A critical hit! (Coach G-Force Part 6, Draft)

Image from Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones
"A critical hit!" from Pokémon FireRed Version
This is what happens when I hit a weak point

Day 9

Mom unbanned me from Gold's Gym (I still wanna take revenge on you with a hug), and I desperately needed training because I felt weak at the time--I didn't have a lot of stamina, and I couldn't lift heavy objects easily. I asked for a training session as soon as Mom, Coach G-Force, and I found a viable time slot.

To be honest, there is hardly anything to talk about this session. I didn't have any unique drills, and I forgot to ask for sparring.

In fact, I hardly remember anything about this session, other than me responding to the long combos a bit better than before, and knocking off the mitts twice.

Day 10 (also the day when Mr. Juan Martinez became viral, fun fact)

Remember that woman I mentioned in Part 4? Well, coincidentally, I started training at the same time as she did, even though I was late. (I blame Mom for lining up at the bank a few minutes before training. She deserves another revenge hug.) But I'll talk about my fellow trainee later.

Coach G-Force trained both of us in an alternating way. While I was shadowboxing or lifting weights, for example, Coach G-Force gave Muay Thai mittwork to the other trainee. (I need to make up a fake name soon; this is starting to sound unintentionally offensive.)

When it was my turn for the mittwork, Coach G-Force asked me to try a bit of Muay Thai training, starting with a middle kick with the shin. Instead of hitting the mitts, though, I lost balance and hit Coach G-Force cleanly on the abs using my toes, and he got knocked back. NOOOOOOO!!!!! WHY DID I DO THAT!?

Instead, he asked me to do elbows and spinning backfists. Ironically, I wasn't as fast as my fellow trainee because I focused on accuracy over speed, and I was new to this kind of mittwork.
After a while, I added loud martial arts grunts when I did each move. It's like I'm trying to smash a wall.

We had sparring again, but I think there's nothing special about this one except being similar to my previous sparring--lots of clean hits on his abs, and only one "partial" hit on me.
Besides, I can't remember what else happened on this day.
(I hate doing things for my family sometimes.)

I chatted again with my fellow trainee after she left the gym. Here's how I remember it (with inaccuracies):

*"sneaks" up behind her*
"Uh, hi there. How was training?"
"It's okay. I'm tired."
"I see you're getting stronger and faster."
(Can't remember this part)
*broken combination of Filipino and English* "Sorry, I don't speak Filipino well. I'm better at English. I hope it doesn't sound weird."
"It's OK. I studied tourism, so I'm good at English. I have to talk with the tourists, after all. What's your course?"
"Multimedia. I study at UP."
"Anyway, how do you go to Gold's Gym?"
"I walk from home to the mall."
"Oh, where do you live?"
*CENSORED; let's just say it's a 15-minute walk* "How do you go here?"
"I use public transport. Oh wait, I'm gonna take a jeepney now. See you."
"Oh well, see you next time. I'm walking home now." *sprints away*

Day 11

I'll admit, the main reason I went training on this day is because my fellow trainee said to Coach G-Force near me that she will train again on this day. But, if I had to give a secondary reason, it's because I'm feeling extra pumped for battle, and Coach G-Force was okay with this day.

This wasn't a good day to train, to be honest, because of what I like to call the "revenge of the rain", which I think is caused by the southwest monsoon, and because my big brother was coming to my house with his super cute 3-year-old daughter. She always looks for her "Uckle" (Uncle) when I'm not around.
But, whatever, beating Coach G-Force up and analyzing my fellow trainee's moves outweigh the risks.

Again, we took turns training, but this time, Coach G-Force exploited my original shadowboxing practice and put hand wraps in an X-shape around the posts surrounding the "strafe cone", like this:

So creative; 10/10
(Boulder and Coach G-Force tried to photobomb after I took this)

The way this works is, whenever I want to strafe or avoid an imaginary punch, I'd make my head go under the hand wraps and follow up with my own punch.
(I tried going through two "lines" in one strafe, and it was a challenge.)

Coach G-Force has figured out my fighting style, and is now regularly using feints against me by faking a punch to the head and actually aiming for the body. I'll admit it's bamboozling, but I usually block the real punch anyway...except two hits on this day, one which was clean. Oh well, good game.

I maintained consistency with my fighting style, as with my previous sparring rounds. I continued to spam or feint on the face and actually hit the abs, while also faking attacks to the abs rarely. I didn't dodge any attacks, though--I got lazy and tired.
For some reason, my clean hits had a much bigger effect on Coach G-Force than usual. Each one knocked him back very hard, with a matching grunt followed by a playful laugh from both of us. Heck, on the last few seconds of the last round, I used feints to shift his attention to protecting his head, then landed a huge cross punch on the abs that knocked Coach G-Force back so hard that he used his knee to break his fall.
Eh, that's the closest thing I got to a knockdown, and I'm impressed with myself. (RIP YoSquid.)

When it was my fellow trainee's turn to train, Coach G-Force ordered me to do a bunch of different weightlifting exercises.
I got very tired. Nothing much to say here, to be honest, other than Coach G-Force remarking to another trainer how good my footwork is.

Also, remember what Coach G-Force said to other trainers about me being strong and fast?
He said on this day that I'm also "matigas" (Filipino: hard), referring to my sturdy defenses. Hooray, I've got high stats all around! Now I just need to work on my Logic skill and Magic stat--I need more Khan Academy.

Coach G-Force is thinking of having my fellow trainee do sparring with him or me, but she said no. I said, "Come on, you got this! You hit hard and fast!" But I'll respect her decision--she's only here to lose weight. (I'm here to become the strongest warrior I can be so I can work harder and fight crime.)

Speaking of my big brother's daughter, I enjoyed playing with her, even though I got short of breath while she was still full of energy. She got entertained whenever I pretended to get zapped by touching her big cheeks, and when I acted like a zombie when I was tired.

