Board 8 > Now playing what GameFAQs has deemed the best game ever [Undertale]

(+) Yeah! (+)

*RKOs ExTha*

So once and for all. Should I just play this thing blind the first time or go the pacifist route now that I know that's how it's "supposed" to be played?

If the former, do you promise a second playthrough won't be an annoying waste of my precious time?

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You physically cannot get the pacifist ending on your first try, so just play blind.

I actually don't know why I spoilered that when it's painfully obvious what I mean for anyone that's played the game.

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Oh good to know!

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I hated it but I'm the minority

WickIebee posted... You physically cannot get the pacifist ending on your first try, so just play blind.
While technically true, going full pacifist from the very beginning makes it so you don't have to replay most of the game to get the pacifist ending.

Also as long as you don't kill anything you are still good on the pacifist ending so just play it that way, get the "normal" ending then look up and do the things you missed to get the pacifist ending afterwards. Pretty much what i did and it worked out well since having to play the whole game over again because you killed something early on once really is more tedious than anything else.

Oh and after everything above even if you thought the game was meh, replay the game and get the genocide. It's basically the reason the game is one of my most favorite games.

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Yeah I'm in the first area and it's very easy to not kill anything... Maybe I'll stick to that?

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Go full two face and flip a coin for every encounter

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You do you. The game overall I never really found difficult so finding out how to spare things was the fun part inbetween talking to the characters and having the story unfold which is the main good part of the game.

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I'm 30 minutes in and I gotta say... This is pretty dumb so far

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uhoh!

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Oh I get it. Toriel is short for "tutorial"

I am assuming that she is the one I can't avoid killing on the first playthrough?

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you can and should avoid killing Toriel

The game was advertised as "where nobody has to die".

The puzzle is figuring out how.

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in fact, while you can't get the true pacifist ending on the first playthrough, you can avoid killing everyone in the main game

Alright, I guess I'll spare toriel next playthrough then!

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Okay Sans and Papyrus are making things interesting now at least. Reminds me of Grim Fandango

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eh, doing the pacifist ending first because you're "supposed" to rather than going into it organically and choosing what you want to do is kind of missing out on the full impact, I feel? it's not the end of the world though
and the game is short enough that it isn't too much of a hassle to replay, at least ime

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Zyxyz0 posted...

eh, doing the pacifist ending first because you're "supposed" to rather than going into it organically and choosing what you want to do is kind of missing out on the full impact, I feel? it's not the end of the world though
and the game is short enough that it isn't too much of a hassle to replay, at least ime

Yeah that's where my head was initially but it's so obvious from the beginning that you aren't supposed to kill the monsters.

I just had to kill toriel because I couldn't figure out what else to do lol

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you'll probably hate this game, it's too twee for you

but you should 100% just play it however the heck you want. kill people, talk to people, whatever.

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Nelson_Mandela posted...

Should I just play this thing blind the first time

yes

Nelson_Mandela posted...

do you promise a second playthrough won't be an annoying waste of my precious time?

For most people I'd recommend 2-3 plays. For you I don't think you're even going to enjoy the first one.

transience posted...

but you should 100% just play it however the heck you want. kill people, talk to people, whatever.

yes

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I like the snow land thus far. I don't know how far this humor is going to take it though.

Also I made the mistake of looking at a picture of Toby Fox and now it might taint my perception negatively.

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I get the appeal of the game now. The humor/quirkiness just is getting a little stale. I am done with the lava/laboratory area so who knows if that's considered "deep" into the game yet.

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Nelson_Mandela posted...

Also I made the mistake of looking at a picture of Toby Fox and now it might taint my perception negatively.

I don't see what the big deal is he's just a white doggo?

tcaz2 posted...

I don't see what the big deal is he's just a white doggo?

He's a wiener soyboy

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UltimaterializerX posted...

You're almost finished. It's only a 3-5 hour game, tops.

Grim Fandango is a wonderful comparison. Most people go with EarthBound.

Looking forward to reading your review after I'm done with one playthrough! I have a weird feeling this will grow on me.

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I just beat the neutral run. Those scenes leading up to Asgore were incredible. I really enjoyed this game. My only complaint was that it's disappointingly short/easy, but I'm assuming the next playthrough will expand the content quite a bit.

Looks like it's a reset and True Pacifist run for me next. Anything I should look out for other than just not killing anyone? Are there any moments/actions that can screw up the ending?

