Why I'm Being Crazy-Prepared For Hytale

ThirtyVirus's Connections and Influence

I admit the primary influence of my Crazy-Preparedness for Hytale is the video above by ThirtyVirus. In the early months since the release of the Hytale announcement trailer, ThirtyVirus was one of the most popular sources of Hytale content, especially given his extensive game development and Minecraft backgrounds--he's currently developing a game engine and has played Minecraft since the Alpha versions.

Many of ThirtyVirus's Hytale videos have between 10k and 60k views as of writing this, with the most viewed video I can find being "Why I Am So Hyped for Hytale" which, interestingly, has over 110k. (This was posted on October 2020, more than a year after ThirtyVirus's rise to popularity through Hypixel SkyBlock.)

Admittedly, "Hytale should be DIFFICULT" only has 7.9k views. Not the most popular video, I know.

Another related factor driving my Crazy-Preparedness is the fact ThirtyVirus sometimes communicates with Hypixel staff on Twitter, not just about the Hypixel Minecraft server or Hytale, but even unrelated life concerns like doing the One Punch Man fitness challenge while drinking only Soylent for 1 month straight.

ThirtyVirus was among the first content creators to play Hypixel SkyBlock when it first came out. He cited that SkyBlock was what truly made him rise to popularity after so many years of doing YouTube with just a few views and subscribers. Combined with ThirtyVirus's game dev background, it's no surprise that Hypixel would come to ThirtyVirus for feedback.

ThirtyVirus also has connections with some other big Hytale content creators, including Legacy Gaming which ThirtyVirus joined in three Hytale Roundtables, as well as Fezzy of Hytale News who edits ThirtyVirus's videos.

(Here's Legacy Gaming's Hytale playlist. Use Ctrl+F/Command+F to find "thirtyvirus"; some of the video titles were misspelled as "rountable".)

The Actual Content of ThirtyVirus's Video

To summarize the main points of ThirtyVirus's video, he basically compared combat in earlier versions of Minecraft to Beta 1.8 and later versions. Being unable to sprint before Beta 1.8 made it harder to evade creeper explosions, making creepers more challenging to fight. Skeletons, similarly, are challenging foes if the player is in water.

The ideal enemy for ThirtyVirus is one that has an average amount of health but has attacks that are challenging to evade. (Basically many enemies in Genshin Impact.)

Basically, if the player is provided enough challenge when fighting an enemy, then killing that enemy is satisfying.

"Challenging" vs. "Difficult"

Notice I intentionally used the word "challenging" multiple times.

I don't know why ThirtyVirus chose to use the word "difficult". Maybe it has something to do with the negativity bias Mark Manson talked about. To use another Genshin Impact example, here are the thumbnails and titles of some of Gacha Gamer's videos:

2 give a sense of urgency, such as "5 CRITICAL REASONS WHY XIAO OR GANYU IS BETTER FOR YOU".
5 leave a negative impression, including "TOP 5 WORST WEAPONS IN GENSHIN IMPACT".
8 generate excitement, such as "TOP 5 INSANE NEW CHANGES COMING IN GENSHIN IMPACT 1.3 UPDATE".
(Does not count the partially shown thumbnails 'cause my points wouldn't make sense without enough context. lololol)

Obviously, most humans don't want to die, so our survival instincts make us want to prepare for disasters. Hardcore gamers extend a bit of this survival instinct to video games.

I consider "challenging" a positive adjective. To extend my definition of "challenging", it would refer to something whose difficulty is high enough to educate or satisfy, but also low enough to accomplish. We encounter challenging situations regularly: in careers, family, friendships, hobbies, school, and, of course, video games.

"Difficult", on the other hand, is generally considered negative. Not all "difficult" situations are challenging. There are difficult situations where you simply must accept the fact you lost or can't win; for example, losing your house or a loved one to a natural disaster.

I think, despite his video's title, ThirtyVirus doesn't want Hytale to have too many near-impossible gameplay moments, especially for newbies. After all, with the right technique and positioning, you can beat a creeper or skeleton without a sprint mechanic.

You could argue that Prototypes from the Prototype series, Midori Gurin from Yandere Simulator, and Oceanids from Genshin Impact would be MUCH harder enemies in Hytale.

Yet here I am, aware that I'm overreacting to ThirtyVirus's video.

After all, that supposed low-tier Trork in the April 30, 2020 progress update hit like a truck.

The file name of this image contains "low_tier_trork".
To be fair, the April 30, 2020 Trork held a spiked club. This Trork's club lacks spikes.

After combat, if unit attacked, inflicts Luck-7 on foe through its next action.

You'll understand what I mean by this Fire Emblem Heroes-like skill effect later.

When Aby (a.k.a. BoltOLightnin, player4709) and I had co-op Minecraft Survival playthroughs in the early months since the Hytale trailer, I played like I usually did: gather as many resources as possible and aggressively kill hostile mobs for fun. My Internet connection was weak at the time at only a measly 0.4 Mbps upload speed, so, combined with us not being able to find an Asia server, we lagged a lot. As such, taking damage was a very stressful experience that made me unable to think clearly--I just kept going on Roaring Rampages of Revenge. Of course, rushing enemies while lagging led to my inevitable death...and also Aby's.

