<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This is a response to a video<\/a> by YouTuber gerg who I do not like very much. In the first 15 seconds of his video about Minecraft spinoffs he makes a joke about slurs, and later he jokes that the Minecraft jail is a Nazi concentration camp. In another video he refers to a warm variant pig as a \u2018pigger\u2019 and in this video says \u201cI\u2019m a gamer with a hard R\u201d. He also made a really hateful video about another YouTuber who said he preferred old Minecraft.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I am writing this because I have never seen someone struggle to interpret a text as basic as Minecraft: Story Mode Season 2 and then declaring it 2\/10 bad. I might have poisoned the well with my introduction there but it feels dishonest to not mention that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Minecraft: Story Mode Common Criticisms<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Minecraft: Story Mode is branded as a choose-your-own-adventure game developed and published by Telltale Games, Season 1 releasing in 2015 and Season 2 releasing in 2018. This game for many people was people\u2019s first exposure to a Telltale formula video game as it\u2019s one of Telltale\u2019s few games for kids.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I am going to assume that people coming into this are aware of Minecraft: Story Mode and are at least familiar with seasons 1, 1.5, and 2, so I don\u2019t have to explain all of it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I\u2019m just going to bullet point a few common criticisms and my opinions on them. I don\u2019t think these are \u2018refutations\u2019 of these criticisms or arguments, you can decide how you feel about them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Your choices don\u2019t matter, the game is ultimately linear<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n This is true to an extent. Minecraft: Story Mode is ultimately a linear game, every episode ends at the same place and the game will end at more or less the same place with a few tweaks or changes. The most impactful choices in the game will be whether you rescue your friend Petra or the legendary hero Gabriel the Warrior in the first episode, and whether you take Magnus and Ellegaard\u2019s armour. The ending choice is if you tell the gathered group that the Order of the Stone was fraudulent or if you let them believe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The important other choices in the game are whether or not you bring Lukas into your friend group or not. There is a solid bit of variance with how things play out depending on how you resolve arguments or conflict between the characters, like if you side with Lukas or Axel during their fight, if you side with Magnus or Ellegaard when they\u2019re fighting…<\/p>\n\n\n\n It would be nice for games to spiral off in any direction, I agree, but the game has a budget and creating spiralling paths for 4 episodes length would be extremely expensive and time-consuming to write out. I don\u2019t think Telltale was obligated to create super high budget games like that and I\u2019m also of the opinion that as a text <\/em>if you have these many paths it becomes much more difficult to convey your themes, because a player might miss one path or they might miss another path, they might miss this important moment because they\u2019re doing this other thing. To make this work would require an extreme budget and I don\u2019t think it\u2019s fully fair to fault Minecraft: Story Mode for not having episodes with multiple endings or multiple endings overall. One ending and a more-or-less linear path is the easiest way for the game\u2019s themes to be consistently conveyed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I think emphasizing \u201cYour choices matter\u201d in marketing of these games is honestly kind of a mistake because really, they\u2019re stripped down Adventure games. People are split on visual novels but if Minecraft: Story Mode was marketed as such instead of a \u201cYour choices matter\u201d game I don\u2019t think this conversation would be the same.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The writing is bad<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n I don\u2019t really know what people mean by this because the game\u2019s writing is absolutely flawed but people just say \u201cbad writing\u201d and move on without providing examples? I can give one:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Minecraft: Story Mode Season 1 has issues with trying to adhere to a Telltale formula where the characters have mandated conflict because of the stressful situation. Season 2 gets much better by having the conflict arise organically instead. Axel aggro-ing Lukas for not jumping into save Petra (someone Axel doesn\u2019t know) for example, Magnus and Ellegaard fighting without giving a reason besides \u201cugh\u201d, Lukas exploding in episode 3, etc. I understand why the characters are stressed but it feels manufactured, and often the conflict isn\u2019t tied very strongly to the actual threat. It\u2019s frustrating to watch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I also want to put forwards that Minecraft: Story Mode is a children\u2019s game and I think it\u2019s unfair to hold it to the writing standard of media for adults. This isn\u2019t a \u201cchildren can just consume slop\u201d, Minecraft: Story Mode has themes and stakes (I will be going into the themes later). If the themes don\u2019t resonate especially with you I think it might be worth taking a step back and saying \u201cThis was not written for me, I am not the target audience\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The characters have distinct written voices (even without the voice acting), not all the jokes land but they\u2019re fine, you have a handful of standout characters in Season 1, it\u2019s fine. It\u2019s fine. This is not bad writing. Season 2 I would upgrade to good writing even, but Season 1 is perfectly competent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The QTEs suck<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n This one is correct the QTEs do suck. Failing them is funny though<\/p>\n\n\n\n The combat sucks<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n It\u2019s better in Season 2 but yeah it\u2019s pretty bleh.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I\u2019ll move onto now criticisms from gerg and where I agree and where I disagree and provide my thoughts<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n “A lot of the dialogue options<\/strong> are more or less the same answer<\/strong>“<\/p>\n\n\n\n i.e. having 3 options when Olivia is sad about probably losing the build contest again, all of which are consoling her.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I don\u2019t think all of these should be linked to minutely different outcomes, but this is another budget thing. Mean options for every single piece of dialogue means having more writing time and more lines to record.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Giving Jesse more inconsequential dialogue options means you have something to click\/push buttons and I don\u2019t think it\u2019s a bad thing for game flow or just being able to choose what you say.