-Nice view of the city.
-OH SNAP! It's a montage of the places I've been, isn't it?!
-What the... toriel's house? "Howdy I'm in the garden!"???
-Okayyy... weird. What's going on?! And what's with the yellow flowers?!
-Groge cnounter!
-Oh, they're... telling me a story.
-Human fell and called for help.
-A trash can full of crumpled up recipes for butterscotch pie?
-WHITE FUR STUCK IN THE DRAIN?!
-Did I seriously wind up back in Toriel's house?!!
-Ah, so the longer I stay, hte more encounters I get, the more of the story I understand.
-ASRIEL, the king's son, saved the human. Got it.
-Too much to comment on, really. Wow! Info overload! This is all starting to come together, though. The king had a son...
-Hm.
-Ah, so they adopted the fallen human.
-This is ASGORE's house?!! "Nice day today" says his journal, ink still wet. He's nearby...
-The human fell ill...
-And couldn't see those flowers once more...
-And died. I knew this was gonna be a sad story.
-Oh dang! Plot twist, the prince transformed by absorbing the soul!
-Let me guess, the humans kill the prince. I'm just gonna call it out right now. Also, fitting that he put... the human... on...
-...
-...*FACEPALM* golden flowers. FLOWEY is involved in this, I know it!
-Ah, the fatal misunderstanding. Called it!
-And Asriel could've wiped them all out! I bet he didn't.
-Knew it.
-Died just at the castle's gates!!! Oh man!
-"the humans had once again taken everything from us..." Ohhh. this is what sparked the human hunt.
-"Every human who falls down here must die." Knew it!
-Hopefully Asgore will learn that not all humans are monsters (OH SNAP THE PUNS! XD) and decide to not invade after seeing me.
-Savepoint! Can't stop now, though. I have a feeling this is the end.
-Nice palace.
-Sans!
-Ah so it is the end!
-"You will be judged for your every action." Well, good thing I didn't give him ammo to judge me with! I'm innocent!
-Ohhhhh, EXP doesn't mean experience after all. What a twist!
-And love, too!?!?!
-...
-So what's the verdict, skull face?
-"You didn't gain love. You're not completely innocent or naieve, you just kept a certain tenderness in your heart."
-"You strived to do the right thing." I'd hope so!
-"You refused to hurt anyone." ehhhh, you're wrong there. I *DID* throw many punches when I felt I needed to, such as with Undyne, but I never killed anyone!
-"Even when you ran away, you did it with a smile." HAH! Says you! You clearly didn't see the Undyne fight. I was freaked out! Panicked!
-Ohhh the puns have meaning now. I never gained LOVE, but I gained love. And yes, that makes sense. Hopefully my reputation preceds me, and Asgore realizes I'm not worth killing.
-Dang, so it's either trap monsters or wipe out mankind? Maybe I can convince the king otherwise. If not...
-...
-...If not, the logical thing is to kill Asgore. Sorry! It just is true! The monsters have a chance of survival, that way, and so does humanity. Besides, if they want a human soul, I'm sure a bad guy or a guy on death row would do fine, right? RIGHT? I mean... a little kid? Really?
-I don't know Asgore's pain, of course. And I hope I never do!
-What's your verdict, Sans? What are you about to say?
-"Well, if I were you, I would have thrown in the towel by now." Welll... if I didn't have all these people wanting to know how I react, I would've, trust me! XD
-Ah. What's Determination, then? Is it another special thing?
-Oh. No explanation. That's it.
-Well, that's it, then.
-Here goes nothing....
-Ah, final boss room, and save point. But what's over down south?
-C-C-Coffins?!!
-Ohhh, the seven human souls.
-Oh man.
-OH MAN.
-MY COFFIN.
-"SAM."
-OH MAN OH MAN OH MAN HE WANTS ME DEAD.
-Here goes nothing...
-...oh wow. That's a lot of flowers and stuff!
-*GASP* the king!
-"Dum dee dum..." Lol, does he even know I'm - like - right behind him?
-Watering the flowers. Man, he didn't let go of his son, did he?
-... WAIT! WAIT WAIT WAIT!
-Was TORIEL The QUEEN?!!!!
-...
-...
-WHoa.
-"Howdy! How can I..." XD can't wait for the next part.
-Oh man XD the conflict of playing nice host to the person you're about to kill.
-This's awkward.
-Yep, nice day, indeed. You still wanna kill me?
-Also, I would like to actually go outside once this game's done. It is legitimately wonderful outside.