This, to me, was a huge disgrace to my LunaticTactician name. Being a yandere who cares a lot for his friends, letting them get killed in pathetic ways due to my poor leadership is the last thing I want to happen to them. As such, I assumed merely taking damage in Minecraft Survival was an omen of bad luck.

You know how, in movies, new martial arts learners are arrogant and hot-blooded while the masters are calm? I used my (in)famous Hytale practice regimen to practice inner peace in the face of immense difficulty; in fact, my regimen has such a HUGE ruleset beyond simply not taking damage that I thought it was worthy of a whole blog post.

I haven't played Minecraft seriously in many weeks due to Genshin Impact, but I'm confident that my regimen has made me calmer, more alert, and more prepared for danger. I no longer take fights for granted--I give everything I got.

The next thing I need to do is apply my skills once again in co-op Minecraft. In particular, I want to practice issuing orders, especially during combat, like a true commander.

Why Prototypes, Midori, and Oceanids?

Screw you, by the way, to Alex Mercer (not James Heller), YandereDev, Albedo, and the Overlord of the Vortex. (I meant that as a light-hearted joke to YandereDev. For the others, I'm serious.)

Hypixel Studios staff are generally shameless in their love for other entertainment media. (I mean this positively. I couldn't think of a better word.) Before the release of Cyberpunk 2077, the official Hytale Twitter account posted a Hytale-themed parody of Johnny Silverhand called "Kweeanu Leaves" (Kweebec + Keanu Reeves + Leaves). The May 30, 2020 progress update even has freakin' Sailor Moon! If they ever get an opportunity, they may even do crossovers with Riot Games IPs like League of Legends! (Riot Games is now the parent company of Hypixel Studios.)

Even the Hypixel Minecraft server doesn't hide its inspiration. "Smash Heroes" has very similar gameplay to Super Smash Bros.: play as characters with unique moves like in a fighting game and knock your foes off the arena. The infected in the minigame "Infection" have beige stuff on their faces; according to The Last of Us Wiki, these infected resemble clickers. (Honestly, I'd rather fight a horde of clickers.)

I think it's highly unlikely that Hytale would make blatant expies of any third-party IPs in-game (except maybe Riot Games IPs). Instead. I feel like Hytale would instead use them as inspiration for original content.

For example, a monster that can disguise itself and gain the powers of whatever it's disguised as could have similar limitations as, say, Kirby who loses his copied powers upon taking too much damage. An all-knowing monster that also knows the metagame could be killed by overloading its brain with pointless information. An Oceanid-like monster might stop summoning mooks after a few waves and instead attack the player directly while also being vulnerable to direct attacks.

Edit, March 6, 2021: This is unrelated to Hytale, but I think I accidentally predicted the Genshin Impact 1.4 Oceanid event with my "direct attack" statement.

But I prepare for these exact enemies anyway--or sometimes even upgraded versions of them--in case Hypixel Studios wants to troll us.

After all, I bet ThirtyVirus can name a lot of his favorite boss fights when he was a little kid.

I Just Love This Game, Man!

After all, I wouldn't be Crazy-Prepared for something I'm not dedicated to. When I first got into my English-teaching job, I was Crazy-Prepared after spending hours binge-reading about Japanese culture (mainly on TV Tropes).

Minecraft is the foundation for several core parts of my identity. While Dean Ambrose of WWE and Robin from Fire Emblem Awakening formed the LunaticTactician name, Minecraft, to me, is the game that solidified that title. While block-building is often cited as the reason Minecraft is a little kid's creation game, I see it as a way to practice tactical positioning and establishing strong territory. You could say I take the "It's over, Anakin! I have the high ground!" meme seriously.

As someone with a secondary, casual interest in psychology, when it comes to lore, I'm most interested in the characters, including their backgrounds and personalities. Many of them inspire me with their similarities to my own personality or with traits and abilities that I want to have in real life. (A few even qualify as waifu material. lololol)

While Minecraft has very little lore, Hytale not only has a lot more lore but also encourages the player to learn it because it will be useful in gameplay. In particular, I'm really interested to learn about how present-day Feran behavior was influenced by years of slavery.

(I doubt I'll find any Hytale waifus anytime soon, though. I'm not a fan of either Gaia or Tessa waifu-wise.)

I've talked before about why I love open-world games, but to summarize, I love the joy of exploring and manipulating a vast world, especially because I rarely leave my house.

As for why I love RPGs (Hytale has RPG-like mechanics), I love the thrill of leveling up and turning from an ordinary person into a superhero.

Anyway, this will be my last Hytale post for now. Sorry, I can't help myself. Genshin Impact just has a ton of short-term things for my Manchild brain to look forward to.

I have a ton of Hytale YouTube videos in my backlog. I should consider binge-watching them when I run out of Original Resin.