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “There are long stretches of time where I\u2019m not doing anything because I\u2019m just watching a cutscene or dialogue<\/strong>“<\/p>\n\n\n\n Well… that\u2019s why Jesse has lots of inconsequential dialogue options and why there are QTEs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It isn\u2019t really solved on what to do for moviegames during these long stretches where you\u2019re not walking around or in an active conversation. David Cage games make you perform QTEs but those interrupt the pacing of the scene and significantly weaken many of them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n That said, I kind of think you need to suck it up if you can\u2019t stand just watching the screen as a cutscene plays out for three minutes. In the video, at the very start of Episode 2, gerg immediately puts his feet up to scroll on his phone for two minutes. To be a bit mean you need to lock in and just watch the three minute cutscene instead of ignoring it wholesale because there are no buttons to press.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “The name you pick for your build team doesn\u2019t come back except for one time<\/strong>“<\/p>\n\n\n\n gerg says he claims it came back in episode 1 and that he doesn\u2019t have footage so he may have dreamed it, no, Axel will say \u201cIt looks like [group name]\u2019s luck is turning around\u201d in Episode 1 at some point and in Episode 2 if you go to Boom Town your chosen name will be mentioned again. I believe there\u2019s a spot for it to be mentioned in Episode 3 but I can\u2019t remember that, I think it\u2019s if you choose the name Dead Enders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “The game is forcing me to do things I don\u2019t want to<\/strong>“<\/p>\n\n\n\n In this example he\u2019s annoyed he can\u2019t bypass talking to the Butcher NPC and that the game forces him to talk. If you told Reuben to run for the hills earlier, you won\u2019t know where he is and you\u2019ll have to recover him, so hearing a butcher hawking pork chops is probably going to catch Jesse\u2019s attention. The game forces you to talk to him because it is in Jesse\u2019s interest as a character to speak with him. Earlier in this scene, you can speak to Lukas or dance at the DJ booth, but those can be bypassed because they aren\u2019t story-required.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So… what if you could ignore the butcher NPC? The butcher NPC would then kill Reuben and he wouldn\u2019t be in the rest of the game… which means at the very end of the game, Jesse doesn\u2019t lose his closest friend fighting the Witherstorm. It would be a very bad choice for the game to allow you to just lose Reuben because you didn\u2019t go to the butcher\u2019s stand at the start of the game.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “Choices are contained within that episode<\/strong>“<\/p>\n\n\n\n This isn\u2019t entirely true, everything will kind of manifest at the beginning of Episode 4, but the biggest one I can think of is how Magnus or Ellegaard will feel if you sided with them now that the other is dead, how Lukas will feel about you and if you can stop him from leaving to go find his other friends, if Lukas will swoop back in to help you with the final boss or if he\u2019s just abandoned you… Your party into Episode 4 is very dependent on what you\u2019ve chosen so far with a fair bit of variation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “I don\u2019t like that the major decisions are highlighted by there only being two of them to make, quote ‘to make things even easier for whatever vermin wrote this trash\u2019<\/strong>“<\/p>\n\n\n\n This is just rude. The people who worked on this game are still working in the video games industry and are writing great games. I wanted to highlight this because listen man you don\u2019t gotta say this about the devs. They\u2019re solid people and it\u2019s not fair to call the developers \u2018vermin\u2019 because they had a constrained budget.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cYou can\u2019t fail every QTE<\/strong> and die\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n This game would be worse if most or every failed QTE resolved in a death. This is, again, a children\u2019s game, and when you fail some QTEs you just get a different animation. When the game ramps up in difficulty more QTE failures will be deadly as opposed to just some of them. The Witherstorm final boss I believe has zero leeway on failed QTEs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cYou can\u2019t win the building competition, no matter what you do, it will burn down\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n This is untrue. I can actually provide criticism to the game on this front though. If you tell Axel and Olivia to stay behind and protect the build while you run off after Reuben, they will place cobblestone to protect the build from going up in flames, and you\u2019ll win the competition, with your build being on display at Endercon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If you remember though, the winner of the build competition will get tickets to see the symposium by Gabriel the Warrior at Endercon. Even if you win the competition though, you don\u2019t get the tickets, and have to scare the bouncer with chickens to make it inside. The note that winners get tickets is completely forgotten.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIvor Minecraft\u2019s name is pronounced incorrectly\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n All the characters pronounce Ivor that way so I don\u2019t think this is a flaw, this is just how this character\u2019s name is pronounced.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe gang ignores the wither bomb inside the basement and go upstairs shirking their responsibility to meet with Gabriel\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n This isn\u2019t what\u2019s happening. You look at the wither and hear Ivor coming down the stairs, so the gang hides. When you\u2019re discovered, Ivor pulls out an iron golem to drive you out of the room and the conversation upstairs grants you the choice between going downstairs to rescue Lukas, who didn\u2019t make it out of the basement, or pushing through the crowd to inform Gabriel (the greatest warrior to ever live) that there is a monster in the basement threatening everyone there that he needs to go take care of.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIvor is an obvious villain and he kills 300 people\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Yeah he is but I have some thoughts on this later. In Season 1.5 Ivor is a core member of the cast and his personality does a pretty direct 180. He becomes extremely excitable and enthusiastic (if not very socially adept), and my read on him is Ivor is just straight-up LARPing the entirety of Season 1. Ivor is an obvious villain because he is in-universe playing a villain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe game is boring\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Listen man I think I\u2019ve shown that gerg isn\u2019t paying attention to the game like, at all, so I kind of think this is his fault.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe game doesn\u2019t let me craft whatever I want\/I can\u2019t craft the wrong object\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The very first time you get hold of the crafting function it allows you to craft a lever after Petra\u2019s asked you to craft a sword.