Talk:Undertale/@comment-27504195-20160403024621/@comment-5956954-20160403035649

Ahh, I see.

First off, there was once a war between humans and monsters. The humans won and drove the monsters into the underground of Mt.Ebott. You are a human that many years later, fallen into the underground, and enter the world of monsters. It's pretty simple and yet unique, as you now have to make your way out of the underground. Pretty easy right? Well no. You can climb the way you fell, but the humans placed a magical barrier around Mt.Ebott that only lets things in, but doesn't let them out unless "Certain" requirements are met.

That is the summary of the beginning. Now my review of undertale.

TL;DR
Metacritic if you like that crap

My ratings

10/10 Writing and soundtrack

9/10 secrets

 8/10 Art and design 

7/19 Gameplay

10/10 Replay value

In conclusion, tl:dr, Undertale is a game that is meant to me run through once unless one is looking for all the secrets it has to offer, which I guarantee, is a lot and even goes outside the game World. Other than that, the soundtrack and writing work perfectly together, and with the variations, can build your journey into possibly one of the greatest experiences in a video game. If you like the gameplay, that will also be great since it is fun and can get very creative at certain parts. I will tell you, however, that despite how good it can be, it requires a certain attitude and that is being honest with yourself, entering the game blind, and play it how you want basically. Another thing to note is undertale is not a high-budget game, only garnering $50,000 for the Kickstarter, so while there is much in the game, it isn't amazing like the Witcher 3 in technicality, size, and complexity, and so, high expectations are not a good mindset to have if you play something critically acclaimed in a way where certain attitudes were used. undertale doesn't need that, though, since what it has right now, combining the writing and events, shows how much love and passion Toby Fox, the developer, has put into his own game (it took him 2.5 years to make), and I believe anyone can respect that.

9/10 overall.

Actual review

The writing and its adaption to YOU.
The game excels at its writing and soundtrack. When they work together, it can create a lot of memorable and powerful moments whether it will be a couple of jokes, morbid darkness, tragedy, and serious but sometimes fun-loving moments. The soundtrack sets the atmosphere, and the dialogue does its work. How the game presents these depends on how YOU, the player, decide things throughout the game.

YOU, the player, decide what is right or wrong in the world of undertale, and whatever you do will change the game in one way or another. It can be something as minor as different dialogue, or it can lead to complete happiness, to complete tragedy to complete emptiness for the underground, with a ton of variations in between to set the style you want or the style that you deserve. In undertale, there is one goal. Pass the barrier and return to the surface, but the journey through it can be anything you want.

If one plays honestly throughout the game with only one goal, then undertale will mold into an experience that is just right for you. Me, for example, I killed people not because of murder, but because I was young and misguided in the world until I got to the end, where I grew up and learned, but had to see the tragedy I have bestowed upon the monsters, and bring me the most guilt I have seen in a video game ever. A guilt that made me want to redeem myself and fix my problems. I got that ending because I had my own moral beliefs, and I was paranoid. You will see why when you progress through the game yourself, and that is if your honesty is the same as mine.

For a certain enemy, they wanted to capture me, a human, but they were a jolly nice guy. However, the time came where I had to do battle to progress. They thought friendship was an option, and it is, but they chose to follow their dream instead and capture me. "I had to kill him," I thought, and so I did. He offered me mercy, but I did not accept it because that would be admitting defeat and so, I thought I would get captured in the process. I need to escape the underground and keep my promise to a certain motherly figure. "walk as far as you can, and eventually, you will reach an exit." When I played it again and offered my mercy, to my biggest surprise, what I thought was wrong. I was blind by paranoia and made my hands red. It was all my fault, but I am so happy it was different.

Number 1 tip: be honest with yourself and the game. It will be the best experience possible for you. For me, the morbid atmosphere in the game is the most powerful. What is yours?

One last thing to note is that since the writing is great, it tells you that the characters will have memorable personalities and will be a good experience with them while they last.

10/10

The minor, but meaningful details.
Undertale is littered with flavor text, and so, holds many secrets with what you interact with. Even a wall, a simple wall, defines a certain character. Where is it? As a completionist, all I can say is "you need to look around. Take your time." Interact with monsters in different ways known as ACTS. Talk to them. Compliment if possible. Scare them. Compliment the scare, and so forth. They will adapt and remember your actions. Backtracking throughout the game also leads to different dialogue from the characters depending on your actions but do note that this is only from which biome you have completed, so it isn't constantly changing. The game is low-budget of course, so don't overestimate its technicality. Appreciate the love and soul it has been poured in. With so many things in the game, as the aforementioned heading above says, it will build the experience you will have.

Number 2 tip: look around. Take your time. there is a lot to discover.

9/10

The art and Design
The art and design is basically sprite and 8-bit quality, so compared to the games today, that isn't a leap forward, but backward. However, during the final stages of the game where more advanced development from the kickstarter was undergone, we can see it was simply a style toby fox chose to use, so this is not an issue. However, i will criticize some aspects. The ruins (the starting area), for example, is mostly purple and is considered a generic design. However, during the development after the ruins, the areas start to become more detailed and more lively. See Waterfall for example, which in my opinion, is the game's best effort at its design and variety. Considering the fact that undertale's room design has gotten more variety thanks to the funding, the design is not an issue late in the game, but the ruins will still be a problem, and a problem it will stay as.

8/10

The gameplay
To be honest, the gameplay, while fun and creative, doesn't do too well on the replay score, as it can get a little stressful after some time until a new mechanic changes it up. It is also a JRPG + Bullet hell type of gameplay, where the interface is the typical RPG, and the enemy attacks are Touhou style but with less style in certain parts. If you like ROGs and bullet hell, this will be a 10/10 for you. However, another problem with that is if you have played RPGs or bullet hell before, the game would be too easy. I, myself, have never died once in the game until two certain bosses. It was too easy because I have the RPG knowledge to buy efficient and effective masses of items, and the bullet hell skills from Bug Princess 2: black label, so I can dodge bullets in what is even tight sections of the attack.

Despite these flaws, even the gameplay can have personality with its creativity and 4th wall breaks.

7/10

Replay value
Undertale, believe it or not, lasts for an average of 7 hrs per run if one looks around, so you are led to believe the game is pretty short. That is wrong. Since the game is, complete when a run and ending is reached, you think it is over, but it continues since resetting reveals a secret, which I will not reveal for spoiler purposes. Trust me.

10/10

Welp, that is the end of my review. hope you liked it :)