Probably gotta say for me personally either GOW 2018 Or AC4. God of War has some very intense themes regarding loss, life after death and breaking cycles of abuse that I find very touching and important to recognize and understand. Also AC4 because even though it's a mess of a game, I still love the story and it's themes regarding greed and how it drives us to lust after things that in the end might not be important at all. I think it does a good job showing the pointlessness of greed even though ubisoft can't make a game to save their lives.
Probably Lil Gator Game. Its got such a simple story, yet its so realistic (for those who want to know(don't worry, its not spoilers), the game is about your older sister getting carried away with schoolwork, so she can't play with you like when you were younger).
Probably Dragons Dogma, it was the only rpg that kept me consistently hooked on trying to learn everything I can, if I was to pick a newer game though, definitely disco elysium, that was the first game I actually felt was having a conversation with me
People get turned off from undertale because of it's infamous fanbase, but don't let that ruin the experience for you, it's a masterpiece that's not afraid to think outside the box... literally.
Yeah some of the fan base attacked Touhou and said Touhou was a ripoff in both gameplay and music. For years I ended up despising Undertale until I got bored and watched an LP.
“Don’t you have anything better to do?” Damn, that perfectly sums up how I ended up seeing the game after awhile. I like to think my own personal ending to my undertale story was at the Battle against a true hero. Undyne bested me and I eventually ended up stopping and saying “this isn’t worth it”. I look back and think that I was stopped by undyne from destroying the world I loved. I like the reading of the game that allows for personalized endings like that, Undyne saved the world in my Undertale story, and I think that’s pretty cool. Great video!another banger retrospective!!!
You know, I had a similar thing happen, though it was with Sans rather than Undyne. I realized I was no longer playing the game for enjoyment…but just to prove a point that didn’t even matter. Just because I COULD do something, doesn’t mean I should. I went back, replayed the game normally, haven’t opened it since. After I beat it I moved onto just playing more table top rpgs and rping stuff online with friends. The game still influences me and the characters I make…and deltarune keeps reminding me of why I love these kinds of games. I love a story you can interact with…undertale might be one of the ones that sticks with me most now but, I’ll never forget Mario and Luigi Bowser’s inside story. It was the first rpg and second game I ever completed…and I’m glad to see it’s inspired other people with humor, gameplay, and story.
53:33 i believe that here when asgore is destroying the MERCY button, it's not because you have no choice but to fight, but is because he himself believes he doesn't deserve MERCY for his actions. The man had no one to truly comfort him or snap him out of it during his rage, leaving him alone with his guilt that he cannot turn away from. I can agree with toriel that declaring war is too far, but she left him when he was obviously not thinking straight and needed someone to help him mourn. To be honest, both are good people, but they were both in the wrong for their actions.
If the player "kills" Flowey after the Omega fight, then replays the Asgore fight (by reload or playing the game from the start, whichever), Flowey won't appear to kill Asgore afterwards. Choosing "Mercy" will cause Asgore to, well. Ensure that you get ahold of his SOUL anyways. Honestly, all of the potential results from that followup - before or after fighting Flowey - are all really sad in their own way. He's not happy with himself or his actions, and he's *tired*.
7:16 Shoutouts to Temmie. Decided to do a google, and realized how much of the game she actually worked on. It’s actually kind of insane. Plus, she’s just cool.
there are a lot of comments on videos like "imagine if someone did a genocide run first without knowing" and ive always been like "thats impossible" because the genocide run isnt just dark and fucked up, its boring. the kind of person who would do genocide first without knowing is the kind of person who would open a minecraft world and instantly begin mining a chunk by hand. no one would ever do that because its absolutely insane.
Believe it or not I've actually seen somebody start the Genocide route by accident on a blind playthrough before: Basically was someone so used to 'how RPGs usually go' that they decided they needed to grind just in case because the battle system was so different from anything they were used to. They pretty quickly ended it when they fought Napstablook but given they still killed every non 'boss' monster they encountered in the game (and did a LOT of grinding...) I think the issue was that they were so used to RPGs where only boss battles impact the plot that they discounted all the in-game dialogue that hinted otherwise and probably thought pacifist was a 'self challenge' mode or something, but the fact they remained completely oblivious to all the hints like in character dialogue, the creepy ass slowed music and the kill countdown being a hint that maaaaybe they were doing wrong and not just playing 'as intended' until Sans's judgement hall scene... Just wow, you know? A full genocide run blind though is probably pretty difficult though (unless the person just assumes Undertale is similar to OFF or something, which is always a risk...).
I 100% did a genocide run first. I knew the game had harder fights on the genocide route so I wanted to do it. I don’t care for many of the characters so I was basically just in it for the bullet hell gameplay lmao
@@FaisLittleWhiteRaven Yeah, a lot of people don't realize in this day and age where everything about Undertale is a known quantity, but I had a friend who went in mostly blind back when the game was new. She's a classic rpg fan, Chrono Trigger is her favorite game, and she somehow rarely finds rpg grind boring. So, the one thing she'd been spoiled on without understanding was that Frisk was the name of the character, so she put that into the start screen as if it were a default name (like how Toby eventually gave us Chara). Unfortunately, this leads to a joke hard mode, that goes up through the Toriel fight before dropping you back to the menu. But it still lasts through the whole Ruins, with the Core versions of all the early game enemies. So, not knowing this wasn't normal, she saw the hard enemies, and did what your average rpg player would do; she hit the grind. Legitimately, she made it all the way through Toriel before the joke ending played and she asked me what was up. It's entirely possible she might've gone farther out into Snowdin on the Genocide route if the game had let her, not out of malice, but completely on accident by bringing her old expectations with her. Which was at least partially intentional, if I recall correctly. Toby made sure all the marketing was about how you can not kill enemies and stuff like that, so it was sort of a trap to lure in people who weren't checking their expectations at the door, or who were refusing to interact with the game's main feature of Mercy. While a large part of the Genocide route is tied to obsession and completionism, it's not devoid of the themes revolving around empathy and nostalgia that permeate the rest of the game, either. So yeah, unlikely these days, but Toby was tricksy and definitely made it possible to accidentally walk into a Genocide route, although also trying to give people ample chances to go "oh whoops".
