A Serious Critique of Minecraft

chess pac-man Tetris minecraft as an enthusiast it's an honor to be alive to see another game reach such stardom minecraft is the best-selling game of all time it's among the most popular currently running to explain why isn't a challenge it's largely a reflection most of the people watching this video can look back on their own lives and remember the effect this game had on them myself included there was a magic to it something special that nothing else has ever had I'd like to think it's the modern generations equivalent to the feeling kids must have gotten when they first moved what appeared on the screen back when pong came out in caveman times minecraft is made out of blocks I think even people who've been dead for 200 years know this but it being made out of blocks made it everything it is the wilds being divided into low pixel cubes allowed for total manipulation on the technology of the time the total freedom to pick something up and put it down somewhere else no scratch that the freedom to pick anything up and put it down anywhere else it's like real life except you don't need planning permission in a couple hundred thousand bucks and everything's a square and so on this simple ability coupled with infinite generation creates infinite possible outcomes that level of potential depth from that simpler mechanic most of the greatest games of all time share such a quality from a game design standpoint minecraft is a canvas on which the Mona Lisa could be painted and that doesn't even consider the capabilities of redstone though we can't quite talk about depth until there's goals a game needs goals right what's the point of Minecraft is a very common question you have a wall that now get players to use it so there's a health bar and dangers presented by the dark which isn't always avoidable okay we have a reason to act so what do we do we need shelter that's our reason to build and we need tools gear upgrades essentially that's our reason to mine resource gathering in the most hands-on way it's the perfect way to do progression in a fully manipulable world we mind we craft to avoid and fight back against the mobs in the dark minecraft was about survival and I'm here to tell you that it's not anymore in fact I believe it's inaccurate for survival mode to use that word at all you might find yourself watching this video as a result of Minecrafts recent resurgence in popularity but the years before that very much a dark age for this game minecraft will never lose its crown but it was losing its relevance why minecraft had the benefit of originality a fantastic idea that could appeal to almost anyone done for the first time originality means novelty everyone wants a fresh experience and minecraft most certainly delivered thanks to a rapidly replenishing supply of kids it's always got new people for its novelty to have an effect on but what about the people who played when it was first gaining traction the novelty is gone there were few gaming experiences cooler than literally building a home out of the world itself or finding your first diamond but that's not so true anymore many of us have done it hundreds of times mining and crafting a sweet but short gameplay loops and they've been short since 2009 the novelty isn't even on life support because it's struggling to update most of us lost interest in Minecraft a very long time ago so people returning to the game now often find themselves surprised with just how much has changed but looking back through the update history Mojang's expansions to the game have been little short of haphazard and confusing from 2011 to 2014 Mojang majorly updated the game three times per year after 1.8 though their pace slowed to a crawl 1.8 was the bountiful update released on September 2nd 2014 it introduced some new blocks most of which were for cosmetic purposes the ocean monument and some minor survival changes like sheep dropping mutton want to know when the next update was February 29th 2016 took him exactly 545 days of development to make this we got n cities which are very cool dual wielding which only half works and a tech strength mechanic which encourages the pacing of sword strikes a glider and an igloo to come 545 days to make this took him the rest of 2016 to add woodland mansions and polar bears then it took him over a year to add get this some colored blocks and parrots you know it actually took him three and a half years to give lapis a reason to exist other than pimp my sheep you know the weather has been pointless for seven years development times for mod packs proved there's something seriously off with these numbers even accounting for how careful Mojang have to be with Editions now I don't know what Mojang were up to during this time whether it was excessive partying thanks to their mountains of cash or developing other games and I don't want to know because it doesn't matter it's pretty clear why minecraft lost so much relevance during the mid 2010 it simply wasn't being expanded upon and so the years were free to punish it just like any other game with the most recent two updates things did take a turn for the better there's more content and update aquatic and village and pillaged in the previous four years worth combined and it took him less than a year between updates this time three and a half years to give lapis a point less than a year for all this this is beyond human comprehension I know but it's good that the game is finally making major additions and I think that contributed a lot to Minecrafts recent spike in popularity admittedly Mojang are in a very tough situation when you have an original idea like Minecraft and it starts taking off the very last thing you want to do is change it too much because as soon as it stops being perceived as cool you're stuffed Mojang are well past that point now they're at the point where every major aspect of the game has cult status they can't change anything without stamping on the memories and love people have for what it is now diamonds always have to be the rarest resource creepers always have to act as they do the nether always has to be accessed through a portal even if a change is made for the better you're not just changing the game's mechanics