I did it... I made perhaps the worst mistake I could have made:
The entire focus of this blog was on the hardest setting available to video games, and I only just noticed it was set to normal. I was curled up in that dark corner of the cave sobbing to myself, and the difficulty was set to normal. Of course I realized I would have to change it to hard, but that also meant I would have to start over entirely with a brand new world so I could experience that first terrifying night as I was supposed to.
I had to double-check to make sure there wasn't an 'extreme' setting so I wouldn't have to go through this again. Then I did what was necessary and deleted that first, beautiful world and started a new one in its place. This new world was like a bleak wilderness; no forests, no giant mountainous formations, no floating bits of land, no forgiveness.
This was the best view available; every other direction was even more empty. And to top things off, the first sound I heard was the growl of a zombie. I wasted no time, setting off toward this closest tree I could see in the distance, gathering enough wood to survive, and looking for the nearest source of coal. Normally there are cliffs, exposed rock and other amazing formations that have coal sitting right in arms' reach; however, there was nothing for me. Every hill that gave a glimpse of stone was just as bleak as the surrounding wasteland. Time was beginning to run out as the sun started to descend in the sky. I had no choice but to look for the necessary coal in the last place I ever wanted to go this early in the game:
The growls of zombies still filled the air as I peered cautiously into the dark abyss; sure enough, a small patch of coal was just visible in the receding light, as though placed as bait meant to lure me in by the ungodly creatures that hunted me. Desperate, I approached the coal, checking every shadow for sudden movement. I could barely see, but I could still hear things: things wanting my tasty, tasty brains as an entrée. I reached the coal, quickly mined some of it, and then dashed out as fast as my pixelated legs would carry me. Once back into sunlight, I realized how very little I had left, and it became a race against time to find a "safe" place to bury myself for the night. I found a small, steep hill and dug straight into the side, closing the entrance off behind me.
I was safe. I would survive my first night in the Minecraft's Hardmode. The number of monsters had multiplied, and resources were extremely scarce, but I had found all the necessary ingredients for survival: wood for a workbench and tools, coal for torches, a shelter, foo- oh dear. I hadn't seen a single pig all day. I had no idea what to expect from the enemies I would encounter, but without food I was doomed. It was night time, so hunting for them was out of the question, so I would have to play it safe. I had to be extremely careful widening out my base, as the zombie groaning made it very clear that there was a hunting party in a cave very close to me. Miraculously, clearing out my hovel yielded some iron and a bit more coal, but also lead to the discovery of the cave of zombies.
I couldn't see any of them, so I very carefully widened the hole, keeping it strategically shaped so the zombies couldn't enter my safe haven. I still couldn't see them, but least for the moment I could work on something else without worrying about running into them. Just a little more mining yielded exactly enough iron to craft a chestplate, and as the sun rose I felt a little of the edge wear off. I had made a solid start, survived my first night, and could see just one skeleton bold enough to stay in open sunlight.
Yes, you think you are so smart staying in the water so you don't burst into flames. Don't you worry buddy, your time is coming. For now though, I turned to the task of gathering as much pig-meat as possible while the sun was up. As I expected, pigs were extremely scarce. In the entire day I only found a few pigs, and of those only two yielded anything edible. But it would have to be enough for now; with nightfall I needed to focus on finding the zombies that continuously haunted my home and eliminate them. Back in my base, I examined the cave beyond the little hole in the wall, and very carefully started placing torches to light the area. Nothing jumped out to bite me immediately, so I broke through my barrier into the world beyond. I stumbled across the zombies a lot sooner than I thought. More to come!
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