See my Christmas inactivity post for the gifts I got from my big brother. Thanks again, and eat my fat hugs!

Day 12 (Day 6 of infection)

There's a lot to talk about the things that happened before training.

First of all, I got infected with cough and colds back on Day 11 of Coach G-Force. It was very tolerable at first, but got steadily worse after my training and during my niece's visit (but still not obvious), until the evening when the infection manifested obvious symptoms and I had to go to bed urgently.

Second, I forgot to give Coach G-Force the Christmas gift that Mom wanted to give on my previous training. I brought it this time, though, plus another thing Mom gave--I'll explain both later.

Third, I was trying to train at the same time as my fellow trainee...but she got infected as well and can't train until January 2019.

I still needed to train on this day to deliver Mom's gifts. Coach G-Force won't be available until January 2019, either.

Remember when I said that I normally go to Gold's Gym by walking?

Not today, and I don't like it. Mom and Dad needed to do other stuff in the mall at the same time as my training, so, since I got my driver's license on mid-December, I drove for Mom and Dad, with Dad guiding me while driving since I'm not used to driving yet.

Not only did I not get a warm-up for my body, but I'm actually scared to drive. BAD DRIVERS EVERYWHERE!

Coach G-Force asked me, "Do you want to do a sparring-only training session?" I said yes, even though I told him I was infected, because I want to see how I survive. Besides, I want to be ready in case I get stuck on a 12-round fight...and I don't like fighting more than 6 rounds.

To warm up, we did the typical mittwork first, for two rounds. Despite my colds, which drastically lowered my stamina, I still hit as hard as I could, but got bamboozled by the increasingly difficult defensive practice.

Oh well, driving to the gym wasn't a big deal thanks to these rounds.

I got confused, though, because we had two rounds, not one. "I thought this was an all-sparring training day?" I asked. Coach G-Force replied, "Sorry, I forgot. Let me get my gear." He then went to the trainers' equipment room and changed from pants to shorts, and got his boxing gloves. We then got started with the first round.

The first round wasn't very different from my previous sessions, other than me getting hit on the abs yet again, which never happened before on the first round. My clean hits were still there.

As the rounds went on, though (total of 7 rounds), I lost more and more stamina, and my back was more and more bent while trying to resist both physical and biological attacks on my body. While my air flow was restricted, Coach G-Force fired back with feints, combos, and spamming the left jab to keep me at a distance. I couldn't keep up with his speed this time, so I think I got hit by 11 clean hits in total, 3 of which were part of a single combo.

Fortunately, I hardly flinched due to the impact of those hits.
At the end of one of the rounds, Coach G-Force jokingly did an MMA takedown and lifted me into the air. I shouted a loud "OH MY GLOB!" He gently let me down afterwards, though.

I didn't count the number of clean hits I got, but, like in other sessions, I mostly got them on the abs and on the first round. Funny thing is, I was mainly aiming for the head this time because Coach G-Force knows that I aim for his body, but his head defense is so solid that I only hit him once on the temple (side of the head), and once on the face. Each clean hit still knocked him back more than I expected.

Boulder arrived at the end of our training, and Coach G-Force invited him to spar with me, and he willingly accepted, while wearing a Gold's Gym tank top that exposed his shoulders and bulging biceps. Combined with his speed when he interrupts my self-training, he was terrifying to me.

Funny thing is, while he spammed jabs like Coach G-Force did, I think he got no clean hits--almost everything was blocked completely. I retaliated with feints in order to get 2 clean hits on his abs. Boulder then got terrified at the end of the 2nd round and quit.

The other trainers, who have also heard about Mr. Juan Martinez the bully, remarked that I'm not easy to bully, and I can put up a really hard fight against such a bully.

(I swear, if my mom reads this, she'll say I'm not ready at all because of my "underdeveloped social skills.")

After the sparring, we did a drill where one of us does a "plank" exercise--"standing" on the floor with forearms and toes on the floor, while the other does burpees while jumping over the guy doing the plank.
Burpees were TOUGH AS NAILS for my infected lungs. The American trainer who was watching us, while he applauded my work, remarked that I "almost landed on [Coach G-Force's] back."

Anyway, that Christmas gift Mom gave?

It's brownies from our store...and a bottle of wine.

At least Coach G-Force was okay with the wine, and the mall security guards did not stop me for carrying wine.

 DRINK RESPONSIBLY 

After training, I told Coach G-Force that I will train again next year because I will be on New Year vacation. He said, "Let's train at January 5."

NOOOOO!!! THAT'S WHEN SCHOOL STARTS! I FREAKING HATE ACADEMICS! But I reluctantly accepted anyway.

I wanted to spar with another boxer because I wanted to test my skills against a variety of opponents after beating Boulder, but I thought to myself, "I should focus on sparring my trainer." So I told Coach G-Force, "I promise to knock you out next year."

Well, after my New Year vacation, I'm gonna load up on health food and brutal training to "prepare for war".

December 25 - Christmas Inactivity

I (mostly) avoided doing other things this December 24 and 25 to spend time with my family.

We ate cake, fruit salad, spaghetti, and two huge pizzas for our Christmas dinners on both days. I was stuffed so bad it's as if I were having a buffet, even though I only had 3 1/2 pizza slices.

On December 25, we went shopping for Christmas gifts and my dad gave me a book about Jose Rizal.

(My big brother also gave me two books on programming and an opportunity to play with my niece on December 22. I had a shockingly fun time.)

As a result, I got lazy to write blog posts or chat with any of my "friends".

Please consider my Hytale post as my other Christmas gift to you, aside from God granting you a more blessed life.

"Cramming Before School" Plans

I hope I can get serious on blogging again on December 26.

