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Undertale |OT| Indie RPG with determination and spider bake sales

demidar

Member
Because it's meant to embody the people who would go through that route for the sake of it. It's meant to literally represent you.

I will offer an alternate explanation.

Being kind doesn't mean much unless you have the choice to be cruel.
 

Raw64life

Member
Sorry, but I have to vent my anger at this shitty game.
I've been loving the game all the way through, great characters, great humour, great battle mechanics. A truly delightful game. I've been doing the pacifist thing of course, solving every encounter without violence. Until I get to the final boss and I just can't figure it out, there's nothing you can do. So I try staying alive for a super long time, nothing happens. I try dying over and over, nothing happens. The only thing the game keeps telling you is to have DETERMINATION. Don't give up! So I keep trying to figure it out, I try various items, explore the castle, try to find hidden menu options, etc. I spend so much time on this fight before I eventually give up and look it up online. Turns out there's no solution, you just HAVE to fight this boss. Doesn't matter if you're playing pacifist, you still have to attack him with a goddamn knife. So utterly fucking stupid. Fuck this game.

I might finish it later when I'm less angry.

I do with the Asgore fight
had alternate ways of finishing it other than Fighting. I was getting rocked by Asgore for a long while because of how Talking to him mentioned how many times I had died to him. I was convinced that I had to show that my DETERMINATION was greater than his and wear down his resolve by showing that I'll always keep coming back, no matter how much pain he inflicted on me.

These are good examples of why I just looked up what to do after my first try despite spoiling a bit of the story as a result. The game doesn't do anything to assure you that
you'll still be eligible to get the true pacifist ending after Asgore is killed
.
 

InfiniteNine

Rolling Girl
These are good examples of why I just looked up what to do after my first try despite spoiling a bit of the story as a result. The game doesn't do anything to assure you that
you'll still be eligible to get the true pacifist ending after Asgore is killed
.

Well it does tell you what to do if
you don't kill Flowey.
 
I will offer an alternate explanation.

Being kind doesn't mean much unless you have the choice to be cruel.

I like Grimm's Fairy Tales for one reason, you have to take the good with the bad.

This game's narrative resonates with me in that way.

I'll admit that I was really reluctant to see how this game would handle behaving badly from the demo. But, that was before the final game
made clear that nobody wins here. Not you. Not Flowey, who wanted to revive the person he thought was his best friend. Maybe the Fallen Child, but to them it's all just a game, who gives a shit, switch it off, let's move on to the next.

There's a point of view here that I find interesting. Especially now.
 
So I am currently fighting
Asgore
. Is fighting him the only way to beat him or can I talk my way out of it or use an item or something? I have
0 LOVE or EXP
 

Carl7

Member
Outstanding game, holy fuck!

Got the normal ending, i think, in which flowey becomes a super monster. Unfortunately I had to kill a few monsters, including Toriel.
 
So I beat the
Flower Monster
is there anything else i have to do? He said something about
seeing Undyne so I went to the skeleton brothers house and she wasn't there.
 

GSR

Member
Outstanding game, holy fuck!

Got the normal ending, i think, in which flowey becomes a super monster. Unfortunately I had to kill a few monsters, including Toriel.

Replay and
don't kill anyone. It's worth it, trust me
.

So I beat the
Flower Monster
is there anything else i have to do? He said something about
seeing Undyne so I went to the skeleton brothers house and she wasn't there.

Go to
Waterfall, she's in a house near (but not on the same screen) as Napstablook's
.
 
Got the happy ending. Much better ending, but I would still love if the game ended right when
the flower killed the king and closed the game for the first time.
I know it would be out of the game's tone but I thought it was really cool.

But yeah great game, but not my GOTY.
 

Ultimadrago

Member
I've finally had a chance to play through this game. I introduced my sister to it thanks to the Internet and then she introduced it to me by egging me on to start it. I wouldn't say it's too outstanding, but it was a quite enjoyable experience experience still.

I didn't even let Dr.
Alphys' excrutiatingly annoying personality
ruin the game for me! (Seriously, that character almost made me want to stop playing.) Would. Not. Shut. Up.