you're changing its identity and yet to keep the game relevant to keep people interesting they need to keep updating they're in a position where any additions they make must not alter the core experience of the gameplay loops and any changes they make must be minor this explains their focus on exploration and cosmetics exploration essentially is cosmetics and both give builders new toys to play with without vastly changing the building experience but it doesn't explain their focus on adding structures dungeons and improving villages now remember back to what I said about survival minecraft is not about survival anymore the use of the word to describe the base game mode in fact is inappropriate and the best way to demonstrate why is with the first night this used to be a big deal whenever you created a new world but it's not easier today because we know it's easier today because it's no longer an issue three wool isn't hard to come by and that's the only difficulty in making a bed to circumvent the first night if you find a village beds and all the shelter you'll ever need already provided the first night involved a similar routine every single time punch a tree find some coal make some tools minor hole it wouldn't be so tense in 2019 if it were never changed because we'd have done it so many times but it could have been expanded upon villages for example could allow you in if you made them an offering but no matter how you look at it surviving the first or any night following isn't a concern if you have beds and Mojang are so determined to make you use them that you'll be attacked by a swarm of deadly phantoms if you don't sleep for long enough they punish you for not skipping the challenge just don't use it is a bad argument most people even those aware are going to use the easiest option to get out of danger regardless kids especially they aren't considering the effects of beds they're just using the tools provided to them it was bad form to say just don't use it two years ago but now with phantoms it's plainly ridiculous being attacked by a swarm of beefy mobs for not sleeping as a gun to your head removing beds isn't an option the solution I think is dangers that aren't unique to nighttime pillage raids is one of them weather could present others is danger not the reason we started mining in the first place did we not seek iron and diamonds for the purposes of survival we did danger was what pushed us to interact with Minecraft systems now the biggest danger is gone and with it goes the biggest chunk of the game's depth most affected is building to show that minecraft has depth let's take desert temples goal is to get to the loot without being blown to pieces in a normal game you might have an ability we'll and there'd be one or two ways to do so but minecraft is no normal game there's a thousand creative solutions at least ten of which are good each with benefits and drawbacks but none of the relevant ones require a whole lot of thought survival minecraft was capable to some degree of inciting that thought on a larger scale building something that looks nice is very often a minor architectural challenge Kong use of half blocks trapdoors and colors but building something defensible practical typically takes a more creative manipulation of your invite Motz walls traps battlements using mountains as cover I happened upon a youtuber called mumbo-jumbo recently and his redstone videos are certainly impressive but today what in-game goals to his designs meet let's describe looking at someone else's house in 2009 wow she's built a lava moat oh cool that guy's built a trap with pressure pads he's using a greenhouse to protect his crops and now in today's age wow that guy's looked up basic suburban house tutorial on YouTube or Wow they've carved a small hole into the side of a hill slight exaggeration but the point is with no danger on the overworld our biggest goal has disappeared so you haven't got much of a reason to build anything above the bare minimum you don't need protection of any kind if you have three wool let me reiterate while you objectively have more freedom in today's age the lack of danger gives you far fewer reasons to seize it village and pillage has reignited some of that survival building spark last seen all the way back in Alpha pillager raids means villages require protection and most villages are highly indefensible upon generation so there's a reason to fortify if you want the people to survive you can also have your very own custom built village if you're willing to transport and breed inhabitants which encourages construction of gates watchtowers or anything else you can think of the more appropriate name for the mode would be survival of some random villages with bad AI you like to get themselves killed I kid no the most appropriate name for the mode would be conquest minecraft was about resource gathering for the sake of survival terraria is about dominating ever-increasing levels of evil through overwhelming power with the constant introduction of structures that the player can investigate conquer loot takers their own manipulate in any way minecraft becomes more like terraria you used to spend the first few nights mining or building now you either do that or you just find a village to annex back then you'd gain your strength to survive the nights and build a more practical dwelling now you get some diamond kit go to the nether raid a fortress for potion making material enhance yourself through enchanting and brewing raid the stronghold murder the ender dragon steal its egg raid a mansion maybe raid an ocean monument maybe raid an end city minecraft has dusted its focus on survival and towards his focus on being like terraria why terraria execute conquest progression masterfully minecraft stripping over its shoelaces an example of that would be one of Minecraft still gaping flaws the weather to fight the weather minecraft other boss you need to farm anywhere from 100 to 400 wither skeletons which can take well over 24 hours the reason you then fight it is for it's a unique drop the nether star this is used to make a beacon which are beyond understanding so to put it simply the beacon is a power transmitter those powers are chosen and then emitted in a