FA+
Shop
Something something determination.
10 years ago
General
Yep. This is going to be about that. You know what.
So, chances are you've heard of something called "Undertale" in some capacity. I mean, who hasn't? It's like everywhere lately. It exploded in popularity overnight in a manner similar to FNAF before it. Well, last month or so, at a friend's request, I caved and played it. These are my (spoiler-free) impressions, which I feel like sharing...
But first, a little background for context:
I've never played Earthbound. I tried it once and it didn't click for me. I played some 10-15 minutes then never came back. Truthfully, the RPG genre in general doesn't appeal to me all that much. I could pretty much count the total number of RPGs I played in my life with one hand, and most if not all of those have "Mario" or "Pokemon" in the title.
Enter Undertale.
So, one day, about a month ago, my friend told me I should play this game. Now, I had heard some stuff about it beforehand. Y'know, because it was everywhere. I had heard about the Earthbound influences. I was aware of the Spare/Kill gimmick (and its associated logical extremes: Pacifist/Genocide runs which lead to special endings). I had even seen some fan art here and there, so I knew there was a motherly figure that seemed to be quite popular in the fandom (Toriel a.k.a. Goatmom). Oh, and the flower too...
Eventually, one day I sat down and started playing it. So, what did I find? Well, my first impression was that it was a weird, quirky game, but I didn't feel particularly hooked. Even though my friend gave me some spoiler-free pointers (mostly to ensure I reach the True Pacifist ending), I was playing the game "wrong" for various reasons (mostly my own fault for assuming certain things and/or my own inexperience in the genre). For example, after my very first battle encounter (which was a frog), I wrongly assumed all the NPC frog characters that started appearing from that point on were enemy encounters, so I never talked to any of them, which resulted in me never properly learning about some of the most basic battle mechanics (including the significance of certain colors, like yellow). I also ran away from every single random encounter I, uh, encountered. About 10 hours later (split in about three sessions), I reached the end of the aforementioned route (my friend helped me with stuff I couldn't figure out on my own, such as how to resolve the Undyne battle in the context of a Pacifist run). So, yeah, I got the best ending.
...and I still wasn't quite sure what to think of the game! It felt... uneven in some respects. Like, it was super silly and super quirky 90% of the way, with the last 10% throwing most of that out the window and substituting for lots of sudden exposition and somewhat vague/confusing backstory crumbs. Also, there were so many non-descript, barren corridors throughout the entire game. But the battle system was certainly innovative, and the variations/twists to the formula introduced during boss battles were quite interesting. The music also grew on me. Some of the tracks are just very, very good. So, I guess I could sum up my impressions of the game after my first playthrough with: "yeah, it's a generally good game, even brilliant at certain points, but I still don't think it quite justifies such a massive explosion in popularity?"
Afterwards, I watched the key parts of a Genocide run on YouTube, learned some new things from that and some various other sources, and eventually decided to go back to the game and start a new file, to give it another shot. This time, I had learned from all my newbie mistakes, and finally played the game "right". Again, I reached the best ending, but this time it only took me like 6 hours! Along the way, many, many lines of dialogue and various other details gained a new meaning in the context of having already beaten the game before. Gradually, a lot more pieces were falling into place. I was surprised at the amount of stuff that suddenly meant something. It was like a BIG jigsaw puzzle! Now I was starting to understand what the fuss was all about...
In the end, it dawned on me that the game's story was much, much deeper and richer than I initially gave it credit for. Like I said, it's like a massive jigsaw puzzle with tiny story crumbs scattered throughout the entire game, over two different routes. One playthrough isn't enough to fully understand what's going on story-wise. You have to play it at least twice to better appreciate the bigger picture. Or at least that was the case for me.
So, yeah. I'd definitely recommend checking this game out if you haven't done so already. It does interesting things with the conventions of the genre (and even the medium), plays with your expectations at pretty much every turn, has a great soundtrack, contains a colorful and diverse cast of characters (some of them with surprising hidden depths), and tells an intricately-woven story that doesn't become apparent until the very end. Sure, on the surface, the minimalist pixelated visuals are a bit on the unimpressive side, but don't let that fool you. The whole package, although not without some imperfections, works.
* Reading this post... It fills you with Determination.
