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[Loud Whispers]

Helgo do you not cri evertim?

[KingofstarrySkies]

It was mostly just the ending that got me. Had a good time. Felt awesome.

[miauw62]

Oh no I regret my purchase.

Not really I feel like a game I've heard basically nothing bad about is a fair gamble for ten euros.

[Bauglir]

The spoiler below covers what got me. Technically, it does not spoil the events of the plot. However, it does spoil the gradual process of realization I had to come to over the course of playing through it, and like a joke's punchline, it doesn't sound all that interesting without that leadup, but at the same time knowing where it's "supposed" to be going can make the buildup itself a lot less interesting if you do decide to go through with it.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

As becomes increasingly clear toward the end of the game, the story isn't about the blob of pixels you're manipulating on the field, it is about you, the player. The game's biggest secret is that there's no such thing as reverting to a previous save. Your story, the player's story, continues on in real time no matter what you do. Each reload is a part of that story, not an undoing of the events since the last time you saved.

At the same time, the characters are all basically set pieces. They're not particularly deep or unique; they're archetypes. And that's all they should be, because you're supposed to relate to them as characters extremely quickly (a playthrough is usually less than 10 hours long, after all). They're fixtures to attach your existing feelings about certain personality traits to.

So, basically, what I'm getting at is that Undertale is incomplete as a story on its own. It needs the player to come into it with preconceptions, because it winds up being an engine that makes a story about how you play video games. Now, this is where I'm a wimp, but because I've spent so much of my life playing the damn things and interacting with them as a major way of telling stories, that makes the story it tells one that connects with how I feel about myself pretty deeply. It's kind of like that scene in Spec Ops: The Line where you drop white phosphorous on a bunch of civilians without realizing what you're doing at the time. It plays off the recognition that the habits you've developed playing the hero have led you to willingly participate in a story where you're the villain, except that in Undertale you actually had a choice in the matter other than turning off the game. That makes it a million times more effective, whether you decide to be a monster or not, because however your story ends you know it didn't have to be this way. But I digress.

Basically, it's a reflection of how I feel about stories. And it turns out I feel a lot! And the sudden recognition of what the game was doing, and what it said about me, and how I hadn't managed to think about it before, and how it did it all so goddamn subtly was one of those emotional rushes that got me to tear up without being sad, if you know the sort of experience I mean. And if you don't, I probably sound like a rambling lunatic - and that's honestly basically fine.

And, since I'm basically writing a review at this point, it combines this with surprisingly engaging gameplay so that it's legitimately fun even without that, and what I feel is exactly the right amount of absurd humor, so that you find yourself laughing at the game more often than speculating at its Amazing Emotional Depth (tm) or whatever. Those two qualities save it from the usual problem with games that try to create the sort of Muh Feels response I just described over the last few paragraphs.

[Rolan7]

I cried a little at the end of Iji... Then replayed it maybe a dozen times since.
Still haven't gotten to Undertale, I want some time for it without distractions. Sounds perfect for me though.

[ggamer]

obviously I wasn't literally in tears at any point, but the happy ending inspires that WAFF that I love so much, while the neutral ending scratches the melancholic itch of a child growing in an uncaring world that I usually take care of with Adventure Time or some of the more brutal episodes of Steven Universe.

The no mercy run is more classically horrific in a gothic/lovecraftian sense, and I don't have any compulsion to get that ending

I'll spoil the thing that affected me the most which was

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

All of the interactions with flowey, especially those if you kill Toriel then go back and save her. Like Bauglir said, I get the same creepy crawly feeling that some other games do when they break your immersion on purpose (i.e. Spec Ops the Line and Earthbound), and when Flowey started yelling at me for cheating I actually thought I was in a creepypasta for a good ten minutes.

TL;DR Come for the WAFF stay for the depth of gameplay

EDIT: also beating Undertale and Wolfenstein has made me want to beat more games. Not sure whether the next one should be Zone of the Enders or something like RE4 or Persona 4 that I haven't played in many moons

[miauw62]

Tbh it sort of makes me sad that you have to be literally hitler to fight a boss to the sound of megalovania, apparently.

[Orange Wizard]

Met with employment agency today. Now it is only a matter of time before INFINITE INCOME minimum-wage job. Hopefully.