specific radius around the beacon but it needs power from both a pyramid of materials and being directly fed them a 3x3 pyramid consisting of 81 iron gold emeralds or diamonds will give the chosen power a radius of 20 blocks that's 81 iron a day of farming and a boss fight for either haste or speed in a worthless range the next level up is 306 iron then 747 then 1476 increasing the radius from 20 to 30 then 40 then 50 what on earth maybe the clock at Mojang HQ broke on april fools i didn't think i'd be speechless in this video but here we are for another couple examples the dungeons ocean monuments take quite a while to get to and quite a bit of prep to fight through yet it rewards 8 gold blocks what are you meant to do with 8 gold blocks open a watch store n cities are a considerable challenge and the loot is reflective of that position enchanted diamond gear and a glider but woodland mansions take longer to get to a harder thanks to the vexes a 9 times out of 9 the loot you'll get from the temples on your three-hour journey there will be more valuable than everything in the mansion combined Mojang aren't incapable of doing conquest progression it has breathed life into the game there's actually something to do lots of things to aim towards to prepare for this constant stream of higher and higher goals gives reason to interact with minecraft systems to improve it works but it took him almost a decade to get conquest progression anywhere close to competent and the weather is still a laughingstock it shouldn't have totally replaced any focus on survival which has been neglected into non-existence without survival as a goal the game's depth comes from conquer skulls presented by structures and bosses and while they can encourage very creative solutions meeting those goals rarely puts as much emphasis on the use of Minecraft score gameplay loops building most of all in my opinion if they continue to push this focus the next step should be encouraging just that building as of now the only thing you need is a small hole with a door in the front a farm an enchanting room is an added bonus conquest progression could add reasons to build terraria uses NPC housing for that purpose I'm sure Mojang can think of something here's another question what separates your first mining trip from your 3,000 very little the only thing that keeps the experience engaging is the possibility of finding diamonds the uncertainty of the cave generation and whether or not you'll encounter a mob spawner or an abandoned mineshaft for eight years this has been the same Minecraft stoutly refuses to expand on its best offering gameplay wise but seems happy to introduce new elements that change the focus of the game villages beds raids mansions monuments were all prioritized but introducing a new ore in a game called minecraft for the first time in 8 years guess not emeralds don't count they're so rare and so worthless as all they might as well not exist expanding upon mining is no doubt one of Mojang's greatest fears they need to give new resources reasons to exist and that means a lot more content to think about while still the rarity of diamonds has reached and exceeded cult status Mojang cannot 1up diamonds without undermining the game's identity so they always have to look the same behave the same and be the most valuable resource I still think the answer lies in depth literal depth 64 blocks is far too few my in a stack of iron ore make yourself some iron armor and you're more than ready to deal with any danger at the lowest levels of the world it takes about five minutes to mine your way down to 12 and start stripping don't let lionmaker hear you say that though this might have been fine 10 years ago but nothing can remain interesting for that long and nothing should when it has this much potential terraria has proven the worlds can be far deeper and become far more dangerous as you go down without being frustrating you aren't going to be equipped to survive the lowest levels of earth for a long long time and that constant progression keeps mining interesting and fresh for far longer than Minecraft stars it was a great idea that the hell dimension would literally be at the bottom of the earth and I still think it would be cool if minecraft did the same you'd use obsidian for heat shielding instead of a portal so how could minecraft enjoyably flesh out a deeper world without just copying terraria I have a few suggestions firstly more structures like abandoned mineshafts as he go down such as the abandoned city of an ancient and demand worshiping cult or the ruins of a dead dwarven race yet creepier with it as you get lower secondly more resources with diamonds remaining the rarest thirdly biome specific caves and resources forth where two cave generation with depth and v new dangers static dangers such as heat and radiation plus dynamic dangers such as gas cave collapse enemy horns or something supernatural resources are the biggest challenge because Diamond kit is about one and a half times as good as iron so you have to vastly enrich the gap between good iron and gooder diamond with multiple new resources like silver land and titanium while making that progression fun and fresh obvious answer is to move the goal posts you make diamonds far stronger to reflect its newfound rarity and use the updated resources to pad that out problem is if you make diamond too strong you remove the challenge from the game enchanted diamond dharma already makes you a god go any higher than that you might as well set the difficulty to peaceful we can rebalance make diamond stronger and enchants weaker but there's gotta be limits we don't need anything better than enchanted diamond is now sure by putting diamond so much further down you are making the game harder because diamond isn't getting significantly better to match its new position but I think a challenge in mining is something fans would welcome when every other challenge in the game is entirely combat related so moving the goal posts causes issues I have two strategies that don't first the few ores that fill the gap between iron and diamond need to be interesting there's thousands of ways to do this but just at a base level lead could have radiation resistance titanium