Undertale.

[Dagoth Gares]

Steam page

Just had to share this game with everyone here. Undertale is a 10$ indie retro graphics style rpg with a focus on story and choices that easily contends with AAA titles for game of the year. Saying almost anything else is spoilers. You should not look at anything other than the steam page to get the best experience out of it. There is also a demo for the game on the website.

[danzibr]

That looks really good! Like Earthbound with a darker atmosphere and mini-games. I'm downloading the demo.

[Cespenar]

I've mentioned it on the General Gaming Thread already, but no one seems to be checking that out lately.

[DigoDragon]

That looks really good! Like Earthbound with a darker atmosphere and mini-games.

I've heard of the game and others have praised it for being good. I'll eventually get around to trying the demo, but I never had an idea of what exactly it plays like. Descriptions from friends have been really vague outside of it being a really good rpg. I think you've been the first to actually give a decent idea of what it's like with a comparison. Thanks!

[danzibr]

I've heard of the game and others have praised it for being good. I'll eventually get around to trying the demo, but I never had an idea of what exactly it plays like. Descriptions from friends have been really vague outside of it being a really good rpg. I think you've been the first to actually give a decent idea of what it's like with a comparison. Thanks!

Oooooh I meant at a glance. But I did indeed play the demo!

Whelp, it's nothing like Earthbound. The art is somewhat reminiscent and you play as a child. I mean, it's just its own thing, really... hard to describe. Combat is interesting. The plot was interesting. Not sure I could handle the real game.

[Amaril]

Guys, one thing I have to say, and I really, really urge everyone to listen: do not expose yourself to any information about this game's story, any at all, before you finish it. Trust me, knowing anything in advance makes it infinitely less meaningful. I mean it.

As long as you adhere to that, it's an amazing work of art that you owe it to yourself to experience. Otherwise, still a pretty fun game that I'd recommend if you're into this type of thing.

[DigoDragon]

Guys, one thing I have to say, and I really, really urge everyone to listen: do not expose yourself to any information about this game's story, any at all, before you finish it. Trust me, knowing anything in advance makes it infinitely less meaningful. I mean it.

See, I tend to shy away from games when people tell me this. Every game that I have bought and liked has been because I look for a little exposure to get a feel for whether I want to buy it. Now, that said this game lucks out that it has a Demo. But if it didn't, then I'd probably not be looking into it. Money isn't easy for me to come by so I'm VERY picky with where I spend it.

[Avian Overlord]

I would agree that you should play Undertale (seriously, do it) without looking up anything about it. There's a specific moment early on I'm thinking of with loses its... punch if spoiled.

Spoiler: From Demo

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Going into the game thinking it's going to be a an rpg where the combat mechanics are replaced with mechanics about making friends, and it's going to be a bit twee makes "YOU IDIOT. DOWN HERE IT'S KILLED OR BE KILLED" one hell of an impressive shock.

[Amaril]

See, I tend to shy away from games when people tell me this. Every game that I have bought and liked has been because I look for a little exposure to get a feel for whether I want to buy it. Now, that said this game lucks out that it has a Demo. But if it didn't, then I'd probably not be looking into it. Money isn't easy for me to come by so I'm VERY picky with where I spend it.

Well, it's a damn shame that your financial situation might stop you from enjoying this game, but I have to stand by my advice. Without it, any recommendation I could give for the game would be very conditional.

I would agree that you should play Undertale (seriously, do it) without looking up anything about it. There's a specific moment early on I'm thinking of with loses its... punch if spoiled.

Spoiler: From Demo

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Going into the game thinking it's going to be a an rpg where the combat mechanics are replaced with mechanics about making friends, and it's going to be a bit twee makes "YOU IDIOT. DOWN HERE IT'S KILLED OR BE KILLED" one hell of an impressive shock.

Funny enough, I kinda had the opposite problem.

Spoiler: Don't look unless you've played the game. For real.

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Spoiler: I mean it. This is exactly the stuff I was saying you should avoid.

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Spoiler: Last chance.