School starts at January 5, 2019, so I have more than a week before I become completely inactive.

I have Coach G-Force Part 6 and a very late Christmas-themed post planned.

If I get permission from my family and I don't get lazy, I might also blog about my New Year's Eve party when I get home on January 2, 2019.

Anyway, the homily I heard this season had a simple message: Invite Jesus into your lives.

10 Things I'm Most Excited For in Hytale

Hytale Announcement Trailer

DanTDM reaction (explains some details I missed): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9iF_v7hv1_o

I highly recommend seeing all of Hytale's official blog posts and media before reading this so you know what I'm talking about: hytale.com

DISCLAIMER: This is speculative and based on pre-release information and Minecraft. This post is not to be taken seriously; this is just for fun.

Some may think of it as yet another Minecraft clone, but I believe Hytale, from the creators of the Hypixel server for Minecraft, takes Minecraft's gameplay to a whole new level, while pouring its own originality here and there.

Honestly, I never expected that a group that created arguably one of the best Minecraft servers of all time to create a game that could surpass even Minecraft. I guess I got used to my former home Minecraft server, which was low-budget. (I already left that server because it's dead.) Maybe I just had no idea before how huge Hypixel was, specifically the players, donations, and budget.

Hytale is supposedly going to be friendly to as many gamers as possible, more so than Minecraft which is often mistaken to be a children's building game. According to the website, Hytale is "built for competitive play" and "focuses on anti-cheat" when it comes to multiplayer. (They've dealt with thousands of hackers on the Hypixel server before.) CaptainSparklez, a Minecraft YouTuber and creator of Fortress Fury, said, based on Hytale's showcase of the development tools in the trailer, that Hytale is also "developer-friendly" (see this video). Although I'm somewhat skeptical, I'm still very excited about these claims since I am into game development and I am a competitive gamer.

But I suck at introductions, so let's just get right into it:

10. Parental Controls

Yeah, weird way to start, I know. I haven't taken care of little children in many years, and I REFUSE to do so anytime in the future.

One problem with Minecraft is that children have the exact same "abilities" as adults when making and changing Minecraft worlds. In other words, they can change the game mode to Survival and turn the difficulty to Easy, or even add mods with powerful monsters or weapons, and then commit violent acts that can be compared to Grand Theft Auto. (I made civilians with Custom NPCs and murdered them with Flan's Mod guns.)

I hope Hytale adds a way for parents to disable anything that is considered "violent" without the child being able to undo those restrictions easily.
Oh well, being able to disable custom content is a good start.

9. Graphics

Obviously, Hytale is a step above Minecraft's graphics with more detailed models, higher-resolution textures, and more expressive animations.

In particular, I really love the animal movement animations and the facial expressions of the human characters. They no longer feel like static "toys" that randomly move their limbs about; they actually move like real animals and humans, respectively.

Animals actually "bounce" when running, and they can make cute faces when standing still. Humans make stern faces when doing physically demanding tasks like chopping trees or preparing to fight, or act surprised when opening a chest. Enemies properly react to taking damage.

I like the slanted roofs as well. Using stairs feels unrealistic and weird to me, while slanted roofs feel more true to real-life architecture.

The 1.13 Aquatic update for Minecraft was amazing, but Hytale took it a step further graphically with realistic water reflections, more coral and seagrass variations, unique rock formations, and more elaborate sunken ships.
Seeing the fish that Dory is based on surprised the heck out of me because of the color accuracy to the Pixar character. (Sorry, clownfish, but you didn't make it.)

DanTDM in Hytale form looks awesome too. I smell hardcore fans dressing up as DanTDM in vanilla Hytale.

The only thing I found weird about the graphics is that there's no detailed lighting and shadows similar to photorealistic 3D games. But it's tolerable since the lighting in Minecraft isn't detailed either.

8. Filmmaking Tools

Minecraft animated films were extremely popular during the peak of Minecraft popularity. Problem is, a bunch of additional programs are needed to make Minecraft animated films, like 3D modeling/animating software and video editing software. Animated films can't be done through Minecraft itself.

Hytale solves that problem by allowing players to make their own 3D models and animations out of the tool package that the game comes with.

I'm excited to see what stories and funny moments the community can make with Hytale's filmmaking tools!

7. Character Customization

See this official post: https://hytale.com/news/2019/2/customizing-your-character-in-hytale

Let's face it: Minecraft skins SUCK. One is basically just an image file slapped onto a model made of 7* rectangular prisms, making them look flat and almost 2D.

Hytale allows for more realistic-looking hair and facial features. It's even possible to add layers of 3D clothing onto a character, like jackets, glasses, and scarves!
Edit: There IS a tie in this screenshot; a guy in a pink suit is wearing it. Now I'm hoping I could put a black leather jacket alongside that. The karate gi is still one of my second options.

I wonder, though, how easy it will be to recreate third-party characters using Hytale's character customization and modding (such as a Pikachu hat with ears).
Edit: It's possible to make custom clothing with Hytale Model Maker.

By the way, Hytale stated that it's possible to play as several races (the one in the screenshot looked like a dark elf or some kind of cat person to me). I'll most likely stay a human because I am a human in real life, and it's unknown if different races will have different stats.
If different races will have different stats, I'd play as a race with high speed and mobility to match my agile fistfighting style in real life.

*The hat is the 7th rectangular prism, and is optional.

6. NPCs and Enemies

Minecraft villagers are cool because of their iconic faces and ability to trade (and therefore have given rise to characters like Element Animation's villagers, DanTDM's Dr Trayaurus, and Minecraft Story Mode's Nurm), but, really, all they do is walk around, make random noises, sometimes breed, and sometimes farm. If you've played Minecraft for a while, you know this can get repetitive and more robotic than "human". Heck, they hardly even have any official "story" behind them, other than Notch acknowledging them as "caveman squidwards".

