I do hope you don't end up dropping the game. I feel like despite its problems, the story and overall experience are worth it. While I didn't really struggle much since i'm quite experienced when it comes to bullet-hell type games, I get why you'd switch to easy mode so there's no problem with that. I feel like there's a lot for you to enjoy in this game especially considering you're more than halfway done. The bosses ARE kind of difficult but with easy mode there shouldn't be much of an issue.
I kind of really appreciate your willingness to acknowledge the flaws of this game to be honest? So many people have a tendency to overblow this game's praises in their discussions of it simply because it's above the standards of an average fan project and it's pretty refreshing to see you're not shying away from it. Personally I actually found that the writing was the part I struggled with; I don't like the amount of filler and lampshading from Flowey just kind of gets obnoxious after a certain point, so it's really cool to see your perspective on it.
I think it's extemely important to recognize the strengths of things we dislike and the weaknesses of things we love! That's the best way to learn. And in this case, it's an extemely well-made fan project that deserves a lot of accolades, but that doesn't mean it's perfect. It's still a hell of a lot better than any game project I could make, and they should be proud of themselves, and I don't intend to take away from that accomplishment!
Not sure if anyone mentioned it (I largely skimmed the last part of the vod) but from what I understand, this game's Easy Mode doesn't actually affect the bullet patterns, just gives you more defense so you take less damage. I haven't actually played UTY but just looking at it, it definitely looks like there's some bullet patterns where they just don't telegraph things well enough, or the bullets just spawn way too fast and/or too close to where you start so it ends up cheapshotting you. I'd consider myself Solidly Okay at bullet hell stuff, and maybe it'd be different playing it myself and getting a feel for it, but watching it I've seen a number of attacks where it's like "...and HOW are you supposed to react to that?" - all in all, don't blame you at all for switching to easy mode!
As a regular bullet pattern editor, nearly all attacks in pacifist attacks least are react-able. However some people may not be quick enough for late game attacks due to having issues figuring out what to do.
I will probably not be quick enough, then! I already can't figure out what I'm supposed to do half the time. I'm hoping Easy Mode will make it OK for me to just tank a lot of things, otherwise we might hit a wall. It would be a shame for me to be unable to play an Undertale-related game, but if that's what happens, then I guess I'll be starting Outer Wilds or something else sooner than I expected.
It's funny, I think one of the only attacks in Undertale itself where I see people genuinely struggle figuring out what to do is the axe attack from Dogamy and Dogaressa (people just don't seem to think to go under the axes!), whereas with UTY there's multiple patterns where I'd have to try them a few times just to figure out what it expects the player to do.
One of my biggest issues with UNDERTALE Yellow is that the fights seriously punish you for not equipping your highest DEF armor/accessory. During my playthrough I noticed that if I missed picking up the most recently available defensive item, I would get obliterated by the next boss. I think you probably would have been able to beat Staro on your second attempt if his attacks didn't do six damage of your twenty max HP. I personally haven't gone back to play the other routes where you kill monsters and thus have more HP but maybe it was balanced for that in mind? I could be wrong though. There could be alternate damage values depending on your LV.
Your defense stat in this game is purely subtractive, which I don't remember being the case in Undertale. I think what the devs might have been trying to do is make the pacifist run significantly harder so that players are encouraged to do neutral first. That idea kind of backfires on the game for multiple reasons, but I can see the line of logic; again, the real problem seems to be a lack of playtesting.
I find it weird that they force you to attack the dummy - they do make it very clear that it is Just A Dummy, but it does feel at odds with Undertale's design philosophy (contrast Deltarune, which really tries to tutorialize the attacking mechanic but if you point blank refuse the game 'gets it' and moves on). If it were me and I wanted to force the player to interact with the shooting mechanics, I might have had Lone Star (sorry, North Star) go "Okay, maybe instead of a dummy, you can shoot a target on the wall instead". Might have made the player feel more comfortable. As far as difficulty, it's very much on par with fangames - it's not always intentional, but they're made by fans of the original, tested by fans of the original, for fans of the original. It is extremely common for a fan-game or community content to be perceived as very well-balanced until a larger audience plays it and they go, "Oh crap, we overtuned the hell out this". It's definitely not always a bad thing. But if you want your game to be accessible to a wider range of skill levels, try and get it tested by people who aren't on that level!