In the "good" ending, I kinda had it in my head-canon that Frisk really may have had nowhere to go or a reason for being at the start of it all. Throughout this journey, sparing... no, understanding the monsters in the underground, such as Toriel, Sans, Undyne, Papyrus, Alphys, etc. Frisk may have found the home they wanted and a reason to move forward. When Toriel offered to stay with her, I did accept it, not for being hand-held off the screen lol, but for Frisk to definitely have a home to grow up in and continue to experience life and have something that drives them towards a happy life hopefully (not saying Frisk couldn't have done that in any other way, but it feels right to me). In a lot of ways, the choice to stay sooner (i.e. just stop playing when Toriel initially takes you in.) It really didn't give Toriel or Frisk a choice, nor did it really make an old ruin home. What makes it home to me anyway is that there was a clear choice at the end not due to circumstances, not due to necessity, but due to love. Frisk can leave at any time, but when they are ready, not when I think it so. It sounds ridiculous, I suppose, thinking of these characters in a game worthy of some kind of choice once the game ends when there likely isn't, definitely isn't, but I can't help but feel this way. It still amazes me that a game can make my feelings surface in such a way that it feels like introspective self-discovery over a choice where I asked where the most choice was given to something that essentially doesn't have a choice but kinda hope it does.
I wish toby fox would do an undertale expanded universe. I know he wants us to deicde what ahppened after undertale but i would love to see firsk have kids and stuff
23:48 Correction: Papyrus only refers to the King of All Monsters as "Mr. Dreemurr." The name ASGORE is not mentioned again until your first verbal encounter with Undyne, in which she makes it clear that "King ASGORE Dreemurr" is a single person. I remember this moment specifically because of how much it shocked me. Before that moment I was envisioning Asgore as some kind of demon monster who roams around the underground killing humans indiscriminately, and I was constantly on the lookout for someone (or something) like that. Meanwhile, I envisioned the King as a giant puppy or similar fluffy creature who I would encounter well before the castle (since Papyrus mentions he wanders around often) and would act as a doofy comic relief. To learn that the vicious murderer that Toriel warned me about, and the big fuzzy pushover Papyrus told me about, were actually the same person, and to learn this from Undyne no less, who is so matter-of-fact in her convictions about humans, was a huge moment in the progression of the story, and a major end of second act twist. I'm always a bit surprised when people forget this and think that Asgore's identity was revealed earlier than it was, since for me it was such a major moment in the story, on par with "I am your father", but I guess 8 years can really make a difference.
(Google translator) God, what a pleasure it was to enjoy this retrospective. I'm a native Russian speaker, but I couldn't find something like this on the entire ru segment of RU-vid, so I watched your video with automatic translation of RU-vid subtitles) I thank you for putting so much effort into making this video. As someone who once tried to shoot on RU-vid, I understand how difficult it is to write a script of this magnitude, not to mention editing and voice acting. Taking off my hat. It's amazing how one person is able to create an indie game that has such an impact on people's emotions. Toby is definitely special. Thanks to him for this, and thanks to everyone who supported the development, including you, the author, because you were there and supported Undertale even before it was released. For this I take off my second hat. Now I am 19 years old. My acquaintance with Undertale happened only 2 months ago, and I made a gross mistake first by watching the walkthrough, and only then by going through the game itself. But despite this, I sincerely enjoyed and was surprised at many moments. I enjoyed it so much that my passage of a true pacifist stretched for 16 hours, I even went to the very beginning, knowing that my best friend was there. And when I saw Flowey's appeal at the end of the game, his request to let the characters just live on, I decided that this would be my last playthrough. I will leave this small 200 MB game file in my disk for a long time, without resetting the game and letting it live without my intervention. Flowey reset again and again to squeeze all the options out of the game, Azriel in the final battle said that he was ready to reset if only the game never ended, I, in turn, decided not to reset even once. I have already received all the warmest emotions, and I will remember this game probably for many years, if not for the rest of my life. Melody Respite time after time will squeeze out of me a tear of happiness for the monsters who see the sun for the first time. The melody Home will evoke in me a sense of peace and security, a feeling of home over and over again. Undyne's theme will forever be remembered by me as the perfect theme to burn down my kitchen. And the melody Good Night will forever be remembered as a sign of the end of the best fairy tale I have read in the last 19 years of my life.
I think one of the few things that help me realize I am not completely jaded just yet is that I still get emotional watching Asriel do his thing. It still gets me. No matter how many times, it will make me tear up. It's one of the very few pieces of media that can do that and I appreciate it a lot for that. Well, and for everything else too.
God, I feel that. No matter how much I hate the world we live in, there's always going to be something that keeps the flame in me alive, fictional or not. This game is just that good. For me, it's just Hopes and Dreams as a song that makes me cry.
Sorry if you’ve gotten this already but you actually weren’t wrong about the pie name! Wether it’s cinnamon-butterscotch or butterscotch-cinnamon depends on which one you tell toriel you prefer
"Don't you have anything better to do?" were the words that inspired me to break out of my video game isolation and ask my now wife on a date. To say Undertale forever changed my life is not an understatement. Yes. I do indeed have something better to do. Thank you, Undertale for showing me that.
I feel the need to mention something extremely chilling about my experience with the undyne the undying boss fight. The only way I was able to defeat her, was to fully emotionally and mentally shut down. Go blank, empty, and distant. I had to go quiet and focus on only reacting to the visuals. I had to make myself go numb to defeat her, and it felt like I was letting something else take control. An unfeeling and silent detachment that really to me embodied the feeling sans described when explaining LV and EXP. It was truly disturbing.
Same thing happened to me with the sans fight, to the point that once I killed him I didn’t feel anything, sadness or happiness or anything in between. Looking back on that moment is kinda scary
Reminds me of how Merg goes silent whenever he has to No-Hit a super difficult boss in an Undertale fangame. Considering how light-hearted and chatty he usually is, it's a stark contrast to see him being totally silent for long stretches of time.
Just seeing how many AA tracks were throughout the video I just KNEW it was going to be what you were gonna tackle next. I nearly screeched in excitement when you confirmed it in the outro.
I just actually and genuinely enjoy playing through every minute of a game that I love. Is that so hard to understand! I'm a bad person for murdering all my friends, not for loving the game 😭 if you don't want me to exhaust everything then don't make it so good TOBY. This is why I have 500 hours on hollow Knight even though I've done literally everything.
Waterfall is my favorite area of the game *because* it's so... Peaceful, quiet. Aside from Undyne's rather rude interruptions, it's easily the most mystical and beautiful areas in the game. It has swampy marshland type areas like the dump, but sometimes the water can be bright and more blue. The mushrooms glow. The stars/crystals embedded in the ceiling shine. And don't get me started on the rain, the reflective puddles, the castle in the distance, standing next to a friend and holding an umbrella. You get to hear the first glimpse at Asriel with His Theme and play it on a piano for yourself. You could start a concert hall with Shyren. It's honestly so much fun. To put it another way, it's a good break. While the New Home area is gray and bleak and still peaceful, it's more of a waiting period, sort of an anticipatory sort of quiet and a narrative drive as it explains the story of Asriel and Chara (which goes so much deeper and I wish people knew more about Chara as they're my favorite character but whatever). You're stuck between a rock and a hard place because everyone's waiting on their freedom, and knowing that in order to go home you'd have to kill Asgore, you're not entirely sure you can give them that. Waterfall is quiet because you're learning how they came to be stuck down underground and why it's so morose and dreary to be stuck down there. The stars are fake, and yet they're beautiful and right there for them to wish on.
