How to defeat sans in undertale. Why Undertale is bad. Meaning and impressions
Trying for what? It’s much easier to kill than to endure and dodge all the shit that they just didn’t launch at you, threw, tried to bite and all that, and after that, you calmly make friends with the offenders, go on dates with them, help them (or burning down the house trying to cook spaghetti). Most effort (read his replies on twitter): "He spent a lot of time coming up with neutral routes, but this is bullshit compared to that time and his nerves that he spent on the denouement with a climax in labor. "It's all a lie, in fact, it was hard for him with some kind of codes, files in the game. He was more hammered with the mechanical component than with the plot.
"Killing is much easier" - by no means. Killing is just not easier - it requires clear reactions and a sense of rhythm (especially when using a pistol in the process of depopulating Core "a). And all friendship magic requires just poking n times into the necessary menu items. Well, the most epic and interesting battles are just hidden in genocide-rut.
"He was more into the mechanics than the story." - if so (and I don't see any references to your sources), then it just shows that he is a shitty programmer.
"you go on dates with them, you help them" - the townsfolk are such townsfolk. And in the genocide route, Flowey directly helps you to realize the whole existential horror of this and all other routes, namely: that all this friendship-magic is not the result of a free choice, but a strictly determined process. They are friends with you because they are destined to be friends with you, they have no choice. And they fight with you because they are doomed to fight with you. And there is no way out. Even if the barrier is demolished, they will remain existential puppets of this predestination: they cannot see it, they cannot realize it, and therefore they will never be able to overcome it.
Well, you chose the path war, I'm a magician absolutely (without the Sith please) two different garbage, that one and the other. A magician is like a magician (jerks off on spells). A warrior on battles There was a link with his tweeter, but I have to climb my browser history in the bastard. Yes, if you still find it yourself, read , there is a lot of interesting things there. As for his skills, I think he got away with the question "What is better, genocide or a pacifist?" Hmmm people always have a choice. There are two options 1) You are friends with them, they are friends with you. Then you cry at the end of the labor. And here you are wrong, they can leave this locked circle and stop being puppets, but here you need the help of a friend. It is enough to go through the labor and not start the game anymore. 2) you kill everything and everything then you dance on the remains of the world. Trolling Charu or whatever else you can do I xs, but this asshole will then remind you of yourself every time. But then you fought with Undyne The Undying , Judge Sans , Mettaton NEO (but then you will kill Toriel, and she just wanted to protect you like a real mom, Papyrus, but he still believed in you to the end...) Pffffffffff Flovik. Ahahahhaah found someone to listen to.
Magician as a magician (jerks off spells).
Not at all. The magician's work is an intellectual one. And the effective passage of the genocide, and in particular - the effective cleaning of the area require memory, attention and logic.
You chose the path of not a magician and not a warrior, but a dull cheat diplomat.
They can leave this closed circle and stop being puppets, but here they need the help of a friend. It is enough to go through the work and not start the game anymore
Not at all. They continue to live according to the scenario, it's just that now there is no one to look at their life from the outside, to see, experience and exhaust this scenario. The usual principle of ontological inertia is that if a certain property has been inherent in an object until now, it will be inherent in this object in the future, unless an event occurs that causes a change in this property. And the fall of the barrier will hardly change the scriptedness of their fate.
She just wanted to protect you like a real mom.
She was only psychotically projecting her maternal instincts onto you, which had remained unfulfilled since the death of Chara and Asriel. It couldn't end well.
Papyrus, but he still believed in you to the end ...
Papyrus generally has a complex relationship with the perception of reality.
Pfffffffff Flovik. Ahahahhaah found someone to listen to. A troll who has almost most of his emotions cut out
Argumentum ad hominem. Not acceptable. Flovik's words this time are a retelling of his experience, and they can be tested by you in practice on your own.
Undertale unexpectedly for everyone became one of the main events of the past year. The almost single-handedly created indie game sold huge circulation within a couple of months and won a myriad of loyal fans who pushed it to the top spot in GameFAQs voting for the best game of all time. Over time, the Western press also pulled itself up: on Metacritic Undertale equaled the average score with The Witcher 3 , surpassing even metal Gear Solid V.
No less numerous are opponents Undertale. They call it a cheap knock-off (as if it were something bad in itself), scold it for its eye-breaking graphics (deservedly, but this is clearly not the most important criterion), and argue that the game owes its popularity to those who appreciate pretentious indie games. games to the Western press and fans of memes.
This, of course, is not so: the press licked and Sunset, whose sales are several orders of magnitude lower, and Borderlands 2 downright bursting from memes, but only special people's love did not wait. This is not to mention the "meme" games from Greenlight: over the comic and ugly Bloodbath: Kavkaz everyone laughed and instantly forgot her.
Undertale is not. Is she really worth that much credit?