SPOILER WARNING I think the game forcing you to take certain choices is an intentional thing, Clover is far more of an established character than Frisk is in Undertale and we know Clover is willing to do certain things that the player might not, in the flawed pacifist ending even if the player doesnt agree Clover considers killing Ceroba an act of mercy (hence killing her doesnt grant you any exp, there is no intent to harm the person), or when they raise their gun to Flowey in the neutral ending, at least thats my take on why shooting the dummy might be a thing Clover is willing to do, but i wouldnt see Frisk shooting the dummy even if they know its not alive
Lauren, I think most of your viewers are agreeing that your skills in bullet-hell are pretty solid. As it was mentioned, the Easy Mode does not really change bullet patterns. You can just change your old armor to new and it'll be fine (why else you even bought it though?)
But ... but my regen... (I thought that regen would make a big enough difference, since I'm always taking small amounts of damage no matter what, but I guess not.)
@@LaurentheFlute Yeah, I think if a single hit deals 6 damage to you, and you only regain 2 hp, all the while it's very likely for players to get hit multiple times per attack, then it seems like it's time to hang up the scarf. In a sense, you will be "regening" more health that way.
I literally just beat Ghost Trick this week and loved it a lot! I haven't personally played the Ace Attorney games, though I've watched friends play through chunks of them. I don't remember them super well, but I did think they were charming. My impression now that I've played through Ghost Trick is that it's probably the game I would love most by that team, but maybe I will go back and play more of their games someday and see how much I enjoy the rest of them...
@@LaurentheFlute Oh I love Ghost Trick! I’ll have to watch your playthrough! But yeah, Ace Attorney is definitely charming and the cases are interesting but I think the best part of that series is the characters. :)
Undertale Yellow being harder isn't bad design. This game is clearly designed for people who beat Undertale. i can tell that less than 1% of Undertale Yellow players haven't beaten undertale or have no experience in bullet hell. there's no reason to change the entire game into a cakewalk for this small percentage. I find it disappointing that you were so eager to give up after losing literally TWICE. On my first playthrough, i died like 5 times to Starlo, and that was even a NEUTRAL run where i had more HP than on Pacifist but i didn't just give up like that. My point being: too hard doesn't equal bad design, too hard equals "i am just not on this level yet" sorry if this sounds like i am attacking you, i am really not trying to, i just have this problem against criticism in general
I beat Undertale, Deltarune Chapters 1 and 2, and both of the optional bosses in the Deltarune chapters (Spamton was a *lot* easier than Jevil). Undertale Yellow was 100% not designed for someone of my skill level to play it, despite that. I'm glad they put in an easy mode or I wouldn't have bothered playing the rest of the game.
It does strongly feel like this game is direct escalation on Undertale's fight difficulty. Dalv and onwards are fights that in Undertale you'd see at around Mettaton level of difficulty, but in UTY they keep ramping up the difficulty way past that. Hence why progression feels so unfair. I disagree that design is bad (other than El Bailador or whatever his name is, why is that there, why does it have the worst control scheme in universe god), but it is definitely one that will throw you off if you're a certified not-Gamer kinda player, because instead of starting easy and ramping up, it starts ramped up and keeps ramping up even further.
I wouldn't call myself a "certified not-Gamer" or anything along those lines, but UTDR are the only games I've played in the bullet hell genre (unless we count Hades, which I've been told is similar). We will see if this game is playable for me on Easy Mode.
@@LaurentheFlute If it's any encouragement at all, I think the game will be playable on easy mode! Defense values in this game are very literal (e.g. 7 DF = taking 7 less damage than normal), so those extra defense points help a _lot_ when you're only working with 20 HP.