<\/p>\n\n\n\n There\u2019s a common event in the game where all the gang will empty their pockets to find something to craft with the items everyone has on-hand, like a bow and arrow or a fishing rod, so you have multiple options in a few places, but they aren\u2019t endless.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If you craft a lever in that first episode even it\u2019ll remain in Jesse\u2019s inventory up until Episode 4 where you can use it to bypass a puzzle in Ivor\u2019s cottage. The game does this <\/em>it allows you to craft the wrong item but only when doing that makes it come back around.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cNone of the cast members have particularly notable personalities or have distinctive character traits\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n I\u2019m going to push back on this because each character has a unique style of dialogue. I don\u2019t think the cast of Season 1 is all that strong with exception to Ivor and Soren though, but here, I can lay out the personalities of the main cast:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Olivia is cynical and pessimistic, but the most analytical of the group. \u201cSubtle.\u201d \u201cYeah,\u201d \u201c-as a punch to the face.\u201d and \u201cIt\u2019s hard to pick \u2018glass-half-full\u2019 when they keep kicking the glass over\u201d. \u201cCan you throw up inside your mouth?\u201d I will concede again her traits don\u2019t get much of a chance to shine, but they\u2019re there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Axel is a loser doofus who plays pranks on his friends. He\u2019s brash and a little self-centred and uses his size to push others around, or to protect his friends. He chooses to hide out in the Nether to keep the Witherstorm in one place while everyone runs off to find a solution. Axel delights in the chaos of Boom Town and finds fun in the less immediately life-threatening chaos.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Petra (who is better characterised in Season 1.5 and Season 2) is the cool girl you look up to and wish you were like. Unfortunately she gets little screentime here because she\u2019s either dying of Wither for most of the game or she has no memory, but she still tries her best to lead when unwell and remains an accomplished fighter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Lukas is a dorky guy who\u2019s loyal to his friends and despite being the leader of the bully group, is kind to the rest of the gang. He\u2019s someone who likes to be helpful, if you kick him out of the dirt hut he spends the night scrounging for food for when everyone else wakes up to try and apologise for the fight he didn\u2019t start. He\u2019s a curious person and is delighted by the inside of Soren\u2019s fortress with its enormous statues and knows more about architecture than the rest of the gang.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I\u2019m not going to say they\u2019re strong<\/em> characters, they\u2019re not notable, but they aren\u2019t robots, the game is just not especially focused on Axel or Olivia getting their moments to shine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe gang don\u2019t have personality-related or ideas-based clashes\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n This one is fair criticism, I would say Ellegaard and Magnus fighting is an ideas-based clash given their respective fields are construction and destruction, but still.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In the very manufactured conflicts you are able to take sides with little lasting impact besides what happens in the next scene, a character thanking you for taking their side or a character saying they wish they\u2019d taken your side, etc. The only character who will start to dislike you though is Lukas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The video reads \u201cMagnus & Ellegaard dislike each other, literally 10 seconds later they are fine and friends\u201d which isn\u2019t true, because in the very next scene they\u2019re fighting again, and in the \u201810 seconds later they are fine scene\u2019, you\u2019ll notice that Ellegaard and Magnus are at the front and end of the group to be apart from each other and are shooting each other looks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cEveryone in the group always agrees with each other\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n In Episode 3 you get the choice to save the Amulet from being washed into the mob grinder or to save Axel and Reuben from being swarmed by monsters. If you pick the amulet, if you have Gabriel with you, he\u2019ll congratulate you and give you a hard talk that it was ultimately the right decision over your friends. Though, if you have Petra with you she\u2019ll scold you for choosing it over them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n There isn\u2019t a lasting impact to how they treat you but it does give us insight onto each character\u2019s opinions. Reuben will also become quite upset and just hang out with Lukas for the rest of the episode.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The group otherwise usually doesn\u2019t disagree on methods for how 2 save the world and that\u2019s true, I wish the conflict between the characters arose organically too!<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cEvery character speaks in an overemphasized manner\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n I just don\u2019t think this is the case, there are a few annoying lines at the start \u201cIt\u2019s the order of the losers, again\u201d \u201chaha, good one gill\u201d but no one responds to getting into the End with \u201cWoW We\u2019Re in the END DIMENSION this is REALLY SPOOKY GUYS I hope we find SOREN SOON\u201d, in the example where they enter the end Lukas is fuckin pissed off and exhausted and a little sarcastic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI want to play Episode 2 again to see the other side of the Redstonia\/Boom Town decision but to do that I have to replay the entirety <\/em>of Episode 1 again because there is no manual saving or loading\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n No you do not.<\/strong> To see the other side of that decision you have to copy your save file into a second slot, select the second save file, go back to Episode 1, click Rewind, and click the final scene, where you have to play for only a few minutes to make it to that final decision.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Alternatively, you can create a new save and start from Episode 2 and roll flip the metaphorical coin until you get the decision you want.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe Command Block existing raises a lot of questions about the universe, if I exist as someone living inside Minecraft a block that could alter reality would make me question my existence\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n This is just a personal yell but I honestly don\u2019t think this is the case. This is also a world where they don\u2019t question why trees float, a Command Block existing is just a part of the world the same way characters in a magical universe don\u2019t inherently question magic existing. At least not any more than we do, I\u2019ve seen people argue that our universe having consistent laws and maths is evidence supporting the simulation hypothesis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe game doesn\u2019t use its music very well\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n This is fair. In this case he\u2019s talking about the music when you\u2019re fighting Ivor. The Witherstorm theme is good but a lot of the music is so quiet or so barebones synth with a single other lead instrument it\u2019s just not very audible or noticeable. Season 2 fixes this.