Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-27662991-20160123185416/@comment-4991168-20160311162936

I managed to do playthroughs on all the paths I believe I like the most without really knowing the secret to it the first two times around (I did purposefully aim for True Pacifist on my final playthrough).

First time around I played with a mindset of a traditional RPG initially - earn experience, spare some monsters - but quickly caught on the fact that killing monsters is not at all a positive thing this time around and even in small numbers, it may be problematic during the ending. I believe I killed roughly 5-6 regular monsters (I think three of those were in the Ruins and two of those were Loox, for the bonus experience, although I only used the bonus exp. trick once or each). I also killed Muffet and Mettaton (so, bosses who *really* tried to kill me/threatened me), leading to the variant of "Undyne Betrayed" ending where she gives up on revenge out of despair. I was satisfied with this ending because while my actions had definite consequences for the underground, they didn't break anything seriously save for the only person who'd originally pursue me, and Toriel  lead the underground relatively well.

Second time around I was originally aiming for Genocide, but stopped after battling Undyne the Undying and started actively sparing some (not all) monsters. While I didn't realize the consequences of a complete Genocide playthrough I did realize Undyne was right in regards to the character. Alphys ended up being the leader; I was satisfied with this ending because my character played a definite villain, but while the consequences were tragic, they pushed some monsters to unite and excel, leaving them with hope.

Final playthrough, I just went for True Pacifist from the get go. It was challenging at times but I was satisfied with the final ending because ultimately all monsters turned out to have a kind side to themselves and I could imagine Frisk leading a rewarding life as Toriel's second adopted child.