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See, I went into it thinking it would be about loss of innocence--assuming it would try to lull you into thinking it was a happy fun game about making friends, and then flipping the script and forcing you to start killing. That's what I did when I got to the fight with Toriel, assuming I had to kill her to proceed. My mistake was talking to a friend shortly after passing that point, who informed me that you really can get through without killing anyone. Once I knew that, I felt like the game expected me to play that way, and I went through the rest as a complete pacifist because I felt obligated to, where had I not known, I would have had the fun of struggling with whether I really had to kill any given person or not. The lack of uncertainty cheapened the whole thing.

What made it even worse was when after I finished my first playthrough, I went and looked up some of the other endings, just for fun, and found that the game actually requires you to do at least one neutral playthrough before it'll give you the "true" pacifist ending (I hate that everyone keeps calling it that--every ending is equally true, and personally I think the neutral endings are both the best and the ones that were really meant to happen). So not only did I miss out on my chance to play authentically, but the assumptions I followed after losing that chance weren't even accurate.

Anyway, my point is, I don't want anyone else to have the game ruined for them like it was for me. Knowing what I know now, it's really my favorite game of all time, and I think everyone deserves the chance to experience it fresh.

[Avian Overlord]

Funny enough, I kinda had the opposite problem.

Spoiler: Don't look unless you've played the game. For real.

Show

Spoiler: I mean it. This is exactly the stuff I was saying you should avoid.

Show

Spoiler: Last chance.

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See, I went into it thinking it would be about loss of innocence--assuming it would try to lull you into thinking it was a happy fun game about making friends, and then flipping the script and forcing you to start killing. That's what I did when I got to the fight with Toriel, assuming I had to kill her to proceed. My mistake was talking to a friend shortly after passing that point, who informed me that you really can get through without killing anyone. Once I knew that, I felt like the game expected me to play that way, and I went through the rest as a complete pacifist because I felt obligated to, where had I not known, I would have had the fun of struggling with whether I really had to kill any given person or not. The lack of uncertainty cheapened the whole thing.

What made it even worse was when after I finished my first playthrough, I went and looked up some of the other endings, just for fun, and found that the game actually requires you to do at least one neutral playthrough before it'll give you the "true" pacifist ending (I hate that everyone keeps calling it that--every ending is equally true, and personally I think the neutral endings are both the best and the ones that were really meant to happen). So not only did I miss out on my chance to play authentically, but the assumptions I followed after losing that chance weren't even accurate.

Anyway, my point is, I don't want anyone else to have the game ruined for them like it was for me. Knowing what I know now, it's really my favorite game of all time, and I think everyone deserves the chance to experience it fresh.

Spoiler: Response.

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Well, I wouldn't call it a problem it worked really damn well for me. I also looked up the endings (although I knew they existed from playing the demo). I didn't know if you had to run a pacifist run from the start or if you could spare everyone individually. Neutral totally seems like the best route from here. Having to make individual choices was well, let me use an example. I had pretty much decided that anyone who tried to kill me without surrendering or showing obvious remorse was dust. Yet, when I came to the first dog in the royal guard, I just couldn't do it. I missed my final attack on purpose, and went through the sparing process. Eventually I ended up sparing the entire royal guard. Also the conversation with Sans about how Toriel convinced him to spare your life is HEART-WRENCHING if you killed Toriel. And I ended up creating a society devoted to celebrity worship where all social problems are "solved" with the gratuitous body sparkles. I mean, how can you say no to that?

Does it strike anyone else as odd we're having this serious conversation about a game that is completely ridiculous most of it's playtime?

[Amaril]

Spoiler: Response.

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Well, I wouldn't call it a problem it worked really damn well for me. I also looked up the endings (although I knew they existed from playing the demo). I didn't know if you had to run a pacifist run from the start or if you could spare everyone individually. Neutral totally seems like the best route from here. Having to make individual choices was well, let me use an example. I had pretty much decided that anyone who tried to kill me without surrendering or showing obvious remorse was dust. Yet, when I came to the first dog in the royal guard, I just couldn't do it. I missed my final attack on purpose, and went through the sparing process. Eventually I ended up sparing the entire royal guard. Also the conversation with Sans about how Toriel convinced him to spare your life is HEART-WRENCHING if you killed Toriel. And I ended up creating a society devoted to celebrity worship where all social problems are "solved" with the gratuitous body sparkles. I mean, how can you say no to that?