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I don\u2019t know if the music when you\u2019re fighting Ivor needs to be super dramatic, though. The reason you\u2019re fighting is you find Ivor in an enclosed room and you\u2019re trying to detain him until the others arrive, and Petra or Gabriel pull their sword on him. Ivor is trying to escape the room because \u2018I\u2019m the only one who can stop the Witherstorm!\u2019 and you\u2019re trying to keep him there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The choreography for the fight against Ivor is kind of janky and weird in general, the swordfighting is weird and there\u2019s a lot of underwhelming slow-motion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cSoren can convince himself to join up with the gang even if you say nothing the entire time, my choices don\u2019t matter\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n So there are a few scenes in the game where you have to convince a person to do something, but no matter what you say in dialogue it turns out how you need it to.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I think it could be worth making a version of the game where if you don\u2019t convince Soren to come with, you leave the room and game over and have to try again, but I can see it being tedious to go through the same dialogue trees several times or being dissuaded from choosing specific options if you know that there are wrong options that will lead you to a game over rather than just a different outcome.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In Soren\u2019s case specifically, Soren will complain to you that he\u2019s gone out of his way to avoid people coming to find him to help them fix some issue, but his loneliness is extremely obvious and he hasn\u2019t seen the surface of the Overworld in so long he doesn\u2019t know what it looks like. Soren even asks quietly if Jesse is his friend and if you say no, Soren will laugh nervously and \u201coh, I see, a joke, between friends!\u201d because he is genuinely desperate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cEllegaard dying is the only choice in the game with long-lasting consequences\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n This is ignoring the Petra and Gabriel choice, which I\u2019m saying because I don\u2019t think YouTuber man noticed or fiddled with the game beyond one playthrough and then got mad saying his choices don\u2019t matter whatsoever. I notice in Episode 4 he doesn\u2019t have Lukas with him in the party either which is a culmination of your choices over time, because if you don\u2019t have a good relationship with him he will <\/em>leave and won\u2019t come back to help you in the final boss. If you have a good enough relationship he\u2019ll come with you to help find Ivor\u2019s stuff at the edge of the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI won\u2019t play Season 1.5\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n This will be a mistake! I will explain why in a moment!<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe learn in Episode 4 that Ivor is the secret 5th<\/sup> member of the Order of the Stone\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n This is conveyed as early as Episode 1, and shown further in Episode 2. Episode 1 you find a book in the temple which is a required interact which recounts the Order\u2019s history, but including Ivor. Ivor was a member of the Order of the Stone and his erasure is suspect. In Episode 2, the centre stone of the amulet glows when Ivor is nearby, and in Episode 3 starts fading as he leaves. If you only learned this by Episode 4 you aren\u2019t remotely paying attention.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cHow did the Order discover the Command Block? We\u2019re never going to explain it who cares how this central core element came into being?\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Hi, so you can\u2019t say this and then skip episode 5-8. While we aren\u2019t told directly, there are some pretty heavy breadcrumbs pointing in the right direction as to where Soren got this.<\/p>\n\n\n\n While traversing the portal network, you find several books authored by Soren scattered across worlds he must have inexplicably happened upon. But to enter the portal network he would have needed an enchanted flint and steel to use on a specific portal. Ivor is also aware of an ancient group of builders, older than the Order, called the \u2018old builders\u2019, who created these enchanted flints and steel and portals to other worlds. Through the portal network adventures, we find a technical book written by Soren about creating a one-of-a-kind redstone block in the possession of a former old builder and the current ones have a book of his too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Soren (according to writer Eric Stirpe on his tumblr) was pitched to be an old builder and return in Episode 8, but marketing vetoed it as they felt returning characters were not good for marketing the game. It\u2019s very likely that we were going to get a direct confirmation Soren built it with the old builders or stole it from them. Though, with the breadcrumbs remaining in the game it\u2019s not a big jump to assume Soren got hold of it through the old builders still.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThere is only one ending\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n You can decide how to feel about this, there are variations on the same one ending but yes it is overall one ending. Reuben dies, Jesse saves the day, the New Order of the Stone is formed, Lukas either leaves in the ceremony or is glad to be invited, you tell the crowd that the Order of the Stone was fraudulent or you don\u2019t.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If the game doesn\u2019t have more or less one end point there are no room for sequels. Many games don\u2019t need sequels! But Minecraft: Story Mode is ultimately a product to make money and they leave the door open for more of that money making. How you feel about that is up to you but I don\u2019t think it\u2019s inoffensive to leave the game with a single ending so a sequel can be made, personally.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This is the end of Season 1\u2019s critique.<\/strong> I will once again concede that I don\u2019t think Season 1 is excellent, it\u2019s like, it\u2019s fine. It\u2019s fine. It\u2019s being misrepresented in that video as being worse than it is. It\u2019s fine. <\/em>A lot of the issues with it come down to general dislike of the genre.