Toriel's emotional beats starting off the game really resonated with me and I found myself many times
attempting to call her cell throughout the game, just to hear her comfort the playable character more, to no avail of course
. So when I
completed True Pacifist
, I felt more satisfied in those moments than from any other accomplishment leading up to it. ❤❤❤

Jokes that I would traditionally walk away from had me reading more intently as I read them from Sans and Papyrus. The two were just "fun" to have around and they really didn't leave any sour notes behind even with all of their boney puns. In turn, I had a great time watching them have fun taking the piss and laughing every second off. I also saw the
Genocide Final Boss Fight, on video after completing the game.
Holy crap...

Moving on, the soundtrack was on point. There were few games written in my books for Best Soundtrack (which is more of a personal list I don't care to post on forums or anything). Undertale handily is taking my 2nd place from 2015, which I think is amazing. I would have never expected anything like that. The tunes are catchy and the boss themes rip through my heart as I dodged attacks...with my heart!

Good game, good experience. I'm glad I played it! Shoutouts to my sis who got me to play it before the possible chance of getting spoiled by idiots online. *thumbs up*

P.S. I
cook with
Undyne All Day, Every Day.
 
1.
Everything I read and saw online about the genocide run disgusts me. I can't comprehend why the developer would put this in the game. Seems way too cruel and completely at odds with the rest of the game. Why is the PC possessed by the first human to be this sociopathic killing machine? Makes no sense. The horror elements of the final encounter with the first human sounds especially fucked from what I read and saw.

The content in a
Genocide run
is incredible for several very meta reasons:

1) Close to the start of the game, Sans warns you that if you continue the way you're going, you're going to have a bad time. It's not just lip-service; that's a warning to you the player. Continuing a Genocide run removes a lot of content from the game, can be quite tedious (as you have to wander around in every area for all enemies to kill), culminates in a final battle designed to be incredibly difficult/frustrating, and clearing it forever affects the ending of any future Pacifist runs you do as it ends with you selling your soul to reset everything.

2) In the fight with Sans, he specifically urges you not to fight because you may have previously been friends in another life. In other words, a previous playthrough. He urges you to quit, and that's a direct plea to you the player to abandon the Genocide run. Eventually, he accepts that that you won't give up, because he realises that you're doing the Genocide run because you "can". And because you "can", you "have to". In other words, he's acknowledging the completionist nature of hardcore gamers.

3) If you accept Sans' offer to spare you, he actually instakills you, and on the Game Over screen, he says that if you really are friends, you won't come back. Again, that's him telling you the player to abandon your run and start over.

4) Towards the end of the game, Flowey delivers a monologue on how he started viewing the world after he gained the ability to save/reload. He started doing all kinds of different things to people (helping/killing/etc) just to see how they'd react, and eventually he viewed them as "programs", since he knew exactly how they'd react to everything. He points out that you're no different, and for many people, that's true. A lot of people who play games do things like kill people and reload just to explore different outcomes.

5) Undertale can detect if video image recording software is being used, and if so, during Flowey's monologue, he'll claim that he and the player are at least better than the people watching, as they don't have the spine to do it themselves. I watched a Genocide run on Youtube, and the game was actually speaking to me as a viewer.

The existence of the
Genocide run
as an option and the content it contains makes a Pacifist run man even more. Sparing everybody carries more weight when you know what the alternative is.

I will never play
a Genocide run
, but I'm really glad it exists; the game is so much better for it.
 

Ultimadrago

Member
I really, really wanted to
start with Genocide first
. but I was warned about that stupid
"Tainting" caused by going Genocide before Pacifist
.

On one hand, it upsets me that any game with multiple endings would pull that crap. However, in light of the story, it's explained enough to the point where I can't stay upset at it. I loved watching a playthrough of it though. Considering some of the middle portions of the game, it's considerably more interesting versus the alternative.
 

Syril

Member
Sorry, but I have to vent my anger at this shitty game.
I've been loving the game all the way through, great characters, great humour, great battle mechanics. A truly delightful game. I've been doing the pacifist thing of course, solving every encounter without violence. Until I get to the final boss and I just can't figure it out, there's nothing you can do. So I try staying alive for a super long time, nothing happens. I try dying over and over, nothing happens. The only thing the game keeps telling you is to have DETERMINATION. Don't give up! So I keep trying to figure it out, I try various items, explore the castle, try to find hidden menu options, etc. I spend so much time on this fight before I eventually give up and look it up online. Turns out there's no solution, you just HAVE to fight this boss. Doesn't matter if you're playing pacifist, you still have to attack him with a goddamn knife. So utterly fucking stupid. Fuck this game.

