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Post by SsnakeBite, the No1 Frenchman on Feb 22, 2017 8:47:53 GMT -5
... it fills you with determination.
So yeah, another thing I'm late to the party for: Undertale. Recently beat it for the first time and now about halfway through a True Pacifist run. Bloody good game although I don't think I love it quite as much as most people do. Thing is, I left it sitting for months after the date with Papyrus, thinking yeah, it's fun and stylish and weird and all that but it's nothing special, and then I recently went back and finished it and it turns out all the best bits are after that and the game suddenly gets awesome, trippy and shows its true depths. Also, very clever that previous runs influence subsequent ones in some manner.
So basically, it's one of those games that feel a bit weird because while I don't think it's really great, I can see myself playing it over and over again because it's just so damn likeable and there's so much stuff to discover. Plus it's also one of those games that has seemingly infinite replayability especially since it's very short (one run shouldn't take more than five hours or so).
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wakko
Samurai Cop
Knows This
BAAAGH!!!!
Posts: 2,212 
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Post by wakko on Feb 22, 2017 10:40:32 GMT -5
Got it, started it a long while ago, then left it. Not that I didn't like it. I just wasn't in the mood for that type of game at the time. Hope to play through it soon, after my XCOM 2 obsession dies off.
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Post by Zaq "That Guy" Buzzkill on Feb 22, 2017 19:14:58 GMT -5
You can play however you want as long you do these specific set of things or your playing the game wrong.
-Undertale fandom
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Post by Gerard Gerard on Feb 22, 2017 19:21:35 GMT -5
Just finished it recently too and would agree with you a bit. I think the hype-machine does understated gimmicks like Undertale quite the disservice, so if it's not all tits and cocaine within the first 20 minutes then it's inevitable you're gonna be wondering where the hype came from. It was in my case, anyways. "Understated" in the sense that there's depths and fun and branches there you can play around with but you're not beaten over the head with them.
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Post by SsnakeBite, the No1 Frenchman on Feb 23, 2017 2:18:17 GMT -5
Just finished it recently too and would agree with you a bit. I think the hype-machine does understated gimmicks like Undertale quite the disservice, so if it's not all tits and cocaine within the first 20 minutes then it's inevitable you're gonna be wondering where the hype came from. It was in my case, anyways. "Understated" in the sense that there's depths and fun and branches there you can play around with but you're not beaten over the head with them. Well it's not so much that I expected it to be crazy right off the bat, but there are so many works, especially when it comes to indy video games, that get praised as being so profound and clever and new and mind-blowing, yet when I experience them myself, I find them hollow, with little to no substance behind a style that's not nearly as original as people make it out to be ( Hotline Miami or Five Nights At Freddy's would be good examples), so I was afraid Undertale would be something like that. Thankfully, it wasn't. |
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Post by Gerard Gerard on Feb 23, 2017 11:26:02 GMT -5
Just finished it recently too and would agree with you a bit. I think the hype-machine does understated gimmicks like Undertale quite the disservice, so if it's not all tits and cocaine within the first 20 minutes then it's inevitable you're gonna be wondering where the hype came from. It was in my case, anyways. "Understated" in the sense that there's depths and fun and branches there you can play around with but you're not beaten over the head with them. Well it's not so much that I expected it to be crazy right off the bat, but there are so many works, especially when it comes to indy video games, that get praised as being so profound and clever and new and mind-blowing, yet when I experience them myself, I find them hollow, with little to no substance behind a style that's not nearly as original as people make it out to be ( Hotline Miami or Five Nights At Freddy's would be good examples), so I was afraid Undertale would be something like that. Thankfully, it wasn't. I feel you might as well be describing my experiences with "To The Moon" this week. I mean, it might be because I'm knackered between school and work and just in a generally grumpy form, or it might be because "To The Moon" is a bare bones "Eternal Sunshine" redo that controls like a three-wheel trolley. Don't get me wrong, it did charm on occasion, but it wasn't quite the tits, cocaine and feels I'd been sold by the perpetual hype-machine that is user-feedback. In other news, I was delighted to see that SNK provided a few Steam keys for games that weren't Steam-listed at the time of their 25th anniversary Humble Bundle. Twinkle Star Sprites is now my life. A game that gets no hype, but is just a fantastic hybrid of SHMUP and Puyo Pop. Do you have any intentions of doing a genocide run in Undertale eventually? |
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Post by SsnakeBite, the No1 Frenchman on Feb 23, 2017 12:51:43 GMT -5
Do you have any intentions of doing a genocide run in Undertale eventually? Yeah, just wanted to do the True Pacifist run first since it seems harder to pull off. |
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Post by BayleyTiffyCodyCenaJudyHopps on Feb 24, 2017 11:36:07 GMT -5
This is one of the most adorable video games ever conceived.