<\/p>\n\n\n\n gerg also shows a persistent refusal to actually engage with what\u2019s happening in the story, missing key details repeatedly or asking why a question isn\u2019t answered when he refuses to play a large chunk of the game which allows you to infer the answer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I think Season 1.5 really shines above the first season with its self-contained storylines and an overarching plotline. The core cast is a lot smaller, shrinking to Jesse, Ivor, Petra, and Lukas. Each character gets more time to shine and they slot into working roles for the story. Jesse is the protag, Petra is the muscle, Lukas is the polite dorky guy writing their adventures, Ivor is the comic relief weirdo. The stakes are a lot lower and at least contained to that episode, the manufactured conflict is gone and only arises when it naturally occurs in the story, etc.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Ivor rarely remembers Lukas\u2019 name, Petra doesn\u2019t like Ivor because he\u2019s too high-energy, Jesse gets to step up and be a hero. Ivor hard carries is my point.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Missing Season 1.5 means you\u2019re missing characterisation and thematic context for Season 2<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Season 1.5 retroactively strengthens aspects of Season 1, like again, we see Ivor in his natural state when he\u2019s not playing the villain and understand he\u2019s like that in Season 1 because he\u2019s LARPing the entire time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We also begin to develop a bit of an overarching theme. There is no big threat, just the gang being lost in a network of portals forced to trial and error each one until they find their way home. The portal network was constructed by an ancient group of builders as mentioned earlier, and some of the people you encounter Ivor will sometimes speculate to be an old builder or to have at least known one. The first confirmed old builder you meet also hates that name.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Ivor is no longer a villain for a start. In Episode 7 you find a world where the population has been subsumed by a giant redstone computer named PAMA who was created to control monsters to perform manual labour, in order to make society more efficient, \u2018useful\u2019. Eventually it starts taking over humans and its creator, Harper, is the only person remaining. At the end of the episode once you\u2019ve defeated PAMA you have to ask the town\u2019s freed residents to either forgive Harper for what she\u2019s done and to let her back into society or tell Harper she should probably leave the town and come with you instead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When you meet the Old Builders, they\u2019re megalomaniacs running a sports league where kidnapped competitors are forced to play team games with the promise of being able to leave if they win. The leader, Hadrian of course never lets anyone leave and strikes a deal with Jesse that if he wins, he\u2019ll let him go free, but if he chooses to throw the game, all his friends will go free (including those kidnapped from his homeworld) at the cost of mining quartz forever and ever. Of course you defeat Hadrian and the other Old Builders and go home free with their portal atlas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n There\u2019s an overarching theme being built here that every legendary powerful person is just a flawed human person, and the vast majority of those people are redeemable. Ivor is redeemed, Harper is redeemed. Hadrian and Mevia, two of the main old builders are not redeemed but Otto, the third is able to use his power to end the games and allow competitors to go home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Season 1.5 is a showcase of the New Order of the Stone\u2019s golden age, which is important to Season 2, because by the time Season 2 comes around that\u2019s passed. Petra doesn\u2019t get much actual time being herself in Season 1 because she\u2019s sick the entire time, and she\u2019s one of the main characters in Season 2.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If you bypass Season 1.5 you\u2019re missing important establishing themes and pieces to Minecraft: Story Mode as a whole.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Children Don\u2019t Have Purchasing Power<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n gerg opens this discussion with talking about how he suspects Telltale went under because their games are effectively free to view on YouTube with very little variance in experience if you play it for yourself. I think there\u2019s some truth to this, Minecraft: Story Mode was allegedly Telltale\u2019s moneymaker but I wonder how many people experienced the game entirely through YouTube.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When Season 2 was coming out, the episodes released a day early <\/em>for YouTubers to stream or play the game even, meaning you could be spoiled before the game even came out because Telltale was releasing it early to influencers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Children don\u2019t have purchasing power and I was on the older end of Minecraft: Story Mode fans when it was coming out (14 for Season 1, 17 for Season 2) and it was a great fight with my family to purchase subsequent episodes past 1 with my own money because I didn\u2019t have a debit card and going out to buy a PSN card would be a trek. I suspect people younger than me would have parents aware that they could just watch the episodes for free on YouTube and put that on instead without paying a cent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n His argument is that they went under because people can just watch Telltale games on YouTube and get more or less the same experience, I think that\u2019s true for specifically Story Mode because again, children don\u2019t have purchasing power, but I don\u2019t know about their other titles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Minecraft Story Mode Season 2<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n His opinions on season 2 were what made me write all this up because I\u2019m kind of bewildered. This guy absolutely misinterprets Minecraft: Story Mode Season 2 and then calls it \u201cbad writing\u201d while missing core points and common tropes in fiction. Minecraft: Story Mode Season 2 is a text for children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n gerg (correctly) praises the character writing improving, the presence of conflict between the characters that arises organically, improved animation and cinematography, and improved visuals. He reports disillusionment by the end of Episode 2, though, \u2018flicking through my phone and waiting for the whole thing to end already\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “The main theme of the game is moving on<\/strong>“<\/p>\n\n\n\n gerg flashes this text on the screen but then completely whiffs past it for the rest of this, and by failing to recognise this he completely misinterprets the text and specifically Romeo as a character.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe story of Season 2 is about Jesse trying to overcome and defeat The Admin Romeo\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n I think this is incorrect, defeating Romeo is the driving point of the story and the main threat but he isn\u2019t what the story is about.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Jesse\u2019s life has changed considerably from his adventuring days, and he\u2019s starting to settle down some as leader of Beacontown. Similar things are happening for his other friends, Axel and Olivia are now residents of Boom Town and Redstonia. They\u2019ve all gathered to meet as a group to hear Lukas\u2019 latest book, this being his next after he published the book recounting his adventures in Season 1.5, which he was also writing during that season if you were paying attention.