I might finish it later when I'm less angry.

To be fair,
the game straight-up tells you to FIGHT if you try talking too many times
.

You're kinda just supposed to deduce
that you have to fight since he literally takes away your mercy button. Some people don't pick up on that, though, and look for crazy alternatives
.

I do with the Asgore fight
had alternate ways of finishing it other than Fighting. I was getting rocked by Asgore for a long while because of how Talking to him mentioned how many times I had died to him. I was convinced that I had to show that my DETERMINATION was greater than his and wear down his resolve by showing that I'll always keep coming back, no matter how much pain he inflicted on me.

Every preceding boss fight requires you to do something unorthodox to win without fighting. Discounting Muffet, who's not a major character, picking Spare hasn't won a boss fight since Papyrus. Leading up to Asgore, various characters discuss the possibility of whether you can get through to him without fighting, and in the end, both Undyne and Sans are confident that you'll find a way somehow.

When you finally reach Asgore he clearly doesn't want to fight you as much as you don't want to fight him. During the fight you can do several things that clearly get to him such as talking, eating Toriel's pie in front if him, and telling him how many times he's killed you. When none of these work, and in the end he forces you to be willing to kill him, what does that say about him?
 
I really, really wanted to
start with Genocide first
. but I was warned about that stupid
"Tainting" caused by going Genocide before Pacifist
.

On one hand, it upsets me that any game with multiple endings would pull that crap. However, in light of the story, it's explained enough to the point where I can't stay upset at it. I loved watching a playthrough of it though. Considering some of the middle portions of the game, it's considerably more interesting versus the alternative.

You can dip the toes just far enough that you reset right when a certain character tells you to give up. That won't have any negativo consequences.

And I'll have you know there's more details to it than that little compilation video that's been a-circulating. Many, many more.
 

Tizoc

Member
So I just reached the
Spider Boss
I think I'll go back and buy from them and see what happens >_> She sure does talk a lot.
 
You can dip the toes just far enough that you reset right when a certain character tells you to give up. That won't have any negativo consequences.

And I'll have you know there's more details to it than that little compilation video that's been a-circulating. Many, many more.

What video are you referring to? I watched this, which shows all the differences in a
Genocide run
; if you're referring to this, are there more things to see?


I really, really wanted to
start with Genocide first
. but I was warned about that stupid
"Tainting" caused by going Genocide before Pacifist
.

On one hand, it upsets me that any game with multiple endings would pull that crap. However, in light of the story, it's explained enough to the point where I can't stay upset at it. I loved watching a playthrough of it though. Considering some of the middle portions of the game, it's considerably more interesting versus the alternative.

Oh man, I hope you waited until you beat the game before watching that. Nobody should play/watch
a Genocide run
before a Pacifist playthrough.


So I just reached the
Spider Boss
I think I'll go back and buy from them and see what happens >_> She sure does talk a lot.

If you buy any of the items from her bake sale, the boss fight won't even begin; she'll appear in the corridor, but allow you to pass. However, the items are 9999G each. Even if you can afford them, it's absolutely not worth it.

However, in the Ruins at the start of the game, there's a spider bake sale where you can buy items for around 18G. If you do so, Muffet will still battle you, but if you use the item in battle, it immediately ends the fight.
 
What video are you referring to? I watched this, which shows all the differences in a
Genocide run
; if you're referring to this, are there more things to see?

I mean it's not like I'm going to outright say what else is there y'know.
*eyes turn a healthy reddish color*

(no that isn't a spoiler)
 

Ultimadrago

Member
You can dip the toes just far enough that you reset right when a certain character tells you to give up. That won't have any negative consequences.

And I'll have you know there's more details to it than that little compilation video that's been a-circulating. Many, many more.

Interesting, thanks.

I certainly believe it! The amount of details put in this title are incredible.

Oh man, I hope you waited until you beat the game before watching that. Nobody should play/watch
a Genocide run
before a Pacifist playthrough.

Oh yeah, I made sure to.
 
