I return to the Hidden Valley to plunder its magic-infused stone. The locals don’t looks too happy to see me though. I also get some home improvements and a little gardening done.
Tomorrow, we investigate the mysterious house by the river!
Mods Mentioned:
Thaumcraft. The infused stone that was my main goal today is half what I need to craft my first Thaumaturgical wand.
Metallurgy is the source of many of the other ores I encountered.
Natura provided those delicious berry bushes that will hopefully help me stave off starvation.
Special Monsters. If you were wondering why so many of my skeletons and zombies have equipment, or behave in slightly unusual ways, look no further than Father Toast’s Special Monsters.
Wild Caves adds a bit of extra variety to underground areas, including those stalagmites I encountered today. The effect will become much more obvious once I head into a proper cave system.
With starvation no longer a risk, I decide that my most pressing need is to learn a little more about my surroundings. Time to head to higher ground for a better look.
What do you think my next move should be? Drop me a comment either here or on YouTube and let me know!
Mods Mentioned:
Thaumcraft. While I’m still a good way from becoming a Thaumaturge, it is good to know that I have a Silverwood tree nearby. At the heart of every Silverwood is a pure aura node that cleanses the local aura of flux (a sort of instability that builds up when you perform thaumaturgy..
Grimoire of Gaia is responsible for both the Valkyrie and the Griffons.
Mo Creatures were on display again, as they will surely be in every episode. We met one of the evil wolves for the first time.
At the end of Episode One I had a basic shelter, and some stone tools. Not a bad day’s work, but I was beginning to starve to death. In Episode Two I venture back to the forest in search of sustenance.
I’m starting to get the hang of things again, but I need to turn the Minecraft volume down a bit for the next episode. Some of those monsters were being rather rude, and talking over me.
Mods I mentioned:
Natura by mDiyo : Provider of fine Ark-sustaining berries, as well as being responsible for those eucalyptus trees in the area in front of my shelter.
Mo Creatures by Dr Zhark and Bloodshot : Most of the additional creatures and monsters I encountered were from this, including the rabbits.
Ars Magica by Mithion: All three of the buildings I’ve seen so far are, I think, from Ars Magica. I probably made them a bit too common in my config settings. I’ve increased their rarity now, but that’ll only apply to areas not yet generated.
In which, like any first episode of a Minecraft series, I punch a few trees, make some basic tools, and make a shelter for the night.
But who (or what!) dwells in the house by the river? And where is all that thunder coming from?
It’s recorded in HD, so should look fine in full-screen. You can increase the quality using the little cog icon.
I’ve obviously left it far too long since I made a video. I was quite unreasonably nervous, which may have rather gotten in the way of being as exciting as a first episode ought to be. Still, the first step is the hardest, and I’m going to keep on going!
Many moons ago, a young adventurer journeyed through a strange land, punching trees, and dying in a variety of embarrassing ways. Creepers, mostly, as I recall. Some of those adventures were recorded for posterity, and they were kind of popular, at least in comparison to most of what I do here. Took me rather by surprise! Alas, health and other distractions took their toll, and new episodes became rare, and then stopped forever.
Until now. Circumstances have conspired, and the stars have aligned, and once again I am overcome with the desire to delve too deep and too greedily into the land of Minecraft, and I’m hoping you’ll come along for the adventure!!
Since I last played, Minecraft has released properly, and had vast amounts of extra content added to it. Tameable wolves and ocelots! An experience system. The End, and the sinister Endermen. Witches! But beyond that, Minecraft modding has exploded, tempting me with delicious homegrown concoctions, and my deep-seated need to attempt to stack as many mods together as possible has kicked in, for good or ill.
There are quite a number of pre-built mod-compilations out there, the most popular of which seems to be Feed the Beast. But I tend to disagree with compilation’s mod choices, and I’ve also found that going through the process of cajoling other people’s mods into playing nicely together is often a solid foundation in learning how to mod a game myself.