For me Waterfall is maybe the most romantic place in the Underground(for love confessions,dates,etc.),and I'm not the only one to think it(*thinks about fanart,fanvideo,etc.*)...
I like how in french there's a double meaning to Tutoriel with Undertale obviously it stands also for Tutoriel but in french you can also see it as Tu-toriel ---> Tue Toriel that litteraly means Kill Toriel I think it's so amazing but I don't know if Toby really saw that but waouh that coincidence is really incredible x)
The papyrus phonecalls get _wild_ as far as the lore is concerned and hint he knows so so much more than a lot of players give him credit for. This is the only game where I was rewarded by going through screen by screen and doing the phonecalls... (Twice. Had to do a run where there's no undyne with him as well, obvs...)
My favorite part about the Asgore fight is just tht if he didn't destroy the mercy button, you'd be able to spare him right away. He doesn't want to fight. But he has to.
Undertale raised me, I didn't have the greatest childhood but just seeing these characters and all the emotion they brought and shared with each other, it made me be able to escape the reality I had, even if, even to today, I haven't played it myself, I still listen to home and there's this one big musical that covers the whole story made by man on the internet that I listen to religiously, to say I'm nostalgic about this game would be an understatement, I still find myself imagining I'm with Asriel as to not let my mind wander into harsher states, Undertale simply made me who I am today, it taught me empathy and adversity more than my own family has, it is stupid to be so affectionate towards a single video game I am aware of that - but hey, I didn't really have anything better else to do, yknow?
Chara is always seen as the villain because of the fact that we see them on the genocide route but I still think that while they were alive they deeply cared about the monsters so it’s quite sad when you think about it
@@colejohnson176 Dude, Marcie (Nezumi) says it herself in this video and the Halloween one. Chara is a mirror character and a child that mirrors your frame of mind here. Not only do I hope you made this comment hoping to bait people. If you were serious, though, I hope that after a year you've actually realised what the game was saying. If not, then there are plenty of videos that provide ample evidence that Chara is not pure evil, and is simply a misguided child with a lot of deep-rooted trauma.
The funny thing about the toriel fight is, while most people don't know what to do on their first try, the game actually tells you how to spare her before you get to her house. In the room with the line of frogits that explains some of the mechanics, the one that explains the mercy button says you might have to spare someone even if their name isn't yellow. I find it so funny that almost everyone that played this game didn't pick up on that.
Likely because the strategy of "fight then spare" works on literally every monster except Toriel. It's easy for a player to rightfully make the assumption that the same attempt will work yet again.
I love how much changes in individual playthroughs. If you play genocide first- without ever doing anything else- the dialog changes ever so slightly to reflect it. If you're recording or live streaming, Flowey says the voyeur line in the pacifist fight. If you start save scumming for any reason either Sans or Flowey will comment, and sometimes- if you play a lot of times all the way through, characters have weird lines sometimes. The game has commentary if you exhaust every characters dialog options at every available time, if you skip through all the dialog, if you find all the places where Alphys put cameras. Someone somewhere usually had something to say no matter what you do, and I love it.
Undertale is equally a criticism of how the player respects their time and how a game respects the player's time, that's what I've always figured. Many games actively want you to be a completionist, or more recently after Undertale's release, a live service. The devs, publishers, etc want you to spend as much time on it as possible, to a degree that can often feel unfulfilling in a greater sense. Undertale was always meant to be as short as it is. It's meant to be completely fulfilling in one Pacifist playthrough, and then you'll never need to do it again, in one little 6-8 hour playthrough. It respects your time and gives you a product that is enjoyable through and through so long as you're playing like a reasonable person. It's 100% a case study on how a game can and should respect the time you put into it, as well as one on how players should respect the time they put into things.
How Asgore says "What kind of monster are you" in the killing route, speaks for itself. You aren't human anymore. Or it means that humans are the real monsters.
Sans coming at you with one of the most memorable Homestuck songs is a trauma fight, and I still have a lot of anger towards that skeleton. Took me years to kill him and trying to reset (ironically) crashed before the first save point as if saying "*nu uh. you aren't getting away from me"
I'm right where you,re describing Sans' fight, saying it's not as difficult as Undyne's. That's actually really, really cool in how it made me realize Undyne isn't *just* the Captain of the Royal Guard because she's strong. She's also got the will to keep things moving. Sans learned one incredibly powerful attack pattern and stopped there, so you can eventually use muscle memory to get through. But Undyne forces you to keep moving and keep thinking. The way the difficulty persists beyond that "I only have to beat them once" curve is so fitting for their characters.
One cool theory about the Sans fight that I'd seen is that his plan from minute one was the sacrifice play of sitting there and never letting you out of the combat window, but he did the complicated pattern trying to kick the shit out of you out of anger of you killing Papyrus. After all, it seems like he'd have a much easier time keeping you in the permanent staring contest if he hadn't just worn himself out to the point where he's falling asleep, right? It also kinda lines up with his attacks are seemingly borrowed; he mentions that the Blue Attack (aka blue heart) was his brother's signature ability, and in the files you see that the lasers he uses are "Gasterblasters". If you use a turn to check his data I believe it even calls him weak, mentioning he can only do 1 damage. This is obviously stronger than it seems when it's revealed this leads to tick/karma damage (in the early days it was theorized that the reason he did repeated damage was that he was so weak it didn't set off invincibility frames), but even then that damage is based on him being able to keep contact rather than a couple cheap shots here and there being able to whittle you down (especially considering the fact that you don't need to attack him, it leaves all your turns open for healing). I think it completely lines up that Undyne the Undying keeps you on your toes the whole time because she's putting all of her considerable strength into defeating you, while Sans becomes easy for people with enough practice because he's a skilled scientist that can use his weaknesses to his advantage, but ultimately isn't as strong as he is smart and is just lashing out in anger hoping it kills you enough, only to end up out of juice and unable to implement his much better plan, due to his sentimentality over his brother.
I also killed Toriel the first time I played and then flipped the hell out when it became apparent that the game *knew*. That was the point where I knew I had to keep playing because this game was going to be amazing. I also did a No Mercy route as part of the start of my RU-vid channel and... well, I gave up. I let Sans win, because ultimately, beating my head against him over and over wasn't fun. It wasn't fun doing it to Undyne either. I didn't feel *happy* about beating her, just kinda relieved and thinking "Oh god it's only gonna get worse from here." I'm happy to have let Sans win, and I agree that the point of the No Mercy route isn't to be fun, it's to showcase the fact that you're just wasting time for the sake of being a "completionist." It's honestly made me feel much better about not being a completionist with other games. I experience the parts that I find fun, and then I move on or replay the fun parts.
