a way with words and a soothing voice! Looking forward to what you have next in store for this channel!
I honestly wish there were more RPG like elements in Minecraft vanilla.
The dungeons made me so happy because why haven’t they been in the game all these years it fits the aesthetic perfectly.
I just hope they keep adding things that make Minecraft more magical, both figuratively and literally.
I hope they’ll add more weapons for different kinds of combat and new ways to get around quicker.
Terraria’s class system would fit perfectly in Minecraft.
(I just want magic items like wands and teleportation magic in the game)
I really enjoyed this video in terms of a clear analysis of some great design ideas. Also great structure with no time wasted. You're going to go far! Over on my channel there is a video on minecraft that I think you might find interesting, although it certainly seems long and dry compared to yours!
Very good video, I hope there will be more :)
Honestly, I never really thought much about the tutorial/sory. But I do think it is good that there's a push to more narrative at its core. The only thing that sort of hurts is... Minecraft is a lot less weirdly scary. I'm someone who played a lot before 1.0, and played a good deal up to 1.3 but never really tried to do the End dimension stuff. Simply put--I never used the wiki until very modernly. We were part of the old community. Running around in random avatars making our own story.
I think what really feels 'different' about modern minecraft is...
1) Enemies spawn so much more often to make farming them easier.
2) There are resources everywhere.
3) Everywhere has more...something in it.
This is what feels different to me. Minecraft used to be so empty, but in a good feeling way. I honestly want to play again with the spawn rates for all mobs reduced and villages much rarer. Just so it feels more like an isolated experience again. The 'fullness' of Minecraft is where I feel it got completely confused for me. Playing now, it feels like no matter were I am, I see the distant glow of lights of civilization at night. If I try to set up a base, its a constant fight against the unnending spawn of enemies so I don't get bored.
I used to be able to build a house on a desert island and not worry about say, creepers too often. You'd get a creeper every couple of days. They were a rare danger. Now if I do the same, I'll have 6 creepers on my porch so I HAVE to light my entire living area or build more notable walls.
i think adding more to the actual quest and adding more to the objective or more objectives is a good decision. because the original message, to create whatever you want with no bounds and no rules, is still there no matter what; and giving more to do in a game is appealing to those who do want something to do besides create. both sides will still be there in the end, it just gives more options do do in a game where their entire thing and their entire reason is that you can do whatever.
In my opinion, nothing can really impede the sandbox nature of the game, so them adding more "game" to Minecraft is simply a net positive, but they don't do that as much as they should
its funny, i think theyve been adding *too much* “game” if anything…
rather than going back to change the fundamentals, they keep adding sidequests
@@CreativelyJakewhat fundamentals would they even be able to change that wouldnt lead to a huge community outrage? you can no longer place blocks in minecraft, they completely overhaul the damage system so now you don't have health you have degrees of injury that give you debuffs as you get hurt. these would conpletely change the game, and not for the better. it wouldn't be minecraft anymore.
@@infebris Oh, I just mean like... the enchantment system, the xp system, the hunger- actually just anything that was added around the time the dragon was added. Notch really screwed over the other devs bigtime I think
But like, genuinely I think it's appalling to see... they don't revisit old content even like SWAMPS. instead they give us a NEW mangrove swamp, and a NEW pale garden biome with trees *inspired* by willow trees, with moss hanging from their leaves. still no willow trees or even patches of mud in the normal swamp biome! but hey, frogs spawn there. so thats alright i guess
they... also definitely took their concepts for a birch forest revamp and put that energy into making the cherry grove instead, but thats a little less direct. I wish they'd at LEAST go back to random things more - like how .. heres a good example: they went back to bats! bats got a remodel, and now they actually fit the rest of the game now! They even use the new animation system. I do find it funny how mojang keeps pushing their quality standard higher and higher, but now its like... well, shouldnt the old mobs not look out of place next to the new mobs?
or how they changed the fundamentals of worldgen in 1.18! That was really nice... or yknow, 1.9! the combat!
I think upending traditional progression would be so refreshing, ESPECIALLY enchanting, but ... for material progression, they can't because it'd ruin peoples progression in existing worlds. So like, even if copper tools were an interesting idea, I don't think they could add them. etc. but i dream of it
I also dream of enchanting being changed to be more engaging.