Stale ingredients
The whole essence of Undertale in one screenshot.
According to my observations (based on many months of reading various discussions), Undertale fans are divided into two conditional categories. Some people love her for her kindness, for the characters with whom they managed to make friends, for cozy impressions (for them, as I understand it, people appreciate final fantasy IX). Others - for unusual game design decisions, for the fact that the game remembers everything after loading, for breaking the "fourth wall", and so on.
No doubt, the game has it all. Does it make her the best game on PC, or the best game of 2015, or the best of all time? Of course not. Because the passage of Undertale, I remind you, consists of walking through incredibly miserable, monotonous and ugly locations, from sick of random fights, from solving stupid puzzles, and also from endless jokes.
Everything else that is in the game, quantitatively pales in comparison with the above. All the way from the very beginning to the very last boss is despondency and suffering. And all the good things in the game - peaceful scenes with the participation of comrades, a certain comfort and, especially, unusual game design decisions - are either right before the final battle, or even after it. Or optional, which essentially means that it's best to watch it at the end of the game. For the sake of the best, you must first suffer the whole game to the final.
Playing with the grace of an ax-wielding Jack Nicholson knocks on the fourth wall.
And Undertale gives no incentive to do so. I am writing this text so late, because I finished playing just the other day. When I started to play Undertale in the fall, I had enough for two and a half hours, during which it didn’t even have a semblance of a plot, at least some kind of plot. The whole game up to the waterfall that I reached consisted of jokes (except for the first location - it consisted of unbearably intrusive guarding). I was told that it would be different in the future - no, a lie. Everything else was the same. Empty locations, random fights, dull puzzles, eternal jokes.
Plot twist - just think! - falls on the player right before the last boss: the hero walks along a straight corridor, and the monsters in the forced battles do not attack, but for no reason tell him the background. And this game people praise for the approach to the story!
And in the course of the game, the details of the local world order are described by text boxes hanging on the walls of the same linear corridor along which the player walks from start to finish. The most important information, available only before the pacifist ending, is presented in the same way. Only in the "genocidal" path, important plot details are told by those characters who should.
A matter of life and death.
And the fact that to understand the whole plot you need to go through the game several times is not a plus at all. Especially considering how zealous Undertale is in trying to accuse the player - local characters directly emphasize that all evil is from munchkinism, from the desire to gain more "exp". In general, this obsessive pacifist message of the game is so outrageous that I will dwell on it in more detail.
Jesus, Lennon and Gandhi walk into a bar
First, Undertale is very aggressive in forcing the player to kill Toriel in order to then play on guilt. Surviving under her attacks for twenty-six turns, during which she says the same “no” in different phrases, is not serious. And do not talk about the fact that when the hero has little health, she misses - the player cannot know this, and, for example, she killed me. This goes against what the game has taught so far - that it is enough to find a common language with the enemy, and he will agree to leave.
Unfortunately, this is true.
Second, there is the issue of self-defence. They beat you, but don't you dare. Returning good for evil is like supporting evil, and for this reason, from an ideological point of view, I absolutely do not like Undertale. To obtain good ending, the player is not allowed to kill any enemy. No pieces of jelly, no ghosts, no scales climbing out to finish off the hero, Ondine. Because, you see, they are kind, and the hero, if he responds in kind, is immediately evil. Why is this mocking “kill or be killed” not applied to monsters?
Thirdly, the game does not encourage, but actually forces you to go to the "genocidal" ending. Not because "it's interesting to see what happens if everyone is killed," as Flowey says. Just such a passage is content. It is markedly different from the usual and, more importantly, allows for a deeper understanding of the two key antagonist characters. Skipping it means forgoing a significant part of the game, and blaming the player for going to see what else the author of the game has put into it is just as disgusting as what makes Spec Ops: The Line. Its creators, let me remind you, literally said that you can not burn people with phosphorus, but simply quit the game. Yes, and you can still not play the game, it will be the same sense.
Some sprites are drawn very well and contrast strongly with the rest (that is, with the majority).
Fourth, the game is, generally speaking, complex. Surviving in a hellish bullet hell, having the first level and a miserable 20 HP, is not a pleasant task. And, generally speaking, the combat system is far from Undertale's forte. Yes, it can be praised for its originality, for an individual approach to the attacks of each opponent, but no one will advise playing Undertale for the sake of gameplay, and this says a lot.
The combat here is not tactical like in other JRPGs. No, fighting in Undertale is all about "groping with brute force or an intuitive way to get the enemy to leave" or "survive thirty turns under boss attacks." There is no value in random battles, they are an obstacle on the way to comfort or plot, underline the necessary. And the desire to make life easier by pumping - especially in light of the fact that monsters attack the hero and try to kill him - is fully justified.
