A modpack genuinely like no other - for better or for worse

I'm working on a more detailed review of RLCraft for another platform, but I'll leave some cliffnotes here.

• RLCraft is really weird. Like I've played a lot of modpacks for a lot of years, and I've really played nothing like it. This is also viewable from the fact that "RLCraft" is now its own mod genre on the various platforms.
• It is frustrating. For different reasons at different stages of the game. The early game you are extremely vulnerable, mostly directionless, and underleveled to use a lot of gear. The midgame you are spending a lot of time nigh-invincible grinding for XP for god enchants for endgame. The endgame you are hoping your build can hold its own against the Lycanite's bosses because if it doesn't, you're just gonna have to make the whole thing again.
• Heat/Cold is infuriating, oftentimes doesn't make sense, and can be entirely negated with two items.
• Lycanite's is Lycanite's

These are all negatives, but I actually really like RLCraft. It just has a lot of questionable design decisions made by someone who clearly didn't realize their jokey modpack made for friends would become one of the biggest piece of Minecraft media on the planet. The fact of the matter is that if you play RLCraft, and you like it, there are... basically no other modpacks like it. Shivaxi genuinely made a novel modpack based on a kitchen sink framing with internalized, non-quest-based, progression (the questbook doesn't count, it's basically just a compilation of different items from all the different mods with useless rewards). I hope one day to discover a modpack that builds upon the frame that is RLCraft into something truly good.

But it really doesn't deserve all the hate it gets. And it definitely doesn't deserve all the praise it gets. If you're like me and you spent most of your modded Minecraft time hating this modpack, give it a shot yourself. You might be surprised at what your opinion metastabilizes into.