colliding posted... Second, the main emotional conflict doesn't land. It's really focused on the "wow, Ralsei can't go to the light world" reveal, which people have probably guessed since Chapter 1, so it doesn't seem as serious as the game makes it out to be. Susie doesn't really care either. So there's no real tension.
I think your other issues with the chapter are fair but this is one of the biggest recurring misreads of the story I've seen going around. Susie
does care, but this is shown in optional dialogue (you have to choose to
check on Susie instead of Ralsei towards the end of the chapter) and these conversations basically spell out the theme of the chapter -
all of the main cast (Tenna included) are in denial and purposefully ignoring their problems in favor of playing wacky bullshit minigames. That's why there's no tension.
In terms of storytelling, Chapter 3 is a big outlier.
Most of the actual meat of the chapter is in optional stuff you have to work for compared to the others, which I think is fitting. So much of Deltarune's story works the other way, the "twists" are highly telegraphed to the players (via foreshadowing or theory bait) who get enjoyment out of watching the characters react to them. To have a chapter where they just blow up that entire method by purposefully not doing that is actually kind of brilliant IMO, but it's a big swing that leads to big misses for some.colliding posted... (and don't tell me to enjoy Roulx, because the throuple stuff actually kind of icked me out).
On a lighter note I'm sorry but this is legit one of the funniest bits they've done across all 4 chapters
The
laser pointer took me OUT and as if that wasn't enough the
Starwalker appearance single handedly justified my replay of the first two chapters