And since we are talking about what almost no one praises the game for, let me return to our four main components of its passage. And locations, and random battles, and puzzles - this is not only not the best side of the game, it's complete rubbish. Humor is, of course, a subjective thing, but Undertale fans, as a rule, never put it in the first places in the lists of its merits.
Smehopilorama
In a second, the light will go out, and the path will have to be found by touch in the dark. Horror, not gameplay.
However, almost everything in Undertale is all sorts of jokes and jokes. Sans and Papyrus are exceptionally comedic characters (well, Sans has a couple of serious scenes, but that's more of an exception to the rule). The waterfall seems to be a gloomy location, where the hero is pursued by Ondine... and almost every encounter with her ends up in a completely comical baby monster. Alphys is a very lifelike character, so to speak, but she, with her awkwardness, is also comical. Random fights? Yes, the same thing: the stretching head of a dog, a jock flying on biceps off the screen, a tsunderoplane that doesn’t want to bomb you, like a tank - these are all jokes. They are cute, but this is by no means the breakthrough of the century.
And all these breaks of the “fourth wall”, in fact, are also just a joke. Perhaps, everything, except those that are occupied with the player's reproaches already discussed earlier. Much of the game's content sets up templates only to be later certain moment destroy them and surprise the player. Why are all the fights monochrome MS Paint? Yes, so that the player sees the color “photoshop” of the final boss and is stunned. Why are you entering your name at the start of the game? Yes, in order to later find out that you are Hitler, and be stunned. The game remembers your decisions even after loading, but what does it do with them? Just a reminder that he knows what you did last summer to make you stunned. Etc.
Another example of the amazing depths of Undertale gameplay.
So I honestly don't understand how you can take it seriously. A good ninety percent of the game is either jokes or preparation for jokes that will be played later. Even if some of them turn out to be witty, there will be ten much less funny ones for each, and their number quickly becomes tiring.
Fabula rasa
As for the serious plot component, it is generally not so bad (the very idea that your hero looks like a conditional Hitler and, if you help him with this, he will turn into Hitler is interesting), but ...
Firstly, its presentation, as already mentioned, is no good.
Secondly, the ending mechanics are incredibly stupid. There is no character morale system in the game: both the pacifist, who accidentally crushed one pudding, and Hitler, who missed the same pudding for some reason, will get a neutral ending. This is absurd. The need to cut out all the monsters without exception in random battles is absolutely not justified, and this reproach in the finale of the ending about genocide, that, they say, this is all for the sake of "expa", turns out to be completely out of place.
Thirdly, Undertale in the gameplay successfully parodies the cliches of the JRPG genre, but in the plot it dives headlong into the same cliches. A bunch of essences, transmigration of souls, alternate control of one body by different souls, and, of course, self-confidence and overcoming difficulties as the basis of a hero's power - only part of what we have already seen, and more than once.
Undertale is comedy, and there's nothing worse for comedy than not being funny.
And if you sum up what Undertale is, according to standard criteria, it turns out that the graphics are from the category of “you can break your eyes”, the music is good, the gameplay is bad, and there is little plot, and even that is not without flaws. Yes, the main merits of Undertale lie in a completely different area, but you can’t turn a blind eye to the fact that, as a game, it is, generally speaking, mediocre at best? What can be 10/10 with such and such inevitable gameplay?
* * *
I'm moderately negative about Undertale. I took a sharp dislike to her from the very beginning: both the obsessive guardianship and all the local humor caused me a sharp rejection. And then the gameplay began to interfere: long labyrinths, boring puzzles, random battles, difficult bosses.
But after the final, good things finally began. It was possible to calmly walk without constantly crashing into puzzles and unnecessary battles. I really liked the scene in Ondine's house, because the humor there was, for once, visual. When the characters started chatting with each other, discussing something, telling stories from the past, it was then that it finally became clear what kind of comfort the game lovers were talking about. The only pity is that first it was necessary to go through eight hours of despondency and suffering.
There is another problem with Undertale: it is very difficult to perceive it in isolation from the hype that has been raised around it. Without this hype, almost no one (including me) would talk about the game: there are a lot of indie games now, and I'm sure that in a huge number of them the canons of the genre are ridiculed in one way or another and / or the fourth wall is broken - because their authors can afford to show off. Undertale is praised as a revelation, as a brilliant deconstruction of the genre - I see in it a number good ideas, employees, for the most part, for the benefit of regular jokes.
Of course, it's worth playing Undertale: suddenly you like local humor or, for example, fights, and then your path to the most interesting moments will not be as painful as mine. Undertale does have some wonderful ideas and is really kinder and cozier than many JRPGs. But I certainly would not call her the best in anything.
It came as a big surprise to me too, but there is a game in the world called Undertale. It's been out for six months now, and you'll find out about it, as I did, from forum references, gaming news comments, or fan art.
