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[Alevice]

I really loved the fact that Asgore attacks are just the hardcore version of Toriel's. It dawned on me when i restarted the game.

It also took me a while to realize what I had to do with Undyne.

Muffect was hard for me the first time. In my rerun i stocked myself with healing items, but whereas I used tons over my frirst, I have barely used them now. I became less of a scrub!

[Diabetes Forecast]

thankfully undertale isnt very hardcore so even a scrub like me could beat it.

...unless you go into genocide mode. in which case the game offers serious challenge for those of us that think the bullet dodging is too easy. (a shame you have to kill everyone for that)

[Alevice]

by then you should have accumulated tons of execution points and gained many levels of violence (and farmed dog salad)

[Tanner]

yeah i didn't figure out what to do for U**** (i fucking hate formatting spoiler tags here) until i asked a friend.

difficulty was pretty pitch perfect for me on my flawed pacifist first runthrough. still haven't attempted a true run yet though. really wish i hadn't screwed up so bad in the beginning

[s0]

probably silly question: if i accidentally selected the attack option on a monster but cancelled the attack that won't break my pacifist run right? i mean i don't assume it does but i just wanna be safe. 

[Tumetsu]

No it doesn't.

[SirNiko]

Pacifist run is only broken in two ways:

Killing an enemy (This is easy to check - if you are LV 1 you are good, if you are LV 2 or higher you are not good; load an earlier save)

and

Failing to give Undyne water after her fight

Any other set of circumstances and you can still complete a pacifist run. This includes some things that might not be obvious, like you are still pacifist even if you don't help the monster kid when he falls off the bridge (Undyne saves him anyway). You can also damage enemies with the fight command without killing them, which is useful in some cases (it speeds up the Papyrus fight and lets you Spare some enemies sooner).

[s0]

No it doesn't.

good now i can rest easy lol

also yeah i figured about the undyne thing

[Dragonmaw]

Also:

1) The game is super short, you can beat it again really quickly after your first run.
2) Killing an enemy just sets you on the Neutral ending, which is a fine enough ending on its own, although obviously not as hug-filled and amazing as the Pacifist ending.
3) The Genocide ending requires you to kill literally every single enemy in the game AND exhaust all random encounters. There's no way for you to get it on accident. It's also the only ending that will "ruin" your save file; Neutral ending doesn't do anything except change some dialogue in the main part of the game, not the epilogue.

[s0]

yeh i know, ive already beat the game lol

[Nillo]

There's a bunch of neutral endings in this game, depending on which characters you killed and which ones survived.
The main difference is who ends up being in charge of monster land after Asgore is gone. It could be pretty much any of the main characters (even the beloved bonehead, Papyrus). Sometimes Toriel becomes the queen again, but it seems like she is usually overthrown by a rebellion because the monsters don't like her peaceful attitude after everything that the human (you) did to them.

I've seen some "compilation" type videos for the neutral path but I don't know if any of them were exhaustive. Perhaps there are still some more obscure neutral endings waiting to be discovered.

[s0]

damn

this game does shit with branching stories that AAA games can't even come close to

[ProgramGamer]

Yeah it kind of reminds me of the way you had to do specific thing to get the best ending in Cave St-

Gosh darnit.

[s0]

The Underside ripoff

[Dragonmaw]

Not the game we wanted, but definitely the game we needed.

[SirNiko]

I wouldn't call it branching stories, per se. Rather, the developer just made sure to include several variations of the final text to account for a number of scenarios. There isn't even one for every possible combination of bosses slain.

The game is very linear, and most of the dialogue is designed so that both choices give different reactions that have exactly the same result. Mass Effect and The Elder Scrolls have individual quests with more branches than this game.

What Undertale does differently is it litters the game with unique dialogue that accounts for a huge number of very tiny variations that have no lasting impact that your typical game would simply ignore.

[s0]

ok i guess replace "branching story" with "choice and consequence" in my previous post

[SirNiko]

Then I'd agree, yes.

[s0]

the weird thing is that it feels like you have more impact on the story than in games with actual branching stories (to me it feels that way at least). you have a genuine sense that characters remember you and your actions.

u know, this has made me think. maybe "narrative player agency" in games is not really about giving the player more control over the plot at all. maybe we should replace narrative agency with "narrative impact". hmmm...

[SirNiko]

Yeah, despite the outcomes of your interactions being the same every time, the tiny details the game does remember make it feel more complex than it really is.

A huge part of RPG design (especially tabletop) is about figuring out how to mold the situations very slightly so that players feel like they're in charge when in reality it's just a magician's choice. It's way easier than designing two scenarios knowing one will never be used.

Although designing the game intentionally to be played multiple times in short succession works against you because the player can try the opposite choices and realize how little impact they actually had.