Does it strike anyone else as odd we're having this serious conversation about a game that is completely ridiculous most of it's playtime?

Not even a little bit. The game might be ridiculous, but it's about some serious s***.

Spoiler: Response

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Yeah, see, that method of deciding, that's what I would have done had I gone in fully blind. I resisted killing Toriel--I tried talking her down, but she showed no sign of wavering, and I assumed that was the game's way of signalling that from there on out, not everyone you met would be merciful, and you'd have to start making those hard decisions. It's just that once I knew with absolute certainty that everyone could be spared, the decisions became easy, which I didn't enjoy. Toriel was the only one I killed on my first run, but had I not had the truth spoiled, I'd have played differently at a fair few points; I probably would have killed Undyne, almost certainly Muffet and Mettaton, and quite possibly Asgore (though I don't know if I ever could have gone through with that).

And yeah, you're right about that scene with Sans. I never cry at games, but damn

Funny enough, when I looked up the endings, the one in which you kill and spare everyone I probably would have if I'd been blind is actually a pretty happy ending (the one where Papyrus takes over). I'm doing a second playthrough now (after wiping my config data to fully reset everything) and going for that one, but I'll never get to experience it fresh again, which makes me sad.

[Avian Overlord]

Spoiler: For the curious about my run

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My Kill/Spare was as follows

• Toriel-Killed. Spared her in the demo, but decided to go on in-character knowledge.
• Papryus-Spared. Clearly didn't want to fight, came to his senses of his own accord.
• Undyne-Killed. Lady, if you want to keep the moral high ground, don't mention the six people you've murdered for their organs.
• Muffet-Spared. Fully intended to kill her, but after she decided to stop of her own accord, I ended it.
• Mettaton-Spared. Only looking out for humanity, plus all the crazy murder attempts weren't his idea.
• Asgore-Killed. What I said about Undyne? Goes double here. At least he wasn't self-righteous about it.
• Flowey-Killed with extreme prejudice. Fun fact. The only question I asked after the demo but before buying the game was "Can you kill Flowey?" And you can!

[Amaril]

Spoiler: Likewise, for the one I'm doing currently

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Toriel: Killed. You try to keep me prisoner, and then challenge me to fight to prove my strength so I can leave, that's exactly what I'm gonna do until you back down. Which she never does.
Papyrus: Spared. Yeah, clearly has no real interest in fighting or hurting you at all.
Undyne: Killed. For reasons I would think are obvious.
Muffet: Killed unless it takes me long enough that she relents, in which case spared.
Mettaton: Likewise. Sure, you might be in it for humanity, but you still want to murder me, until you don't.
Asgore: Uncertain. I really should kill him, it'd be fully justified, but I just don't know if I can bring myself to.
Flowey: Spared. If you kill him, that means you prove him right and he wins.

And bonus round.

Doggo: Spared. I'd be justified in killing him, but it's easier to sneak by, and I'm not gonna fight if there's a more practical and just option.
Gay guardsmen in Hotland: Killed. That's what you get for attacking with the stated intent to murder me.
All other enemies before the Core: Spared. I might not have encountered everyone on my first playthrough, but all the normal enemies I did meet up to this point clearly didn't really want to kill me.
Enemies in the Core: Killed. That seems to change around this point.

[Avian Overlord]

Spoiler: Likewise, for the one I'm doing currently

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Flowey: Spared. If you kill him, that means you prove him right and he wins.

Who cares?

[Amaril]

Who cares?

I'm stubborn. Sue me

[Cute_Riolu]

For anyone that's beaten the game by killing anyone, I strongly recommend that you go through a second run

Spoiler

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without killing anyone. It adds a fair bit more to the game, and a LOT more to the story.

But yeah, that aside, literally my favorite game ever. I played it through

Spoiler

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on purely pacifist my first time, and haven't played it since. I can't stand to ruin the good times. I cried SO MUCH.