-"When you are ready, come into the next room..."
-Well, here goes...
-Gonna save, first.
-Okay, good.
-ONWARD!
-Poor guy. I really don't wanna fight him. And I know where he's coming from. I literally can't fault him for wanting me dead. I mean, he's kinda in the right, here.
-"I am not ready either."
-Man, this is gonna be awful for all involved.
-WHOA! That hall is trippy!
-This is the barrier?!
-Should I?
-Should I do this now?
-...
-I should go back and buff up.
-...
-Well, I'll try once, and if he kills me, THEN I'll go back and buff up.
-Onward!
-"It was nice to meet you. Goodbye." I believe it, man. I actually, legitimately believe you don't like having to do this. But I salute you for putting your kingdom first!
-OH MY GOSH! NO MERCY ALLOWED!!!
-OH wow! His attacks are beefed up versions of Toriel's!
-I AM DEAD.
-Oh wow.
-"Don't lose hope!" Hey, that tone of voice! It's Asgore's isn't it?!
-Okay, I'll keep fighting. No more notes until I get through the fight.
-(gonna go back and beef up tons. BRB)
-First stop, Snowdin. For Health boosts.
-Next, the waterfall, to get rid of what I don't need and to buy up some tea. I just remembered the hotel guests wanted stuff, so maybe fulfilling their quests will get me something useful?
-Also, I've equipped the locket and dagger.
-Excellent. 99G
-And 99 more G! Great!
-I slept in the fancy hotel room. OH MY GOSH, that lump under the bed is adorablE! XDD
-This is actually pretty hilarious.
-That... was a waste of time and gold. :/
-Moving on, then!
-Okay, I can buy either a steak in the shape of mettaton's face, or the mystery key.
-...
-Neither seem immediately useful.
-...
-I'm going to sell them two glamburgers.
-Ohhh, I can't.
-Oh well! Helpful in battle, I guess.
-I'll grab the steakface.
-Good as I'll ever get, I guess. Time to face Asgore...
-HERE WE GO...
-(I'll let you know when I defeat him, I have a feeling I won't have time to type notes. Also, it feels pointless to cut off the gameplay right here, when I'm SO CLOSE TO BEING FINISHED!)
-WHOA! "You tell Asgore he's killed you twice before. He nodds sadly!" WHAT KINDA FOURTH WALL BREAKING STUFF IS THIS?! That's seriously weird. What?! Does that mean he techincally won those other two times, and monsters were free?!
-SO CLOSE! HE was at low HP! I nearly had him broke down!
-Gotta try again!
-Temmie armor is superior. I have to keep it on.
-Oh - thought just hit me. ASRIEL is DEFINITELY Toriel and Asgore's kid. The name, clearly. So, obviously, Toriel was the queen.
-THE STICK DID NOTHING!
-DEAD AGAIN.
-WON'T GIVE UP, THOUGH!
-I AM SO DETERMINED TO END THIS GAME, RIGHT HERE, RIGHT NOW!
-OH MY GOSH, I DID IT! WHEW! FIVE DEATHS LATER, I DID IT!
-"I remember the day after my son died..."
-So he began his campaign against humanity, for his people's sake.
-It makes sense, it really does. I can't fault him, honestly. I mean, I'm not gonna let him kill humanity, but I cannot fault him for wanting to.
-AHHHH, so Toriel left him over this! I get it!
-It's all making sense now
-"I do not want to hurt anyone." I knew it! Dude, I get it, I really do. You're just trying to do right by your kingdom.
-FIGHT OR MERCY!!! AH, the decision!!! Uh.. uh...
-...
-Logically, if I kill him I'll leave, but *NOW* if I spare him, the condition has changed. He's changed his heart.
-We can...
-I CAN spare him.
-I'll live out my days down here, then - since I'm a human - I can die. I'll die eventually, of old age or whatever.
-I'll donate the soul I have to the monsters, and they can be free.
-Win win
-...
-Mercy!
-...
-...Aww, he's smiling. Great! I guess that means I got the good ending!
-That rain... it's the music from the statue I created a while back!
-"Human, I promise you..."
-"For as long as you remain here, My wife and I will take care of you as best we can."
-"We can sit in the living room, telling stories..."
-"Eating butterscotch pie..." Yes! This is an awesome ending!! I'll be happy to leave the game on this note.
-"We could be like a family." Yes. I'm happy to have gotten this. I think I did the right thing.