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always spare

also the next playthrough might not expand the content to the degree you might like, but if you go full-on evil route you're treated to essentially a new game

colliding posted...

always spare

also the next playthrough might not expand the content to the degree you might like, but if you go full-on evil route you're treated to essentially a new game

I read something about needing to befriend undyne and other characters to get true pacifist. I don't think I did that the first playthrough but I don't know where I went wrong. So in that sense it'll be new I suppose!

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Nelson_Mandela posted...

Anything I should look out for other than just not killing anyone?

calling papyrus on every map, going out of your way to do everything that you think "might" be something

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SantaRPidgey posted...

calling papyrus on every map

to be clear, this isn't a must-do it's just something I learned you can do on my second run and it gives you some hints and is pretty endearing

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Do I need to do anything specific for Undyne? I ran away and gave her water last time, but then nothing came of it.

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without spoiling too much
you have to find her home

Also using the phone (which is fun by itself and gives you hints from time to time) will lead you to her better

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also... and I could be wrong, but you don't have to "reset" for true pacifist right?

colliding posted...

also... and I could be wrong, but you don't have to "reset" for true pacifist right?

You don't if you were a pacifist on your first run, but sounds like OP killed Toriel so he does need to start over.

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Tag.

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Xiahou Shake posted...

You don't if you were a pacifist on your first run, but sounds like OP killed Toriel so he does need to start over.

Yeah I killed Toriel. It actually made for a pretty powerful revelation at the end so I'm glad I did. It feels "right" story-wise.

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Alright I'm zipping through this next playthrough. If I miss anything important other than simply not killing anything I'll be mad at you!

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The real fun is when you kill Toriel, freak out, and savescum to try to save her instead.

Edit: Also, I had zero expectation that you would like this game or even stick through the end of it (Im the biggest shill of this game on the board and even I get sick of Hotland pretty quickly). Glad you enjoyed it so far. ASGORE is fucking awesome.

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True Pacifist beated.

Very brief concluding thoughts. This is a very good game. Great even. But there are a few things that absolutely preclude it from being in any kind of "best ever" discussion.

The biggest one for me was that many of the battles just feel like QTEs, especially at the end. I get that the conceit of the game inherently prevents any other kind of strategy (if you can't level up, then there's not really much you can do beyond mild inventory management and pattern recognition). But it didn't even feel like a game at the end. Just a visual novel with very specific inputs.

Anyway, that shouldn't take away from the overall achievement. Undertale is a really unique meta thought-experiment that only works on this medium, so it was definitely great from that perspective, especially for someone who has been playing JRPGs for 20+ years.

8/10 sounds right.

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Undertale is so cool conceptually and has really fantastic moments but I'm still not sure its main gimmick really works. Like people stress so much that you should just "play naturally" and most of the game's coolest "gotcha" moments come from killing some people and sparing others... but like, why would anyone ever play that way?

It's pretty obvious from the get-go (even marketing aside, which flat out says you don't have to kill anyone) that killing isn't the "best" way to play, so I'm at a loss at to why anyone would land somewhere in the middle - perhaps Toriel aside since, funny enough, she's really the only relatively obscure spare in the game. The only way I see it working is if someone has zero game awareness and ignores the mercy mechanic entirely but doesn't grind quite enough to end up on Genocide, then replays the game sparing everyone, but that's a pretty particular scenario for what's supposed to be the game's main hook.

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Yeah, no.

If you're rating it and calling it finished after a (basically) pacifist run and a True Pacifist run, you haven't seen half the game.

Genocide or bust buddy.

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GildedFool posted...

Yeah, no.

If you're rating it and calling it finished after a (basically) pacifist run and a True Pacifist run, you haven't seen half the game.

Genocide or bust buddy.

YouTube

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Xiahou Shake posted...

perhaps Toriel aside since, funny enough, she's really the only relatively obscure spare in the game

If I went into the game completely blind, I think Toriel would have been my only kill

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People also skimp out on the genocide run and i never really understand why.

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I couldn't spare Toriel and Undyne in my first playthrough.

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hockeydude15 posted...

People also skimp out on the genocide run and i never really understand why.

refuse to kill papyrus

Genocide run is by far the best, but I get not wanting to play it again for the third (and longest) time after just doing it twice.

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