and then there are them there games...again.

luv the game but hate some of things in it? yeahh.. me too. here I give a voice to those things in the games I have tried of late. granted most of them are games still in coding works.. but thats the thing really? they need the feedback most during times such as this. so, here we go.

My Time in Portia

What a Beeeutiful game!! sweet color, gorgeous graphics, and such freedom, running around all over town and country, picking up wood, and stone, and checking out crops and animals and finding chests with goodies in them.
Its a shame the quests keep getting in the way! XD no, seriously, I like the quest idea, i love learning about the lives of the townsfolk with whom the higher your rep with each one,.. the more you learn about them. I like the idea of building things to help solve those quests, with each one fitting totally in with the character and situation they show up in.

Here is the problem(s) i encountered tho.
The quests... from the start.. was always a bit over my head. example, townie wanted a sword to practice with. didn't say what kind of sword, but for "to practice with". I had seen practice swords available to be made via my little workbench... so I thought, ok, the guy wants a practice sword. right? and accepted the quest, thinking it would take me all of a moment to run back to the workbench and get a practice sword. I had wood. easy-peasy. nope. got there only to discover, he wanted a 'bronze' sword. bronze? isn't that like, a mix between copper and tin or something?  ok, so it'd take a bit longer to make this sword... i needed metal. but where to get that? i wandered around a little, finding nothing but stone lying about. then i remembered something about a 'ruins' which might include mining... after a bit i found an entry in town that let me in and i found copper... then tin. yay! back to the house and..how much did i need again? hrm.. nothing to show a bronze sword on the workbench.. assembly? oh wait.. maybe i need to smelt the two together in the furnace first and then itd show up... so i created a furnace and smelted the bronze into bars. still nothing. hrm.. maybe i need to build up to it... i made a practice sword.. then another.. and another... well i can make an enhanced practice sword.. i need an upgrade for that. whaa? after looking about for a bit, i found an upgrade weapons box being sold (supersuper expensive!) in the town's tool shop... took about all of the trade coins i had but couldn't seem to do anything with it.. eventually, i returned home and put the thing in a storage box and let the day go by... then with another look, i found i could upgrade the practice sword. yay! i learned it used the upgrade box thingie, still in the storage box, later on. but still no bronze sword. eventually, i managed to gain enough boxes to upgrade my axe and pick plus one and still no bronze sword. ... and the quest ended... never to return.
ok, that was crappy, but wasn't to end there. eventually i learned that no failed quest returns... at least not in my version... not even the main story quests. add to that, all quests were timed, but over your ability to solve them by at least 2 levels. AND..  even when you jump through the research hoops correctly... you still sometimes lack in exactly how quests are to be solved. example... build a boombox.. they supposedly sent schematics but I see nothing changed in assembly instructions.. nor anything different listed in the workbench or furnace. the questor npcs have nothing to add either. So... uhh... what to do before the timer is done and i lose the quest forever? do I need to dash to the wiki again, hoping someone else has instructions ..again?
frustrating. Someone let me know when the quests get straightened out and I'll try to return for this otherwise wonderful game, please!

Minecraft
Now for those of us who have played this game several times, we don't see much of the issues that new players might see..because to us, they are oldhat. I recently got to watch someone play this game that had never played before. and I remembered some of the things i wish i had known when first starting out. there's kind of an order thats useful for beginners.. and oldhats as well.
a) huge rule of minecraft. "Do not dig straight down." you don't know just what you might find yourself suddenly dropping into the middle of. trust me in this, it's good advice to remember. (this should also be the rule for jumping or falling into really deep holes in the ground as well. you-gunna-die.)

when starting a new world, theres a little button you could push that'l really help. a starting chest, which will appear somewhere close to where you spawn in. In it, you will often find either a wooden or stone pickaxe, an axe of the wood chopping sort, some food, and a couple of logs/wood. take those, take the chest, and the torches, if any, that are around it.

first order of business, you need 3 sheep.. . if you kill three sheep and punch/use an axe on a tree or three youl have a bed to sleep through the night unmolested by the nighttime bad guys (a couple logs/wood blocks = makes wood planks, which will make a crafting block. 3 planks and three wool = a bed)
if sheep cannot be found nearby... find the nearest hillside to tunnel into or gather enough dirt blocks, wood blocks, or cobblestone to make a quick shelter to while the evening away... or you can just take your chances with all of the zombies, skelies, spiders, creepers etc, that are going to come by and say hi to you. why risk it on the first day?
there is also the off-hand chance you might see a village right nearby you can then get to and steal a bedspace for the night. (you'l make the villager whose bed it is, sad, if you actually steal it... just sayin. consider the villager.) now, remember, this is 1.14.. not 1.10. so there are a couple of hazards you need to be aware of.