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Post by A Platypus Rave is Correct on Feb 24, 2017 11:41:06 GMT -5
eh it's alright... I didn't find it nearly as amazingly fantastic one of a kind experience as most of it's fans seem to hype it up as.
Nor is it the worst shit ever like some of it's detractors act like.
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Post by SsnakeBite, the No1 Frenchman on Mar 31, 2017 12:00:41 GMT -5
So I finally completed the True Pacifist run and I feel it has added further depth to an already great game. Really worth replaying. Adds a ton of lore and character development. I was actually very surprised at how much was different on a second playthrough. I kind of expected it to only branch out near the end but I was impressed by how right off the bat, some thing are slightly different, if only through tiny acknowledgements that it's not the first playthrough. It was also nowhere near as difficult as I feared (although I did use a walkthrough to find out how to date the various characters). I did die to more regular monsters but overall, I feel like I did better and died less often despite the lower health bar.
But most importantly, doing a second playthrough made me realize what it is that makes Undertale stand out and struck a chord with so many people despite not being anything groundbreaking gameplay-wise. It's not just the surreal aesthetic, or the hauntingly beautiful music, or even the colourful characters, it's that every major event that happens is a direct consequence of player choice and every single thing the player chooses to do can have an enormous impact later on. And not only that but the way you handled previous playthrough influences following ones.
At a time when so many games like to pretend that they have variety and choice by slapping on a single "do X or Y" choice at the end and calling that an alternate ending despite the player's actions being completely irrelevant to the outcome, this game remembers every little thing you did and for better or worse, it will hold you accountable for it. But it's always stuff you actually did and chose to do. No choice is forced on you, the game never tricks you into doing anything you don't want to and being extremely good or extremely evil both require tremendous, conscious effort and cannot be achieved by accident, so it makes sense for the game to make you deal with the consequences of your actions.
Again, when so many games are convinced of their own brilliance for aggressively railroading you into playing one specific way and then giving you shit for it (I'm looking at you, Hotline Miami), it's incredible that a game like this, which has no pretence beyond giving you a good story in a creative setting went to such lengths to ensure that freedom and choice were never taken away from the player, and that everything that happens is the result of their decisions and their actions, making it one of the few games where the claim that the fate of the game's world rests on the player's shoulders isn't just some meaningless fluff in the game's intro.
EDIT: Oh yeah and, holy shit the True Lab. Once again, this game does a better job of being a horror game in about ten minutes than the countless jump scare-fests that YouTubers declare the "SCARIEST GAME EVER?!?!?!" on a weekly basis do over several hours.
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Spiderf 4
Patti Mayonnaise
Dedicated 6,666th post to Irontyger
I believe in Joe Hendry.
Posts: 39,832
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Post by Spiderf 4 on Mar 31, 2017 13:11:11 GMT -5
He lost to him at WrestleMania 8, now finally gets revenge.
Wait. What?