If Toby ever fully completes Hard Mode, I hope the sans fight ends in a softlock. No eventual falling asleep. No moving the hitbox over to the fight button. Not even any easter egg-type quips. Just you staring at sans' idle animation.
Can I just say your Sans voice is like the best I've heard, like it feels like the tone can work for that goofiness of a guy who samples Patrick Star without ruining the serious moments.
Undertale will always be timeless. It's insane that a game largely made by 1 person left such an impact on the world, that it's still constantly discussed nearly 8 years later.
i love that you do plot overviews bc it allows me to experience things in full that i never could have myself. i have very bad reflexes when it comes to these types of games and i never would’ve been able to make it all the way through it
Undertale was so important to me. It's the first fandom I really got into, the first work I published fanfic for, and it shaped my life in a lot of ways. I remember when it was a smaller community, and watching it grow. We have history with each other. Can't wait to hear your thoughts on it! I hope you touch on the narrator Chara theory, as I really like Chara, Frisk, and Asriel and totally believe that you teach Chara either cruelty or kindness depending on the route. I think it's in line with the themes a lot. (If you already touched on this in your other video, sorry I haven't watched that because of the deltarune spoilers.)
I love that theory! I think it explains a lot of the personality in the dialogue and why asriel was so quick to project chara onto you! Another neat aspect of that theory I love is that chara protects you during the asriel fight, which is why your soul refuses to break! It also makes sense because human souls persist after death!
About Asgore: this is from the channel The Loading Crew It’s easy to hate him. After all, he murdered 6 humans. Most of them are implied to be children. He murdered 6 other souls and then imprisoned them to be used as tools for later. He did this, to avenge his child. He did this to honor his family. And he's doing this now to save his people. But above all, he's doing this because he's scared. Throughout the lore of undertale we learn that humans are exceptionally powerful, especially compared to monsters. They are so strong, that even if every single monster in the world combined their souls together, they wouldn't be able to take down even a single human. To this species, we aren't just monsters, we're eldritch horrors capable of genocide on an obscene scale. He couldn't take the risk of just 1 human soul. He needed all 7 to become a god and free his people and even then part of me thinks that he truly wishes to fail and die to the human. Shortly after the death of his son, he promised his world a war for freedom that they are more than willing to follow him for. Was this a mistake? Honestly can't say. What do you say to a grieving father who had two children taken from him? - Suck it up? Get over it? Just drop it? Don't even try. What do you tell a man who is in denial about the love of his life who left him because of this? It'll get better? There's plenty of others? There's still a chance for you? Good luck ever getting through to him. And finally, what do you say to a king, who promised his people their long deserved freedom? Maybe next time? We don't need it? We're good enough here? impossible. I genuinely believe that Asgore, with all his reluctance, self-hatred, patience, and care is truly a lawful good individual put into the worst of circumstances. After defeating Asgore in combat he then pretty much offers us a place in his family, to which he is then ambushed and killed by Flowey.
Don't forget that if you beat Flowey and then fight asgore again and spare him again, Flowey doesn't interupt, causing Asgore to realize that his offer is merely a nice dream, leading to him KILLING HIMSELF so the human can leave the underground with his soul, saying that this is what his son, what Asriel would have wanted... Flowey of course then blows up his soul, so maybe it wasn't what Asriel actually wanted after all.
Thank you to this video for letting me know that, even 8 years later- the ‘New Home’ part of the neutral route still has the ability to make me cry ever time I see it.
Watched 3 of your Danganronpa videos despite not knowing the series at all and fell in love (metaphorically) with your style of videos, going in-depth and not worrying about video length. Now having that style of video combined with my favorite game and fandom ever?! (well... ignoring the bad side of the fandom, lol) I already know this'll be an absolute masterpiece! Can't wait for it to premiere tomorrow and spend two hours of my day, and I already know it's gonna be worth it! Keep up the great work Nezumi!
Undertale soundtrack is too nostalgic, one time I tried to listen to some Undertale Lofi to go to sleep, but after a few minutes, I turn the music off because I felt like I was going to die of nostalgia. That’s how powerful this game is.
Something that I think is really funny is when people say "But _I_ wouldn't have destroyed the world! CHARA did that, not ME!" Who are you even kidding? Of course you would've done it. If the option to erase the world as you knew it truly was an "option", you would have soullessly gone back and chose it not any time too long after you said no the first time. You'd do it because you "can". And because you can, you "have to". Also, side note, I love how it can be implied that the profound boredom in doing what you "can" because you "have to" is what Sans might have been referring to in his warning of you having a bad time. _Don't say he didn't warn you._
Well personally if people think the genocide route sucks compared to pacifist and that it shouldn't be so dull and boring. ...Did they miss the obvious fact the genocide route is supposed to make you feel like the worst person in the world? The game gives you SO many chances to back out and go back to the fun parts instead of going down this route of emptiness, but if you don't it will continue to make you feel that way by changing the music to a slow pitch and making every corner empty as no one wants to be around you. The route sucks and it was made to be this way, you obviously don't decide to go on a genocide rampage unless you WANT to.
Flowey made a big change in my life, even if he's a genocidal maniac. Seeing someone who can't recuperate love as a kid who was traumatized into the same scenario being given an endless amount of effort to change, even if he won't, changed me a lot. I still struggle accepting any inch of affection or love but seeing a little flower break down about not being able to undetstand shifted my worldview and helped me start to be more accepting. So yeah this game changed my life lol
Even if everything that has been said about Undertale has been said in a million youtube videos and online posts, I never get tired of hearing people talk about it. It's just one of those games I will never get sick of and will forever hold a place in my heart.
I went into undertale knowing that there was a pacifist route and a genocide route and wanted to do a genocide route first, but Papyrus was so endearing that I couldnt do it.
