u/Popular_Acadia_4333

The problem with subversive accessible media is that eventually (SOME) of your fans are going to be people who have no fondness for the genre you were trying to innovate on to begin with

The number of undertale fans who legit not only have not played but refuse to play any other rpg that isn't Pokemon/Mario/Persona/Earthbound AND have the courage to shut down any gameplay criticism is not only at this point absurd but also bad for Deltarune as a game

Thematic cleverness isn't mechanical depth! Shallow rpg battles have IMMENSE meaning to the deltarune story, but this is not a black and white thing. At a certain point you are getting a worse deal by having worse gameplay for the sake of something that just reiterates the narrative.

Not liking the genre is OK! But you don't have to act like Undertale is how all RPGs should be designed!!!

IM SICK AND TIRED OF THIS, EVERY SINGLE VIDEO THAT I SEE ON TIKTOK ABOUT A COOL CHIPTUNE/VGM STYLE COMPOSITION HAS A 99% CHANCE OF A TEENAGER COMMENTING "is this toby fox", "toby fox alt account", "toby fox core", "yooo toby fox". ARE ANY OF YOU AT LEAST OLD ENOUGH TO UNDERSTAND THAT TOBY FOX DIDN'T INVENT USING THE SOUNDFONT PLAYER OR BASIC SYNTHWAVES. DO ANY OF YOU EVEN HAVE ANY APPRECIATION FOR THE MEDIUM BEYOND SUCKING A DOG'S WIENER EVERY TIME YOU GET THE OPPORTUNITY. IF I SEE ONE MORE ANNOYING WHITE KID SPEWING THIS NONSENSE I'LL START TELLING PEOPLE TO SWITCH TO CUBASE. FUCK YOU

Still weirded out by this

The kickstarter has three main unfinished goals:

- Undertale Clock Alarm app: Not only was development for this extremely slow for years, but it was literally cancelled. This is software that will never be published. No, the released dialogue doesn't count as working software.

- Undertale Extra Comics: I sure hope you like seeing a single comic about Grillby's. The goal stated Toby would ask backers which characters they wanted to see comics about too.

- Undertale Concept Art: You have to pay for more merchandise (Art Book) to get the concept art you were promised Edit: Backers did get this one via a pdf!

It's been 10 years, I think it's fair to say these stretch goals have been abandoned. Deltarune was their main focus, sure, but Toby also chose to collab with a lot of people instead of completing them. Why?

I don't like Chapter 5's characterization of Toriel, it almost feels like a direct response to fan criticism.

Toriel is a character that has gone through a lot, a divorce, a difficult child, harassment, and having her friends slowly drift away from her life. Naturally, you'd expect her to make some mistakes from time to time because she can't handle all these struggles at once.

Hence, the ending of Chapter 4.

I liked the culmination of this chapter because it was a reality check for the player: Toriel has her own life, she's not aware of the dark worlds, and to her, Sans offered her a temporary escape from having to deal with her stress.

So Kris, still a teenager, comes back from saving the world and sees:

- Their mother dancing with a stranger

- Neither adult really caring about them or Susie

- The stranger making fun of them for wanting to stop the noise

- Their mother drinking

- The fridge being empty (there was food for Kris before)

- Both adults still partying without letting them sleep, to the point Kris starts covering their ears with a pillow just to alleviate the noise

Not a pretty piece of characterization for "goat mom" and "skelebro". People online start pointing these things out. Making your characters this nuanced is a complicated choice

Just when I was proud of Toby for being willing to take a risk that goes against Fangamer probably selling 5% more plushies this financial quarter (just kidding...), Chapter 5 comes along

You wake up, go downstairs, and see:

- cute sprite of toriel sleeping on the sofa with a blanket on (so kawai!)

- Kris, make me some honey toast :D

- oh actually the fridge is full now, thank you sans!

- Kris, actually I was just looking for you last night but ohh your phone didn't work and Sans convinced me I should just "Perhaps... just let you two be"

Was someone on the team too scared to take a risk with the character? Mind you, if you play these chapters back to back these cutscenes are 20 minutes apart at most so it feels like the writers are scared players could take a negative interpretation of such a popular character

Very short critique, mostly just an observation.

A lot of media with mysteries that don't get revealed up until the very end suffer from pacing issues. Works like Better Call Saul, Lost, Attack on Titan and Watchmen have had varying degrees of success with their endings but they've all suffered from the same problem: refusing to move the story forward by adding more padding in between.

Now, padding isn't necessarily filler, a lot of these shows use it to explore the characters, their flaws, and their goals, maybe there will be something sprinkled on to give the illusion of relevance (eg. Asgore getting kidnapped, protein dialogue). But, ultimately, aren't helpful to solve any of the mysteries.

None of this matters however, since, even if the first half of their last seasons still barely solved things and were basically just a mood change (Chapter 6), fans will eat up any ending you throw at them as long as it isn't overly insulting and it's well produced.

Now, most fans live in the present, right now people may complain about pacing because they can't see what the answer is, but once the story is completed, they will simply not care.

Toby says not to worry about the pacing, but not only has it already been ruined, it won't matter to most people

deltarune is a game that sets certain expectations after undertale, one of them mainly being the concept of a bigger story if you read between the lines, mysteries so obscure and dark the game stares back at you when you look at them.

this suspension of disbelief undertale offered completely disappeared the moment I heard the full snowgrave jingle after giving noelle the thorn ring in her room. yep, you heard that right, just a single sound effect ruined it for me.

but why?

well, to be frank, the full thing sounds like a bad soap opera sound effect now. the chapter 2 version was short, yes, but it was straight to the point, a depressing sound effect to reflect your horrible actions. the chapter 4 sound effect sounds suspenseful for some reason but it doesn't scream horror to me, it's more of a "bad thing happened but it isn't even that serious" kind of vibe. It was from that point forward that the snowgrave route stopped feeling like a "secret" to me and more of an "alternate evil route" the game recognizes.

Such a simple thing, and it made all the things after that fall flat... oh well...