<\/p>\n\n\n\n They\u2019re all in the situation of being adults who don\u2019t have much time for each other as you used to, and in Petra\u2019s case she\u2019s still adventuring. Her outfit is her armour from Season 1.5 but in remnants. She\u2019s moved to another city without telling Jesse either and doesn\u2019t really like the rest of the group as much, they\u2019re kind of lame these days. The drifting apart is obvious.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Romeo is a god who re-emerges from the ether, Jesse having been brought to his attention after he defeats the Witherstorm. Jesse is his newfound champion, and he arrives at Beacontown as a giant colossus to destroy things (changing the time to night for a more dramatic battle). Once he\u2019s defeated, he shortly returns as a snowman promising eternal night and eternal snow unless Jesse gathers his friends to take on his super cool ice spire game.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Romeo is a counterpoint to Jesse. Jesse and Romeo are both fairly powerful people, but Romeo is a god with near endless power and very little perspective for how other people live and not a lot of empathy. Romeo had similar drift apart with his friends and when Fred and Xara try to push back on Romeo\u2019s behaviour, Romeo feels betrayed, kills Fred (possibly on accident) and imprisons Xara. It\u2019s unlikely that Jesse\u2019s friendships will end up exactly like this, but Petra already moved away without telling Jesse \u2013 they could very much have a irreconcilable falling out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When Jesse breaks the rules and tries to rescue friends who lost in some of the ice spire challenges, Romeo once again feels betrayed, nabs either Petra or Jack as his new best friend and sends Jesse to Minecraft jail like he does with everyone who displeases him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Romeo eventually starts wearing Jesse\u2019s skin, because no one likes Romeo, but everyone likes Jesse! While wearing Jesse\u2019s skin, he terrorises Beacontown and develops a cult of personality where everyone must praise him, Jesse, for how amazing he is. Romeo later confides in Jesse that he hates<\/em> being him because people are always asking things from him and don\u2019t want to give a lot back to him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cJesse is sent to Minecraft jail by Romeo after he violates an arbitrary rule\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Jesse indeed fails an arbitrary rule and is sent to Minecraft jail, and this isn\u2019t just something random that occurs so the plot can keep moving, it is important to understanding Romeo\u2019s character. When Jesse rescues his friends who lost in various challenges, Romeo is offended that Jesse isn\u2019t playing by his <\/em>ruleset and isn\u2019t participating in his <\/em>game. Romeo has god powers and thus has little perspective on how much he\u2019s hurting, and when he sees that Jesse isn\u2019t going to play with him the way he likes, he discards Jesse and punishes him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cHow did Xara and Fred lose their admin powers?\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n We know from Eric Stirpe that there was going to be a scene where we see Fred being killed, but it was cut from the game because it would be a scene without being in Jesse\u2019s perspective and it killed the pacing. I honestly don\u2019t think we need to see the specifics of what happened. Xara specifies \u2018it was slow\u2019 and that\u2019s all we need to know. This is not something that makes no sense, there are just details we don\u2019t need to know.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cRomeo speaks like a spoiled ten year old… because he is badly written.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Romeo is <\/em>a spoiled ten year old because he is a god. This is intentional. If I can call back to word of god again, Eric Stirpe stated Romeo\u2019s general demeanour is inspired by online multiplayer game toxicity, and it has clearly conveyed over very well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt\u2019s all a game conspiracy theory makes more sense than Romeo just being evil because he\u2019s evil\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n YouTuber man tries to reconcile the supposedly poor writing with the game by putting forward the theory that Xara and Romeo are the only real people playing on a Minecraft server, Romeo is in real-life a spoiled ten year old who de-ops his friend Xara in the console, Fred died in real life, the Order of the Stone are their school friends, and the rest of the cast are NPCs. He posits this facetiously to be more believable and better writing than \u201cRomeo just being inherently evil\u201d, and here\u2019s why that\u2019s an incorrect read.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cRomeo is evil for the sake of being evil\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n When Xara is initially introduced, she\u2019s in her highest security prison and unable to leave. If she steps off the pressure plates, then the cell will explode and kill her, and they\u2019re the kind of pressure plate that can\u2019t be activated with an item. I mention this because here the game gives you a choice to leave Jack\u2019s villager husband Nurm, or Stella\u2019s pet llama she dotes on Lluna. If you take too long deciding, Xara will get frustrated with you and take off with both Lluna and Nurm, leaving Jesse imprisoned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When escaping, you\u2019re intercepted by the Warden who threatens to kill you and himself with TNT if they leave. While the cast is frozen with indecision and fear, Xara responds by just shooting him in the chest with a bow and arrow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The crew distrust Xara because she used to be an Admin. We can see she has a similar disregard for life as Romeo and is not dissimilarly self-centred from those two interactions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Being an admin corrupts an individual, because absolute power corrupts absolutely. Romeo is evil because he is a powerful god and has little perspective or thought for other people\u2019s feelings. This is a basic, very common trope in fiction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt\u2019s never explained why he kills Fred and Xara\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Romeo kills Fred because as Xara says, \u201cwe wouldn\u2019t join him\u201d, in presumably his increasingly violent play. Romeo will only kill Xara if she marches through the gates of Beacontown armed with a bow and arrow. Obviously, she poses no threat to him, but she is <\/em>trying to kill him. Romeo kills her to clean up any loose ends, because, again, he doesn\u2019t see the value in other people\u2019s lives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cRomeo is a power-tripping moderator for the sake of it, which I guess is quite standard\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Romeo is a power-tripping moderator because having this kind of power creates inherent evil, it\u2019s absolute power corrupts absolutely. The quite standard comment frustrates me because YouTuber man is close to an epiphany about what the game is trying to say. Romeo is evil because he is a powerful god, and being a powerful god makes you evil.