...i also know some of the devs really wish the hunger system was overhauled.
@@CreativelyJakeI'm a Minecraft monitor and some of my more popular mods are changing the game back to the way it used to be in the current releases.
@@CreativelyJake Well that's what I meant, tbh. They're not integrating these side quests enough into the game progression. It'd be nice if there were more viable, alternate options for progression in the game, instead of just the surprisingly linear progression that the game currently has. Even subnautica, a game with a set in stone map and story, has some non linear progression choices, like building habitats in specific biomes for specific resources, choosing to enter the lost river or lava zone through "blah" entrance.
They've actually done better with some smaller features recently, like armadillos and wolf armor, as well as bundles. They're both technically optional, but they're very well integrated, fully realized features that makes you see them as a viable option for your gameplay. It's not just a "fun" side quest that gives you nothing.
A big thing of course is that the game feels incomplete again, and messy, because they haven't updated the older fundamental systems, like you said, such as enchanting, combat, villager trading. For me personally, there is no viable reason to enchant, or trade with villagers. Those who do use those systems are either building massive things, or are min maxers/getting op for the sake of it, and not because they need to. I feel like there are just so many features in the game now that have no actual use for gameplay/aren't needed for progression, unlike other games that have good game design that try and use all their features within the gameplay
LEGENDARY fyp random pull, keep up the great content!
I've spent a large portion of gaming life for the past 14 or so years playing mostly sandbox games, or only really engaging with the sandbox elements in games (eg: I have over 800 hours in Fallout 4, over 3/4 of that is base building. I have never completed the main story).
But as I grow older, I'm starting to lose interest with this. I'm starting to crave story, narrative, hand crafted experiences, set pieces, highs and lows.
I think it's a lot easier for devs to create interesting mechanics and an interesting sandbox to enjoy them in then it is for them to craft an engaging story to unravel as you play.
I don't think Minecraft is ever going to have an engaging story, it's better as a sandbox.
to be honest I was kinda hoping this would happen with them addin archeology and the sniffers. slowly but surely finding out what minecraft was before we came.
thank you so much for making videos without any foul language, that means more to us than you know
I loved the video! I largely agree with the points made too. There is a tension between the linearity of main quest line and the sandbox aspects of the game.
I find the main quest line to be largely outdated. I think the initial intent of it was to compel players to explore. The question of “how do I beat the game” forces the player to mine, go to the nether, and ultimately the end. However I think as the game has developed more intricate biomes and structures to explore, they should have been folded into the main quest line. Ocean Monuments, Ancient Cities, Woodland Mansions, Trial Chambers and Bastions all feel just as important for players to witness as a Nether Fortress and a Stronghold before “completing” the game. These structures do provide “more sand to play with” but many of them also force players to interact with the world in a novel way. If the purpose of the main quest line is to compel players to witness what the game has to offer, then they should be included before a player can reach the endgame.
Love your voice 😅 great video very soothing and thank you for talking about my favorite game
That's true, I do frequently fire up old versions, especially since they have decided not to fix the Buffet worlds that broke 2 years ago. & Beta gives you a whole different experience. Also true that it it the ultimate cheap replacement for bucket LEGOs.
I really enjoyed this video thank you
For many years I played minecraft as a game, to make me less bored. From 1.0 to 1.18 I disliked the terrain generation and never felt inspired to really build with the land. So I turned to mass-farming and fast travel and villager trading gulags.
In the last few years though, minecraft has become a slow burn meditation for me. I don't make any auto-farms, I don't chase netherite and enchantments, I haven't even beaten the ender dragon. And the world I have now, 3 years old this month, is my digital home in every sense of that word.
I play Minecraft when I need to clear my head, or when I've had a big event occur in my life. Because the buildings I make at those times hold the memories of those times.
My 7 year world from 2012 still exists and I sometimes still tour it. It is an accidental museum of my childhood memories. This most recent world is made with intention to be exactly that, but for my adult life.
i have… so much i want to say. for now ill just leave a comment for the algorithm, but. like. i will be back! and leave another comment!!
ive spent a lot of time discussing minecrafts design, and recently have really been thinking about how its old direction clashes with its new direction. i think… survival mode itself is such an interesting case study. and
well, i cant write my full thoughts right now, but i will!