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Post by SsnakeBite, the No1 Frenchman on Apr 1, 2017 3:28:33 GMT -5
He lost to him at WrestleMania 8, now finally gets revenge. Wait. What? Er... that reference went way over my head. Also, is it weird that I kind of don't really want to do a Genocide route now? I mean, the True Pacifist playthrough was so pleasant and the character interaction was fantastic, as were the extra bits of lore, so it feels a bit of a shame to play in such a way that it all goes to shit. It also feels like it would be a much less meaningful story even though from what I hear, things change so much in that route that it might as well be a completely different story. Another thing that bugs me about the Genocide route is that apparently, even if you do a True Reset afterwards, it will always influence subsequent playthroughs, at least if you try a True Pacifist route. Not that I really think I'll be playing again after that, let alone a True Pacifist playthrough but still. Of course, I get that it fits the game's themes. That you can't do something horrible like that (which, again, you had to go out of your way to intentionally do) and hope to get away with it by just erasing its existence, I'm just not sure how comfortable I am with permanently affecting future playthroughs. But at the same time, it feels like I'd be missing out on a lot of new elements if I never play it (and I don't really want to watch a Let's Play of it as it's really one of those games that's way more satisfying to discover yourself). Another thing regarding the characters, why is it that one of the few genuine-feeling and touching LGBT romances I can think of is in a story about camp robots, pasta-obsessed skeletons and fish-people knights of all things? Seriously, I found the relationship between Undyne and Alphys genuinely sweet (it helps that Undyne is my favourite character in the game) and I really appreciate that the game doesn't make a big deal of the fact that they're lesbians. It treats it like any other romance and it ends up feeling a lot more genuine than in works that make a big spectacle of it, seemingly to get the stamp of approval from the LGBT community rather than to create compelling character interaction. Come to think of it, it's one of only two fictional romances I can remember actually caring about. |
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Post by Oh Cry Me a Screwball on Apr 1, 2017 8:49:01 GMT -5
Genocide Route is actually the most fascinating of the routes in my opinion. I can't really say why without giving out too much of the experience, but it definitely brings something totally different to the table that you don't get from a standard or pacifist playthrough.
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Post by Malibu Albino on Apr 1, 2017 18:10:33 GMT -5
Genocide Route is actually the most fascinating of the routes in my opinion. I can't really say why without giving out too much of the experience, but it definitely brings something totally different to the table that you don't get from a standard or pacifist playthrough. And playing Genocide after the other two routes is one of the most heartbreaking gaming experiences of my life. |
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bob
Backup Wench
The "other" Bob. FOC COURSE!
started the Madness Wars, Proudly the #1 Nana Hater on FAN
Posts: 80,781
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Post by bob on Apr 1, 2017 22:20:37 GMT -5
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Spiderf 4
Patti Mayonnaise
Dedicated 6,666th post to Irontyger
I believe in Joe Hendry.
Posts: 39,832
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Post by Spiderf 4 on Apr 2, 2017 18:08:00 GMT -5
He lost to him at WrestleMania 8, now finally gets revenge. Wait. What? Er... that reference went way over my head. I was referencing Jake The Snake Roberts vs The Undertaker.  |
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Post by SsnakeBite, the No1 Frenchman on Apr 3, 2017 0:36:29 GMT -5
Er... that reference went way over my head. I was referencing Jake The Snake Roberts vs The Undertaker.  oh... |
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Mozenrath
FANatic
Foppery and Whim
Speedy Speed Boy
Posts: 122,118
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Post by Mozenrath on Apr 3, 2017 5:58:03 GMT -5
He lost to him at WrestleMania 8, now finally gets revenge. Wait. What? Er... that reference went way over my head. Also, is it weird that I kind of don't really want to do a Genocide route now? I mean, the True Pacifist playthrough was so pleasant and the character interaction was fantastic, as were the extra bits of lore, so it feels a bit of a shame to play in such a way that it all goes to shit. It also feels like it would be a much less meaningful story even though from what I hear, things change so much in that route that it might as well be a completely different story. Another thing that bugs me about the Genocide route is that apparently, even if you do a True Reset afterwards, it will always influence subsequent playthroughs, at least if you try a True Pacifist route. Not that I really think I'll be playing again after that, let alone a True Pacifist playthrough but still. Of course, I get that it fits the game's themes. That you can't do something horrible like that (which, again, you had to go out of your way to intentionally do) and hope to get away with it by just erasing its existence, I'm just not sure how comfortable I am with permanently affecting future playthroughs. But at the same time, it feels like I'd be missing out on a lot of new elements if I never play it (and I don't really want to watch a Let's Play of it as it's really one of those games that's way more satisfying to discover yourself). Another thing regarding the characters, why is it that one of the few genuine-feeling and touching LGBT romances I can think of is in a story about camp robots, pasta-obsessed skeletons and fish-people knights of all things? Seriously, I found the relationship between Undyne and Alphys genuinely sweet (it helps that Undyne is my favourite character in the game) and I really appreciate that the game doesn't make a big deal of the fact that they're lesbians. It treats it like any other romance and it ends up feeling a lot more genuine than in works that make a big spectacle of it, seemingly to get the stamp of approval from the LGBT community rather than to create compelling character interaction. Come to think of it, it's one of only two fictional romances I can remember actually caring about. I do not blame you, particularly given Flowey explicitly asking you to leave well enough alone once you have given everyone their best end. |
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