Welcome to Hardmode

Am I serious? Well - maybe I am.

See, Hardmode is a bitch. I mean, Blood Moons are fun and all, for a bit - and when they're not, and You're longing for a tougher challenge, You might think to Yourself: Hardmode is cool. But by the end of it - Blood Moons will come with Scarecrows that throw Bombs; And statues that come to life; ... and all sorts of fun stuff ... and it won't be until You got to the very end game that You'll have peace again.

So ... as said, I ventured into one of my old worlds and eventually I stumbled upon the problem. So, I was digging this hole to separate my spot from the crimson, but apparently I chose too big of a stretch, so - between doing all sorts of things ... the crimson got in. Naturally my next goal would be to grab a Clentaminator and go about it, but that's ... around the time where I stopped. I was reliefed to find that I had an inner perimeter ... but anyway ... that's where I came to rediscover what I now dubbed "The Crimson Toilet":



It also sits at the precipice of the current perimeter between Crimson and Uncorrupted Lands. The bottom of it looks like this:



And what You need to understand is, that the Crimson here (to the left ("Corrupted Ice") and the bottom ("Corrupted Rock")) is different to the Crimson from pre-hardmode that only has very ... few and barren caves with not much in it but ... a few dinky mobs and stone. The Hearts/Orbs are the most remarkable thing about it.

But this Crimson ... this used to be 'normal Cavern'. And when people say that the Corruption spreads 'aggressively', what they mean is, that You can see it grow ... . And in the time it takes to "just quickly go and do a thing" - an entire screen can be converted. And so, You may end up with Caverns that look like this:



or this:



Which are ... relatively harmless given how little corruption there is. But as said, this is the outer perimeter. In there ... there's similarly open spaces - and while moving around You create more of them. There's mobs that can float through solid blocks, there's squids that can hit for half Your health - and the Night's Edge is barely capable of keeping things at arm's length.


Here, You're basically like ... in the Jungle ... with starter gear ... but there's barely a forrest to retreat to. So ... if You want to survive this ... with a little less frustration - build a skybridge somewhere, and gather up feathers for featherfall potions. These ... are the single best potion to use during hardmode spelunking. Maybe add a potion of swiftness. And of course ... the usual suspects. Spelunking, Mining and ... Shine. I mean, I found it to be a good moment to let go of equipment to do the illumination - so ... a shine potion helps. But also ... creating illuminated corridors helps. If You can set certain boundaries - though I think that some corruption is also spawned in after the WoF is defeated - You can then also setup little hidey holes to catch some breath. I mean, You find them and maybe mark them and maybe build around them.


For further emphasis: Those shades from the first picture, they also hit for like ... a fourth to a half of Your health ... I think. Maybe 3/4ths. That's roughly the "heavy hitter" range of things. Like arrows from archers. You on the other hand ... a swipe from the Night's Edge does like a 10th ... but less. A 10th would mean that it takes only 10 swings to kill one such thing.

Well, the Night's Edge is fast enough to keep them away for that time. But uhm ... where ... what ...


So, what is hard mode? I suppose it's a way to unpause the game. To set the world in motion and let it evolve in a somewhat darwinian sense. The things You built will become more vital - the Pylons will be more important as the world is overall more hostile. You can expect death around every corner - and Your sense of privacy will be challenged severely.

Sure, some Mobs stay the same - except for some of the numbers. So yea, Slimes also become scary again.

Further down: With scenic Lighting!



About the Night's Edge ... it's basically Darth Maul turned into a sword. Pre Hardmode You're basically Jedi Master Grand Supreme with that thing, which makes me think - maybe I should turn the Antichrist into a sword. I mean, as for matters of one making the other a bitch, it seems like this is the kind of shit I come up with after like ... all the digestion so far and getting an idea of ... uhm. I don't know, but ... in a way it's still ongoing. You know, breaking my spirit. The issue is that once reality keeps repeating itself too much - and I start to accept it ... that's ... when hope dies and ... things change.

The energy that it costs sometimes to just ... resist this ... it eventually becomes a fine sword on its own. And maybe I can have it. Make my "Besouled Sword" from my enemy - which I can throw into my Backlog until I find the emotional capacity to deal with it - and actually do some conditioning and stuff.

I mean, consequences will have to be served one way or another - I'm sure of it. I mean, remorse also comes with a certain desire for it. A retribution ... a point of atonement. And ... I don't know ... I've tried to see where I might be at fault, or where I might ... reach out, take the extra step, walk the extra mile ... which yea ... I eventually did or didn't do.

But yea. If I was mistaken ... if I was too quick to judge or any such thing ... wouldn't we've seen evidence of that by now? And if so ... sigh, well ... what does it matter?


So, we can say that there ... at the bottom of that hole ... are treasures beyond Your wildest imagination ... and a lot of the things to be set for Hardmode are too. The Titan Glove for once.
But it is still a gross misrepresentation of the facts. There's clouds and hallowed torches ... sure ... and ... "don't You too ... Yearn for the mines?" ... and You know, that's where all the cool kids go. The grown ones.

"No refunds".