The sandbox aspect was what got me into playing it in 2012. When I actually played my friend taught me how to make a pick axe and mine and I said "oh wow, there's actually a game here!" But the old problem of needing the community to know how to do anything was real.
Today's Minecraft has everything it needs to be a more beginner-friendly game, it just needs to add a bit more lore.
We have written books and archaeology mechanics, why not find diaries from people long ago discovering how to make a working portal, or records of brewing experiments. Allays could build a working portal if you give them the obsidian, or carry clues to game progression that you can receive for rescuing them... The ways you could implement clear game progression are as myriad as the ways people build adventure maps!
I have been engaging with survival alot more recently. new updates and features pique my interest but taking on the challenge of conquering the end defeating trials and exploring different biomes and learning what's possible with resources around me is fun to do every now and then
When i first discovered Minecraft i honestly didn’t know anything about it. I mean I’d seen my brother playing it with his friend but apart from that i had no idea. And I feel like playing it as an experience to be enjoyed rather than a game to be beat makes it feel so much more different than it is now. Maybe it was because of the time or the newness or maybe it’s all just rose tinted glass, but Minecraft back then just felt so limitless.
Really good video! Love your takes! For me personally, the background music is just a tiiiny bit too loud. Not sure if it's just me tho, could be ^^
Really nice video, hoping to see more of this! :)
I really did enjoy your video.
I’m a very, very slow player. It doesn’t help that I let my young son destroy all my blocks when he plays the game. I’ve only ever gotten to the Nether, protected my portal and tunneled so that I didn’t have to fight any creatures, merely peeking through holes whenever I came upon a cave system. Whenever I lose a fight (often) I go and build a new building out of new material, or in a new shape.
I don’t know if I ever began playing Minecraft for the sandbox part of it, but I definitely play it for the low priority the end takes. I know I have something to work toward while exploring and getting lost and constantly dying (can you tell I’ve never enchanted anything yet) and making some epic or cute bases from which to sally forth and fight. ❤ Exploring is my favorite part of the play.
11,000 views with under 300 subs?! You really are putting out quality videos. Thank you!
She had 50 when she posted it
14:18 i misheard you for a second and thought you said "go ahead and give me a thumbs down" and went wait what
Actually youtube kinda treats all engagement as a reason to boost a video, positive or negative. Thumbs up has more impact on the content that will go to your feed and thumbs down has more impact on what goes to other people's feed. That said, positive attention does mean its more likely a video keeps getting recommendations and too much negative means the video will eventually burn out and fall off the recommendations list as it runs out of people to show it to.
ngl i never thought of it like that before! i do think it's good that the game has a set path and is trying to stand on its own, u don't really have to do it but it's good for a game to have a starting goal. mojang is making the game in a way where u can be completely creative with it if u want but if u want a goal it gives one to u, i think having both is good even if they can clash a bit
And then there are those that play survival mode exclusively but have never even tried to get to the end. We still choose to plot our own course, to write our own story.
I started with Beta 1.8. I already felt Minecraft 1.0 was going the wrong direction. Enchantments, potions, the End dimensions felt like extra unnecessary hassles that kept me away from the fun part of the game - exploring, building, having quite calm moments. Too much like those ordinary RPGs. I love Skyrim, but I don't feel like Minecraft should imitate Skyrim, that is the wrong direction. I don't like the one-use items and rare collectibles you need to farm too much for. I like more than you can build many things out of simplicity.
I don't love the monsters and bosses as much as the calm moments with sun setting over the ocean in a pine forest beach and hearing piano music in the background, while just resting or building a wooden villa in Art Nouveau style or something. I find them rather distracting and unsuitable.
Nether used to be basically worthless before 1.16, but now it is beautiful and unique. Probably the best update in game history, but I don't know if they will pull it of again. Cave update was also good - but too little, too late. Village update was good, but villages have felt to feel overpowered.