Just played this after hearing so much about it. Knew there was a pacifism thing going on, so went to go for the full pacifist run the first time through. Got stuck a few times, but yeah, that was one hell of a game.

So beautiful, can't decide what my favourite character/area/song from the game is. Felt like I was playing something truly special and would honestly be surprised if I ever got to play anything like it again in my life time.

So good. Read up a bit on genocide and yeah, I'm not going to be doing that. Couldn't bring myself to it after just experiencing a game that filled me so full of happiness.
 
Just played this after hearing so much about it. Knew there was a pacifism thing going on, so went to go for the full pacifist run the first time through. Got stuck a few times, but yeah, that was one hell of a game.

So beautiful, can't decide what my favourite character/area/song from the game is. Felt like I was playing something truly special and would honestly be surprised if I ever got to play anything like it again in my life time.

So good. Read up a bit on genocide and yeah, I'm not going to be doing that. Couldn't bring myself to it after just experiencing a game that filled me so full of happiness.

You definitely got the Pacifist ending, right?
 
You definitely got the Pacifist ending, right?
I did... I think?
Papyrus being the first monster humans should be introduced to in god knows how long? Good luck with that! I loved Toriel coming in at the end and leaving some Butterscotch Pie, such a nice way to tie it all up.
 

Codeblue

Member
Got my pacifist ending. I think I'm going to leave it there. I don't think I have it in me to try a genocide run.

I'd definitely murder Alphys, given the opportunity though.
 

Sami+

Member
I didn't even let Dr.
Alphys' excrutiatingly annoying personality
ruin the game for me!

oh yeah I thought she was fucking awful, and both me and my friend thought her whole thing with
Undyne
was completely unbelievable. Plus I saw her "twist" coming.

She's just a nasty tumblr otaku self insert, really. Gross.
 

Kadin

Member
Is it wrong to play this game by just battling everyone? I've used some of the additional options like flirt, etc. but I'm not sure I want to spend time always trying each and every extra choice. Rather just battle through all my fights.
 

Saikyo

Member
Is it wrong to play this game by just battling everyone? I've used some of the additional options like flirt, etc. but I'm not sure I want to spend time always trying each and every extra choice. Rather just battle through all my fights.

You can flee too but play the way you want.
 
I really, really wanted to
start with Genocide first
. but I was warned about that stupid
"Tainting" caused by going Genocide before Pacifist
.

On one hand, it upsets me that any game with multiple endings would pull that crap. However, in light of the story, it's explained enough to the point where I can't stay upset at it. I loved watching a playthrough of it though. Considering some of the middle portions of the game, it's considerably more interesting versus the alternative.

I wouldn't worry. It's just minor dialogue here and there, it's not like it stops you from progressing. And honestly, I think that could be a very good way to experience the game given the context of the genocide run and the overall story.

But I'd warn against it because the fights in that run will most likely burn you out.
 

Kinsei

Banned
Is it wrong to play this game by just battling everyone? I've used some of the additional options like flirt, etc. but I'm not sure I want to spend time always trying each and every extra choice. Rather just battle through all my fights.

Play how you want.
 

Antiwhippy

the holder of the trombone
I really, really wanted to
start with Genocide first
. but I was warned about that stupid
"Tainting" caused by going Genocide before Pacifist
.

On one hand, it upsets me that any game with multiple endings would pull that crap. However, in light of the story, it's explained enough to the point where I can't stay upset at it. I loved watching a playthrough of it though. Considering some of the middle portions of the game, it's considerably more interesting versus the alternative.

That's what makes it great though. You're not above consequences.
 
The content in a
Genocide run
is incredible for several very meta reasons:

1) Close to the start of the game, Sans warns you that if you continue the way you're going, you're going to have a bad time. It's not just lip-service; that's a warning to you the player. Continuing a Genocide run removes a lot of content from the game, can be quite tedious (as you have to wander around in every area for all enemies to kill), culminates in a final battle designed to be incredibly difficult/frustrating, and clearing it forever affects the ending of any future Pacifist runs you do as it ends with you selling your soul to reset everything.

2) In the fight with Sans, he specifically urges you not to fight because you may have previously been friends in another life. In other words, a previous playthrough. He urges you to quit, and that's a direct plea to you the player to abandon the Genocide run. Eventually, he accepts that that you won't give up, because he realises that you're doing the Genocide run because you "can". And because you "can", you "have to". In other words, he's acknowledging the completionist nature of hardcore gamers.