With Hytale, there is not only a greater variety of NPCs and enemies, but many of them also have a ton of personality and lore tied to them, even with just the concept art as a source.

The Kweebec is a great example of this, and has arguably the most amount of official lore so far--it is featured in multiple concept art images and in Hytale's post about the NPCs. It's also pretty cute, especially the seedlings. Too bad there's a quest where I have to help Kweebecs defeat the Corrupted Golem, and I generally don't like protection quests...
"You may retreat, you cute little tree people. I got this fight in the bag!" *rapidly jabs golem with spear*

The Trork looks like a generic RPG enemy, which I'm honestly not a fan of, but at least they also have variations in personality and abilities. The Sentry variant that was shown in the trailer looked like an easy enemy to kill.
(How did I know? It's the only Trork variant that doesn't have shoulder armor. Yeah, it's kinda hard to visually distinguish the Sentry from the Hunter if the wolves aren't counted.)
I bet "Trork" is a combination of troll and orc. LOL.

I'm excited to see what kinds of hideous beasts will knock on my door before facing their inevitable defeat.

Side note: I'll acknowledge that the creeper has the best lore of all the Minecraft mobs. Its origin is about as good as the origins of Pokémon species. Even Game Theory made a video about what a creeper is! I wish Ducklett could eat creepers, though.
Hytale still gets the edge because there are a lot more characters and enemies with interesting lore.

Side note 2: I told Ivann that the "tree person" in the trailer was a Kweebec...and he didn't like me saying it because he wants to wait until the final release before knowing all the little details.

Side note 3: I think YoSquid will be super happy that there's a kraken in Hytale.

5. Minigames and Competitive Play

No need to install mods or make complicated setup procedures anymore--classic Minecraft minigames like SkyWars and Hunger Games are already built into Hytale, and I bet they'll be very easy to set up--just change up a few simple options in a server, and you're all set.

The avatar customization screenshot shows a portion of Hytale's main menu, which says "Adventure", "Minigames", and "Servers". Bold prediction: Minigames can be played in single player with AI opponents. If this is true, THANK GOODNESS Hytale solved the major weakness of most Minecraft minigames, being that there's no way to practice against realistic opponents!

Hytale's built-in official anti-cheat, unlike Minecraft anti-cheats, is straight from the developers of Hytale, who probably know the game's code better than anyone else. This allows them to change the anti-cheat with ease, allowing them to catch new breeds of hackers while minimizing false punishments. (Speaking of which, I'm curious how delinquents will hack the Hytale client... I hope they don't.)

Hytale can supposedly run on a "low-end integrated laptop GPU", so I'm assuming my potato PC for work purposes will run Hytale fine. I'm excited about that, but I still find it ironic that a game with much better graphics than Minecraft can run faster than Minecraft. Besides, even with Optifine, I still get about 40 fps in Minecraft Annihilation. Sorry, Mojang.

Anyway, I'm hoping someone remakes Annihilation for Hytale. It's the minigame that inspired me to become a tactician, and with Hytale's new combat system, I'm sure there will be even bigger variety and spectacular awesomeness in every battle.

4. Modding Tools (Draft)

I think the first "experience" I've had with game development is making maps using the Warcraft III World Editor as a 12-year-old, when back then, I still wanted to be a stereotypical mad scientist as an adult. My real first experience with game development is when I joined a Coursera course that had a basic tutorial on Unity.

So, when Hytale stated that "every aspect of Hytale is customizable" and that Hytale comes with its own development tools, I got extremely hyped.

I've actually never done 3D modeling or animation before, so, if Hytale comes out before I graduate college, Hytale will be part of my first time doing 3D modeling/animation. That experience might carry over to when I make my own 3D game in the future.

Modding tools will be the main way I will "play" Hytale.

3. Combat

There wasn't a lot of footage shown about the combat, but it's enough to remind me of both The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim.

Minecraft combat is WAY too simplistic--just wait for the attack cooldown and left-click when the crosshairs are on an enemy. Although this is extremely easy to learn, especially against the first few Overworld mobs, this is TOUGH AS NAILS to master when fighting other players.

Hytale solved this problem (the obvious way) by giving players basic attack combos like what we are used to in a bunch of other games. No need to aim directly at an enemy to do a sweeping attack, for example.

And, freaking finally, there is actual dodging and parrying--two extremely important fighting techniques! Seriously, what soldier or martial artist (real-life or virtual) would jump into the front lines without knowing these moves? They're taught by almost all real-life fighting teachers!
Plus, the player knows when the enemy is about to attack, so they can time their dodge or parry easily.

There's a greater variety of weapons, based on the screenshots and concept art. So far, we've seen swords, axes, pickaxes, daggers, spears, maces, shields, bows, crossbows, wands, and staves. (I'm not sure yet if there are shovels or other dirt-digging tools. Guns are showed in the Extensive Modding part of the trailer and this tweet [which also has a grenade].)
I'd probably use a spear, if fists are not a viable weapon.

I expect these weapons to have their own movesets, particularly the melee weapons. We've seen basic sword swings, a "spin attack" with a mace, fireballs, and freezing spells, so those are promising signs of combat variety.

The weapons are made of many different shapes and materials, which reminds me of Tinkers' Construct. Combined with the unique movesets, different weapon parts can affect battles in so many different ways. I smell Hytale character build videos similar to Skyrim character builds.

With all of this said, I think Hytale PvP can be just as easy to learn as learning how to fight in Super Smash Bros.

Edit: The zone 1 wildlife post confirmed that Trork sentries can hurl spears at sparrows, which I am pleased to see.
I hope these throwable spears can also be wielded by players because I specialize in spears and I need a cheap alternative to bows and arrows.
To me, arrows in Minecraft are too difficult to get in large numbers because not all playthroughs have easily accessible chickens, flint is non-renewable, and skeletons are tough to kill without taking a lot of damage, using a shield, or using more than 2 arrows.