I have lately been playing on a server called BuildTheEarth, specifically BTE Nordic + Baltic. A server like that was my dream for many years, until someone really made that. It feels like that captures what the core idea of Minecraft always was to me - build things in a virtual world.
Again, most Minecraft updates have still been pretty good and awesome. I love that we have copper and andesite and diorite and campfires and 10 wood types and different colored beds and terracotta and concrete etc.
I wish there were more challenges like the end dragon, warden, wither etc. Once I figure out how to beat one, the thrill is gone. I'm just harvesting loot when I go to the end now.
Well, done, thoughtful, and informative. I like this content.
A primary contradiction in for example sandbox vs play through doesn’t need to be a problem that breaks things. There is a whole category of “problems that inspire” that are fundamental to our species growth even if English doesn’t have a good word for it.
11:28 graphic design is my passion and you hand drew the white circles on the left side 😭😭😭
jokes aside great video! earned a sub
This was a really good video
This kind of hints at something I've realized over the years: Minecraft hasso many problems baked into its identity. They weren't really noticable when it was a small indy game, but now that it's got a bloodstained tech mega corporation behind it, the issues are far more apparent.
Fixing things like exploration being counterintuitive, the inventory problem, enchanting being absolutely terrible, all the spaghetti code... Mojang can try new ideas to circumvent the issues all they want but the unfortunate reality is that actually _fixing_ these things would require a fundamental rework to the game itself. They have to rebuild everything from the ground up, but if they do that, would it still be Minecraft?
Pikmin recognized
that paulsoaresjr video took me BACK, how on earth do i still recognise that after all this time??? man...
Maybe I'm just an outlier, but I see all these critiques of Minecraft on youtube and have to wonder just how honest the creators are being with their hand-wringing. I bought Minecraft in 2019 and it took me 3 years to even think about going after the ender dragon. It's a masterful sandbox balancing act where the world it gives you is beautiful and interesting enough as it is, while at the same time being completely and utterly breakable and moldable. It's a canvas for creativity, a haven for cosy grinding, a challenge for exploration & combat, and for many people a space for social interaction. These "gamey" bits, from the dragon to the trial chambers and beyond, aren't at odds with the rest of the experience. They are just more things that you can choose to do; more challenges that you can approach in your own style and at your own pace. Mojang/Microsoft have never made the game worse by adding content. Personally I don't think such a thing would even be possible. I mean, it could potentially be made worse by _removing_ content, or dramatically changing certain mechanics, or tanking the game's performance (the Switch version has become pretty much unplayable over the past couple of years) but that's not what most youtubers tend to really talk about in essays such as this.
After stepping away from Minecraft for years, I always thought thought the stuff Mojang added were making Minecraft better: the mob votes, the new structures, and colored concrete etc. and was confused on what players were complaining about if stuff was being added. Now I can see that after 15 years, Minecraft is just now recently enhancing survival the CORE of mode of the game.
Minecraft should have two modes: listed objectives mode
And sandbox mode.
Listed objectives with the Ender Dragon being the last goal.
Sand box mode: excatly what you think.
Wow the TH-cam algorithm finally shows me small creators, and I'm really happy your on of those creators to blow up on the algorithm, as you video is very uniqe and well made.
I liked how instead of trying to say if the game is "good" or "bad" (like most essays on it now adays), you explained the interesting idea of the main quest, as well as how the progression path and sandbox co-existed over the many differant versions of the game, it is a very good analysis!
Anyways very good video, def subbing for the next one, also nice to see you are a pikmin 2 fan! (purple pikmin #1 goofy boy👾)
I really am sorry to expose myself as a poser but I have not played pikmin 2, just listened through the ost. I've only played 1, 3 and 4 and they are all amazing.
I'll get around to Pikmin 2 eventually I promise! (I'll probably make a video about it too lol)
@@Phosph0ra well haha, while I do call myself a pikmin fan, I have actually only played Pikmin 2 (and never actually complited it, which I might do soon), just like you I think the ost and pikimin themselfs are amazing, and I also like being part of the community.
I'm exited to see your video about the game when you do get to playing it, the Wii port of Pikmin 2 was and still is one of my fav games of all time, and seeing your style of video on such a game would be amazing to see, looking forward to it and whatever other vids u might make in the future!