Any uninterested person will not believe in a game that looks like the screenshots. Yes, it can be interesting. But how much more? For "interesting" you can refer to trusted sources.
I also did not believe in the pixel 8-bit walker, which I first heard about. But the reviews were extremely positive, it was necessary to find out what was the matter. Looking ahead, I will say that for me it has become the most emotional game outside the JRPG genre.
Creation
Role-playing game Undertale was created by American indie developer Toby Fox. He worked on it for three years using GameMaker: Studio. The release took place on September 15, 2015 on Steam and immediately gained a devoted fanbase and numerous awards.
Toby has come to such success thanks to sheer monstrous talent and the help of the Internet community. The amount of work done is impressive when you realize that instead of a development team, the creator had only a few assistants. As if from an endless stream of ideas, all were embodied.
First there was the Halloween hack EarthBound. Its uncomfortable, specific atmosphere inspired the start of a project that was supposed to try to break genre stereotypes.
Toby Fox is far left, next to Tim Schafer (Psychonauts),
Alexey Pajitnov (Tetris) and Patrice Dezile (Assassin's Creed).
It was supposed to be an intricate surprising story, told by simple technical means. open world without monotonous farming and “bring-give” tasks. Why kill anyone at all when you can talk to every monster and come to an understanding?
This is how Undertale was born. Unusual, massive personal game has absorbed many layers of gaming and social culture in which we are now floundering.
Game process
How to play Undertale? After all, this is a pixelated indie craft with a plot message. Could the author also give it gameplay? At least make it not just an optional appendage.
After all, as a rule, this is a secondary element even in large RPGs. You have to force yourself to go through the jungle of boring actions designed to justify game form works to enjoy what the creators have concentrated on. Characters and humor, for example.
So, running right up to the conclusions, in the Hint (one of the options for translating the name) Toby Fox managed to create each aspect with all diligence and invention. How he did it, how he had enough imagination, time is a mystery.
Controlling the main character, a child named Frisk, we move around locations with a top view and interact with characters and objects. Just like in some RPG on NES (Dendy, if more familiar) and Sega Genesis.
Reading the dialogues will take most of the time. Everyone here wants to talk to you. Moreover, in different forms: conversations, calls to a mobile phone, even during battles, dialogue clouds appear. If you don't like to read the game will pass past. Like any RPG of old sample. But here the text is the main means of expression.
Most items have descriptions when approached. Signs with important explanations are hung on the walls. Little stories are revealed if you click on, say, every flower in the room or approach all the bar patrons. The vast scenario will reveal its depth only in this way.
I returned to the city for items only once. Trade relations are simplified. Cities and shops are a training ground for jokes and performance minor characters. The balance forgives things like not having healing hamburgers in the right encounter to enjoy blind play.
Now imagine that Undertale has several cities, shops, locations with random battles. This is such a great game! Not a fleeting impression, but a full-fledged RPG adventure. The focus is on character development and nothing else.
At various points along the way to the tower, exploration and communication are diluted with puzzles. Although they are extremely simple. Let's call them tasks. Build the right bridge from blooming lilies, jump on platforms with arrows, move blocks on the monitor, freeing one line.
Tasks do not become an obstacle to the passage, but add interest. This works surprisingly positively when you do not have to strain. Looking forward to the next episode.
The same situation with action-episodes. There are even some! For example, an escape from spears flying from behind. The second attempt is not required, but at the same time the tension increases. Directorial talent, no less.
Combat system
The combat system is meant to be entertaining. It's kind of like an axiom. Undertale understands this perfectly and offers a fun arcade game. It is necessary to control the heart on a small limited field. It's story based, like everything else. Dangers will fly from all sides, from which it is necessary to evade.
Too simplistic? Well, there is a menu, like in a turn-based system. You can use an item, perform an action, talk to a monster, strike. This is the player's turn. To hit the enemy, you need to press the button again when the line passes closer to the center of the oval shape that appears.
This scheme is often violated, madness is created on the screen, the player is put in absolutely unpredictable situations. There are lines that restrict movement, objects that need to be caught, the heart starts to shoot!
Surprisingly and incomprehensibly, but every battle in the game is completely different! These are not evolutionary changes or pumping - every time the author offers something new. And this new completely breaks the patterns of the old.
All Undertale bosses
Each boss fight is completely different. The laws of the game process are constantly changing.
Going through the so-called genocide storyline will unlock upgraded forms of the Undyne the Undying bosses, Mettaton NEO, as well as an extreme Sans.
Toriel
A strange creature with the appearance of a goat and a dragon. She picks up the fallen person at the beginning of the game. Meets him in a cold alien world and takes him home. Outside the door, only dangers and hardships await, no one will protect the child there. And she becomes the guard of this door.
