I've been replaying Minecraft on and off for the past few weeks with a friend and my girlfriend. It's definitely been a while since I properly sat down and did everything the game had to offer, ~10 years to be exact, that's right, 1.8 was the last time I sunk my teeth into this game, sure, I played it on and off over the years but every time I played solo survival I got bored and every time I played with friends they just speedrun to the end and automate everything before I can even get iron gear. That's why this time around I asked one friend to play on this server on one condition, we would go at my pace.
The result of this is a rating change from 7/10 to 9/10 and a rewritten review. After a month we beat the Ender Dragon, and it was wonderful, I was able to gear up get ready with everyone learn the new mechanics properly and build a lot of stuff before even reaching The Nether! We still aren't done either I have a whole plan for the Postgame where I can finally learn Redstone and automate stuff while still making it look nice because holy shit does automating make everything look fucking ugly, if I wanted to make a factory, I'd be playing a different game or Tekkit.
Minecraft is still great though it feels like it's still in a rough transition area with modern mobs and generation feeling way more advanced then Minecraft Pig, seriously, they should update animations next because Camels and Frogs look like they come from mods instead of Minecraft.
Let's go through some of the updates now;
1.9 - Combat Update. In hindsight this is a great update making combat feel more strategic even if I feel like it needs some work it did make the AI a LOT better, I remember skeletons being very easy pre 1.9 but now they kick my ass a lot. The end city is great though still a bit empty now that the villages, nether, and caves have been updated. Tipped arrows are great and as someone who used axes for all their life because a battle axe is a million times cooler to me then a sword, I appreciate the buff a lot.
1.10 - Frostburn update. I remember feeling underwhelmed by this update back when it came out and, well, yeah... I feel a bit underwhelmed looking at it, but the magma blocks are great, and the bone block is one of my favorite blocks in the game!
1.11 - Exploration update. A great update for someone who prefers Survival anyways. Shulker boxes are a game changer and I'm so glad to have them and Woodland Mansions are pretty cool. Also is it just me or did these things used to be a lot less rare then they are now, I swear they used to be very common when I played but now everyone goes like "YOOOO WOODLAND MANSION THAT'S AMAZING!".
1.12 - Color Update. For building? Amazing. Outside of that? Underwhelming.
1.13 - Aquatic Update. I'll be honest this one didn't interest me much back in the day but now I can say "it's pretty alright" with 40% more confidence! It made oceans less boring but that's all really. Also I just wanna say, Phantoms are the worst mob ever introduced to Minecraft, it's an inconvenience more then a challenge that makes Survival more stressful early game and more annoying late game.
1.14 - Village and Pillage. My biggest love-hate relationship is with.. idk what to call them actually.. I'll call them hostile villagers, they make the world a bit too hostile because a lot of them are getting added one too many for my taste. Outside of that, great additions, now make the Fletching table useful.
1.15 - BEES. I have as much to say about it as additions added.
1.16 - Nether update. what a crazy update this is, adding so many new things and making the Nether feel fresh, I think it's great coming from someone who thought the Zombie Pigman was the best mob in the game. Little shoutout to the person who added cool blue flames.
1.17 & 1.18 - Caves and Cliffs. MY GOD THIS CHANGES EVERYTHING. I cannot do this update justice in this review just like the Nether, the Overworld got a whole revamp adding so many things that I absolutely adore, amethysts are my favorite gem and guess what my favorite animal is, yeah its an axolotl. Oh and don't forget that they made half of their name fun, I always hated mining in Minecraft but I gotta say, this update made it actually fun to go down and get some diamonds. 10/10 update.
1.19 - Wild update. After the insane update that is caves and cliffs, whats next? More Overworld updates again, that's what's next. It feels more like a aftermath of things they couldn't add to caves and cliffs in time.
1.20 - Trails and Tales update. Well, here we are, the present at the time of writing this. adding cherry trees which my girlfriend is absolutely obsessed with and camels which my god do they make traversal so much better especially in multiplayer. I don't care much for the archaeology at the moment but I do think it'd be cool to see a new update adding extra lore to the world through archaeology.
overall, this replay has made me like Minecraft again and helped me reconnect with a childhood friend and do more with my girlfriend, that along with the memories I've made over the years, makes the money spent on this game more then worth it.