-WHAT?!!?!?
-WHAT?!
-...
-Flowey.
-FLOWEY!
-...
-I LOVE YOU FOR THAT AWESOME TWIST IN THE PLOT!!! OH MY GOSH, BRILLIANT! KILLING ASGORE! I mean, yeah, I'm obliged to be sad, so "boo hoo", I guess? But DID YOU SEE THAT VILLAINOUS PLOT TWIST OF EPIC PROPORTIONS?!
-In this world... it's kill or be killed?!
-He has the hearts.
-I can't let flowey win!
-...
-FLOWEY, I AM GOING TO *KILL YOU!*
-...my game closed.
-Hang on.
-Whoa! The intro is different!
-Whoa! It's glitching.
-Ohhh, coooooool. This is really cool.
-HE'S ERASED MY FILE!
-FLOWEY, YOU'rE HUGE
-What?!
-"Without you I never could've gotten past him." I was being used!!
-"But now with your help, he's dead" that FACE is scary! I love it!
-GAH, this is the final boss fight I was wanting. That laugh! :DDD
-"I still need one more." YES! BRING IT, PUNK! I WANNA KILL YOU!! THIS WHOLE GAME'S BEEN NOTHING BUT A STUPID RESTRAINT ON MY VIDEOGAME INSTINCTS, BUT I WILL *GLADLY* RIP YOU TO PIECES NOW!
-He wants to kill all life! YEssss! I can totally destroy him! I actively want to! This is awesome! THIS IS AN AWESOME BOSS FIGHT! YES YES YES!!!
-He referenced my save file! He destroyed it, didn't he?! OH WOW
-OH MY GOSH!
-HHAHAAHAH!! No wonder he said it's kill or be killed! He knows it's a game! He knows it's just a videogame!
-Flowey, you are now my favorite character. Also, I am going to kill you. But you're - hands down - my favorite! Muffet's probably a second.
-"I'll save over your own death!" I LOVE THAT FACE!!!! IT'S SO HORRIFYNG!!!! I'm legitimately smiling like a child right now. This is the most fun I've had in this game since muffet. NO JOKE! I love facing this guy!
-And I'm sure his boss fight will rock socks!
-...whoa. WHOA! His final form!!! OH MY GOSH! YESSSS!!!! HAAHAHAHAAAAH!
-Dead already. HAH! XD I love that fight.
-"This is all just a bad dream." AND YOU'RE NEVER WAKING UP! Oh, this is awesome.
-Wait... logically, if I keep loading the game, he'll never get my soul. And he's bound to slip up eventually. He has to!
-What if I keep closing him out?!
-Oh, no. I have to fight him to beat him. Okay, sweet!
-"You called for help" The souls are listening to me!!! If i can talk to THEM, I should have a chance!!
-"Do you even realize what will happen if you defeat me?" no, but I'll find out!
-The saving and loading is out of control! He's losing control!
-"no such thing as happy endings, this is all that's left" psssh! whatever! Says you!
-I think I did it! All six other souls! Igot 'em!
-Flowey, you cold monster... PREPARE TO DIE!
-I did it! I got him!!!!
-"You idiot!" XDDDDD HAHAAHAAH! That's great! Oh my gosh, Flowey, you're an awesome villain.
-Wonderful callback to the first encounter.
-Also, I love his face as his plan failed. XDDD
-"Load failed!" OH my gosh! Flowey, bro, you're so done for!!!
-Oh man, they are ruining him!!! Oh my gosh! He shouldn't have absorbed that which he couldn't control.
-What now?
-Blackness.
-Oh, flowey... Fight or mercy?
-...
-...I wanna kill him. I really really do... but...
-...mercy?
-"what are you doing?" I'm experimenting.
-"do you really think I've learned anything from this?" no.
-"no" yep, knew it.
-"Sparing me won't change anything." Oh wit won't? How so?
-"Killing me is the only way to end this." Let's find out.
-"If you let me live..." Oh, the anger's coming back.
-"I'll come back." ---that wouldn't be good!
-"I'll kill you." Pshh. You have.
-"I'll kill everyone" OH WOW. THE EYES!
-"I'll kill evryone you love."
-"..."
-Okay, I'll stop it here. I know sparing's an option... but... I don't want to!
I won't spare him.
Flowey, you had this coming. Also, I'm really really wanting to just end you right now.
-"I knew you had it in you!" Duuude!!! :D That's soooo coool!!! So, he's like the Joker, he feels he's won my me killing him, but I really really know I've won because he's no longer a threat.