2. Exploration (Draft)

It's not only the trailer that showcased dungeons--the concept art has a MEGATON of generated structures. With such variety in exploration, adventurers may never get tired of exploring--it's one unique exploration quest after another.

I'm guessing the "challenge dungeons" in the concept art are random dungeons--they only showed the entrance, and there's nothing else surrounding the entrance structure--all we see is a portal. Also, they kind of remind me of Sheikah shrines in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.

Unlike Minecraft structures, which do not always generate good loot, I think most Hytale dungeons will have valuable rewards at the end.

Some Hytale structures also let us know more about the cultures of the civilizations that built them.

Even though not every adventurer will enjoy the dungeons and structures, I think the environment graphics are enough to blow people's minds.
Mountain peaks often allow for colorful and lively views of Hytale nature...and they're great for scouting and defending.

If you ask me how I will mainly play Hytale's adventure mode, I would work hard on a big base that can support multiple humans (either NPCs or real players), Kweebecs, and animals, but also go on huge exploration campaigns that will bring me thousands of blocks away. It's a great escape from the increasingly bland city life I'm having in real life.
(Trust me, though, I won't train a Kweebec to use an AK-47.)

1. A Pokémon mod similar to Pixelmon (Draft)

If Hytale goes as expected (or better), it will replace Minecraft as my #2 favorite game of all time. Unlike Minecraft, though, which grew on me throughout my teenage years, Pokémon has been with me throughout my childhood, and will always be my #1 game of all time, so I'd love to see someone make a Pokémon mod.

Considering the exploration and the more varied and detailed environments, as well as the ability for entities to interact with each other uniquely, I'm expecting a much more detailed and vibrant Pokémon world. Imagine Zangoose and Seviper aggressively fighting each other on sight, rather than randomly choosing between ignoring and battling.

Even the animations are customizable, so I'm super interested to see more detailed attack animations to really show off the power of Pokémon.

CaptainSparklez also wants a Hytale Pixelmon mod, according to his video about Hytale's zone 1 wildlife. SOMEBODY GIVE HIM WHAT HE WANTS!

Honorable Mentions

• Fireplaces and fire pits...without netherrack! Freaking finally! Seriously, how come Minecrafters have to go to a dangerous dimension just to light a permanently burning fire?
• Watching videos in-game. I'm assuming Hytale can pick up videos straight from YouTube. Freaking finally, I have a way to catch up on the latest memes without leaving the game! (Not like I care much about memes, to be honest; I only look them up when they're so trendy that they're hurting my brain.)
  Edit: Hypixel Studios said that the video player is designed for YouTube and Twitch. Hooray, I can watch my favorite Pokétubers Shiny-hunt while I slack off in my base!
  Edit: I hope there will be some kind of portable video player in-game so we can work and fight while watching YouTubers and Twitch streamers.
• The "Paint the World" part. I never really understood the "World Edit" mod for Minecraft, or structure blocks, because I'm lazy and they look complicated. I assume Paint the World allows the user to quickly customize large portions of the environment with just the mouse?

Other Expectations

• The Sims-like socialization with NPCs (human or not; befriending Kweebecs with hard work would be exciting)
• Hytale being freemium (free with Pay2Win features), since the Hypixel Minecraft server has a donation store and has big-shot investors like Riot Games (developer of League of Legends) Edit: Microtransactions are notorious among the gaming community, so I don't think Hytale will be free to play. Oh well, it doesn't matter--I already begged my dad for the game if I do good in school, and he said yes, even if it costs $60.
• Hytale being rated Everyone 10+ by the ESRB; so far, I've only seen fantasy violence--something that has also caused Minecraft to get an E10+ rating (It's okay if Hytale is rated Teen though) (Edit: I'm suspecting suggestive themes due to the Long Hairstyles image in this post, but I think Hytale will still be E10+)
• A variety of vehicles, especially ships
• A lot more which may come as more blog posts are released, or as I watch more Hytale theory videos

Lazy Conclusion

Yeah, I admit, I roasted Minecraft quite a lot on this post, despite it currently being my #2 favorite game. Oh well, I see no harm in being critical.
Edit: I feel a little guilty. According to Noxy, Hytale was never intended to kill Minecraft.

Some things I don't want to see in Hytale: Copying unique Minecraft mobs like the Creeper, or Nintendo suing Hypixel Studios because Hytale looks like "Hyrule".

Also, this is probably one of the hardest blog posts I've ever written, since Hytale has already revealed a TON of content on their very first day. Sorry, Pokémon: Let's Go, but spamming Viridian Forest in multiple gameplay footage videos was a bad idea.

"A study says that X %..." Not Enough Information!

There are loads of books, news reports, and Web articles that say something like, "A study shows that X % of people have this characteristic."

While it's cool that authors look into scientific studies to improve the strength and authenticity of their own arguments, using "A study" is vague.
It doesn't tell the reader, who or what made the study? How was the study conducted? Is this study trustworthy and/or empirically true?

Considering how search engines aren't perfect at pointing the user directly to the information they need, it can be a pain to look up the source of the study since unrelated results can pop up.

Important advice for all authors: Even if you're not writing an academic paper, please tell us who or what made any information that comes from another source. For example, isn't "According to Ivann Baloran, teachers should always welcome questions from students" more informative than "According to a blogger, teachers should always welcome questions from students"?

Complicated citations and hyperlinks are optional, but greatly appreciated.

Happy writing <3

He's Not a School Bully--He's a FREAKING TERRORIST (Draft)

Note: My title is exaggerated. I don't think any of the acts of bullying I mentioned here are acts of terrorism under Republic Act No. 9372.

