Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-12190640-20180129033252

I've noticed a lot of people completely lost as to why the Genocide Route seems to end with Chara telling you/Frisk that it was time to move onto the next world... and then act surprised the next time you boot up the game. They seem almost annoyed, or perhaps disappointed?

It seems to me that Chara is the "you" behind the controls. However, they are also "not you". As "you" but "not you", they lay bare the consequences of your choices to engage in mass murder for your own gain. As "you", they speak of bloodlust and a desire for the end of everything.

You might consider that to be putting words in your mouth as a player. But in the end, it isn't really. Whether good or bad, the reason you play games it to reach the "end". You have reached this "ending", more surely than any other. There is no room for negotiation, for ever-afters... indeed, if all is nothingness, there is no reason whatsoever to return. You can, however, but it's illogical to do so. Hence the confusion. The only reason to go back and try again is that sense of perverted sentimentality, a longing for something one cannot reach... or the desire to bring everything to an end, with your own hands, once more.

When you beat a game, after time has passed, what do you do? Keep it on your hard drive? If you need the space, you delete it. The story is finished, the deed done. The data becomes zeroed out, free space... "nothing".

Similarly, when you are allowed to kill or not kill in this game, people would argue that they "aren't evil" for taking the path of violence. And they would be right, to a degree. Utilizing game mechanics isn't "evil" inherently. But the consequences thereof... well, it seems as though people and actions are only evil in retrospect, and depends heavily on perspective. The world seems so small, a 800 by 600 window before you, and your hands on a keyboard. Seeing things through your eyes, Chara might seem insulting. But from the eyes of those slaughtered, the betrayed trust hurts as much as the knife. Chara merely brings those into the forefront. But who cares? These people "don't exist", after all...

At any rate, I digress from the point. The truth of the matter is, Chara does not expect you to play again. After all, all of the people are dead- they merely swept up the rest of the shards of reality. What do you hope to achieve? Chara probably expected you to go on to the next world.

Not Frisk.

You.

The player, upon reaching the conclusion of their game, is reasonably expected to go forth and play. another. game.

The "next world" is not the world of Undertale, reborn anew, but another game entirely. Any RPG, really, where people and monsters are slaughtered in the names of "justice" and "ideals" and "saving the world". Sacrifices are made and often never dwelled upon by the cast of whatever you move on to. Is there another way? Probably not in the game mechanics, no. Killing for survival and gain are part and parcel of the fantasy genre, and many others.

Please take my ideas with a huge grains of salt, being that a) I haven't actually played this game for more than about 20 minutes, and b) most of this was thought up after reading like three wiki pages. Also sorry if this is obvious/has been stated previously. 