-Truth be told, I think I did that for the best. Flowey got his "happy ending," for himself (went out smiling, after all) and I've rid the world of him. It's best for everyone that he's gone. (lol, I can hear some fans out there now: "UM, STANLEY, ACTUALLY, IF YOU REPLAY THEN THE GAME CHANGES AND THE BACKSTORY REVEALS STUFF, SO-" Nope! I don't wanna play again, so I'm ending it *MY* way, not the fandom's way, not the game's way, *MY* way. It is - after all - my playthrough)
-Wheeeew. oh, man. What a fight, though.
-Well...
-...
-I liked Muffet's fight the best, truth be told. Actually posed a challenge and stuff. This one... while it was "challenging," at first, the game was over before it began, because Flowey's fight consisted mostly of just letting him kill me until what's essentially an interactive cinematic played out.
-Loved the graphics on it though.
-Might as well finish things off, then. I'm sitting alone in that room, but Flowey's gone now (in a way).
-(it's just a regular flower) indeed it is. Now the nightmare is over.
-What's behind the door?
-It's over! Oh wow, this is the credits!
-Well, that game was okay. I mean, it could've been better. it really could've. And truth be told... I dont' feel like playing it again. Sadly.
-Oh, the phone's ringing.
-Sans! Hi!
-"You made a snowman really happy" Oh yeah! The snowpiece. Hehehh. Cool!
-"The queen returned, and is now ruling over the underground." Good.
-Hey, yes! I knew it! Because of my actions, the humans will be spared if they fall in.
-"It's probably for the best anyway." You got that right.
-The human souls are gone. Well, we wait until seven more people fall, live out their lives down there, and then - bam - you're good to go. Given the lifespan of humans and monsters, shouldn't be a problem.
-"If we're not giving up down here, don't give up wherever you are, ok?" You got it.
-"Who knows how long it will take? But we will get out of here." That's the spirit!
-Papyrus! Hi!
-"The queen disbanded the royal guard. Since we don't have to fight humans anymore." Ah, sorry to hear that, man. But don't worry! I'm sure you'll need a royal guard again for something else, eventually. I mean, not all monsters are peaceful (flowey clearly taught me as much).
-"That's okay because I'm still working hard!" Good!
-"Even if it's on nothing at all!" XD okay, nice.
-"Papyrus is fine!" You sure are.
-Oh. Undyne lost her house and job. Yikes!
-But she's chilling with the skeletons. Good.
-Oh, and she wants me dead, of course. lol
-And papyrus would love to see me again even if it means having to fight me, lol. Okie dokie, then.
-End game.
Well. That's it.
Truth be told, I didn't actually enjoy it much. Sorry, all. I mean, sure, it's a well-made game, and the graphics rock, but the pace is SOOOO SLOOOOOW at times, and the characters, humor, and plot is hit-and-miss.
The greatest parts were the first section (with flowey) some of the boss fights (*COUGH* MUFFET *COUGH*) and the last one (with flowey again). Everything else fluctuated between me not really liking it to finding it irritating beyond belief. RPG's aren't my thing. AT ALL. Really, really, not. And yes, I know the game gets different endings if I play it again after beating it once, with different easter eggs throughout and stuff, and a big reveal about Sans kicking your rear end on a Genocide run (that was spoiled for me, along with his nature as a time traveler).
Truthfully, I DON'T WANT TO PLAY IT AGAIN. I *DIDN'T* want to play it in the first place, but - for some reason - being "uninterested" in it is a sudden crime! I swear, let me rant real quick, if it were *ANY* other fandom, such as FNaF or Mario or Zelda, I could honestly say "Nope, not interested," and the general consensus would be, "Hey, that's alright, everyone has different tastes."
Yet, with Undertale, it's "Hey! You aren't allowed to do that! You must play it, regardless of whether you're interested in it or not!" Well, just like I can say I wouldn't like sushi, though I've never eaten it, or I wouldn't like Twilight, though I've never watched it! People know their tastes, and mine is not Undertale.
It was fun (at times), but I'm done.
Unless...
This game's all about giving the monsters the right ending, yes?
...
And if I don't play the game, from what I understand... then that's equal to me just leaving their world. If I were to drop the game at a given point, and never touch it again, that's the same as their world going on after that point, right? That's the "ending" I get.
-...
-So...
...
...
...
...I'm going to do this...
...yeah. Yeah, actually. I like the idea.