3) If you accept Sans' offer to spare you, he actually instakills you, and on the Game Over screen, he says that if you really are friends, you won't come back. Again, that's him telling you the player to abandon your run and start over.

4) Towards the end of the game, Flowey delivers a monologue on how he started viewing the world after he gained the ability to save/reload. He started doing all kinds of different things to people (helping/killing/etc) just to see how they'd react, and eventually he viewed them as "programs", since he knew exactly how they'd react to everything. He points out that you're no different, and for many people, that's true. A lot of people who play games do things like kill people and reload just to explore different outcomes.

5) Undertale can detect if video image recording software is being used, and if so, during Flowey's monologue, he'll claim that he and the player are at least better than the people watching, as they don't have the spine to do it themselves. I watched a Genocide run on Youtube, and the game was actually speaking to me as a viewer.

The existence of the
Genocide run
as an option and the content it contains makes a Pacifist run man even more. Sparing everybody carries more weight when you know what the alternative is.

I will never play
a Genocide run
, but I'm really glad it exists; the game is so much better for it.

Makes sense. I just wrapped up my pacifist run and found out
from Asriel that the first human was probably a bit of a sociopathic prick during their time underground so I guess there's some justification for it's general bloodlust.

Anyway, I'm done with the game.
Won't ever do a genocide run. I know it's just a game but I've grown attached to the cast of characters and would not like watching them suffer just to sate my curiosity.
 

Ultimadrago

Member
I wouldn't worry. It's just minor dialogue here and there, it's not like it stops you from progressing. And honestly, I think that could be a very good way to experience the game given the context of the genocide run and the overall story.

But I'd warn against it because the fights in that run will most likely burn you out.

Yeah, I would likely get burnt out in truth with the grinding.

That's what makes it great though. You're not above consequences.

And you see, I agree, that's a part of what makes Undertale's consequential mechanics cohesive.

As a player, I want to be able to see everything at my own beat and drum cherrypicking which consequences I "live" with and which I do not. However, as a player, I also respect the game's takes on potential regret and
living with the choices you make
.

That's a part of what makes Undertale something special from 2015. It's not just a quip here and a reference there (in this case). The writing goes far to make you understand you're being watched and that
the world does not forget all that you think it does nor should simply by pressing "Reset" on the console
. Its inspected on in the world's characters and extends itself to the player.
 

Corpekata

Banned
Makes sense. I just wrapped up my pacifist run and found out
from Asriel that the first human was probably a bit of a sociopathic prick during their time underground so I guess there's some justification for it's general bloodlust.

Anyway, I'm done with the game.
Won't ever do a genocide run. I know it's just a game but I've grown attached to the cast of characters and would not like watching them suffer just to sate my curiosity.

That is arguably the entire point really.
 
Another thing:

I thought it was dumb that the game threw a "you were possessed by the spirit of a murderous child the whole time" plot point at the last moment just to justify all the vile shit the player character could or could've done. This is revealed on the end of both the genocide and pacifist run. I think the implications of killing everyone just because you can would have had more sticking power if it wasn't due to the first human apparently compelling you to.
 
Another thing:

I thought it was dumb that the game threw a "you were possessed by the spirit of a murderous child the whole time" plot point at the last moment just to justify all the vile shit the player character could or could've done. This is revealed on the end of both the genocide and pacifist run. I think the implications of killing everyone just because you can would have had more sticking power if it wasn't due to the first human apparently compelling you to.

I guess that makes sense if
Frisk is you.
But there's
three characters here; Frisk, Chara, and you. You are not Frisk, you are never Frisk. You are simply, the player

I mean I'm totally assuming author's intent here but that's how I'm reading into the plot. It's how OFF distanced the player from its avatar, except
we have two levels of "avatar" here. Good avatar and bad avatar. One presents closure, the other just straight up seizes the ball from you after Asgoretimes.
 
Am I the only one who thought it would have been cool if the game ended
right when the flower kills the King and says "In this world it is either kill or be killed" and closes the game window during the Normal Ending?
Either way some game has to end like that.
 