Papyrus
One of the skeleton brothers who set a trap for a human. He will get a place in the royal guard if he can handle the alien. He has to do it, he's a monster. Hot-tempered, loud, extravagant best friend. Or a victim.
Undyne
The head of the royal guard, who lives in the location of the waterfalls. She pursues a man, being in the guise of a fearsome armored knight. Her spears pierce stones and hearts.
muffet
The spider is selling baked goods in Hotland. If not for the inflated prices, then there would even be customers. Finally offers tea or death.
Mettaton
A robot built for fun. Music and theater are his passions. Yes, he is just an indestructible box with buttons, but when the switch is triggered, the spotlights are lit, the true form comes on stage.
Asgore Dreamurr
The kind and strong king watered the flowers in his garden. Long years of searching for a way up for his people wounded his soft soul. More than anything, he did not want a cruel denouement. But a child came after him with a knife in his hand and demanded the impossible.
Flowey
How powerful can a small yellow flower be if it destroys everything and challenges not the character of the game, but the player himself?
Azriel Dreamurr
No one will know of its existence. It is hidden in the guise of a yellow flower, a symbol of a sad outcome without a soul and emotions. “I want to see the flowers on the surface for the last time,” the person dear to him wished. But no one said: "Thank you, brother."
So much imagination put into this combat system! At first, it seems like a fun mini-game. I can’t believe that these are local battles, from which you can squeeze something full. Soon the combat throws a challenge, it is interesting in itself. Excellent result.
As a weapon, you can use a toy knife or a glove. In the case of a glove, you will still need to hammer on the key to increase the number of hits. But a child with a knife, all the more later you can find a non-toy one, seems more spectacular.
Normal monsters take ten seconds to complete the fight. Every meeting with any ghost, especially at first, you rejoice incredibly. Bosses are a different story. With each of them, the drama on the battlefield literally unfolds.
By the way, there is a "Save" button! I did not pay attention to her during the entire first playthrough. This feature changes the course of the fight, changes everything.
Whole game process, including battles, is a means of telling the story. And this presentation is amazing. I will talk about it separately later, because it is a very interesting and extensive topic for delight and reflection.
Plot
What is told during the first passage is not the whole story. He is so confusing in Undertale that it is difficult to fit in his head. You think that you have already understood everything, but it turns out that there are still other timelines, central characters whose names you will hear for the first time.
First of all, you need to understand that there are so-called genocide, pacifist and neutral routes. These are options for the development of events depending on the decisions made during the game.
For the first time, a player who knows nothing about the laws of this universe will inevitably fall on a neutral path. For others, very strict conditions must be observed. In addition, the endings change, depending on which characters are alive and whether there was interference in the game code. There is, for example, a family ending or a hacker's path.
Before the finale, one of the comedic, but in reality the most difficult character Sans, will meet the hero in the pillared hall flooded with sunset light. He has replicas for absolutely any development option. By the way, starting a new passage, you will definitely remember the old deeds. The game will remember them, and this is plot-based.
Epic retelling of the plot with spoilers under the spoiler
In the past, there was a war between humans and monsters. People won, concluded the enemies in the underground depths and closed them with a barrier. The only one-way entrance to the dungeon is located somewhere on top of Mount Ebott. They say that none of the people who climbed there came back alive.
A child named Frisk falls into the underworld through a chasm. It is not specified whether it is a boy or a girl. He ends up in a place called The Ruins. It is unknown what happened on the surface. The child was running from something and fell, tripping over a tree root.
A creature with the strange appearance of a goat and a dragon meets a lost creature, guides through traps, introduces everything. Her name is Toriel. She accepts the baby with maternal warmth, says that now this is his house, and sits down by the fireplace to read a book.
"How's the house?" - Frisk feels comfortable, but feels that something is not right here. The new "mom" avoids talking about the surface. Fear of becoming a prisoner fills with determination. And now, in the basement, a door is found. It leads away from the Ruins. It is not known what is there. There is no one to protect. Toriel stands guard over this door.
She attacks the poor child with all her might, not wanting to let him go. But Frisk passes his first test. Determination wins and leads forward. Behind are the Ruins, behind is Toriel.
In the dungeon, monsters live their own lives. There are cities here, the inhabitants are busy with something. But the decline is felt everywhere. It's still one big cave. There are monsters that are happy about the appearance of a person. They want to catch him!
An alien hunt is announced. Skeleton brothers Papyrus and Sans, guardian Undyne, simple inhabitants pursue and attack their target. How to stop them? With a knife? In a word? They want to be free. Then whose freedom is more important?
The only way to get through the barrier in the castle of King Asgore Dreemurr is to fuse a human soul with a monster soul. But the plans of the king to free his people. He wants to destroy the barrier, for which he needs to collect 7 human souls.