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cRomeo doesn\u2019t deserve redemption… because he\u2019s put you through hours or torment, killed his friends, forced you to fight against your own friends to the death, runs a Minecraft jail, it is stupid that this character is considered redeemable\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n This is another reason season 1.5 is important. We know from Season 1.5 that all of these powerful characters are just human beings who make mistakes, sometimes severe and continuous lapses in good judgement even. During the final boss fight against Romeo, you enter stages where he\u2019s clearly afraid and remorseful for some of the things he\u2019s done.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In certain endings, once Romeo is de-admin\u2019d he can even self-sacrifice to save Jesse and friends, or refuse to leave the Terminal as it\u2019s collapsing because he doesn\u2019t deserve to live.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Also, most importantly: Romeo is no longer an admin and is forced back to regular human perspective. The absolute power that was corrupting him has been removed from him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Romeo\u2019s redemption arc isn\u2019t even befriending Jesse, his next course of action is going back to the world he bedrocked over to try and make things right. If Xara is alive, he accepts readily that she might just kill him, and he might deserve it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It\u2019s important to note here that leaving Romeo to die or pulling him with you out of the Terminal is not the game\u2019s final, important decision. <\/em>YouTuber man leaves Romeo to die because he\u2019s an asshole which idk can\u2019t fault that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Alternate story proposal from gerg<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n YouTuber man then proposes an alternate story which he feels would be better. I\u2019m going to present it without commentary then give my thoughts. Romeo\u2019s friendships don\u2019t disintegrate with a bang because he\u2019s evil, they fade over time. He notes that this would then reflect Jesse\u2019s friend group. Romeo doesn\u2019t move on and forces everyone close to him to pretend nothing\u2019s changed in their games and Fred isn\u2019t actually dead, Fred just doesn\u2019t play with him, and Romeo blames his friends. Jesse\u2019s rejection angers him further, Romeo being a \u2018lonely mad tyrant with no one to share it with\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He adds that you have many conversations with Romeo with \u201cThe Admin will remember that\u201d appearing in the corner, and he wants the big decision to be if Romeo takes you with him or leaves you to die in the Terminal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Most of these points are already in the story and shows he isn\u2019t paying attention or comprehending the text made for children<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Romeo\u2019s friend group disintegrating suddenly with a bang already<\/em> reflects Jesse\u2019s friend group. We can presume that before Romeo killed Fred that their friend group was already drifting apart. Romeo is a worst case scenario Jesse, he\u2019s who Jesse is afraid of becoming.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Romeo is already arguably forcing people to play with him, he\u2019s playing with mortals instead of other gods. The challenge he sets up in Romeoburg is clearly made for people with admin powers, for a start, but Romeo doesn\u2019t grant the protection of admin powers to Jesse or his friend group.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Fred being dead is important because that\u2019s their friend group\u2019s massive falling out and point of no return. This is not something Romeo and Xara can reconcile. Petra moving out of Beacontown without telling Jesse isn\u2019t nearly at this level but an irreconcilable point of no return in their friendship could very well happen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Romeo is named <\/em>Romeo because the writers room felt it was the most ironic name for a lonely guy to have. YouTuber man is proposing more or less the same story, he just wasn\u2019t paying attention or can\u2019t comprehend the text made for children, or thinks that because Jesse\u2019s friend group is drifting apart instead of there being a murder that there isn\u2019t an intended parallel. Fred and Xara clearly parallel Axel and Olivia respectively, even.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Romeo is not the core point of the story and should not determine the ending. This would make the game bad. If you know that Romeo is going to leave you to live or die, the most obvious course for action is to constantly suck up to him rather than convincing him to be a better person. Also obviously the mean options become the incorrect options instead of a choice to take, by giving you a flat good end or a bad end.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Absolutely missing the core part of the story<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The final major decision for Minecraft: Story Mode Season 2 is whether you leave Beacontown to run off with Petra to adventure on the road indefinitely, or if you say goodbye to Petra and choose to settle down with your new life as mayor of Beacontown.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In Episode 4, you enter a house Romeo lived in with Xara and Fred a very very long time ago, back when they were still friends. Jesse reflects on some of the things they had inside, noting he doesn\u2019t live in a treehouse with his friends anymore and he hasn\u2019t seen some of his friends in a long time. Petra will have an earnest conversation with Jesse that her life\u2019s path is most likely going to be away from Beacontown, and when she leaves, it might be a very very long time before she comes back, and there\u2019s the implicit chance that she might never return. Will they still be friends, if she leaves without him?<\/p>\n\n\n\n You can comfort Petra by assuring her that you\u2019ll always be friends even if you don\u2019t talk as much as you used to, and that you\u2019ll always be waiting for her. Or, that you\u2019ll be right beside her and that you can\u2019t settle down.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In Episode 2, you have a conversation with Lukas about how Jesse\u2019s been wanting to settle down and throw in the adventuring towel, but that it\u2019s hard to quit life like that. Lukas will note whatever happens, he wants Jesse to be happy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I think these choices are both really good endings thematically, either Jesse is tired and constrained by settling down and following what he wants to do, in which case he might lose some of his more settled-down friends, or Jesse decides it\u2019s time to retire from the wild life and let his wilder adventuring friends go as he settles into his new responsibilities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Once again, Romeo is the driving threat and who Jesse fears becoming, not the core part of the story. gerg completely misses the point here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cMinecraft: Story Mode Season 2 isn\u2019t impacted by your choices\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n This is frustrating because Season 2 has a lot more variance than Season 1, like if you allow Radar to develop into a confident person, if you decide to trust or work with Stella, if you do Xara the courtesy of giving her a bed to sleep in, how rough of a time Jack has, like if he loses an eye or if he\u2019s kidnapped by god, if Petra loses her favourite sword. If you give up your sword to some underworld scavengers then when Ivor comes by to murder you in 1 hit, you\u2019ll have to convince him to not kill you instead of being able to fight him. These are more minor outcomes but I think they matter, still.