Hearing what was said around 1:17:00 really made me understand why I resonate so much with undertale, it was introduced to me by two people who had a large influence on me through complex circumstances, but they were extremely important to me and I wish I had been the person they helped me become when I had met them… I never really moved on from the guilt of how I treated them at times :( I just hope that someday I can apologize if I ever hear from them again, even with how hard that might be it’s a hell of a lot easier than forgiving myself…
Seeing you cover Undertale, a game that prompted me to think outside the box and aspire to make things of my own in life is nothing short of a blessing. I love your insightful commentary and every time I watch a retrospective of yours, I come out with a new carefully crafted insight on what the piece of media means. This one in particular did that and so much more. I can’t begin to describe the joy I felt when I saw you were covering a game I hold so dearly to me, so thank you for this :)
I remember myself being a paranoid piece of garbage. As a result, I ended up going through EIGHT playthroughs of this game, and only on the last one did I make True Pacifist. So for me, the True Pacifist dialogue hit even harder than it should've. So here's my story: In my previous four playthroughs, I killed out of fear and paranoia about creatures being after me. In my first ending, Sans told be to go to the shadow realm. But I never achieved genocide, because I never grinded. I was blind to the story then, and it wasn't until my forth playthrough where someone told be about the mirror. Yes, I didn't see *"Despite everything, it's still you"* until the FOURTH time I played! Previously to that, I thought I only had to kill those I either found hard, or were, in my POV, bloodthirsty and an issue. If I killed them, the underground would be better anyway. (I SUCK. I know.) I killed Flowey all those times because I was in an angry stage of grief after Sans told be over and over again that I was a bad person. I blamed Flowey for influencing me. I thought killing him was justified. I was never killing out of self defense. I was killing because I knew I could resort to that. It all hit me like a truck. *"Despite everything, it's still you."* I took it as, *“Despite my attempts to be better, it’s still me. Garbage, heartless, murderous, monstrous me, who can only feel strong when I take a life.”* I thought that mirror was one of those changed dialogues when you go back in time and they somehow remember what you did. So I thought the game was mocking me there. I attempted pacifist in my fifth playthrough, but I failed. Flowey mocked me for going back to spare Toriel just because I wanted to feel better, and I was sleep deprived, so I accidentally killed a rando. Sans STILL called me a bad person because I killed ONE dude. And despite my attempt to redeem myself with Asgore... there was no mercy button. I couldn’t save him from Flowey. (I said screw it. Die Flowey.) I strongly felt that the *‘you’* it was talking about in *“Despite everything, it’s still you”*, was resembling that *‘you’* were the monster. Not them. *"Despite your attempts for redemption, you could not be anything more than the monster."* In my sixth playthrough, I attempted genocide with this mindset. (This was about a month or two of a break from the game.) If I was gonna be the bad guy, I was gonna fulfill my role. Like you did, I accidentally let a few monsters get away that wouldn't spawn once the bosses were defeated. So yeah, Sans had a point. I sucked at being evil. I knew about the Sans fight in genocide by this point. So I was actually HOPING Sans would fight me just to kill me for what I did. But he didn’t. Despite everything I did, in SIX TIMELINES, he refused to fight me and kill me. I didn’t understand it. Why would he do this?! If me, the player, died, everything would be okay. Maybe Sans was well enough aware of that being true... but he still didn’t want to fight me. I wanted him to fight me though. Not so I could beat him. So he could beat me. So after that, I finally didn’t have it in me to kill Flowey. Knowing that I fail as both a hero and a villain, I just didn’t have in me to blame this plant anymore. When I finally showed him mercy, he didn’t understand me... I remember saying to the screen when he asked why: “Because I’m the real monster.” A few months gap, we were helping my grandparents move out to a different home, so there was no wifi in the house. My family really wanted me to stay out of helping, because I’m a weakling with nerd limbs. So I replayed Undertale for the seventh playthrough. I was a REALLY depressed child in that game. I didn’t want to commit to anything. I was scared that if I touched someone, they’d die. I didn’t eat anything they gave me, (So I actually went through an entire game without any consumables) and I shut off my emotions to fight, just so I could survive. I REFUSED to get close to ANY of the mains. I didn’t want to befriend any of them, and I kept my distance. I thought that if I tried, I only end up killing them. I wanted to spare characters that I saw as people I cared about, from my wrath and my instinct to fight back when fought against. Coincidentally, this was also a playthrough I did when I felt the most alone and self destructive in my unhappy school life filled with bullies, rejection, and identity issues. I was told then I wasn’t good enough. So... this playthrough gave the quotes I’ve seen before a whole new meaning. *“Despite everything, it’s still you”* That was never talking about my bad side and my bad side only. That was talking about ALL of me. It wasn’t until that quote, where I realized I actually didn’t kill anyone this time. (Until Asgore) In my past playthroughs, where I both fought with, and acted towards the other characters, there was life there. There was a reason some of them were seeing good in me, the same way they saw bad in me. I finally understood why Sans was sparing me all this time. I finally understood how Flowey felt. Sans was the guidance teacher I needed, but ignored when I needed him. And Flowey was... in the same shoes as me. Why he felt so hopeless and self destructive when I spared him last time. Yeah, I reset the playthrough and didn’t finish. I wanted to make up for all the suffering I caused to the Undertale world by sacrificing myself to Asgore. So I let him beat me and take my soul. I would later find out about the song *“Secret Garden”* and I listened to that on loop. It pretty much resembled what I was feeling at that last part of that playthrough when my character died. It was also the Sans part of that song that stuck with me, as he was actually devastated to see me die like that, despite all that I did, and despite how much I was trying to avoid him that entire playthrough. He still cared about me. So then about two or three months later, I finally come back. My eighth and final playthrough. I knew right away what route I was taking. I was giving these characters the ending they deserved. The ending that I knew I was capable of achieving. And I finally, after WEEKS of sweat, sleep depravation, and tears... *I successfully made the true pacifist route.* *At long last.* I don’t know how it is for people who managed to get the best ending first try, but for me... The fact that I went through such hell just to get there made this route hit SO MUCH HARDER. I finally redeemed myself from killing my new friends over and over again. I finally was able to not only bond with them, but apologize to them for what I did many timelines ago. And I was finally able to apologize to Flowey, and understand him fully. I saw myself in Asriel, and all the bad stuff I had done, which he did. Learning about his story brought tears to my eyes seeing what I could have been capable of since the very beginning. I still remember hugging Asriel like a mother clinging to a child. I was crying during this. The moment is already sweet if this was the first route you did, I’d imagine, but for me... it was the moment I knew I finally achieved redemption. I could successfully look after a helpless child and guide them with wisdom and kindness. It's one of my top ten favorite video game scenes ever because of this. I like to think sometimes that this last version of my player is actually a grown wise adult stuck in a childs body due to all the time travels they went through forcing them to never age physically. Mentally, they did age. Mentally, they went through a lot of heroing experiences that shaped their identities. I don’t think I’ve ever sobbed at a video game’s ending any more than I have here. And I was already crying in a few of the playthroughs, and that was ugly crying and guilt. But I finally gave not only the Undertale characters, but myself, a happy ending in this world. Unlike a few curious folks, I actually listened to Flowey. I never reset the game after this. I didn’t want to TOUCH it again. I didn’t want to ruin these characters happiness. If I wanted to see genocide, or any other outcomes to the story, I’d just watch RU-vid videos. (And it STILL hates you for that) I don’t plan on touching my game anymore, just because I wanted to prevent those characters from suffering ever again. So yeah, that’s my Undertale experience. That’s how I got the true pacifist ending after EIGHT RUNS OF THE GAME. This game's experiences are different for everybody. That’s what makes it special.