This post may be continuously updated as more information about Mr. Juan Martinez is revealed. NOT ALL OF THEM MAY BE TRUE.

CAUTION: This post contains acts of bullying, dangerous drug references, rape references, biased political views, and minor references to terrorism. Viewer discretion is STRONGLY advised.
Please keep all comments polite.

Edit: I've seen rumors that Mr. Juan Martinez is a drug dealer and his father is a corrupt police officer. I don't trust them, but if I don't get lazy, I might include them.
Edit 2: I've seen another rumor that Mr. Juan Martinez forced a girl to give him a blowjob. To my readers: If someone forces you to do sexual favors for them, RUN AWAY OR FIGHT BACK IMMEDIATELY AS IF YOUR LIFE IS IN DANGER.
Edit 3: Mr. Juan Martinez and his mother insist that Mr. Juan Martinez did not bully, despite the viral videos.

A certain Filipino university student, who I will give the fake name Mr. Juan Martinez, was trending worldwide on Twitter on December 20, 2018 for a viral video showing him bullying a schoolmate in a bathroom. He is said to have a black belt in Tae Kwon Do, and is supposedly protected by the university staff. (I bet he's also protected by the corrupt politicians of my country. Before you ask, I'm not talking about the president.)

One night, my parents engaged me in a long discussion about Mr. Juan Martinez, asking me, "What will you do if you study in the same school as this bully?"

Although I thought of it at first as a random, trivial question that can be quickly answered before getting back to work, I still got terrified of the situation I've been "placed" in. I'm in an open university, so I hardly encounter any bullies other than my younger brother and the juvenile delinquents passing our street. But this is a situation where I can't always study in the comfort of my home, so I'm practically stuck with Mr. Juan Martinez until one of us graduates.

Although I can fight Coach G-Force just fine, I still can't beat Ivann in any combat sport (even arm and thumb wrestling), despite him only having a yellow belt in Tae Kwon Do before quitting. There's no way I can beat a black belt, and even if I somehow beat him with luck or tactics, I might get in trouble with the law because of his "legal immunity".

I first imagined myself in a peaceful situation, such as eating lunch or doing school work. I'd request to study or eat in the safest possible place where I can get help quickly, such as the library or a faculty member's office. (It's not my fault if he trashes the place accidentally.) Or, I'd request for a leave of absence or something similar so I could study at home.
But my parents said, "What if you're in the same room as Mr. Juan Martinez, and he's blocking the exit?"

I then said, "I'll jump out of the window." Besides, I'd rather take a little bit of fall damage than let him have fun pummeling me. (In gaming terms, it's a "kill denial".)
But my parents said, "What if there's nowhere out except the door?"

I'd call for help. I'd shout, "FIRE!" because people are more likely to respond to a fire emergency than an assault--it's easier to stop a fire than an assailant. If I can't call other students or faculty, I'd call the police...assuming I'm allowed to use a cellphone.
But my parents said, "The students are too scared to help. The faculty is protecting him. He can disarm your cellphone."

I'd try to calm down Mr. Juan Martinez. "Come on, man, you don't have to do this. We can just go back to our business and pretend nothing happened. You wanna play chess instead?"
Weird move, I know, because I'm thinking of Mr. Juan Martinez as if he's on drugs. But GunVsGun taught me to calm down an attacker if I'm running out of ways to defend myself. (Too bad Tommy always kills Danny anyway.)
If words don't work, maybe money talks. I'd bribe him to stop bullying me.
But there's a possibility he doesn't care about money either, only violence...
Edit: On second thought, due to rumors about Mr. Juan Martinez being a drug dealer, I'm not paying him anything tangible.

At this point, I have to be semi-violent.
As a tactician, I'd use the environment to my advantage. I'd get Mr. Juan Martinez away from the door by running around the room and having him chase me. While doing so, I'd slow him down by blocking his way with chairs and tables, or throwing books at him. He may block or avoid all of them easily, but at least I can shift his brain's focus away from chasing and more on self-defense.
If I successfully confuse, stun, or tire out Mr. Juan Martinez, I'd charge towards the door if I'm far away from him, or use my finishing moves as follow-up attacks if he's too close.
(I'd barricade the door after escaping just like how survivalists and cartoon characters do it, but I might get in trouble for illegal detention.)

But my parents said, "What if the room is empty?"

I learned from Regular Show that I should bring a pen at all times, so I replied, "Screw it, I'm gonna stab Mr. Juan Martinez with my pen."
Bad idea, I know, because, again, he can (probably) disarm. And I'd be in even bigger trouble with the law than when I fight unarmed.

*sigh* Well, that's it. My life will be ended by Mr. Juan Martinez. I have no choice but to fight, even though I know I will lose, so I can die as an honorable warrior rather than a random coward.
First, I'd silently pray to God to forgive me of my sins.
Second, I'd use the fighting style I use against Coach G-Force. I have to change fighting styles constantly, though, since his fighting experience has probably taught him how to predict his opponents' moves.

Side note: Both of my parents expected me to fight back straight away. Mom said she would fight back to show that not everyone can be easily bullied.

TL;DR summary: If I study in the same school as Mr. Juan Martinez (fake name), the viral bully with a Tae Kwon Do black belt, I would do the following in order depending on how bad the situation is:

1. Study in a safe place where I can easily call for help
2. Jump out of a window
3. Pretend there's a fire emergency or call the police
4. Calm down Mr. Juan Martinez
5. Use the environment to slow the bully down so I can escape
6. Stab Mr. Juan Martinez with my pen
7. Fight for my life

How to Grind XP in Pokémon With Your Eyes Closed*

*or, as I like to unoriginally call it, "sleep-fighting"

DISCLAIMER: I am not a medical professional. Please consult a doctor for medical advice.

