BTW Appreciation: An Experience Like No Other

[AkoumTrailblazer]

This mod was one of the highlights of my modded Minecraft experience when it first came out, and now returning to it after all these years, it's given me an experience so great that I feel it would be a disservice not to share my feelings. For FC, all those who took up the mantle to keep the mod alive, and the outstanding members of the community, I want to you to know just how much I appreciate what you've created:

To begin with some context, I played around in creative mode to experience what "1k-2k distance" actually means, and it really gave me some perspective... When you randomly respawn, you will NOT be finding your base again unless you can earn it. And BTW makes makes you WORK for it. Good lord! Getting this perspective made me truly realize the incredible experience BTW offers.

First off, the premise is very enjoyable. At its core, it's a well balanced tech tree mod, built to encourage multiple aspects of gameplay, such as exploration, food management, resource collection, and even time management. And thought was clearly put into making these gameplay elements engaging. The tech tree is balanced, compelling, rewarding, and elegantly fits with the "feel" of Minecraft (we're not achieving nuclear fusion here). Additionally, the care and attention to detail is not lost on me, I'm constantly noticing how meticulously the balance has been achieved, avoiding exploits and loopholes for even the smallest of details. Its success in this premise alone is worthy of recognition.

However, what really makes the game so captivating, is how the "hardcore" aspect is handled. Every death manages to capture the feeling of a "true" hardcore death (at least for me), but without the soul crushing feeling of total loss. You pretty much start a whole new world from scratch, with no hope of seeing your base for a long time (if you haven't already, give it a try in creative mode with no compass, it really puts things into perspective). BUT you can motivate yourself to keep playing by thinking about how you'll be able to make it back to your spawn, maybe that's ALL your thinking about. After you make the first few grueling advancements though, you find that you might as well stay at your new home with the progress you've made. No reason to stop now, advancing now, or rushing and risking losing it all again. The spawn wasn't THAT much more advanced than where you are now, and you'll decide to head back eventually... By the end when you do leave, you've basically created an entirely new Minecraft world within your save. Throughout the game, you probably will have wound up creating multiple worlds within the one world, there's a possibility you'll never even make it back at all!

Hardcore mode has always excited me, but I'm such a loss averse person that I couldn't bear to invest in something and risk losing it all. It may sound dumb, but it honestly feels like a privilege to be granted the experience of hardcore minecraft, with such a challenging and rewarding modpack, that I would never be able to bear playing on HC otherwise. And to have it not just as an addition, but a core feature the game is balanced around, makes it so much more engaging. BTW has created a "hardcore" game in which you are expected to die before you can win.

This might not be the mod for everyone, but it IS a mod that stand's out above the rest for it's quality, and an experience I'm not anyone would be able to truly replicate.

[IssaMe]

Well said! Many people - including myself - love the fact that it's basically hardcode without the loss of history. And when you come back it's like finding an ancient ruin in which you were present for its genesis (at least for me :P)
I love that it makes you engage with the world a lot more too by overcoming and taking advantage of its mechanics.