Gosh, I remember playing for the first time back in college. I heard about it through a no-longer running Podcast which talked about the meta-narrative things it was doing and how it was coming out soon. I played it blind for the most part and enjoyed every last little story pull it played. What a great game. Congratulations on another great retrospective video, and for introducing me to some deeper reading on the themes! I can’t wait to see you do AA next!
also, really appreciate you recapping your personal experience with the game! I get quite bored of just “story summary” video essays. It feels impersonal and like they’re reading off a wiki page. So thanks!
God I always loved how you don't need to see any specific ending to get the platinum on playstation, as you said to disincentivize the player from being a completionist. Became my favorite bit of meta theming for sure when I saw the trophy list.
thank you so much for this video. i was only 14 when undertale first came out, and now over 7 years later, it still means the world to me. you touched on so many parts of the game that struck a huge chord for me, from the fourth wall breaks, the unconventional way it continues to defy expectations, the way the genocide route was never supposed to feel satisfying, and discussing how chara was often misconstrued by the fandom to be evil reminded me of how much undertale truly meant to me. while i’ve certainly had many hyperfixations since undertale, none were as flawless as this beautiful, masterful game. undertale still remains one of my favourite games of all time and you did a wonderful job of explaining so many of the reasons behind that here.
just watching this get to the genocide part brings up true regret and sadness inside me even years after attempting that route out of curiosity, i remember feeling regret at every move while doing it and im fairly certain i didnt make it past undyne, im glad i never finished it and i like to imagine that i never did it at all😭
One of my biggest regrets in life is that I watched someone else play Undertale for my first experience. I really wish I could have played it blind for myself, but unfortunately... I didnt know about it until Dodger played it and I watched. Oh well, its still an amazing game that has really influenced me, and I’m grateful for that.
I'm sorry, I know you're a voice actor, it's in the name, but way you transition from your normal voice to the voice you use for Flowey is *SMOOT!* I know it's almost your normal voice, but for some reason it just works. It just works.
Undertale is my favorite game of all time. I was at perhaps the lowest part of my life so far when it launched. I had the worst semester of school in my educational career and very nearly would’ve failed out were it not for the kindness and understanding of my professors. I had been living for years with this constant negative thoughts that I was too lazy, too dumb, too insignificant to do anything in life. I have long had coordination issues and been very, very bad at video games. The gaming landscape was so geared towards multiplayer shooters and twitch reflexes (at least the games I was seeing). I had gotten it in my head that games weren’t “for me.” I played it in my room alone in college, mostly as a distraction from doing the homework from last semester so daunting that I couldn’t handle it. It was the first game I had ever played that made it feel like I could play it as I was. I didn’t need to be the best, the most clever, or the most skilled. I just had to keep trying. That ethos soon expanded to my real life, and over time, I learned what was missing was not raw talent or skill, it was determination. I beat the pacifist ending, and I went on to get a PS4 to play everything I had missed. Not as the best player, but as someone who was in it for their own fun. I even beat Bloodborne’s final 2 bosses by myself. I have a great job I never thought I could get, im in a happy relationship of almost a decade. I can’t give all the credit to Undertale, but it undoubtedly gave me a push I do desperately needed.
Undertale has a special spot in my heart as well because I talked with a highschool friend who had moved away and he sent me a package with some convention gifts and a CD drive that said to "play this, it rules," it was a disc with a demo of Undertale burned into it. And I later learnt about the full game. I haven't talked to this friend in a long time now sadly. I sometimes miss them but sadly due to how I've lived and grown, and all the moving. It's something I've had to develop over time. It was wild seeing this game blow up and even being annoyed by the fanbase. Someday I hope to reconnect. But even if it doesn't work out for the better. All my meetings, encounters and parting have helped to shape who I am now.
I quite literally cannot bring myself to do Genocide or Snowgrave - I genuinely feel for the characters and feel bad hurting them, I was willing to kill Spamton Neo at one point bc of the difficulty of his bossfight (luckily I lost) but i felt bad even doing that!
1:45:37 You know, I wonder if Frisk actually has any places to go? I mean, they're a human that willingly went to a famous death mountain while carrying only a stick, a gauze/bandage that had "been used many times" and was "still kind of gooey", and the clothes on their back. There's also that whole thing with the Abandoned Quiche... The player may have places to go and better things to do, but I'm not sure Frisk does. I wonder if they are better off staying with Toriel and the others
New home is one of the most emotional, heart wrenching moments I’ve ever experienced in games. The story is so tragic, the monsters see this fight as exciting. They’ll finally be free. It’s just so emotionally powerful. The theme playing through it communicates the emotional, somber tone as well. All and all, it’s truly a lot. And the judgement hall is a very cathartic scene. All this build up of sans as a character is finally released here. His mature, almost wise tone is powerful. Especially in the pacifist route. It is truly a beautiful climax to the story. Especially with the asriel fight too. Pacifist route just gives me all the feels
Sorry I keep adding on stuff I’m commenting as a watch. But finale is one of the greatest tracks in Undertale. It’s so determined, it is brewing with hope. It is a difficult boss fight, but you’re persevering, and the souls are there right by you, they’re with you. It’s also moving because of the faltering in flowey’s control of the game. Slowly fading away as the souls support you instead of attacking you
Probably one of my favourite things about Undertale that doesn't actually have anything to do with the game itself and is really only tangentially related is how Jirard the Completionist basically proves it right almost all the time. The amount of times he expresses lament at how a game poorly rewards the time he spent completing it, let alone the amount of times he point-blank states that playing a game to completion actually worsens the experience it provides, is staggering.
Not sure if someone said this yet, sorry if they have, but I wanted to ask if you ever knew about the puzzles on the sides of the core? If you go all the way to the side, there will be a room with a puzzle and completing if will unlock mettaton's boss fight without all the other stuff. Also, did you know that if you step out of the long elevator it skips the ride and you are already at your destination? (I hope that its not only on the switch, but that does seem unlikely. Also, I realize that I am probably not the first to point this out, so sorry if I'm being repetitive or coming off like I think I know more than others. Also sorry I'm so late lol, but I tend to be late with everything about this game and fandom by years, so I'm glad its only a month.)
Idk how to edit so, I also wanted to.know how many people noticed that the gift boxes with the heart locket and dagger were almost(if not) identical to the ones you get stuff in in erthbound. I thought that was cool once I actually realized it. It took me like, three years though, so.
so freaking good!! super super excited for that ace attorney video! :D ps that story about messaging toby fox for help on fighting asgore was so sweet!