People don't just disappear here. The last soul left. Not from a good life or thirst for murder, monsters caught people. They really wanted to get out. And here a man goes straight to the castle through the dark realm. With the same motive... Whose determination will prevail?
That's why Toriel didn't want to let Frisk out of the Ruins. It is there that the first choice takes place, whether to kill your protector or not. There, the character falls under the influence of the Player and can become obsessed with him.
On the way to the barrier, the character meets many colorful personalities who help and / or act as bosses. Their full-fledged stories rush past. Frisk changes the attitude of others towards him, makes decisions and forms his character.
In front of the throne room, Sans shares some of the truth that shocks the Player himself. The LV value is not the level of pumping at all, but the Level Of ViolencE. And earned EXP points are EXecution Points. It is over you, as a player, that this symbolic judgment will be. It is you who will have to realize what you have done, obeying the standard rules of a role-playing game or putting your priorities above the lives of others.
With heavy thoughts there will be a meeting with King Asgore. He sadly accepts the fight near the barrier, showing all 6 souls captured before. The outcome is predetermined, and the way to the surface is open. But Flowey appears, a yellow flower who met a fallen child at the very beginning.
He absorbs all the souls and turns into the most powerful monster Omega Flowey. And here you already have to be serious, because the monster has powers beyond the logic of the game world. It fights with the player himself! Breaks the interface, throws it on the desktop with an error, erases the save.
The different colored hearts that Flowey has consumed correspond to each person that has entered the dungeon. They also match the soul modes used for boss fights in the past. For example, the blue mode, in which you can only move by jumping, symbolizes a passion for dancing, music; green, in which the heart cannot move, but reflects attacks, symbolizes guardianship, cooking, kindness.
The souls imprisoned in the final boss help to resist his crushing onslaught. Frisk manages to win and get out of the dungeon. And this is the end of the story, but only part of the true plot. If you go through the game a few more times and rethink what is happening, then this is the picture.
Once upon a time, the first man fell into the dungeon. Then the war just ended. The monsters did not even think of hunting for anyone. Like the protagonist, this child is found by Queen Toriel and adopted into her family. They live in the castle along with King Asgore and Prince Asriel.
It is this character that the player names at the beginning of the game. It is to the first person, Chara, who wakes up in the sinkhole of Mount Ebott just as main character Frisk.
Chara has a nasty temper in contrast to her quiet, obedient, kind brother Asriel. However, they still manage to form a kind of strong friendship. Despite the bullying from the man, the little monster said that only he could find understanding from him.
Some time later, Chara becomes seriously ill. The last thing a child asks a friend is to carry the lifeless body to the surface. He fulfilled his dream to once again visit a glade strewn with golden flowers.
On the night of Chara's death, a determined Asriel absorbs her soul and passes through the barrier. Frightened people hoped never to see such a nightmare. From the mountain where the child disappeared, a monster descended with a dead body in his arms. The crowd threw spears and stones, but the monster kept walking. He managed to convey Chara and return to the mountain. But falling into a hole, he immediately died from his wounds.
The father of the victim, despite his good disposition, set out to collect 7 souls needed to break through the barrier. His wife Toriel was against this decision and left the palace. She sealed off the Ruins from the rest of the Underdark. She began to protect people who fell into the trap of failure. But unsuccessfully.
Azriel brought with him those same golden flowers from the surface. They sprouted at the bottom of the pit where he fell, and in the garden of the castle, over which his ashes were scattered along with the preserved seeds.
As a result of experiments by scientist Alphys with a new reagent called "determination", she brings some inanimate things to life. Most of them have become wandering monsters. But the reagent also hit the golden flower. This gave birth to Flowey with the personality of Asriel, devoid of soul and emotions.
At the end of the game, if Frisk didn't kill anyone, all the monsters will gather in throne room to help fight Flowey. The flower will absorb not only six souls from the king's collection, but also the souls of all the monsters in underworld. This will give him the very strength that can break the barrier, and more.
Asriel regains her true body and then assumes her final form as the Angel of Death to reset the world and restart the game with her friend. He is sure he is fighting Chara.
Human resolve surpasses that of monsters. Therefore, Frisk does not give up and calls out to the souls inside the enraged Asriel. Those managed to be imbued with love for the protagonist, and this is transferred to their temporary owner.
If the defeated Asriel is spared, he will destroy the barrier with his power. Monsters together with people will try to find harmony in the common world. If you start new game, Flowey will ask you not to reset the save and let the monsters live happily. He will address Chara.
The identity of this very person, who needs to be named at the start of the game, is revealed under slightly different circumstances. By default, the name "Chara" (Character?) is entered. They are really similar to Frisk - children without a specified gender, wear striped sweaters of different colors, are the same height, with the same type of hairstyle. Only Frisk's eyes are always closed.
Chara is a maniac who takes possession of Frisk and forces him to kill every single one he meets in the underworld. And yes, this is the role played by the Player. He is a full-fledged character in history.