Many of us know that excessive exposure to gadget screens, such as when watching TV or playing video games, can damage the eyes. (I never care about that.)
But the whole point of these kinds of media is to entertain viewers with spectacular sights.

But, what if I told you, you don't have to look at a screen to enjoy a video game?
Here's how you can do it.

TL; DR short steps

These steps work in any main series Pokémon game except Pokémon: Let's Go.

• Have a damage-dealing move on your Pokémon's first move slot.
• Go to a place with wild Pokémon.
• Walk left and right (or up and down) again and again.
• When you hear battle music, keep pressing A until the battle ends.
• Repeat Steps 3 and 4 until your Pokémon runs out of HP or PP.

Long But Detailed Steps

You Will Need...

• A strong Pokémon with damage-dealing moves (Weak Pokémon are fine if they're fast and know super effective moves)
• Memorization of controls, GUI, type matchups, moves, and Pokémon cries
• Headphones
• Bicycle or Tauros Charge to increase encounter odds

Optional

• Exp. Share
• Lucky Eggs
• EV-raising held items (Macho Brace, Power items)
• Leppa Berries
• Escape Ropes or a Pokémon that knows Dig or Teleport
• Knowledge of the EVs that certain Pokémon give (when EV-training)
• Wrist strap (to keep your Nintendo console securely fastened to your body)
• Encounter Power ↑↑↑ (Gen 5)/Encounter Power Lv. 3 (Gen 6)/Roto Encounter (USUM)

Process

Find a place to settle down. I often do this on my bed before I sleep. Mental exertion like this helps me sleep.

This can also be done while waiting on a queue or in a vehicle, if you're a passenger. Just be mindful of your valuables.

(I'd do this in my family store, but I won't be able to see thieves or bullies.)

Then find a place to grind in your Pokémon game. I often use these locations for XP grinding:

Generation 1 and FRLG: Cerulean Cave

Generation 2 and HGSS: Mt. Silver Summit

XY: Victory Road (Also great for EV-training in Attack. Fairy-type moves work very well here.)

In general, any Victory Road (including Mt. Lanakila and Vast Poni Canyon) or post-game route or cave works fine.

Find a part in your chosen route or cave which is surrounded by nearby walls and far from exits, ledges, or other ways to stop encountering wild Pokémon.

(Speaking of which, I guess it's also feasible to Shiny-hunt in the XY Friend Safari with eyes closed because of the walls and the 1/512 odds?)

Then move around left and right or up and down non-stop (or keep rotating the Circle Pad on a Nintendo 3DS game).

When you hear battle music, concentrate on listening to the wild Pokémon's cry to figure out its species.

Then mash A to attack, or press Down -> Right -> A (Gens 1-6) or Down -> A (Gen 7) to run away.

Keep running around the route or cave until your Pokémon runs out of HP or PP.

To switch Pokémon in Generation 7 with your eyes closed (default settings), press X -> A -> X, then move the Pokémon to the slot of the Pokémon you want to use next and then press A. Press X again to go back to the overworld.

However, if you need to leave the cave or route, you will most likely need to open your eyes.
(I was able to heal my Pokémon at the Kalos Pokémon League and get back to grinding at Victory Road while keeping my eyes closed.)

Have fun sleep-fighting! I'd be interested to see how your Pokémon have grown from this technique.

Why I Don't Want to Be a YouTuber (for now)

too lazy to put this in detail so, again, i'm doing list form (intentional bad grammar)

• Two of the requirements to earn money on YouTube are 4000 watch hours in the last 12 months, and 1000 subscribers. Achieving them requires too much time and effort for me. I believe Blogger allows monetization regardless of view count? (Then again, the number of views affects how much money is earned.)
• Even though I get my college education for free thanks to Republic Act No. 10931, my family, I think, likes saving money. Therefore, I don't have money to pay for YouTuber equipment like a webcam, a microphone, and a gaming PC. Also, I feel guilty when I ask my parents or friends for almost anything, even if it's super cheap. (Money problems are one of the reasons why I don't want to get married.)
• The YouTube algorithm supposedly requires consistent video publishing, and I simply can't do that, considering my extremely inconsistent blog-posting.
• I work "full-time" in a family store, where lots of vehicles pass nearby. I also know more about this store than my father and younger brother, and my mother has to do a lot of house work and outside-of-house work, so I am required to stay here.

Check out this "awesome" background with random distractions and a trash built-in webcam
My neutral expression looks better when I'm about to leave my house; this is my "stuck at home" face
Taken on Dec 11, 2018 at 5:21 PM (the sun is setting, so I turned on a ceiling light)

• Some may argue that I don't need equipment to make quality video content, but let's just say that I simply prefer writing over videography.

On the bright side...

• I may become a YouTuber once my dream video game is 70% finished. I want to show those who play my game (or want to do so in the future) how it is to develop the game, and even do Let's Plays.

Comment Policy

• Extreme toxicity is not allowed, including:
• Death or rape threats/wishes/jokes
• DDoS* threats/wishes/jokes
• Terror threats/wishes/jokes/propaganda
• Do not give links to the following:
• Pornography
• Social media profiles of private individuals (except LunaticTactician's)
• Anything that has malware or deceptive messages
• Fake news (unless your purpose is to debunk it)

Unauthorized advertisements are not allowed, including requests for YouTube channel subscriptions.

YouTube video links may only be shared as comments if they're used to support or refute an argument.

LunaticTactician reserves the right to moderate and delete any comments he considers as misconduct.

If you really can't help but violate some of these rules, please do it somewhere else. lololol

If you have a question about my rules, please message me on one of the following:
Facebook: facebook.com/LunaticTactician
Discord: Juliann#2165

Edit: I removed flame wars and disrespect from the rules. Turns out, hate speech is still free speech. I won't stop you from expressing hate speech on my comments, but I still strongly suggest you do it somewhere else.