[Yuki Akuma]

For info on the actual gameplay, because no one seems to want to talk about that for some reason:

The combat system is like a cross between a turn-based RPG and a bullet hell shoot-em-up. You choose an action on your turn, then the enemy's turn involves dodging bullets and other attacks. It's pretty neat and I'd love to see more games use this mechanical style.

Spoiler: As for the endings...

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There's three - Neutral, Pacifist and Genocide.

Spoiler: Neutral

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Just play through the game normally. The final boss is Flowey. You can choose whether to kill or spare him - this has a slight effect on your next reset. Sparing him is the only way to get the hint for how to unlock the Pacifist ending, though.

Spoiler: Pacifist

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Never kill anyone - you can beat regular enemies up until their names are yellow if you don't want to figure out the puzzle. The only requirement is that you have exactly no kills. You also need to befriend Papyrus, Undyne and Alphys. I don't think you can get this ending before you've seen the Neutral ending at least once, but you don't have to reset - just load your pre-Asgore save file. The final boss is Asriel.

Spoiler: Genocide

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Kill everyone, including the dummy and the Froggit that 'randomly' attacks you in the spike room. Then, before each boss, keep killing random encounters until random battles give the message "But no one came". After the Ruins, save points become a tally of how many monsters you need to kill before moving on. You can canel a Genocide run at any time before killing Mettaton by simply sparing a boss or not killing every encounter in an area before encountering the boss. The final boss is Sans of all people.

[Cespenar]

Wow. The two non-neutral endings. Both fantastic on their own way, but damn the tone change.

[Amaril]

Spoiler: As for the endings...

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There's three - Neutral, Pacifist and Genocide.

Spoiler: Neutral

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Just play through the game normally. The final boss is Flowey. You can choose whether to kill or spare him - this has a slight effect on your next reset. Sparing him is the only way to get the hint for how to unlock the Pacifist ending, though.

Spoiler: Pacifist

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Never kill anyone - you can beat regular enemies up until their names are yellow if you don't want to figure out the puzzle. The only requirement is that you have exactly no kills. You also need to befriend Papyrus, Undyne and Alphys. I don't think you can get this ending before you've seen the Neutral ending at least once, but you don't have to reset - just load your pre-Asgore save file. The final boss is Asriel.

Spoiler: Genocide

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Kill everyone, including the dummy and the Froggit that 'randomly' attacks you in the spike room. Then, before each boss, keep killing random encounters until random battles give the message "But no one came". After the Ruins, save points become a tally of how many monsters you need to kill before moving on. You can canel a Genocide run at any time before killing Mettaton by simply sparing a boss or not killing every encounter in an area before encountering the boss. The final boss is Sans of all people.

Spoiler: Endings

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Spoiler: Neutral

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There are actually a bunch of different Neutral endings, depending on who in particular you killed, spared, and befriended. They all lead to the same final boss sequence with Flowey, but the epilogue you get after is drastically different depending on what exactly you did.

Spoiler: Pacifist

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According to the wiki, you do have to finish at least one Neutral run before you can get a real Pacifist one. Even if you do your first playthrough without killing anyone ever, the ending is still different. Haven't done the true Pacifist ending myself--I plan to after I finish my second Neutral run.

[Avian Overlord]

On the topic of gameplay, the boss fights in this are awesome, with just the right level of different from the normal gameplay without being total curveballs. I liked the one where you turned yellow and the one where you turn purple.

Spoiler

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Well, not total curveballs except Flowey.

[Demonsul]

Spoiler: Getting endings

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You don't actually need to restart from scratch if you never killed anyone in your first playthrough to get the pure pacifist ending - I didn't. You do need to beat Asgore and Omega-Flowey if you've not done that before, but once you've done that you can just reload your save from before you fought Asgore and wander off to go make friends/etc before heading back for the final battle. If the wiki says you need to restart, it's wrong.

Best game I've played in a very long time. I'm recommending it to everyone.

[Cespenar]

Spoiler: Bosses

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I thought Asgore and Flowey boss fights were epic until I watched the Genocide run yesterday and saw frikkin Sans. Simply put, saying that he is hardcore wouldn't do justice to him.