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Romeo and Xara can both die, or both live, or one dies and the other lives. Specifically, Romeo will survive if you allow Radar to distract a giant enderman in Episode 4 as he\u2019ll return in a crucial moment and allow Romeo to save himself. If you don\u2019t have Radar with you then one of the characters from Fred\u2019s Keep will travel with you in Episode 5. There\u2019s a fair bit of variance and two different endings!<\/p>\n\n\n\n Man Destroys Xbox 360 and Physical Copy of Minecraft: Story Mode Season 1<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Look man those physical copies don\u2019t do anything these days and this is a trope but c\u2019mon dude it\u2019s fine. It\u2019s fine. It\u2019s fine. Media for children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Conclusion<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n When Minecraft: Story Mode came out it was cool to shit on and to be fair that first episode is kind of rough. Season 2 is leaps and bounds better than Season 1 and Season 1.5 is much better than Season 1.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It\u2019s been almost ten years since Episode 1 released and the nostalgia cycle has finally turned around for it, because the people who played it when they were children are old enough to post on the internet about it being good actually. It is not \u2018peak\u2019 but it\u2019s alright. It\u2019s fine. Season 1.5 and 2 are the strong points.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I\u2019m just kind of amazed that I clicked on the video and saw the guy obviously coming into the game in bad faith and refusing to pay attention the second there wasn\u2019t a button to press, repeatedly missing key details, concern trolling about details that don\u2019t matter or are explained in areas where he wasn\u2019t listening or refused to play (where did Soren find the command block, by what mechanism did Romeo kill Fred), completely missing the thematic through-line and declaring the game hot garbage written by \u2018vermin\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Like… are we still doing this? Eric Stirpe who I\u2019ve mentioned several times throughout this as the lead writer of Season 2 is slated as the lead writer for Remedy\u2019s Control 2, a company known for story-driven games, and which won Best Narrative at the Game Awards 2023 for Alan Wake 2. The people who wrote this game did their best with the resources they had, Season 1 was fine, Season 2 good.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I won\u2019t say I\u2019m media literate nor call YouTuber man media illiterate but, this is a text for children. How did you misinterpret it this poorly? Maybe it would make sense if you paid attention to the game?<\/p>\n\n\n\n I want to draw a comparison to the Minecraft movie coming out very soon which is going to be a Jumanji clone. The Minecraft movie is the safest movie I\u2019ve ever seen and for that reason it is going to suck. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Story Mode is constrained by its Telltale formula at first but flourishes in Season 1.5 and 2. Season 1.5 the developers were able to look around the Minecraft community for popular challenges and community activities to draw inspiration. Episode 5 focuses on Sky City, a long-running Skyblock challenge, Episode 6 is uhhh a murder mystery adventure map, Episode 7 is about exceptional Redstone creations, Episode 8 is about multiplayer minigame servers. There is vision.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Season 2 I think is thematically perfect for its target audience, when you\u2019re a kid friends come and go especially as you get older and into adulthood. Accepting that things will change and you may not be as good friends with people as your lives change is an important and resonant message.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Minecraft movie is none of these things. He is steve. Chicken jockey. Minecraft movie bad story mode good. If you don\u2019t pay attention to a story and miss core details you can\u2019t call it definitively bad and claim you can write something much better, because your proposed other ending is almost entirely what the game is but you couldn\u2019t manage the complexity of having multiple themes, completely failing to interpret the text of children\u2019s video game. Thank you for reading, goodbye, I\u2019m going to make buldak noodle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" This is a response to a video by YouTuber gerg who I do not like very much. In the first 15 seconds of his video about Minecraft spinoffs he makes a joke about slurs, and later he jokes that the Minecraft jail is a Nazi concentration camp. In another video he refers to a warm … Continue reading “Responding to \u201cThe Minecraft Spinoffs are Horrible\u201d in regards to Minecraft: Story Mode”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-376","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorised"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.clockwork-city.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/376","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.clockwork-city.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.clockwork-city.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.clockwork-city.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.clockwork-city.nz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=376"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.clockwork-city.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/376\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":377,"href":"http:\/\/www.clockwork-city.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/376\/revisions\/377"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.clockwork-city.nz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=376"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.clockwork-city.nz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=376"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.clockwork-city.nz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=376"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
<\/strong>We don\u2019t actually know that admins are necessarily invincible to other admins. If we guess they\u2019re in creative mode there are <\/em>niche ways for people to be killed in creative mode, and we don\u2019t know that Romeo isn\u2019t just \u201c\/gamemode 0 xara\u201d. It is not a flaw of the story that we don\u2019t know by what mechanism Romeo killed Fred and removed Xara\u2019s admin power.<\/p>\n\n\n\n