Modpacks can't be added to IGDB, so I'm using this as a surrogate for Stoneblock 2. No score either for the same reason, but if there was a page for it I'd say it's a 7/10.
The best Minecraft modpacks understand that the end-state of minecraft modding really is just an extremely tricked out idle game. Additionally, I personally have no degree of architectural creativity, so the building in Minecraft has never been more than a means to an end--I tend to play super utilitarian and live in simplistic boxes because it's easy and I don't need anything else. I think both of these are why most of my favorite modpacks are skyblock-adjacent, for one you get to feel like you're building a huge automated industry up from absolutely nothing, and the harsh resource limits and restrictive environments almost necessitate a plain and simple base that prioritizes easy navigability and later wire-ability more than anything else.
Another thing about modpacks that often make them difficult to get into is a lack of direction: with your average pack you're thrown into a survival world with 300 mods or whatever and not really given much of anything to actually do. I personally can never self-direct any further than getting an AE2 computer set up for item storage, at which point I cease having any goals that I have much of a strong desire to work towards and usually tap out. Thankfully, Stoneblock 2 is a pack with not just a quest book, but a quest book with random rewards, rewards that can sometimes throw you ridiculously far ahead progression-wise. This makes doing the quests not only just something to do, but something that you have a very strong motivation to do, which keeps a lot of the game enticing. Yknow, at the end of the day it's checking boxes, but the reward system keeps it fun and it never really ends up feeling like a chore like it does in packs which have rewardless quest books.
The quest book's focus in Stoneblock 2 maybe isn't the best for beginners, and there are a lot of big progression things I had to figure out from YouTube rather than in the game itself. But it still offers a good mix of introductory Ex Nihlio stuff, a bunch of different kinds of farming (I didn't get into fluidcows, but I did a pretty decent amount of Chickens), and then some late game stuff that I've frankly never even gotten within spitting distance of when playing a modpack, lol. But I regardless had a lot of fun going through the automation motions, from the quartz grindstone to the Tinkers' smeltery to the Thermal Expansion crusher and furnace--and from moving those by hand, to moving them with itemducts into chests, and then to moving them into an ME system. It's very easy and relaxing to zone out and listen to hours of music while improving your base bit by bit--and while I don't think skyblock packs ever quite reach the joyous highs of much more linearly directed adventure-style packs like Material Energy 3 or 4 (which are unfortunately shockingly rare), they get wayyy more of the way there for me than anything done in a more traditionally "Minecraft-y" worldgen or with a more sandbox-y direction.
Like basically every other pack it's still something you burn out of far before reaching anything even close to the end, but I kinda like that. Vanilla Minecraft takes literally maybe an afternoon to get to the end, and then what? I can play tons of this for like a week, not even scratch the surface, and then tap out, contented that I've finished a lot of the things I wanted to finish anyways. Still feels like there's so much to see in these huge packs that when I feel done with one there's still a ton of stuff I've never even touched. Like I just started doing a bit of Thaumcraft in this one, I don't think I've ever really looked at Thaumcraft at all and there's a ton of shit in there, the next time I play one of these I'm gonna try to get super into that. For some reason basically every other sorta survival crafting game just feels like I'm pushing buttons and going through the motions, but there's something in these modpacks that just make it work for me. Maybe it's familiarity, maybe it's the level of automation you can get into here, maybe it's just the veinminer, but playing a pack like this is great for just chilling out for a few days.
The best Minecraft modpacks understand that the end-state of minecraft modding really is just an extremely tricked out idle game. Additionally, I personally have no degree of architectural creativity, so the building in Minecraft has never been more than a means to an end--I tend to play super utilitarian and live in simplistic boxes because it's easy and I don't need anything else. I think both of these are why most of my favorite modpacks are skyblock-adjacent, for one you get to feel like you're building a huge automated industry up from absolutely nothing, and the harsh resource limits and restrictive environments almost necessitate a plain and simple base that prioritizes easy navigability and later wire-ability more than anything else.
Another thing about modpacks that often make them difficult to get into is a lack of direction: with your average pack you're thrown into a survival world with 300 mods or whatever and not really given much of anything to actually do. I personally can never self-direct any further than getting an AE2 computer set up for item storage, at which point I cease having any goals that I have much of a strong desire to work towards and usually tap out. Thankfully, Stoneblock 2 is a pack with not just a quest book, but a quest book with random rewards, rewards that can sometimes throw you ridiculously far ahead progression-wise. This makes doing the quests not only just something to do, but something that you have a very strong motivation to do, which keeps a lot of the game enticing. Yknow, at the end of the day it's checking boxes, but the reward system keeps it fun and it never really ends up feeling like a chore like it does in packs which have rewardless quest books.
The quest book's focus in Stoneblock 2 maybe isn't the best for beginners, and there are a lot of big progression things I had to figure out from YouTube rather than in the game itself. But it still offers a good mix of introductory Ex Nihlio stuff, a bunch of different kinds of farming (I didn't get into fluidcows, but I did a pretty decent amount of Chickens), and then some late game stuff that I've frankly never even gotten within spitting distance of when playing a modpack, lol. But I regardless had a lot of fun going through the automation motions, from the quartz grindstone to the Tinkers' smeltery to the Thermal Expansion crusher and furnace--and from moving those by hand, to moving them with itemducts into chests, and then to moving them into an ME system. It's very easy and relaxing to zone out and listen to hours of music while improving your base bit by bit--and while I don't think skyblock packs ever quite reach the joyous highs of much more linearly directed adventure-style packs like Material Energy 3 or 4 (which are unfortunately shockingly rare), they get wayyy more of the way there for me than anything done in a more traditionally "Minecraft-y" worldgen or with a more sandbox-y direction.
Like basically every other pack it's still something you burn out of far before reaching anything even close to the end, but I kinda like that. Vanilla Minecraft takes literally maybe an afternoon to get to the end, and then what? I can play tons of this for like a week, not even scratch the surface, and then tap out, contented that I've finished a lot of the things I wanted to finish anyways. Still feels like there's so much to see in these huge packs that when I feel done with one there's still a ton of stuff I've never even touched. Like I just started doing a bit of Thaumcraft in this one, I don't think I've ever really looked at Thaumcraft at all and there's a ton of shit in there, the next time I play one of these I'm gonna try to get super into that. For some reason basically every other sorta survival crafting game just feels like I'm pushing buttons and going through the motions, but there's something in these modpacks that just make it work for me. Maybe it's familiarity, maybe it's the level of automation you can get into here, maybe it's just the veinminer, but playing a pack like this is great for just chilling out for a few days.