Undertale.

Where do I really begin with Undertale? I don’t even have a fancy opening paragraph this round.








Okay, Undertale.

My original impressions of the game is that it was sort of an Earthbound-ish game with a strong acclaim via word-of-mouth. Beyond that, I was a blank slate.

Gameplay takes a strong diversion in Classical JRPG combat with non-violent methods of defeating foes. Creatures vary wildly in *how* to spare them in the first place, meaning virtually every encounter is a unique battle. It’s the one, and *only* time I’ve ever looked forward to Random Battles instead of dreaded them. Avoiding their attacks involves navigating unside a square grid for your “heart”. Every creature has inimitable move sets which keeps players on their toes, oftentimes in ways that break the 4th wall to humorous effect. Both In & Out of Gameplay, Toby Fox has a penchant for toying with Gamer's expectations and doing all but tossing them out like a naked baby in the woods.

The game’s structure isn’t too far from Earthbound, going from place to place, all of which have the bizarre dial turned up to 11. Visually, it’s fairly good-looking for a game teetering between 8-Bit and 16-bit. The character herself is as flat as it gets, but most of the characters both in and out of combat have great designs and surprisingly unique animations, complementing their attitudes and personality. There’s also more-than-enough visual Bells & Whistles that add to the fantastical & idiosyncratic nature of Undertale.

The Characters themselves have very quirky personalities. Despite the monstrous visage, you’ll find a smorgasbord of creativity in their dialogue - this makes it far easier to empathize with them. Even the aggressive bosses have justifiable reasons for their antagonism. Sparing or slaying the main characters along the road can have significant consequences, whether gamers are aware of it or not - it’s even possible to beat the game with 0 Kills, though it won’t be easy. The one, and only complaint(though it’s hardly even a complaint) is that the method of non-lethal takedowns for bosses can sometimes be very confusing. This wouldn’t be as much of an issue if they weren’t trying to bludgeon me with a sharp pointy thing for so long. Dialogue is some of the best I’ve seen all year, and full of great humor; It’s rare for me to laugh out loud this much in one sitting, but sure enough it happened.

The Story. Most of the game keeps its story tight-lipped, outside of brief lore passages spread throughout the worlds and very sparse dialogue. This is for good Reason.

The ending is, by leaps and bounds, one of the most inventive and well thought-out conclusions I’ve experienced. I’d have to refuse saying anything beyond that, outside of private messages.

Undertale is more than a Crazy-Ass adventure with goofy characters. The game managed to push the limits of the medium to get a powerful message across. How many titles in gaming history have achieved that? Ultimately, the game wasn't everything I'd hoped for.

It was more.

(For those curious about Undertale, the game can be found here.)

Personally I think Toby aimed to make it difficult sparing her, with the intent to get a neutral ending for players first, then pacifist. The reasons for that... well, there are very good ones - at the very least to get an emotional punch in as incentive for doing a pacifist ending in the first place.

I'd definitely say you're completely spot on there too cause I myself was going to try for a pacifist run at first (without knowing it wasn't possible on a first playthrough), so having that moment punch me in the face provided such an emotional reaction that's lasted with me the whole game. It doesn't help that it feels like the game is guilt tripping me about it a lot (with callbacks and such). Potentially not intentional but oh my god, does it hurt.

I initially spared Asgore and well... that most certainly didn't end the way I was expecting. Did I mention that I both love and hate Flowey now? Damn, the fight with Omega Flowey is one big clusterfuck and I think it took me around seven or eight tries to get it but it felt damn good when I finally did.

Curious cause I spared Flowey too and his words after the fact I can tell are guiding the player to the pacifist ending but... I have to wonder what the final boss there will be, if he's true to his word on not killing Asgore.

My epilogue was mostly how Undyne is going to fucking kill me. X3 And I only ever killed Toriel and Doggo as I said, so.