[Bauglir]

wait

infinite income isn't how it works?

shit

i shouldn't have taken out that aleph-loan

the cosmic loan sharks are gonna be pissed

[Emma]

obviously I wasn't literally in tears at any point, but the happy ending inspires that WAFF that I love so much, while the neutral ending scratches the melancholic itch of a child growing in an uncaring world that I usually take care of with Adventure Time or some of the more brutal episodes of Steven Universe.

The no mercy run is more classically horrific in a gothic/lovecraftian sense, and I don't have any compulsion to get that ending

I'll spoil the thing that affected me the most which was

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

All of the interactions with flowey, especially those if you kill Toriel then go back and save her. Like Bauglir said, I get the same creepy crawly feeling that some other games do when they break your immersion on purpose (i.e. Spec Ops the Line and Earthbound), and when Flowey started yelling at me for cheating I actually thought I was in a creepypasta for a good ten minutes.

TL;DR Come for the WAFF stay for the depth of gameplay

EDIT: also beating Undertale and Wolfenstein has made me want to beat more games. Not sure whether the next one should be Zone of the Enders or something like RE4 or Persona 4 that I haven't played in many moons

The thing that was in the spoilers got me.

[BlitzDungeoneer]

Mmm. Trying the Undertale demo, I don't get what all the hype's about.
Granted, I may not be far enough in for it, but it just doesn't seem like my cup of tea so far. We'll see, I guess.

[Akura]

It's 9 months after cold weather (at least in the Northern Hemisphere).

Nothing gets your babymaking going like freezing your ass off and wanting to be in immediate proximity of another human's body heat.

October is approximately 9 months away from Valentine's Day.

Apparently all that cheesy romance crap does get you in the sack.

[Putnam]

obviously I wasn't literally in tears at any point, but the happy ending inspires that WAFF that I love so much, while the neutral ending scratches the melancholic itch of a child growing in an uncaring world that I usually take care of with Adventure Time or some of the more brutal episodes of Steven Universe.

The no mercy run is more classically horrific in a gothic/lovecraftian sense, and I don't have any compulsion to get that ending

I'll spoil the thing that affected me the most which was

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

All of the interactions with flowey, especially those if you kill Toriel then go back and save her. Like Bauglir said, I get the same creepy crawly feeling that some other games do when they break your immersion on purpose (i.e. Spec Ops the Line and Earthbound), and when Flowey started yelling at me for cheating I actually thought I was in a creepypasta for a good ten minutes.

TL;DR Come for the WAFF stay for the depth of gameplay

EDIT: also beating Undertale and Wolfenstein has made me want to beat more games. Not sure whether the next one should be Zone of the Enders or something like RE4 or Persona 4 that I haven't played in many moons

The thing that was in the spoilers got me.

I managed to make zero decisions that I regretted my first time around, so I never got the opportunity. The first time I actually saw any effects like that, I was well into the game. And still pretty impressed. Also, the boss that I was fighting was kickass anyway. And the boss after that did the same thing and was also incredibly kickass.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

And the boss after ASGORE? Kickass. A lot of people were freaked out, but by that point I had sorta taken it for granted that the game breaks its graphics rules for stylistic purposes (the ball in Snowdin noticeably rotated on increments that were definitely not pixel-sized). I realized what point it was trying to make and found it too badass to really care.  I managed to not die that fight, heh.

The pacifist final boss made me cry. I always have horrible "post-work sadness", where I'm immediately sad there isn't more stuff I can look at. Then the final boss had dialogue saying that he's not ready for this to end and i cried for the first time in like 5 years, it was impressive

but yes okay when it comes to undertale i will recommend something:

Do you like Earthbound's kind of humor? You'll probably like it.

Do you like JRPGs? You'll probably like it.

Do you like Homestuck? You'll probably like it.

Do you think that a game is trying too hard to make you laugh if it ever makes jokes? You'll probably hate it, but on the other hand you probably hate anything that's funny. (I only include this because it's a real criticism I've seen)

Do you not like it when a game comments on the way you play? Probably won't like it.

Do you not like happy things? Well, at least the game accommodates you there, but if you play as people recommend, it's gonna be happy (This is the most-quoted criticism I've seen).

Do you not get attached to characters at all? I wouldn't recommend it, then (this is the most valid criticism I've seen).

[Steelmagic]

I actually kind of enjoy my job, after 2 weeks working there. Even when everything goes awful.

[KingofstarrySkies]

Oooh my GOD, Undertale is happy. So wonderfully happy. I nearly got a heart attack from the pure sweetness and smiling I did.