Happy 15 year anniversary Minecraft. Here's to another 10 years of updates.
The result of this is a rating change from 7/10 to 9/10 and a rewritten review. After a month we beat the Ender Dragon, and it was wonderful, I was able to gear up get ready with everyone learn the new mechanics properly and build a lot of stuff before even reaching The Nether! We still aren't done either I have a whole plan for the Postgame where I can finally learn Redstone and automate stuff while still making it look nice because holy shit does automating make everything look fucking ugly, if I wanted to make a factory, I'd be playing a different game or Tekkit.
Minecraft is still great though it feels like it's still in a rough transition area with modern mobs and generation feeling way more advanced then Minecraft Pig, seriously, they should update animations next because Camels and Frogs look like they come from mods instead of Minecraft.
Let's go through some of the updates now;
1.9 - Combat Update. In hindsight this is a great update making combat feel more strategic even if I feel like it needs some work it did make the AI a LOT better, I remember skeletons being very easy pre 1.9 but now they kick my ass a lot. The end city is great though still a bit empty now that the villages, nether, and caves have been updated. Tipped arrows are great and as someone who used axes for all their life because a battle axe is a million times cooler to me then a sword, I appreciate the buff a lot.
1.10 - Frostburn update. I remember feeling underwhelmed by this update back when it came out and, well, yeah... I feel a bit underwhelmed looking at it, but the magma blocks are great, and the bone block is one of my favorite blocks in the game!
1.11 - Exploration update. A great update for someone who prefers Survival anyways. Shulker boxes are a game changer and I'm so glad to have them and Woodland Mansions are pretty cool. Also is it just me or did these things used to be a lot less rare then they are now, I swear they used to be very common when I played but now everyone goes like "YOOOO WOODLAND MANSION THAT'S AMAZING!".
1.12 - Color Update. For building? Amazing. Outside of that? Underwhelming.
1.13 - Aquatic Update. I'll be honest this one didn't interest me much back in the day but now I can say "it's pretty alright" with 40% more confidence! It made oceans less boring but that's all really. Also I just wanna say, Phantoms are the worst mob ever introduced to Minecraft, it's an inconvenience more then a challenge that makes Survival more stressful early game and more annoying late game.
1.14 - Village and Pillage. My biggest love-hate relationship is with.. idk what to call them actually.. I'll call them hostile villagers, they make the world a bit too hostile because a lot of them are getting added one too many for my taste. Outside of that, great additions, now make the Fletching table useful.
1.15 - BEES. I have as much to say about it as additions added.
1.16 - Nether update. what a crazy update this is, adding so many new things and making the Nether feel fresh, I think it's great coming from someone who thought the Zombie Pigman was the best mob in the game. Little shoutout to the person who added cool blue flames.
1.17 & 1.18 - Caves and Cliffs. MY GOD THIS CHANGES EVERYTHING. I cannot do this update justice in this review just like the Nether, the Overworld got a whole revamp adding so many things that I absolutely adore, amethysts are my favorite gem and guess what my favorite animal is, yeah its an axolotl. Oh and don't forget that they made half of their name fun, I always hated mining in Minecraft but I gotta say, this update made it actually fun to go down and get some diamonds. 10/10 update.
1.19 - Wild update. After the insane update that is caves and cliffs, whats next? More Overworld updates again, that's what's next. It feels more like a aftermath of things they couldn't add to caves and cliffs in time.
1.20 - Trails and Tales update. Well, here we are, the present at the time of writing this. adding cherry trees which my girlfriend is absolutely obsessed with and camels which my god do they make traversal so much better especially in multiplayer. I don't care much for the archaeology at the moment but I do think it'd be cool to see a new update adding extra lore to the world through archaeology.
overall, this replay has made me like Minecraft again and helped me reconnect with a childhood friend and do more with my girlfriend, that along with the memories I've made over the years, makes the money spent on this game more then worth it.
Happy 15 year anniversary Minecraft. Here's to another 10 years of updates.