The hero walking along this "path of genocide" has amazing composure and strength. Even Sans breaks down in this scenario, leading to what is arguably the toughest fight in the game. The monsters are afraid of a child walking with a knife, so much so that Flowey himself advises the king to run and surrenders without a fight.
A frightened flower tells how he once woke up without his body. The one he always feared unbearably. Asgore and Toriel, who once gave him a name from a combination of their own, found him, but staying in the castle did not give him peace. During an attempt to commit suicide, Flowey discovers an irresistible urge to live. "Determination", if in a different way.
He understands that he can return the world to the state at the time of his death. This opportunity gives him a field for experiments with the universe. He tries to make everyone happy, is interested in the likelihood of an apocalypse, notices that even indirect interference in a conversation changes reality.
When the Player takes it upon himself to kill everyone, defying Frisk's will, Flowey recognizes him as his equal. The proof of the power of the man who pulls the strings is the possibility of preservation. Saving is not an in-game feature, but part of the Undertale universe. The power possessed by the Player. As in childhood, Flowey says that only the Player can understand him, not feeling the difference between him and Chara.
At the end, Chara herself appears. She kills Flowey despite Asriel inside the flower recognizing her, erasing the world and closing the game window. In the last conversation, you can persuade her to restart time. She will notice that the Player himself destroyed this world, but will agree in exchange for his soul.
When you play it again, it's not just that the characters show some strange reactions. They make it clear that all this has already happened. And Flowey and Sans talk directly about your decisions in the parallel time loop.
As history does not turn around, at the end the world will restart, and the time period after the death of the first person in the Underdark will start from the beginning. Flowey, Azriel, Chara will do it - it doesn't matter. If not them, then the Player himself will start the events from the beginning.
Remember how Flowey played with the universe? The story can go in different settings, it can have different main characters. But the outcome will be the same. That is, players around the world can come up with their own scenarios. Play with the world as they want - write comics, make videos, additional levels, art. This is all happening now. And it fits into the gaming canon.
In the end, only one conclusion comes to mind. The main boss of Undertale, who is able to control the world, change laws, and destroy all life, is the Player.
Undertale is focused on character development. There are a great many of them. Some subplots occur with the main ones, where they almost always act as bosses.
Skeleton Papyrus is trying to capture a human in order to get a job in the royal guard. His brother Sans follows him, trying to inject some rationality into the "genius plans". Bystander is a very good stat for Sans. It's better not to know about his secrets.
Disco robot Mettaton, spider Muffet, ghost DJ Napstablook - all turned out to be colorful. You may not like their designs or characters, they are really specific. But they will be remembered for the same reason. Yes, even the monster throwing cubes of ice into the river, I remember. Does he even have a name?
Despite the drama unfolding, it feels like a comedy is being shown on screen. The jokes are endless. And this is a great way to captivate and play on the contrast.
Scientist Alphys is a fan of Japanese art. In the battle with Undyne, she says that she took books about the history of people from her friend and was very impressed with their strength. Turns out it was a manga.
The name Undyne is derived from the name of the European water spirits undines. The former drowned women, according to legend, did not have a soul, but the spearwoman had a soul and determination one of the strongest. She will not die even when she runs out of health points. He will hold on to life and scream that he will protect his friends. And we will strike...
It was at this point that I began to understand that with this game
something is wrong that the experiences are suspiciously strong.
As already mentioned, the game has a ton of characters that cannot be met without fulfilling non-obvious conditions. The same applies to whole storylines. Even manual intervention in the game code is provided, which one of the main characters learns about.
There is a hidden enemy in the art club meeting. So Sorry. To meet him, you need to visit certain places, select the desired route and change the date on the clock to 8 pm on the tenth of October. He has dialogue and 5 different interchangeable hats. Do you still remember that the game was created by one person?
The plot is just great. I wrote his "epic retelling under the spoiler" for several days, because I could not fit it entirely in my head. But it was possible to convey the essence after getting acquainted with many fan articles about every significant element of the universe.
The local plot is not a line of events. It is rather a tree whose branches grow into the real world.
Graphics and music
Toby Fox is not a professional game designer or writer. But he is a music composer. So the only thing that cannot surprise with its quality is the soundtrack. Yes, he is as expected.
All melodies are like Super Nintendo music. They were immediately snapped up for remixes. Particularly popular is MEGALOVANIA, the only one created for the EarthBound hack game, and not specifically for Undertale.
The way the game looks is a very controversial decision. The graphics might not have been so simplified, but it would have required more work. It performs the main function - it can be used to tell a story, achieving not only an emotional response, but also the work of the imagination.
The reception of old role playing- with good direction, the viewer himself willingly draws all the details. As a result, scenes are remembered not as they are drawn, but as they were perceived.