I'm playing through this for the first time and I'm about 4 hours in. I...saw some shit and I'm really bummed. Neutral spoilers and check first tag
do not look at these spoilers if you don't know why I'm putting a tag here

Okay.
I fucking killed like two enemies at the very beginning and ate a carrot or two. I am really bummed because now my save is apparently tainted? I am at Undyne right now and she hates me for killing two monsters, which I immediately felt bad about. After losing to her a couple times I want to kill her, but that aside... Is my game forever tainted because I didn't go full pacifist? I wanted to go genocide next playthrough as I'm 3-4 hours in and havent killed anything since the beginning, so a "pacifist" playthrough would be the exact same thing I'm doing right now. Will that make it so I can't do a full pacifist?
 
I'm playing through this for the first time and I'm about 4 hours in. I...saw some shit and I'm really bummed. Neutral spoilers and check first tag
do not look at these spoilers if you don't know why I'm putting a tag here

Okay.
I fucking killed like two enemies at the very beginning and ate a carrot or two. I am really bummed because now my save is apparently tainted? I am at Undyne right now and she hates me for killing two monsters, which I immediately felt bad about. After losing to her a couple times I want to kill her, but that aside... Is my game forever tainted because I didn't go full pacifist? I wanted to go genocide next playthrough as I'm 3-4 hours in and havent killed anything since the beginning, so a "pacifist" playthrough would be the exact same thing I'm doing right now. Will that make it so I can't do a full pacifist?
If you kill ANYTHING that is not So Sorry and one another side mob, your current run is ruined, your only option for a pacifist run is resetting the game.
 
If you kill ANYTHING that is not So Sorry and one another side mob, your current run is ruined, your only option for a pacifist run is resetting the game.
And say I finish the game and don't kill a single other thing. Is the only way to start the next playthrough to reset the game, or does it give you a different option? I'm worried about my metagame being tainted, not this playthrough. The fact that a mistake I made in the first 10 minutes has fucked me, now I want to kill shit (that I don't like, haha). I'm just confused. I wish I coulda beaten the game before I learned about the metagame
Thanks for your quick response! I shouldn't be getting so crazy about this because this game is such a joy to play, I'm just bummed that
something I did in the first few minutes affects the rest of my metagame
. Please correct me if I'm wrong.
 

Corpekata

Banned
And say I finish the game and don't kill a single other thing. Is the only way to start the next playthrough to reset the game, or does it give you a different option? I'm worried about my metagame being tainted, not this playthrough. The fact that a mistake I made in the first 10 minutes has fucked me, now I want to kill shit (that I don't like, haha). I'm just confused. I wish I coulda beaten the game before I learned about the metagame
Thanks for your quick response! I shouldn't be getting so crazy about this because this game is such a joy to play, I'm just bummed that
something I did in the first few minutes affects the rest of my metagame
. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

The metagame is only tainted with a Genocide run.
 

Zeroth

Member
And say I finish the game and don't kill a single other thing. Is the only way to start the next playthrough to reset the game, or does it give you a different option? I'm worried about my metagame being tainted, not this playthrough. The fact that a mistake I made in the first 10 minutes has fucked me, now I want to kill shit (that I don't like, haha). I'm just confused. I wish I coulda beaten the game before I learned about the metagame
Thanks for your quick response! I shouldn't be getting so crazy about this because this game is such a joy to play, I'm just bummed that
something I did in the first few minutes affects the rest of my metagame
. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

After a
neutral ending where you had 0 kills, you can restart right before the Asgore fight allowing you to do all the events needed go get to the full pacifist ending.
 

Tizoc

Member
What video are you referring to? I watched this, which shows all the differences in a
Genocide run
; if you're referring to this, are there more things to see?




Oh man, I hope you waited until you beat the game before watching that. Nobody should play/watch
a Genocide run
before a Pacifist playthrough.




If you buy any of the items from her bake sale, the boss fight won't even begin; she'll appear in the corridor, but allow you to pass. However, the items are 9999G each. Even if you can afford them, it's absolutely not worth it.

However, in the Ruins at the start of the game, there's a spider bake sale where you can buy items for around 18G. If you do so, Muffet will still battle you, but if you use the item in battle, it immediately ends the fight.
Thanks for that will do it once i get back home
 
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