PixlBit

I spent another day chasing achievements in Minecraft with Mark. This time I joined his world and we got really close to finishing the tasks required. 

First, we had to build up Mark's world because he hadn't been there long enough to have a lot of resources. I had to mine for gold, diamonds and obsidian all over again. I got 6 of the 8 blocks of gold mined before we finally got some diamond and built the Nether Portal. Then I searched for the Stronghold with Eyes of Endor because you can usually find apples and saddles there (apples for the Notch Apple achievement and saddles because I like horses). What I didn't realize was that we could take all the books from the library there and build the ultimate environment for The Enchantment Table. That was much easier than trying to make 135 books ourselves.

Once we got the Enchantment Table perfect we were able to get the best upgrades for our weapons and armor. I managed to get Loot Level III on my diamond sword. You can get Level IV but it never came up as an option even though I kept trying by enchanting iron swords, but Level III was enough it turned out. That sword would make enemies drop double or triple the stuff they usually do. It was very helpful. I got Mark one too, but he lost it in a battle in The Nether, which is where we spent the rest of the time hunting for Wither Skeleton Skulls. 

The Nether is a very tricky place. Not as tricky as a Dark Souls world, but similarly dangerous to our survival and equally gloomy. Every time we went there, no matter how well prepared, we usually ended up running for our lives to get out, or, I did anyway. Mark would usually go until he got killed and then we'd dash back in to retrieve his equipment before it vanished. We were trying to get those Wither Skeletons to drop their skulls. I got one, eventually, and then Mark got one and that's where we left it for the day. We couldn't get that last one needed to summon The Wither. 

As we were running down corridors of The Nether Fortress killing Blazes for XP, I figured out that Pigmen drop gold nuggets. Well, with my Loot Level III boosted sword, that gave me 3 to 4 nugglets a kill. Get 9 and you have a gold brick. So that's how I got the 7th of 8 blocks (1 block = 9 bricks) of gold needed to make an Enchanted Apple - an achievement Mark still needs. 

Next week we'll try and get that last Wither Skull, summon The Wither and do battle with it. Then we'll build the Beacon for the final achievement; and then, finally, I'll get back to finishing up Disney Infinity 3.0 and start Valkyria Chronicles Remastered. 

Phew! Sometimes I wonder about these games. What if I was playing Minecraft in VR. Would I loose track of time even more?