[Rakoa]

I just finished it. I won't spoil it for anyone who hasn't but I wouldn't recommend it to anyone. It started off as a charming game with innovative mechanics and great humour, but it just isn't worth it. I have never before played a game and finished it feeling like I've wasted so much time.

[DigoDragon]

Finally got around to playing the game and I'm honestly disappointed.

Spoiler

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The combat mechanics were okay. I like that you can try and end battles quickly by showing Mercy or changing things with Act, but on the other hand the dodging part was annoying. Does the game have joystick support? Using the arrow keys just wasn't intuitive in my opinion when you need good reflexes to dodge.

Puzzles were decent. The perspective one with the 3 colored switches was good.

I think the most frustrating part is the high encounter rate. Feels very much like Final Fantasy in that regard and I was never a fan of getting dragged into combat every five steps. I kept getting nickled-and-dimed to death by constantly encountering 2-3 enemies at a time. After my 3rd death I gave up.

Overall it's a decent game. However, I think it was over-hyped. Everyone keeps telling me I must play it and No Spoilers by looking it up, but it just didn't strike me as more than a decent game with elements of Earthbound and Final Fantasy. Maybe I'll try it again after a few days just to see if I feel different.

[Rakoa]

I wouldn't bother, Pony Man. The whole thing is trial and error. If you want to be nice to the monsters, then you get to stumble your way through Act dialogues until you figure out their random option that works. The bosses require immense trial and error to figure out how to be nice to them, if you can figure it out at all.

Spoiler: First and Last Boss

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I killed Toriel because the game said talking wasn't an option. I tried to weaken her so I could Spare her but she just died. Learning my lesson, I decided not to do that anymore and always try and figure out the nice way. I lost to Azgore dozens of times because of that, because apparently you DO have to fight him down to low health so you can spare him! There is nothing to indicate this. Nothing at all. Just trial. And. Error.

If you mess up anything you get the Neutral Ending, which is not an ending at all. All it does is give you instructions on how to get one of the other endings. I guess they are better endings. I call this the "**** You For Trying This Without a Walkthrough Ending Try Again By Playing Another 10 hours".

[Yuki Akuma]

You gave up after you died three times? In a game where, not only do you as a player improve every time you fight an enemy (due to the puzzle and bullet-hell nature of combat), but there are save points scattered all over the place?

Yeah I think you gave up far too quickly.

The game also specifically tells you that sometimes you have to try sparing an enemy when their name isn't yellow. I have no idea why people have trouble with the Toriel fight.

[Rakoa]

The game also specifically tells you that sometimes you have to try sparing an enemy when their name isn't yellow. I have no idea why people have trouble with the Toriel fight.

No, actually, it doesn't. A random froggit that can be optionally spoken to tells if you speak to him. Big difference there, and one that isn't automatically or obviously applicable to Toriel.

[DigoDragon]

You gave up after you died three times? In a game where, not only do you as a player improve every time you fight an enemy (due to the puzzle and bullet-hell nature of combat), but there are save points scattered all over the place?

I am not a fan of shmup style games. The three deaths were in relatively the same area as I'm trying to complete a puzzle (getting interrupted by fights detracts from my enjoyment of puzzles). Yes there are some patterns in fighting the enemy, but a few require a couple rounds to make it work which means dodging in bullet hell and I'm simply not skilled with using arrow keys to do that. Rather than get frustrated over a game because a particular section was giving me problems, I put it away. I'll come back to it later and give it a second try, which I feel is different that "giving up".

[Yuki Akuma]

I personally consider things NPCs in the tutorial area tell you as being "the game explicitly telling you things". But that may just be me.

Spoiler

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Flowey also outright tells you you're meant to Spare her if you didn't try the Spare command at all (but if you tried it and gave up, he doesn't, unfortunately).

I hope when you pick the game up again you have more fun with it. One of the (many) things I like about this game is that you can't really hit your face against a brick wall over and over because your stats aren't good enough - I've had that issue in RPGs before. In Undertale, you just have to git gud.

[Shekinah]

I'm currently watching the Let's Play that MegaGWolf is uploading on YouTube. He's doing the pacifist run. Since Steam hates me, I probably won't get it, but I'll talk Rezzy into getting it.

Also, I will never trust a smiling flower again.