As I’m starting from a base of Minecraft’s current version, 1.5.1, not every mod I’m interested in has been upgraded to function with it yet. I could use an earlier Minecraft version, but I figure I have plenty of mods to work with for now, and can always add more in later when they get updated.
I’ve already got quite a stack of mods working together. I’ll list them with descriptions and links in a later post. Largely, I seek extra challenges, beasts, and lands to explore, or interesting new game systems. As I’m not really much of a builder, as anyone who remembers my ugly but practical base at Hawk Mountain will attest, I’m leaving the range of mods which add pipes and new blocks and various sciencey goodness alone for now. I might add some in later if architectural inspiration strikes. I’m also avoiding mods which seem to simply add more powerful gear or otherwise make the game easier without also providing great threats.
Perhaps you can help me in my search. What are your favourite Minecraft mods?
So, when does this show hit the blocky road? I’m waiting on one particular mod to be updated, which should be in the next few days. Thaumcraft is a huge mod bringing magic and wonder to Minecraft. Because it adds special trees, ore, and aura nodes that are vital to its magic system, I should probably have it installed when I generate the world, rather than adding it in later. I could try to add it later, but there’s a chance that could go horribly wrong, so going to play it safe, considering that breaking my gameworld would be an ignominious end to a video series.
Trion’s upcoming MMOFPS, Defiance, will be launching twinned with its very own television show. Alas, not all of us have access to the SyFy channel (I can’t take them seriously since they did that to their name), so may have been contemplating “other” means of viewing the Defiance show.
However, as I just learned from a tweet by Defiance writer Clark Perry, it turns out that it will be coming out on iTunes. I’d have preferred Netflix to avoid having to pay an extra charge, but iTunes will do. I asked him if he new how much the cost per episode would be, and he guessed $1.99, but we’ll need to wait and see to be sure.
I’m planning on playing the daylights out of Defiance, so I’m glad I’ll have a simple way to keep up with the show. I think its going to be fascinating to see how well (or badly) running an MMO alongside a parallel television production will work. If it goes to plan, I could see it becoming a standard methodology.
I have resisted the urge to post about Sim City, thus far. Suffice it to say that I am deeply displeased, and, anyway, mainstream game journalists are doing a surprisingly good job of covering how broken it is. However, we just got some information on the compensation package, and I thought it might be worth mentioning.
For Our Patient And Amazing Mayors – A Free PC Download From Origin
Fortunately, those of us who are neither patient nor amazing are also getting our choice of one of the following games:
Battlefield 3 (Standard Edition)
Bejeweled 3
Dead Space 3 (Standard Edition)
Mass Effect 3 (Standard Edition)
Medal of Honor Warfighter (Standard Edition)
Need For Speed Most Wanted (Standard Edition)
Plants vs. Zombies
SimCity 4 Deluxe Edition
It’s important to note that we must claim our free game by the 25th of March, or lose it. And it must be downloaded by the 30th of March, or, once again, it will be lost. I guess the electrons go mouldy if they’re left lying around for too long. I’ll probably go for Mass Effect 3.
Sim City buyers were promised a fully functional Sim City, and that’s exactly what we’re going to get. Unfortunately, it’s called Sim City 4 Deluxe Edition.
Update: It appears that EA CEO John Riccitiello has resigned. I’m not sure whether we should consider that part of our compensation package or not. My suspicion is that the sort of people that own enough EA shares to have any power are not the sort of people who actually play many EA games, BUT they do play Sim City. Also, the Sim City fiasco has been covered thoroughly by many publications that they might read, such as the BBC, and the New Statesman. Getting publicly called out for lying, and provably so, is the sort of embarrassment that causes heads to roll. I doubt he’ll be the last.
Riccitiello’s term as CEO began in 2007, and it has not been a particularly happy time. The dismal performance of SWTOR had already left him bruised. He’s credited with being the one that powered through the change in ethos to concentrate on DLC. I expect that legacy will persist.