The Fallen
Update 1.2 is here!
JustMC: Hello, once again, everyone!
At the time of uploading this, it should be the 26th of June, the 1-year anniversary of this story! What better way to celebrate, than to fix past mistakes?
Sebastian: I cannot possibly think of a better way...
JustMC: Thank you for your cooperation, dear librarian!
In any case, when I finished writing chapter 20, I went back and read the story from the beginning, just to see what needed fixing. As you can tell by the 1-month break, there was...a lot of fixing that needed to be done. I should note that this update log is a little disorganized. Sorry about that... Anyway, let's start with the important changes:
General changes:
[Changed the description
The description has been something that I've wanted to change for a while, as I felt it was too generic, but I couldn't decide what I wanted it to be. Upon receiving some kind reviews, however, I got a better idea. For preservation purposes, here's the old description:
"After waking up in a foreign world, Steve begins his journey to uncover the mysteries that surround this blocky land, its inhabitants, as well as his forgotten origins. In his quest for answers, he is forced to master his mining and crafting skills in order to survive this world's challenges."
[Changed the genre from Adventure/Fantasy to Adventure/Romance
Don't get me wrong, fantasy elements are still very prevalent. This is a Minecraft story, after all. However, I feel like this is more of a romance story in a fantasy setting, rather than a fantasy story with romance elements.
[Fixed many grammatical errors
Yes, that includes mistakes that were overlooked in update 1.1. I'm not even surprised... Speaking of which, no, the update 1.1 log isn't going to be taken down.
-Removed the pronoun nonsense.
So, the idea was that, depending on who was talking, the villager characters would be referred to as either "they", or "he/she". Specifically, Steve, as well as the third person narrator, would refer to them as "they", whereas the villagers, as well as Rana, would refer to eachother as "he/she". The thought process was that villagers are sexless, but not necessarily genderless, which meant that they could still make out who's supposed to be what.
A neat idea, but poorly executed. Also, kinda pointless. From now on, villagers are always referred to as "they", and illagers are always referred to as "he/she".
[Nerfed Rana
This is...something I need to talk about...
As I was reading through the early chapters, I realized that... I had messed up. I made Rana a Mary Sue... She was too OP, and too popular, for little reason. This really demoralized me, because I was consciously trying to avoid such a thing from happening. Alas, I still fell for it. Perhaps I'm not as good of a writer as I thought I was...
Anyway, I took extensive measures to balance the character out, without disrupting the flow of the story too much. I will go on further detail below. You're okay with that, right, Rana?
Rana: ...
JustMC: Ah, right... You're out of it... Well, sucks to be you, I guess. On with the show!
Specific changes:
[Changed some titles
Some of the new titles match in-game achievements, advancements, music disc names, or in-game song names. Specifically:
Chapter 6 was renamed from "Improbable Outset", to "Key"
Chapter 8 was renamed from "Rescue", to "Escort"
Chapter 9 was renamed from "Return", to "Body Guard"
Chapter 10 was renamed from "Pastime", to "Dry Hands"
Chapter 13 was renamed from "Diamonds?", to "Wending"
Chapter 14 was renamed from "Diamonds!", to "Sound of Music"
Chapter_: Bonus is now titled: "Where Have You Been?"
Chapter 16 was renamed from "The Depths", to "Dead Voxel"
Chapter 17 was renamed from "Fortress", to "Chrysopoeia"
Chapter 19 was renamed from "Bad Omen", to "Concrete Halls"
[Retconned the world's layout.
Originally, Steve's spawn point was east of the mountain, and Cornelia and the Pillager outpost were west. Additionally, the desert was south. These have all been reversed to better match the more recent chapters. (Note: This change affects chapters 1, 6 & 12)
[The wandering trader in Steve's dream now has magenta eyes, instead of green (chapter 2)
[Changed Steve's reaction to the first nightmare (chapter 2)
[Changed Rana's reputation (Chapter 5, part 2)
Originally, she was loved by everyone. (Good lord, I cannot believe I wrote that...) Now, she's considered more of an odd factor, yet still overall liked, all things considered.
[When the escort mission is finished, the villager children greet the iron golem, instead of Rana (chapter 9)
[Lowered the eating speed
[Food items are no longer consumed instantly (chapter 10)
+Gave a name to the iron golem
The iron golem is now named "Talos", after the first robot ever conceived. It originated in Greek mythology, and it was designed to patrol Crete, and protect it from invaders. Thing is, according to Jewish folklore, golems are much more similar to statues, rather than robots, hence why I sometimes refer to the golem as "moving statue". Regardless, I find the name "Talos" to be quite fitting.
[Made Rana's procrastination problem much more apparent (Chapter 11)
This becomes a more crucial plot point for some chapters.
[Improved the dialogue in the conflict (Chapter 11)
Some of the villagers' old dialogue was kinda cringey
+Added a small argument between Steve and Rana (chapter 12)
+Added a water fight scene (chapter 12)
(Note: Not much to say about this one, just thought it'd be cute)
[The way the trap in the desert temple was disarmed was changed, slightly (chapter 12)
+Added lapis lazuli (chapter 13)
+Added a cave sound (chapter 13)
+Added bats (chapter 13)
-Removed cocoa beans (chapter 14)
Turns out, cocoa beans can be found in dungeon chests, not in abandoned mineshafts
-Removed Herobrine reference
[Changed Minori's name to Matilda (Bonus chapter)
Minori may be a fitting name for a witch, but not when you put it with the names of other villagers.
[Catherine helps more during the enderman fight (Bonus chapter)
+Added bone meal (Bonus chapter)
[Pillagers and the Ravager now have dark green eyes, instead of blue
I was under the impression that all illagers had blue eyes, but I learned that's only the case for vindicators.
[The vindicator no longer attacks villager children
-Removed some honorifics
Steve is no longer referred as "Sir Steve" as much.
I... think that's it? Of course, there are other, more minor changes, but there's not much point in naming all of them. There are still some things I'd like to talk about, however.
There have been a few instances, where Rana, and sometimes Steve, use their swords to block incoming attacks. Did you know that this used to be a feature in Java edition? It would block 50% of the damage taken, and was removed in the combat update. Just a neat little fact, for those who didn't know.
The last thing I want to address, is about the wild update, which was released this month. You see, one of the reasons I chose Rana as the deuteragonist, instead of someone like, say, Alex, was because of her design. When comparing her outfit to Steve's, there's a much more obvious difference, than there'd be if you compared Alex to him. I wanted it to be very clear that the two are from different worlds.
One of the things I wanted the two to bond over, was the differences between Earth, and the Minecraft world. One of those differences are the animals found, namely, the frog. As you have probably already gathered, if something doesn't, or cannot, exist in Minecraft, (outside of a few exceptions), Steve doesn't know about it.
As I was writing chapter 9, I thought the 2 could talk about frogs. I felt pretty smart for coming up with that... Well... You'll never guess which mob got announced within the very same week! Frogs!
:D
Thanks, Mojang! Really cool! :)
Could you, dear viewer, please pretend that the frog was never added into the game? I'd really appreciate that.
Anyway, I think that's it... I'm sorry if I bored you with this, or kept you waiting, but I really hope you understand how much this story means to me, and how much I want to do it justice. Expect a new chapter soon (hopefully sooner than a month).
As always, thanks for reading!
