Board 8 > Rate the VG Story Day 36: Undertale

(+) Yeah! (+)

Continuing through the nominations, todays game is Undertale. How would you rate the story on a scale of 1 to 10, 1 being the lowest and 10 being the highest?
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Previous Results:
Outer Wilds - 9.63 (20 votes)
Omori - 9.6 (5 votes)
Nier Automata - 9.25 (31 votes)
Xenogears - 8.71 (23 votes)
Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty 8.67 (31 votes)
Metal Gear Solid - 8.67 (27 votes)
Final Fantasy Tactics - 8.65 (23 votes)
Disco Elysium - 8.58 (12 votes)
Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective 8.35 (18 votes)
Final Fantasy X - 8.36 (53 votes)
Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - 8.13 (39 votes)
The Last of Us - 8.1 (34 votes)
Life is Strange - 7.91 (29 votes)
Doki Doki Literature Club - 7.8 (21 votes)
Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair - 7.67 (27 votes)
Bioshock - 7.6 (22 votes)
Celeste - 7.5 (23 votes)
Mass Effect - 7.35 (28 votes)
Tales of the Abyss - 7.34 (27 votes)
Uncharted 2: Among Thieves - 7.26 (29 votes)
Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony - 7.17 (23 votes)
Super Paper Mario - 7 (20 votes)
Hollow Knight - 6.98 (20 votes)
Death Stranding - 6.73 (13 votes)
Chrono Cross - 6.69 (16 votes)
Dark Souls - 6.62 (20 votes)
Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney: Justice For All - 6.61 (29 votes)
Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc - 6.6 (27 votes)
Valkyria Chronicles - 6.5 (16 votes)
DOOM (2016) - 6.25 (12 votes)
Professor Layton and the Curious Village - 6.1 (13 votes)
Final Fantasy IV - 5.72 (29 votes)
Uncharted: Drakes Fortune - 5.26 (28 votes)
Final Fantasy XIII - 4.79 (26 votes)
Fallout 4 - 4.39 (14 votes)

You can still rate previous days games if you missed them, just write <game name> <rating>. If you want to change your rating you can just specify that you are changing your rating. Nominations for future days are also welcome, nominate as many games as you like and I will get to all of them.

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10
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Hmm...7/10

I enjoyed the beginning a lot and the end pretty well, but the middle kinda dragged for me. I appreciate how much well defined personality each major cast member has though.

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9

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10

10

No explanation needed

6

It has some innovative storytelling techniques, but I feel it relies to heavily on meta-fictional commentary about video games and neither the cast of characters nor the comedy really resonate with me.

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9

Could have been so sanctimonious but it really walked a fine line and delivered.

10

Which is my third of five 10s. I think it is a magnificent core story told in a what that only a video game can. Some of the storytelling decisions they make with the mechanics and the code are mindblowing to this day, its great stuff.

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10

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6

The plot itself felt pretty lacking to me, I think in part because of the silent protag. At least the other characters have big personalities to even it out. I thought the writing and humor were both hit-and-miss. I wish it had done more with the in-universe acknowledgement of when/how you used saves because the few times it does are definitely good moments.

Leonhart4 posted...

I enjoyed the beginning a lot and the end pretty well, but the middle kinda dragged for me. I appreciate how much well defined personality each major cast member has though.

Agree with all of this.

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8.5/10

There's a lot of heart in the game compared to pretty much anything else, but it's a bit too gimmicky to really stand out as one of the best of the best.
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9

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9.5

oneshot is better

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8.5/10

One of the best uses of choice-making in all of video games. Genocide makes the player feel literally every death to their core; Pacifist is in turn largely whimsical and joyous, and the fact that your experience largely hinges on committing to each of these unique paths is balanced insanely well, both in tone and in its variations of plot in moment to moment gameplay, even though it's potentially missable by a totally fresh player. Its world and characters are vibrant and I love that even the most minor of enemy encounters is given the love and care that a secondary antagonist would get in any other game. I also praise its fourth-wall breaks being used in a meaningful way. I'd say there's some cringe humor here and there, which my mileage varies with, and though I love the thematic reasoning behind its tough gameplay, I can see it as a potential turn-off for players finishing the story till its end.

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3/10

Only played it for 2 hours. Story did not click with me or compel me to finish it.

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Lightning Strikes posted...

Metal Gear Solid - 8.67 (27 votes)
Final Fantasy Tactics - 8.65 (23 votes)

Hah. Shades of Spring 2004.