My now fiancé and I started dating the same day Undertale came out. A few months later the game became my obsession and my fiancé would gladly listen to me ramble on and on about the game, AU’s, comics, etc. Now we play through Deltarune and theorize about it together. I love Undertale so much and the emotions it made me feel and how it’s been a sticking point in my now 7 year relationship. Thank you for this video, it’s brought back so many good memories
I have two stories about my first time seeing Undertale. I haven't played it and don't really intend to, because the bullet hell is not something I'm interested in. But I've watched many people play it and I was totally blind in my first LP (Nakateleeli's) Story 1 is that I accidentally missed one episode...the beginning of Hotland and the introduction of Alphys and Mettaton. It says something about the tone of the game that the first time I saw Mettaton was for the cake-baking segment and I just didn't even register it as my having missed something. This was just what was happening now. Story 2 - by the end of the normal pacifist route, I was in love with the soundtrack. Not knowing there was a whole spoiler-ful true ending coming, I bought it and started listening before I finished watching the game. And somehow...after hearing Hopes and Dreams, that the Undertale music box reprise was named "His Theme" told me inexplicably and certainly that Flowey was Asriel. I can't justify that guess or explain how I came to it. There must have been enough clues sprinkled in through the game, but it was the music that got me. I remember hearing Your Best Friend creep into SAVE the World and guessing that there was some final extra boss which Flowey would come to help you defeat, your having spared him at the end of Neutral Pacifist. I thought that if you killed him at that point, the true ending would be lost (I still don't know what happens if you do). But I knew he was involved because of the musical spoiler and I knew who he was.
weirdly enough ndrv3's ending came to mind when you were talking about undertale's message. some might consider them belittling or preachy, but they hit on similar points of reevaluating the way we consume the media we love. chara has always been one of my favorite characters ever and undertale is an unforgettable game, really happy you covered it again!!! super excited to hear your thoughts on ace attorney soon!
I was so lucky to play the game only a couple of months after it released (ie before the internet got a hold of it) and it remains one of the most magical gaming experiences of my entire life.
Such a good video! Can't wait for the phoenix wright one when it comes out, the analysis and retrospective definitely took me back some old memories and made me question some stuff about how i consume media, thank you nezumi 💜
This game honestly is so important to my life. If I'd never played this game, I wouldn't have met so many of the most important people in my life, hell I think without this game I would be so far from where I am now. It's a beautiful story that I think about probably daily, and revisiting it always ends up making me laugh and cry all at the same time
unfortunately i didn’t get to enjoy undertale spoiler free as most of my friends had undertale hyperfixations, but even if i didn’t grow up loving each character, i did grow up loving my friends
(edited) watching this is bringing me back honestly. While I wasn't there right at the beginning I was playing way before it really truly blew up and we were still figuring out how it ticked, and this video honestly makes me kinda sad the newer players aren't going to get the completely blind runs like we did. That flowey fight... I remember physically recoiling when I first saw it 😂and the walk to Asgore having me SOB. This vid truly feels like a love letter to this game, thanks for making me reminisce ☺💕 wait I actually finished the vid finally and yes still very good!! but I am SO so glad you've talked about the genocide route how you did, because I think at this point in undertale's history the whole point of it is basically lost to many. That with the games stardom some of it's more subtle themes (and honestly the messages and themes I really enjoyed) are forgotten in favor of pure mechanics. I see a lot of folks not really getting WHY something is the way it is but more focused on how, and how to play it "perfectly". Your explanation and discussion of it really reminded me of the initial talk around that route, and ah it's really refreshing!!!
Everytime i think of undertale i think of younger me, finding it and being so entranced with it and its fandom and the love that so many people like myself have for the game. And i smile I turn my head towards all my memetos of the love and joy i have of undertale, a plushie of sans, a board on my desk with the phrase 'despite everything, its still you.' Scribed on it, all of the friends and family ive gained on the internet from the joy that undertale gave me and pushed me to take risks, to start drawing, to make friends, learn about myself-- And i smile. And i smile because, despite everything. Its still me. Im still here and no matter what i think, im still that kid that loved undertale so much years ago. And i smile.
it may be a mindless detail in comparison to what you pu forward in the actual script of this video, but by god did hearing some of my favorite Ace Attorney (one of my favorite games) music play out over Undertale footage (another of my favorite games) make me so INCREDIBLY happy ! anyways, great video !! :D
Of course, the genocide route can be interesting from a character standpoint besides the slog by seeing other aspects of said characters. But that's probably why I was convinced to not go so far as to kill Sans. At that point, there's still basically nothing left to learn about the characters I've come to care about. And I vaguely knew by then it'd leave that permanent scar so it wasn't worth it.
1:36:03 I think this was meant to be a 4th-wall break directed at the actual player, not youtube viewers. Although it perfectly works in the context of a content creator as well
Gosh, this is such an outstanding video and it just served to remind me that you are, and have been for a while, one of my favorite youtubers out there. Thank-you for covering one of, imo, the most touching and impactful games ever, and double-thank-you for the lack of Deltarune spoilers since I haven't gotten around to it yet, and have been feeling a little left out with general online Undertale dialogue since chapter 2 was released ^_^; You've perfectly encapsulated what makes this game so special and unique, which is so important to me because when I first played the game, the point went a little bit over my head, and I proceeded to decidedly *not* let it go for the next one or two years of my life. That eventually led to me feeling a little desensitized to it all, unfortunately. While I don't regret being part of the initial Undertale fandom, I *really* wish I could experience it for the first time again (Luckily, I've convinced my mother to play it and let me watch, which will hopefully let me live vicariously through her, haha). 1:58:51 THE WAY THIS HAD ME SCREAMING! I definitely noticed that there was more AA music in this vid than usual and found myself hoping you would cover it at some point, only to be totally overwhelmed with excitement when you said this! Ace Attorney is my favorite game series ever and has had a huge impact on me. Ever since I recently played the Dai Gyakuten Saiban duology, I've been practically blown away by a resurgence of my love for the series. You have no idea how excited I am to hear your thoughts on these wonderful games! I don't believe I've ever left a comment on this channel and that makes me feel terribly bad, since I pull up one of your videos every time I need some comfort or even just some background noise. I wish I could remember how I initially found you (I think it was either your Mob Psycho, Madoka, or NGE videos..?), but that's beside the point-- I just felt I should mention that I am truly really grateful to you for putting so much time and effort into these videos, and they always brighten my day. So thank-you for being awesome and doing your thing Marcie, hope you and anyone else reading this comment is having a lovely day. :)
I think a good comparison when it comes to the completionist mindset of undertale is this. Crash Bandicoot 2 and 3 have over 30 unique death animations based on how Crash dies. But viewing every one of Crash's death animations is not a completion criteria.