could be as strong as diamond but slows you down and silver could have anti monster properties so you'd have reasons to use them situationally second fill any remaining gaps with loot rather than resources terraria already does this perfectly chests hidden in structures contain useful items consumables in unique none of which are made from ores and ingots we're looking at new items in the vein of nametags horse armor saddles and enchanting books technically you could have unique weapons without going off the rails by putting the traits of said weapon into an enchanting book now I am NOT just saying be Terraria when not five minutes ago I criticized Mojang for it I criticized them for taking eight years to be worse and for trying to be terraria while not being minecraft be both how else can minecraft be the best it can be well there is an answer to that question albeit a difficult one mods mods are a common dismissal I hear of my issues with Minecraft yeah but I don't think games should serve as bases for modders to come in and fix I loved Skyrim partly because of its modding scene but I give Bethesda no credit for it and I give the game no credit just because it's dumb flaws can be fixed by a third party I don't intend on treating minecraft any different especially because it's only jar edition players who are even going to get the choice I'm critiquing minecraft vanilla which is its own experience with its own potential and what mods help vanilla reach that potential not as many as you might think think of the most impressive mod packs around Tekkit vaults down craft minecraft vanilla is about building mining and exploring in a fantasy world with medieval technology apart from redstone of course these mod packs and most mods in general rarely seek to enhance vanilla but to add all manners of fantastical new content and secondary systems a lot of which isn't exactly in line with fantasy world medieval technology nuclear reactors quarry's intercontinental ballistic missiles these are really fun and lots of mods do encourage survival building but few stay in line with what vanilla minecraft is whew not none the æther has always been a favorite it breaks no conventions simply being the heaven counterpart to the nether but unlike the nether there's something to it three new ores which the developers understood should be interesting thanks to gravitates anti-graft properties it's the only ore in the game that changes the way you mine it there's multiple new mobs including tamable mowers and three new dungeons with three new bosses unique enemy types mini bosses puzzles fantastic loot the aether is a masterpiece and worried not for the dialogue it'd be a perfect expansion to vanilla minecraft mo creatures is another favorite clues in the name it adds mo creatures 62b all of which look just as good as Mojang's work not the horses though they're even better if you spend enough time horse breeding in this mod you can get your pack mule looking like a horse of the Apocalypse it's balanced in line with vanilla and remarkably engaging there's more I could keep going if you're lucky enough to play on Java Edition the best modding can do is add more content to vanilla mods regularly encourage building something other than a two by one hole with the door on the front which is a really good thing it isn't good enough for our purposes or an excuse but it is an excellent option if you want it the bottom line of this video is that Mojang don't seem to know what to do with Minecraft and it's hurting the game they're happy to implement what would be considered mods over a huge stretch of time but when it comes to innovating or even giving the player a reason to use minecraft most engaging gameplay loops we see nothing they don't need to act minecraft is the best-selling game of all time but I still believe they should because minecraft is a remarkably special thing I consider it to be among the greatest games of all time it's surprisingly deep mechanically and so often I use those words to describe a brutal combat system like Devil May Cry it's a pleasure to be able to use them about a creative outlet well to be fair if you really think about it the antics you can get up to in Minecraft makes hatred look moral but I don't know if you're really supposed to think about it I can never stay hooked for too long in this game I always find myself drifting back towards games where I can blow stuff up race fast cars and get drawn into beautiful complex narratives I like to be able to look at a realistic Lamborghini or a stunning artists realization of a fantasy world but where so many of those games are about darkness and bloodshed and war it's nice to have access to a kind experience it's truly a shame that minecraft still struggles with its reputation it's not fair on the good ones or mojo nor the players but minecraft youtuber has connotations and we always stigmatize anything associated with cringe one diamond this unfortunately is a curse cast upon all games that appeal to kids I've spent a lot of time watching mine con cringe compilations and a lot more time internally combusting the thought of listening to a minecraft parody it's a curse that is unlikely to break for any such game some deserve it but I don't think this is one of them for Channel oh jeez you might know that this video is a remake of a two-part series I had backup in 2017 that's the channels deepest darkest secret there's a reason I took him down I can barely bring myself to watch them today cringe no awfully written and voiced uh oh yeah wastefully long - I made those videos because minecraft is popular and I needed the channel to grow I'm making this now because I respect minecraft for being a healthy phenomenon and his reputation is far from squeaky-clean but I believe it deserves its Fame thank you all for watching if you'd like to help me continue creating content patreon donations go a hell of a long way in making that possible I'd love to tell me what's coming next but to say my life has been rocky recently would be an insult to the rocks ego so while say that there's high chances of it being about destiny - or watchdogs whatever it may be I hope to see you then good bye [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music]