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9
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10

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9.5/10

There's a few dumb plot points where it becomes too anime...if that makes sense (I'm looking at you Pacificist route final boss fight). And there's a few duller characters, particularly Undyne and someone else who's name I can't remember. But despite all those complaints, it excels so hard at everything else. All of the other characters, even down to small enemies, add so much charm and humor to the story. And seeing how alot of the story changes between the routes make it satisfying or heartbreaking.

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7

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0/10 because of rallies



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10

thankfully I've stayed away from the undertale fandom so I still have a good view of this game and its characters!

Really though, as far as the game itself goes I have like nothing to complain about

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8/10
Never bothered with a genocide route tho

malyg posted...

8/10
Never bothered with a genocide route tho

to paraphrase foolmo:

Neutral: yeah this game is pretty good
Pacifist: alright this is actually an amazing story
Genocide: this is one of the greatest video games of all time

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Looked up the genocide route and had no interest in it

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There's one video on youtube that highlights all the differences between Pacifist and Genocide

It's 100% worth watching because it significantly expands on the complexity of the story, but I wouldn't ever want to play it myself

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I don't think the Genocide route improved the experience much from the story standpoint. The boss was fun though.
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10

Tried to think of stuff I'd change about this game and blanked, plus no matter how you slice it, it's up there with the best video game stories I've experienced so I kind of negotiated myself up to a perfect score here.

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NFUN posted...

to paraphrase foolmo:

Neutral: yeah this game is pretty good
Pacifist: alright this is actually an amazing story
Genocide: this is one of the greatest video games of all time

I actually know very little about the genocide route, would you consider it an essential piece to the story?
I've tried to avoid voting on games I've never beaten, I think tales of the abyss might be the only exception to that but at this point I've forgotten what I've voted on and what I haven't so that may not be the case.
Happy to abstain if I've missed a significant chunk.

malyg posted...

I actually know very little about the genocide route, would you consider it an essential piece to the story?
I've tried to avoid voting on games I've never beaten, I think tales of the abyss might be the only exception to that but at this point I've forgotten what I've voted on and what I haven't so that may not be the case.
Happy to abstain if I've missed a significant chunk.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uuL3OvQwwvQ

It's not the same as playing it obviously, but this basically covers all the differences if you're interested

BIG TIME SPOILERS IN THAT LINK IF IT WASN'T OBVIOUS

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I would say the genocide route is essential. If the pacifist route is the game's thesis, the genocide route is the game taking the time to illustrate the logical extreme of its antithesis.

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7.5

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0/10 also isn't a valid vote in this, so there's that.

Also, change my vote to a 9.5.

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Evillordexdeath posted...

6

It has some innovative storytelling techniques, but I feel it relies to heavily on meta-fictional commentary about video games and neither the cast of characters nor the comedy really resonate with me.

This sums up my thoughts exactly. There are aspects of Undertale I like, some of the characters included, and it certainly succeeds in what it tries to do. Unfortunately, what it tries to do is to be a deconstruction, and I don't typically enjoy deconstructions very much.

6 is my rating as well. Understand why others love it, for sure, but it's just a solid "fine" for me. A perfectly average story gets an extra point for being told in a unique and interesting way, but it's still a perfectly average story.

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I think that the existence of the Genocide route is an essential piece of Undertale as a game, but I don't necessarily think that playing it (or any other particular route, for that matter) is an essential piece of the experience of playing Undertale.
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9.3

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9/10

really quite good. I also usually don't like meta-commentary in my video games, but undertale is one of the few to do it right.

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pyresword posted...

I think that the existence of the Genocide route is an essential piece of Undertale as a game, but I don't necessarily think that playing it (or any other particular route, for that matter) is an essential piece of the experience of playing Undertale.

You don't necessarily have to play it, the game even comments on this, but it's meant to be engaged with one way or another. And I'd extend that to True Pacifist too, you can definitely get an experience no matter how you play it but I think the "full experience" includes both of these.

I guess you could, very cynically, "solve" Undertale's intended message by refusing to engage with the Genocide route AT ALL, including not looking up an LP or synopsis, but since you're unaware of the point it's making...I dunno. The question was about if understanding the details of the genocide route is essential to the story, and I think it absolutely is.

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9

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Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty 8.67 (31 votes)
Metal Gear Solid - 8.67 (27 votes)

This is neat

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10, can't offhand think of anything to disqualify it, or a game I'd take over it.

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Nominate: Hades

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Leonhart4 posted...

Hmm...7/10

I enjoyed the beginning a lot and the end pretty well, but the middle kinda dragged for me. I appreciate how much well defined personality each major cast member has though.

Exactly how I feel. I'll give it a 7.5 though

How do I check to see for what games I forgot to vote on?

8

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10

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