-...I'm going to let Asgore kill me.
-Yes. That's the ending I choose. I choose to sacrifice myself for the underground's sake. I know there are better endings, but I don't care. I will give asgore the soul I have, so that the underground can be freed. And I feel that by doing this, I'm trusting him not to make war. I'm trusting him to see my good faith as a chance to be peaceful. He's no flowey. He doesn't WANT to cause destruction (heck, from what Sans said, if he had killed and killed and killed, he'd find killing super easy, and he doesn't find killing super easy). He'll be a good ruler. He'll destroy the barrier, and do what's right.
-Reloading the save file...
-Okay, approaching the barrier room...
-...Battle begins. Mercy is gone...
-Okay.
-Asgore, do it.
-Okay, that does it. Game Over, for real. Outta my hands, *FOR GOOD!*
So, in review, what'd I think?
Well, overall, if I'm being generous, it was an alright game. In fact, it was very well made. But... it's not for everyone, and definitely not me. The world is more than a little "Alice-in-Wonderland" for my tastes. The gameplay is average, and sometimes just bad, but the boss fights are DEFINITELY the enjoyable parts. The character designs are nice, though sometimes just plain weird. The character personalities vary from stagnant to acceptable (only a handful of characters are actually good, and Flowey is the best, in my opinion). The scary parts were perhaps my favorites. The funny parts fluctuated between being too bizarre, to just bizarre enough to give me a laugh, to genuinely funny, to morbidly hilarious. The game got preachy at times, and when it did, I didn't like it. Also, my distaste for RPG's followed me through this to the end, even though this game was above and beyond creative and had awesome graphics.
In the end, my favorite parts were Flowey (loved his whole character, he adds a bunch of interest to the game, being a great villain who is fully aware that it's just a game he's in), the graphics (I know many might criticize it for this, but I love the deliberately pixellated graphics, which allow for a lot of surprising and awesome art choices), the soundtrack (my favorite scores are Muffet's boss theme and the song that plays when you put the umbrella on that statue), and the boss fights (Flowey rocked for his fourth-wall breaking, but - truth be told - his fight was too easy because you were guaranteed victory after a certain amount of deaths, and healing items came too readily... my FAVORITE boss fight? Muffet. Hands-down (all eight hands down, in fact *OH SNAP*)).
Parts I thought were alright were the story (pretty enjoyable when it was brought to focus) and the characters (those whose personalities weren't just too weird for me to get, or who didn't quite click with me)
Things I disliked were the pacing (my personal distaste for slow burns in all but horror games comes through here), most of the gameplay (walking and talking and walking and talking and walking and talking...), the RPG elements, and the occasionally heavy-handedness of the morals (by the way, it isn't really a "pacifist" route if you throw so much as a single punch, is it? lol). Also, the puzzles were too easy, and the harder ones were set at a difficulty that I would've liked at the start, before progressing and getting more and more of a challenge.
Also, I respect the commitment and hard work of this development team. They made a good game, a little world on its own, that I simply don't enjoy playing.
I'd give it 5/10, but I'm definitely not the target audience, so I won't rate it at all. The target audience would likely be people who play a lot of RPGs and enjoy deep intricate meta morality. I like assembling armies in Age of Empires and wiping out vast swaths of enemy soldiers, or puzzling my way through casual iPhone games, or in a high-intensity FPS showdown. Making fictitious friends who won't matter at all in a few hours, combined with the loooooooong RPG crawl/random encounters thing? Just not my cup of tea. AT ALL.
To address the elephant in the room, also: I will not be playing it again. I do not feel like it, and I like where I've left off my first playthrough; in Asgore's hands. Like Shrodinger's cat, he could either be responsible or conquer the humans, and I don't know what he'll do, but the child's story is over. She sacrificed herself so the monster's could be free, and - hopefully - left a great impression on them so that they are merciful to humanity. End of story. What happens next is not my affair at this point. c:
Oh, and I kept track - I didn't cry, or even tear up. Not once. The most emotional I got was feeling a sting when Asgore died, when Metatton was talking to his viewers, and when I had to leave Toriel. But it was a seriously far cry from making me water up inside. I also felt high emotions when facing flowey, but it was more a "OH MY GOSH! FLOWEY, MY FAVORITE CHARACTER, IS BACK!! GAH, I MISSED YOU!!! I'M FINALLY ENJOYING MYSELF SO MUCH AGAIN!!! HOLY COW!!!!" type thing. ;b
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