But the style of drawing is somewhat defiant in some places. This is especially true for some vendors and one final boss. There are probably references to different directions. modern culture and Internet memes like the trollface.
Photoshop Boss Flowey is made from carelessly cut out fragments of real photos. It probably makes sense, but it still looks creepy.
Meaning and impressions
Undertale uses many methods to hook the spectator-player. It's like a tutorial on this kind of game design.
There is already mentioned visualization, which definitely will not leave you indifferent. There is a twisted plot with drama and good comedy. It makes you want to dig deeper for answers. Without them it will be impossible to calm down.
And most importantly, emotions are successfully conveyed here through the gameplay. I wrote something similar about . That is, not only standard artistic techniques and staging of scenes are used, but also what only video games are capable of.
Of course, this is difficult to implement, so few games can boast of this. You need to have great talent in order to calculate the player's reaction, adjust to the laws of the game world, and be sure to foresee the impact on the gameplay.
The monster, in an attempt to save us from the terrible and black as death guardian Undyne, stumbles and hangs on the ledge. If we bail him out, we'll get more useless help. If we leave him to die, the guard herself will save him and at the same time lose part of his health.
The last battle with Flowey leaves you in shock when you see her for the first time. This will be a spoiler. It's hard to believe that boss attacks break the interface and turn off the game. He declares that he is really strong and will break our resolve. Judging by the reviews, his actions really stun many, and some are afraid to play further.
The whole game is filled with such unique, hand-made situations. This is its meaning, as an excellent work of video game art - a non-standard narrative that directly conveys the impressions.
I, like many others, remained in a state of passion after the finale for quite some time. The result was this huge review. You thought I revealed all the main secrets of Undertale? I didn't mention the most important one.
Many mysterious rooms, replicas and objects are hidden so deep that you will never know about them. A person named V.D. Gaster may be playing a bigger role in what's going on than you think. You can only get a mention of a former scientist from his followers, by chance being in the right place under the right conditions. And then with a 50% chance.
He speaks in WingDings font from the set incomprehensible characters. Hence the initials W.D. It is only known that he created the Core and fell into the lava. The existence of an unfortunate victim or behind-the-scenes manipulator is only confirmed in the game data. But it's not just remote work.
A figure similar to a skeleton can be found only once, and it will immediately evaporate. Even for this, you need to change the values in the files undertale.ini and file0. Further investigation will lead to files that the game does not use at all. Guesses are destined to multiply, because in these files there are lines of incomprehensible characters of Dr. V.D. Gaster.
Cultural influence
Undertale has a small (look at appearance- this is far from mainstream), but a very dedicated community. This is because everyone who makes it to the end is impressed.
This game is able to inspire and convey the creative impulse of its creator. Fans have already come up with just a ton of art, music, comics, videos, stories and other good stuff.
Videos based on comics are very popular. Here's a great video retelling the plot.
Surprisingly few additions to the main game have been made. Toby Fox himself promised to release a hard mode. Many liked it warhead, but it does not reveal its full potential due to the preponderance towards the plot.
It can be difficult for a Russian-speaking player to digest all these walls of text. That is, they are excellently presented, you want to read them, but the fact of the matter is that every phrase is important. Therefore, a team of brave Russian fans is doing a full localization into their native language.
Now they are in full swing collecting opinions about the translation of names. There are really a lot of problems with this, because puns and references were invested in the original names and titles. Asriel Dreemurr is an anagram for serial murderer. Shyren is the name of the monster. How to translate this?
While the main game doesn't have a hard mode, fans are playing the Red hardcore expansion.
Huge scope for imagination in the endless plot of Undertale is filled with small amateur sketches. There is a remake of Aftertale, fictional episodes that were not in the game. A meeting
While Undertale is fresh and not forgotten, discussions on every occasion do not subside on the network. The Undertale 3D screenshots that caused a stir, the Steam review, Toby's rude comments about the reluctance to make a sequel and dissatisfaction with the distribution of shameful Toriel art.
“I got a girlfriend because of this game. Thank you Toby Fox,” a review by Jaegerpilotmax on Steam.
One of the Russian amateur developers showed Undertale 3D on his Twitter. It was just
experiment with one scene. Now he is asked by the whole community to finish what he started.
The dungeon tale was right on target when it hit cliché-weary players. Those who are looking for a work worth thinking about and are ready to accept it in any form.
As a result, Undertale became a special experience for me as well. Who does not mind putting 9,5 points according to the standard grading system. This is some kind of fairy tale beyond the ordinary. I will be happy to return to other scenarios with the release of amateur Russian localization.
If we compare this small, ridiculous-looking adventure with big games, Undertale looks great against their background. It takes place over several evenings, has terrible replay value and, most importantly, fills the mind with thoughts and inspiration, and does not draw them out.