Channel: undefined

Views: 3,016,363

Rating: 4.7798791 out of 5

Keywords: minecraft, building, survival, minecraft review, minecraft game review, minecraft critique, minecraft gameplay, minecraft building, minecraft survival, minecraft creative, 1.9, 1.8, 1.7, 1.14, 1.13, gaming, no swearing, mc, mcpe, mojang, notch, history of minecraft, minecraft next update, terraria, minecraft pc, minecraft java, minecraft update, minecraft bedrock, minecraft alpha, minecraft vanilla

Id: ha1rO0btVLU

Length: 24min 31sec (1471 seconds)

Published: Fri Jul 12 2019

Reddit Comments

[u/[deleted]]

The video is good, my takeaway is that the video was making 2 arguments. The first argument is that a game should keep and reinforce it's identity, since Minecraft suffered from neglecting the survival and mining aspects of the game. This doesn't directly apply to a different game with different goals, considering Hytale has adventure mode and not survival mode from what we know, it would make more sense for Hytale to pursue conquest content instead of mining content. The second argument is that having danger and challenge is what makes all the other mechanics useful and meaningful, this part is something I agree with. One of my biggest fears is that Hytale will be extremely easy hence boring. If I don't die once in my first Hytale world I'm going to be severely disappointed and critical. If there is a difficulty setting I hope "hard" is actually hard.

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To be fair if the modding tools are as powerful as Hytale claims, there is no doubt that I and others will make challenge mods, but I don't think developers should use mods as an excuse to not make a good game, it's important to me that vanilla Hytale is fun, and part of having fun is having challenge to overcome. Minecraft is in a weird limbo because the new updates add more content but they make the game less challenging, less intuitive, and less meaningful. I like playing Alpha for the dark nights and the tough mobs, but I like playing modern updates for all the house building options and the redstone and the biomes. I hope Hytale has the best of both worlds, lots of content with lots of danger, that would be the perfect game for me.

[u/___Galaxy]

His biggest argument is changing core mechanics or features that have been like that for a long time and would ruin nostalgia and veterans experience, for instance the diamonds. This is something that won't affect hytale because since the game will be so fresh they can balance things to their will.

The second one is he just saying how mojang is static by describing what should be the cave update... well I believe Hytale will not suffer with lack of content because the devs will keep maintaining it.

[u/anepichorse]

That video was really good, I think Minecraft is just getting too oversaturated but hytale won’t suffer from those issues

[u/veggiemeister]

Yeah I reeeeeally wish that Mohammed would just buy the Aetnwr mod from the developer and add it to vanilla Minecraft. I think it’s a perfect mod.