Undertale - mad dummies ITT - The Something Awful Forums

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Vargatron: Apr 19, 2008; MRAZZLE DAZZLE

I just finished my first playthrough this weekend and the only enemy I killed was Toriel because I thought there was no other option. Gonna go back through this week and do a full pacifist now that I know the secret.

Also god drat this game had my stomach in knots toward the end.

# ¿ Jan 4, 2016 18:09

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# ¿ Apr 29, 2024 12:00

Vargatron: Apr 19, 2008; MRAZZLE DAZZLE

Regarde Aduck posted:

That just makes it so much more tragic.

The hug she gives you after sparing her was really difficult to get through.

# ¿ Jan 4, 2016 18:28

Vargatron: Apr 19, 2008; MRAZZLE DAZZLE

Captain Redbeard posted:

Have we talked about the Penny Arcade guys opinion of Undertale?
Laurel wrote "If you asked me why I thought Undertale was stupid I�d just tell you it looked like poo poo and made no loving sense. It is the videogame equivalent of the nonsense symbols crazy people draw on their walls with poo poo. Maybe you super like it? That probably just means you�re cooler than me. Luckily there�s tons of other rad games to play."
And Hardy wrote "Undertale is the New Game You Have To Like Or You Don�t Get It. These sanctified vessels are selected by an organization that is either lofty or subterranean, I haven�t decided, and one of the cool things about being old is that I don�t care.

These hyper-earnest teens I got on my block are way into this stuff. I�m glad that someone is teaching them new words. But I can sense a kind of invisible maze go up when they start this conversation - they want to know if I can be trusted. If I�m like the others. They want to know if they can tell me the secret, and they will, provided I already know it. So I lied. I lied and lied and lied.

There is a popular mode now I have taken to calling Double Reverse Irony, where things are real but not real but no they�re actually real, that is just one step beyond where I�m interested. My policy when the next generation �does them� is informed by 2pac�s I Ain�t Mad At Cha, and I only get mad when people transform works into litmus tests. In the case of Undertale, I can�t abstract it enough to even look at it: I can�t hold it far enough away. The thing it is dismantling is too close to me.

Parody can be revelatory of weakness in the subject, but it can also reveal strength; it can reveal what�s left after the softest parts are washed away. Even when done in love, it has a caustic quality. An extended look at metals extraction probably isn�t appropriate for this paragraph, but I�m thinking about gold cyanidation and toxicity. The game is gleeful in its cannibalism of the medium, there�s blood all over its face but it�s smiling. It�s intimate with the tropes it has on display, and at this precise moment in time I�m discomfited by what it does with that familiarity.

It is insufficiently reverent, and does not perform the proper obeisances. Others like it for precisely these reasons. I�m delighted by the iconoclasm intellectually and repulsed by it viscerally; if nothing else, it�s providing an intense psychological workout."
I think I'm pretty smart but what are they even trying to say?

Edit: Seriously I feel like the bald one has been insisting for years that games should make us think and he gets this and is like "but I didn't want them to be challenging!"
Edit: oh ok i guess i missed it.

I hate when reviewers go into word salad on video game reviews. Like I don't need a dissertation on the psychological breakdown of every character or scene. It's like they're trying to make something out of nothing.

It's not so much what the game is trying to tell you, but rather how it makes you feel. I kind of felt the same way when I played through Xenogears. It's go a ton of super cutesy elements but underneath the surface there's this malevolence you feel.

# ¿ Jan 4, 2016 19:37

Vargatron: Apr 19, 2008; MRAZZLE DAZZLE

A game that finally punishes you for being an rear end in a top hat, just like in real life. The game BEGS you not to be a dick.

# ¿ Jan 4, 2016 20:34

Vargatron: Apr 19, 2008; MRAZZLE DAZZLE

TGLT posted:

"Parody can be revelatory of weakness in the subject, but it can also reveal strength; it can reveal what�s left after the softest parts are washed away. "

"It is insufficiently reverent, and does not perform the proper obeisances. Others like it for precisely these reasons. I�m delighted by the iconoclasm intellectually and repulsed by it viscerally; if nothing else, it�s providing an intense psychological workout."

I'm giving him the benefit of the doubt and assuming it's the way the game tackles typical RPG stuff, because that's really the only time it's being iconoclastic or parodic. He certainly isn't willing to elaborate on what exactly got to him. He'd probably be able to write a ton more words, meaningful words even, if he was willing to actually get specific.

"I dislike the game, but I have to prove it to you on an intellectual/philosophical level instead of just saying I don't like it"

# ¿ Jan 4, 2016 22:31

Vargatron: Apr 19, 2008; MRAZZLE DAZZLE

Real talk the Final Fantasy 6 opera scene had me rolling once the singing started.

# ¿ Jan 4, 2016 22:57

Vargatron: Apr 19, 2008; MRAZZLE DAZZLE

Schwarzwald posted:

I can think of one: when Toriel tells you to go back upstairs and let her destroy the way out.

You actual can do that, "but thou must" eventually change your mind and challenge her.

The only winning move is to never play...

# ¿ Jan 5, 2016 02:41

Vargatron: Apr 19, 2008; MRAZZLE DAZZLE

The game has to have some kind of player directive in the initial areas in order to set up the framework for the game. It's not until you exit the ruins that you really start being presented with concrete choices. I think this is intended since the developer expects you to play the game like a regular RPG and gives you suggestions that make you realize you can do things non-violently if you want to. Or maybe it's the other way around.

# ¿ Jan 5, 2016 16:07

Vargatron: Apr 19, 2008; MRAZZLE DAZZLE

Pomp posted:

half of undertale's soundtrack puts me stupid close to the cry zone, it owns

This exactly. toby fox really uses the music effectively to underscore the narrative at key points. The track playing while you're going through Home and reading the inscriptions on the wall gets you just on the edge of crying.

# ¿ Jan 8, 2016 16:58

Vargatron: Apr 19, 2008; MRAZZLE DAZZLE

Enallyniv posted:

I've seen quite a few people saying this. Do that many people really think you have to fight in that encounter?

Part of the charm of the game is how it twists everything up if you play it with the same mentality as other RPGs.

# ¿ Jan 8, 2016 19:41

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