1) if you stay awake 3 or more nights in a row the undead fliers (called phantoms) will come swooping out of the night sky to get a piece of you... make sure you either gain a bed to sleep in, or a solid roof over your head with walls to keep things out.
2) the drowned. zombies will turn into drowned if in water long enough, and they can walk the land at night... as if that wasn't enough, there is also a chance they will spawn with a trident... which will mean a quick death if you arn't ready and well armored. (also bear in mind if trying to explore underwater... they can swim through a one block wide hole. so be careful.)
3) pillagers happen... and they have crossbows. (and you thought getting skewered by a skeli with a bow was deadly.)
4) zombie raids do happen around town. and theres a lot of them.. all at the same time.
5) those little green creepers explode in line of sight. big ouchies. (they dont seem to really mind the daylight either.)
6) dont look at the tall black endermen with the eyes and purple sparkles. (keep your cursor off of them or) they will find you, even if you are waaaaaay over there. if you do look at one, get under cover quickly! crouching to get under a leaf block or under a 2 or 2 1/2 block high overhang. hopefully they wont reach you with their long arms because they can hit really hard. bear in mind though, they may try tearing your shelter apart to get at you. (I once had one tear half my porch ceiling apart before i managed to kill it with my sword)
rule 7) there is no rule 7
8) cave spiders. found in abandoned mines. poison. quick as a wink, moves through one block spaces, and just all around baaad news. worst of the monsters imho.
9) sleeping in a bed in the nether or end is a mega explosive no-no! (especially if you are perched on a ledge above a lava lake.)

and a few good things..
1) spiders are generally non-aggressive in the daytime.
2) creepers and the phantoms are afraid of cats.
3) skeletons are afraid of wolves.
4) endermen are afraid of water/rain.
5) ring the town bell and the nearby villagers will typically panic and get behind a closed door.
6) fences (and stone 'walls') cannot be generally jumped over. (but for spiders)
7) there is still no rule 7.
8) blocks just above the waterline by a block space cannot be jumped up on from the water.
9) the torch is your friend. monsters will not spawn within its bright glow.
10) a pail of water is also your friend when in a pinch. washing monsters a few feet away for needed breathing room, for putting out fires (and lava).. and for scaring the bleep out of endermen. (see no,4 of this particular list)

useful things to know.
a) punching trees works. punching stone/cobblestone doesn't really. (i mean to say, you -can- but you wont get anything but for maybe bruised knuckles and wasted time from it)
b) a wood pickaxe gathers cobble and coal (I think)
c) a stone pickaxe will gather cobble, coal, and iron
d) an iron pickaxe will gather everything but obsideon.
e) a diamond pickaxe will gather any rock/gem
f) axes chop trees.. each type doing a better job of it, while lasting a long time.
g) this is pretty much the case for shovels and armor as well.
h) sand and gravel suffer from gravity effects.
i) generally, water flows... it will move into the block you just removed, down a hole you just created or around a waterlogged fence and down a hillside.
j) bubbles are often created by either a lava block or soulsand. the former drags you down, the latter pushes you up. they -can- destroy your boat...but at least you can breathe while in them.
k) crouching while on a lava block = no damage taken. walking on soulsand.. slower than slow.
L) kelp can be used as food or as fuel.
m) crouching, being still with the mouse, and having a raw cod in hand might just make a friend out of a stray town cat.
n) giving bones to a wolf might just make a good 4-footed friend as well.
o) fishing poles are a terrific tool to have on hand... using one not only catches fishies but enchantment books, leather, string, tags, and enchanted bows as well.

I can see for pages n pages

Considering a webpage "return", for simple lil comics and suchness. I'd like to add it here, just to keep things in one place.. but a blog isn't really of the format I'm looking for.. i dunno.. rusty brain on the subject makes for weak motivation or inspiration. ..still in loose-leaf thought process. to be continued..maybe.

a tidbit on my daily life...

I bought a vacuum. Hope it's a sturdy thing considering what I'm about to put it through...a whole bunch of years worth of carpet dirt/dust/bugs and cat hair.
and I got a new-to-me computer!! Ty Aztaro! Rana has a new home and I love her very much! <3
thankyou! look at all the space! and the graphics!..so much better! and and... she's just wonderful!