Today, I'm going to talk about an indie game that's made the rounds on Youtube over the last four months;
Released on September 15, 2015 by developer Toby Fox, Undertale is a game that's basically a callback to 1990s JRPGs (the Mother series in particular), but with a twist. Not only does it remember what you've done whether or not you've saved your progress, but you can complete the entire game without killing anything.
Developer Toby Fox started out as a forum moderator of Earthbound fansite and music developer for Earthbound fan music. He was also know for Earthbound fan hacks before developing Undertale.
Now, I have to talk a little about Earthbound before going on to Undertale. Long story short, Earthbound is part 2 of the three part Mother series in Japan, but due to Nintendo not really knowing how to market JRPGs in the west at the time of Earthbound's release, it didn't get the attention it deserved. Fast forward to Super Smash Brothers Melee in 2001, which had Ness, Earthbound's protagonist, as a playable fighter, and Earthbound began to gain some renown. But Nintendo of America (and by Proxy, Europe), weren't having fans' newfound appreciation for this quirky JRPG, even refusing to translate and release Mother 3 five years later. Yes, Earthbound fans did eventually get an Earthbound re-release for the Wii U virtual console, but it's far from what fans wanted.
Which loops back around to Undertale. Toby Fox was inspired by Mother 3, and its fan translation, to make Undertale's system, which is a huge focus of this review. You see, there's both an active and passive RPG interface; in order hit and do damage in combat, you have to hit the hot spot on a bar. And in order to dodge attacks, you actually need to dodge the bullets. It's an interesting combat system that keeps you on your toes.
And speaking of combat, the second big focus of it is whether or not you kill anything. Without spoiling the story, whether or not you kill has effects on the game. Characters react on whether or not you kill, and whom you kill. A complete Pacifist run is different than a Genocide run.
Another interesting thing about this game is the Save system. It always mentions something "Determination" when you hit a save point, which actually applies to the story of the game. Yes, saving your game isn't just a game mechanic. It is integral to the plot of the game.
The basic story of this game is thus; you are a human child who fell into the Underground. You meet all kinds of interesting characters and monsters along your quest go get out. Along the way, you learn about how the monsters came to be in the Underground (you actually learn that in the opening crawl), and how they plan on getting back onto the surface.
Now, here's the interesting thing about this game; you actually need to complete it 3 times in order to see the whole story. Once on the Neutral path, which unlocks the "True Pacifist Path", once on the True Pacifist path, and once on the Genocide path. The Neutral path allows you to get to know the characters, the game mechanics and the consequences of your actions. The True Pacifist path allows you to see the best ending of the game and get the full story of how the Monsters planned on getting out of the Underground, and the Genocide path gives you the story of the fallen human. But the Genocide path's ending irrevocably changes the ending of the True Pacifist path, so don't finish that before the True Pacifist path if you want to see how that ending's supposed to be. (There are ways to remove the "Genocide" flag from the games files, and you can find that in a lot of place on the internet, so it's not TOO bad if you screwed up.)
As for my analysis; I like this game. I like the story, I like the characters, I like the music. However, I could take or leave the battle system. I am terrible at bullet hell games, so combat is very difficult for me. The combat alone is why I'll never be able to finish the Genocide path. Two bosses are impossible for me; Undyne the Undying and Sans. I managed to get past Undyne the Undying by luck, but Sans requires skill that I just don't have. So I had to resolve myself to reset and play the pacifist and neutral paths.
Anyway, despite my personal problem with the combat, it is great game. It's worth your time to play through multiple times due to way the game handles flags. Second, third, fourth, etc, playthroughs have subtle differences in dialogue and the way you interact with characters.
Undertale is 10 dollars on Steam, and it is well worth the price. Go get it if you're interested in non-traditional JRPGs. But for now, stay beautiful freaks!
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