people talk about women being ‘emotional’ and ‘overreacting,’ but you don’t see a woman making an arch-nemesis out of an albino whale and obsessively chasing it down like a lunatic for 585 pages
This is one of those key bits of storytelling done via game mechanics that only really made sense to tell via game mechanics and it’s incredible. The music hammers it home, but the mechanics used to tell the story is spot on and masterfully done.
While we’re gushing about the game mechanics, I want to point a couple of them out for the people who haven’t explored this route yet:
– The way the attacks slow down as Undyne fades away
– Your soul is GREEN during the entirety of Undyne’s fall – This means you’re shielding yourself from her attacks, not avoiding them – This means also means you’re not allowed to flee the battle (a mechanic that is mentioned at the start of the fight + solidly established by the Pacifist fight) – Her keeping your soul green, despite any damage she sustains, is also a testament to her willpower to fight/hinder you as long as she can
– She fades away, even when you stop fighting. This implies that her death would’ve been inevitable either way, but by keeping you green, Toby is MAKING you watch and face the consequences of the fight.
– In the True Lab, it was established monsters with too much determination melt… and we actually get to see the process of that happening, first-hand. That’s a level of continuity I can admire and appreciate.
Say what you want about Undertale, but the game lays down solid rules for both its story and game mechanics and masterfully uses them; following them closely, breaking them when needed, but never truly straying too far from them.
this game makes sure you cant avoid the consequences of your choices
the game purposefully screws with players specifically because it plays with what we consider to be standard procedure of gaming. as far as i am concerned that was the POINT of the game
level and exp? dont need them and you feel bad getting them
respawning enemies run out because you were murdering actual individuals not just generic mooks
even the first boss, you assume that by the rules of bosses you arent supposed to kill that she was going to surrender after you proved yourself or teleport or something.
NOPE– you can actually kill her by accident and the game makes you feel like a heartless bastard for doing so; because you are. since you were relying on ‘game logic’ to excuse your murder-hobo ways isnt morality
when the game was new there were screams of remorse heard around the world when people accidentally murdered goat-mom and cried severely
And Sometimes a Potato 