* GAME SAVED.
So, chances are you've heard of something called "Undertale" in some capacity. I mean, who hasn't? It's like everywhere lately. It exploded in popularity overnight in a manner similar to FNAF before it. Well, last month or so, at a friend's request, I caved and played it. These are my (spoiler-free) impressions, which I feel like sharing...
But first, a little background for context:
I've never played Earthbound. I tried it once and it didn't click for me. I played some 10-15 minutes then never came back. Truthfully, the RPG genre in general doesn't appeal to me all that much. I could pretty much count the total number of RPGs I played in my life with one hand, and most if not all of those have "Mario" or "Pokemon" in the title.
Enter Undertale.
So, one day, about a month ago, my friend told me I should play this game. Now, I had heard some stuff about it beforehand. Y'know, because it was everywhere. I had heard about the Earthbound influences. I was aware of the Spare/Kill gimmick (and its associated logical extremes: Pacifist/Genocide runs which lead to special endings). I had even seen some fan art here and there, so I knew there was a motherly figure that seemed to be quite popular in the fandom (Toriel a.k.a. Goatmom). Oh, and the flower too...
Eventually, one day I sat down and started playing it. So, what did I find? Well, my first impression was that it was a weird, quirky game, but I didn't feel particularly hooked. Even though my friend gave me some spoiler-free pointers (mostly to ensure I reach the True Pacifist ending), I was playing the game "wrong" for various reasons (mostly my own fault for assuming certain things and/or my own inexperience in the genre). For example, after my very first battle encounter (which was a frog), I wrongly assumed all the NPC frog characters that started appearing from that point on were enemy encounters, so I never talked to any of them, which resulted in me never properly learning about some of the most basic battle mechanics (including the significance of certain colors, like yellow). I also ran away from every single random encounter I, uh, encountered. About 10 hours later (split in about three sessions), I reached the end of the aforementioned route (my friend helped me with stuff I couldn't figure out on my own, such as how to resolve the Undyne battle in the context of a Pacifist run). So, yeah, I got the best ending.
...and I still wasn't quite sure what to think of the game! It felt... uneven in some respects. Like, it was super silly and super quirky 90% of the way, with the last 10% throwing most of that out the window and substituting for lots of sudden exposition and somewhat vague/confusing backstory crumbs. Also, there were so many non-descript, barren corridors throughout the entire game. But the battle system was certainly innovative, and the variations/twists to the formula introduced during boss battles were quite interesting. The music also grew on me. Some of the tracks are just very, very good. So, I guess I could sum up my impressions of the game after my first playthrough with: "yeah, it's a generally good game, even brilliant at certain points, but I still don't think it quite justifies such a massive explosion in popularity?"
Afterwards, I watched the key parts of a Genocide run on YouTube, learned some new things from that and some various other sources, and eventually decided to go back to the game and start a new file, to give it another shot. This time, I had learned from all my newbie mistakes, and finally played the game "right". Again, I reached the best ending, but this time it only took me like 6 hours! Along the way, many, many lines of dialogue and various other details gained a new meaning in the context of having already beaten the game before. Gradually, a lot more pieces were falling into place. I was surprised at the amount of stuff that suddenly meant something. It was like a BIG jigsaw puzzle! Now I was starting to understand what the fuss was all about...
In the end, it dawned on me that the game's story was much, much deeper and richer than I initially gave it credit for. Like I said, it's like a massive jigsaw puzzle with tiny story crumbs scattered throughout the entire game, over two different routes. One playthrough isn't enough to fully understand what's going on story-wise. You have to play it at least twice to better appreciate the bigger picture. Or at least that was the case for me.
So, yeah. I'd definitely recommend checking this game out if you haven't done so already. It does interesting things with the conventions of the genre (and even the medium), plays with your expectations at pretty much every turn, has a great soundtrack, contains a colorful and diverse cast of characters (some of them with surprising hidden depths), and tells an intricately-woven story that doesn't become apparent until the very end. Sure, on the surface, the minimalist pixelated visuals are a bit on the unimpressive side, but don't let that fool you. The whole package, although not without some imperfections, works.
* Reading this post... It fills you with Determination.
* GAME SAVED.
Didn't played genocide route though, Undyne is too much for me.