Thank you so much for making this video, this helped me hear everything I've ever felt about Undertale that I just wasn't capable of putting into words myself. This game had and still has such a massive impact on my life in so many ways. This game will eternally have my gratitude even after my time.
I think Frisk isn't just the angel from the prophecy. Asriel is, too. He even turns into an angelic-like creature. He has seen the surface - but for a brief moment - then frees them in the pacifist route by breaking the barrier. Although, I suppose him absorbing all the souls at the end also counts as "freeing them from their mortal coil"?? I could even argue that Chara could also be the angel. They are pretty much the reason this whole tale started. I know it's technically the humans from long ago that are the reason for all this, but really, Chara's arrival is what matters. Then when Frisk arrives, Chara is revived in a way and helps us in our journey. And helps in saving the monsters or ending the monsters. TL;DR: I personally think that Frisk, Chara, & Asriel are all at the same time the angel from the prophecy.
When I first heard about the Genocide route I'm not sure I believed it was real. It sounds 100% like a copypasta. "NO REALLY, if you grind and grind and grind enemies for hours until there's nothing left, the whole game gets creepy and dark, and the music slows down, and all the characters run away from you and start calling you out and trying to escape"
I have really been loving the retrospectives you have been doing lately although ever since I saw one of your videos I've been really hooked on what you put out! I really cannot get enough of your thoughts and analysis on all these stories and games. I love getting to see them in a new light, even when I feel so familiar with them or am hearing from them for the first time. I come to your channel specifically to see what you make of things and it never disappoints! This one was no exception. The pacing was nothing short of immaculate and I think it covers precisely everything it needed to. I also really loved hearing about your personal experience with the game and the ways it touched you. I think that is something that really makes the videos you create on these topics very special. Another thing I really appreciated was a glance into what Toby was inspired by to create Undertale. I think it just really contextualized it and it feels really inspiring in of itself to have a little window to that process. Just!! Fantastic video!! I know im going to be watching it many times over (and im very excited for you to talk about Ace Attorney!!)
I can't believe you made an excellent and profound undertale retrospective while barely even mentioning gaster lol. The fandom gets so caught up with him that he can overshadow the much cooler themes the game has to offer
Ultimately Undertale gives you one of the best narratives and enjoyable experiences in games ever, and then tells you to go outside and do something else, its just a game, just like earthbound was meant to be interpreted. All the Undertale AU's are basically mocked before they showed up in Undertale itself, and those are okay too, its complicated, don't lose your soul, some mountains weren't meant to be climbed.
This is wonderful! I love your retrospectives so much, they're always so interesting and entertaining. Your discussion on the game's attitude towards the completionist mindset definitely has me thinking about how I approach games. I wouldn't say I am a completionist but I have picked up those tendencies more and more over the years, especially when I started playing steam games and getting achievements. It's made me more inclined to look for alternate paths and secrets in games, using guides to find everything. It doesn't mean I'm unhappy just playing a game beginning to end and leaving it at that, but it does feel like I'm more inclined to replay it just to tick off all those boxes rather than out of pure enjoyment. Undertale has been both a game I'm thoroughly satisfied with my experience of and also one I kept feeling I wanted more of, particularly regarding the no mercy run. I have replayed the true pacifist run of Undertale so many times and I never get bored of it, even knowing exactly what happens doesn't detract from my love of the experience. In contrast I've started and stopped a no mercy run several times, always giving up at the fight with Undyne. At first I gave up because the difficulty was insane, but then I realised the reason the difficulty bothered me so much was because I wasn't enjoying the run; it didn't feel worth it. I've seen let's players complete the run so I know what happens but part of me was still determined that one day I'd complete it myself at least once, just to say I've done it. After watching this video, that determination isn't so strong anymore. I don't think I need to see more than what I've already seen and loved. Excellent video as always, also love the new music.
What a fantastic essay, I think most of what you said is something I realized before, with the exception of the whole nostalgia thing all the characters are stuck in haunted by the past, which correlates to the "better to do" message once you finish pacifist. That was really interesting to realize was going on in the game. I really can't comment about anything on the main topic of the video, you just got it so wonderfully down no other words are necessary. Also, thank you very much for defending Chara and stuff, altho I was a lil sad you didn't follow up or at least mention the mirror flavor text evolution in pacifist that ends with "still just you, Frisk" which alongside tons of other hints shows that Chara is the one narrating the game in every kind of run, and most likely is also the penultimate person you "save" in pacifist, the one that is mentioned with they/them pronouns as "someone else", before Chara sharing their memories of falling in the underground allows you to actually save Asriel afterwards. I guess the only thing I would nitpick on, and that's extremely small personal hiccup really, is just a few different ways to see small parts of Asgore's general backstory. I noticed you did mention how part of Asgore's problem was "being too much of a coward to get the souls from the surface", but that seems to be a big red herring that it was absolutely out of the question, especially with Asriel confirming it would have gone to tragedy if that was the case, and Asgore and Gerson agreeing to not wanting to break the barrier for similar reasons. The thing about that solution is that it was just a simple hypothesis that toriel says in her frenzy to hurt Asgore in any way she can, not even realizing that's what Chara and Asriel died for, which kind of shows how similar her and Chara's pragmatism is, it's very cool. Asgore's whole tragedy is more of how he was cornered in all directions with stuff he couldn't do anything about besides hoping no other human would come to maintain the feeble but stable status quo. He couldn't get souls from the surface, he didn't want to hurt anyone in general but the kids still arrived to kill him, he couldn't take back his words to the monsters because their lives hangs on them having hope otherwise they would fall down and die. His solution was to find other ways to break the barrier, which only lead to the amalgamates and ironically flowey which was essential to break it eventually in a very roundabout way but still. There is actually another thing he could have done, adopt the human kids to live with him instead, and he most definitely tried to do it with the other kids, because as soon as he realizes Frisk doesn't actually want to kill him like the other kids, who like Frisk were sent off from Toriel who withheld on purpose the truth about the barrier (she actually apologizes and recognizes her mistake of sending off humans to kill Asgore in pacifist), he jumps to welcome Frisk immediately even without forced adoption, before he reality checks himself and for how much he hates himself and his actions he had no choice but to take, and kills himself to let frisk go freely and possibly look for a way to break the barrier from the outside. God, Asgore slays me every time, especially with the speech he does about Chara and Asriel during this. ..... Oh and I may have started blabbering about him, my bad lol
God this game has has such a massive impact on my life, 8 year old me didn't know what they were getting into when they first watched content about it. Hell it's had such an impact that "Despite everything it's still you" is not only going on my graduation cap next year (perfect timing for it's 10th anniversary soon which feels weird), it's also gonna be my first tattoo. This game is incredible, I adore it, it got me into writing and character creation, I don't think any game will have such an impact on me ever again
