I deleted a paragraph from the start of this review about saving everyone time and telling people that my opinions are positive, both because it was unnecessarily hurtful and confrontational to this game\'s vocal hatedom, and because I am making a good-faith effort to stay under the character limit these days.
But I will repost the ending, with only slight modification: if you are coming here to the comments to try to stir up an argument, dude. Please. Consider the possibility I\'ve heard it all before, and that I\'m not interested. I won\'t respond, and I encourage others not to.
That\'s all.
Just an aside, but I wonder if the game isn’t in some sense a victim of its own success now? A lot of the original experience relied on surprise, on not expecting some of the tricks it pulls, and since now it’s one of the most famous in the games of the last decade, if not all time, is it perhaps doomed to reap the fate of ‘’Psycho’’?
@Spectral Time I don\'t think double edge sword would be the right term, but a better one escapes me right now. It\'s what happens to several games like Doki Doki Literature Club and Final Fantasy VII were part of what makes them famous is the twist that in turn, is lost for many due to said popularity.
That\'s what our trope It Was His Sled is trying to be, along with \"Seinfeld\" Is Unfunny (unfortunately two of the worst trope names still around and they are unlikely to be changed).
Stories don't tell us monsters exist; we knew that already. They show us that monsters can be trademarked and milked for years.
^ If you have problems with these tropes, bring them up in the proper threads or make TRS threads for them, don\'t just complain about it.
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I Stand Corrected: This Is the Most Pointless Review I've Ever Written
Man, I can't imagine a time in my life I've felt the pointlessness of reviewing anything more keenly than I do right now. It's... it's Undertale for God's sake! "The Friendly RPG Where No One Has To Die?!" More like "The Popular Indie Title No One Feels Neutrally About!"
On that note... I kind of suck at Undertale. I'm not a bullet-hell man, and I can't dodge well. I had to buy the fancy special armor to get past one of the final bosses, and I got wiped a lot by the first final boss who's apparently so easy that people say you have to try to get beat by them. I also never quite got around to finishing the first "true" ending, and had zero interest in personally experiencing the other major ending.
So, why's my opinion matter?
Well, I'mma talk about the moment-to-moment experience of playing Undertale, which I feel is often lost in the crushing pile of everything else about the game.
First, it's got great aesthetics, and serves as living proof that graphics aren't the same thing. With charming and expressive pixel art placed alongside a catchy chiptune soundtrack, Undertale is a famous triumph of both major trends in independent game development. Props must also go to great character designs on the monsters, all of whom could've stepped out of a modern cartoon but somehow still retain many endearing qualities.
It must be noted too that their designs are only half the story. The cast does a great job of invoking strong emotional attachments to one another, the player, and their own situation, with the zaniness of their world not impeding their, for lack of better terminology, fundamental humanity. And the degree to which they respond to the player (rather than the player character's) actions is, if not revolutionary, inspired and taken to great depths.
I also appreciate that that cartoon ethos spreads over into the rest of the game. In place of killing enemies, a boring and unrewarding process the game both subtly and overtly discourages, fights are a logic puzzle of determining what will placate a particular foe, with many clever and out-of-the-box solutions involving item use. Cartoon logic also shows up many times on your underground journey, rarely breaking tone.
That said... my biggest criticism is the reason I stalled out. The lack of a run button and sluggish movement speed combine poorly with sometimes-gratuitously-large rooms. Plus, many of the non-death solutions to boss fights are difficult and unintuitive... especially when one boss *has* to be bludgeoned into submission without other recourse, which works thematically but not so much mechanically for a player, like me, who's had little practice with it.
I can't imagine you feel neutral about it or haven't heard of it, but... well, all I can say is, I had a good time, long ago, and I've re-wishlisted it on a Switch after ending up on these pages by chance.