*Distributed Denial of Service

December 2018 - Why I Go Inactive a Lot

Short answer: I am VERY, VERY lazy. Occasionally, it's also caused by work, school, and depression.

Specifically, for December 2018, my younger brother asked me to get new games for the family PC, and I did. From using this only for school work, he now uses this for video games as well, and because of my "generosity", "family duty", low self-esteem, and his drill sergeant-like attitude (I think), I give him most of the play time. Along with Mom's work time, which is probably 1 to 2 hours every day, I have less work/play time overall.

(In fact, because I hate my brother, when I'm told to eat half of a particular meal we both like, I eat less than half so he can enjoy the rest of the food...and that's probably why I'm only 58 kg and he's probably 70 kg. He's taller than me by less than an inch.)

And in case the reader is curious why I'm hating on my brother publicly, he points out my flaws without my permission, as shown here.
I'm not sure whether or not this "retaliation" is okay, but I think it's not. But I don't care. I'm evil.

December 7 - Bans and Not Feeling Smart

I will take a very long and indefinite hiatus from blogging, possibly until May 2019.

player4709 and my other "friends" are still extremely busy in studies, and I've been banned from Gold's Gym by my mother after I snuck out.

Additionally, I've been doing a lot of dumb actions such as forcefully opening a can in a hurry and deeply cutting my pinkie, and giving away a large number of items from my family store for free by accident.

It Pays to Study Your Opponent (Coach G-Force Part 5 + YoSquid Boxing Part 4)

CAUTION: This post contains a small reference to Christianity. Viewer discretion is advised.

Before I start with my Coach G-Force workout, I wanna talk about something quick but related, being my 4th boxing match with YoSquid:

I was banned from video games because I sneakily played late at night (so no Bytesize today), so I wanted to get out of my mom's sight to avoid producing negative thoughts in her brain. I did that by visiting YoSquid on the afternoon of November 30, which is also Bonifacio Day (the day of the man who started the 1896 Philippine Revolution after José Rizal was executed).

I gave him a pencil drawing of a squid with a troll face covering my face, while I ran around flailing my arms like a cartoon character. It was mostly child-level skill, with experimental "lighting". He was okay with it, but I'm not satisfied with the reaction. I need to get better at drawing if I wanna bribe for friendship using art.

I know YoSquid doesn't enjoy working out, so I started my visit with something he likes: Card games. I won 2, and he won 3. You lucky piece of squid.

I showed YoSquid the boxing gloves in my bag, and he brought out his own boxing gloves in response, so I'm glad he's fine with boxing.

His mom firmly told me "not to hit the face". kms. Remind me not to do boxing while adults are in YoSquid's house.

YoSquid hasn't worked out in a very long time, despite his mom constantly convincing him to join a gym. As a result, he hardly moved around the room, and threw semi-fast but predictable jabs, which I easily dodged using psychic powers rather than looking for a sign that he's about to punch. Usually, I moved my head or strafed completely out of the way of the punch a split second before he actually punched. He got at least one clean hit to the body, though, but I blocked or dodged everything else.

I still continued to play defensively, mainly because I wanted to annoy him, but I shifted to offense occasionally by throwing wild jabs to break his defenses before flooding him with clean hits to the abs.
YoSquid quit after about a minute, saying that I have too much speed and power. Sorry, man, but I warned you beforehand that I've returned to formal training.
It's a shame. I wasn't able to do my STOP DRAWING STICK FIGURES revenge move on YoSquid.

Day 8

Speaking of formal training, on December 2, after attending the Holy Mass in the morning, my parents and I met with Coach G-Force. As expected, Coach G-Force told my mom and dad how fast and strong I am.
Coach G-Force still had time for one training session before leaving, so I took advantage of it. Mom got footage of one of my mittwork rounds. I did not do chip damage anymore in order to impress Coach G-Force, while paying as much attention as I could to his instructions, but I still screwed up long combos.

On shadowboxing, I mainly focused on footwork, strafing, and confusing the imaginary opponent. I defended against a lot of imaginary attacks in order to develop my psychic powers. On the other hand, I got lazy to use complicated offensive combos.

The other Gold's Gym trainers have convinced Coach G-Force for a long time to spar with me, and, freaking finally, he did it. I was half-excited because I wanted to test out my newly developed skills, but also half-scared because I know Coach G-Force is a champion fighter and celebrity trainer who could probably destroy me in one clean hit. I told the trainers that I was afraid, but I completely forgot about the fear during the fight.

I studied Coach G-Force's fighting style by lightly strafing around, making random feints, and throwing some light jabs. Coach G-Force retaliated with blistering-fast jabs and hooks, which I mostly blocked, but I dodged the others completely.

While Coach G-Force recovered from the recoil of his failed punches, I counter-attacked by spamming jabs, and while he was busy defending one part of his body at a time, I blew him up with jabs to the abs and the face, and hooks to the shoulders. One time, I even knocked him back with a clean hit.

Coach G-Force was making some random defensive movements, such as keeping his left arm extended to block my right-hand punches, or putting his forearms horizontally in front of his face. Sometimes, he even taunted me by deliberately putting both arms down, exposing his whole upper body. I wasn't sure what to do, so I spammed jabs on him again and pinned him to the corner. I wasn't able to break his defenses, but he couldn't fight back while I spammed.

One time, though, I was aiming for the abs after breaking Coach G-Force's defenses, and I accidentally punched him on the groin. He got knocked down, and I felt guilty, but he was still able to fight.

In the end of our 3-round sparring, I got a lot of clean hits, mostly on the first round and on the abs, while Coach G-Force had NO CLEAN HITS. All he got was a punch to my abs that didn't go completely through.
He got tired afterwards, but I was still ready to fight.

I asked Coach G-Force and the other trainers who won, and they said I won.

Chip damage and spamming really paid off.