Originally posted by MagiluigiI honestly liked the sparing system, it not only gives the battles a sort of "puzzle" aspect, but it also works just like normal attacks; each successful decision is like reducing a monster's HP, and the sparing option works like a "final attack".
I never thought about it that way. That sounds pretty spot on now that you mention it. During certain battles, especially
the Mad Dummy fight, where you couldn't do damage anyway
, selecting Fight instead of Mercy to buffer between turns made the two mechanics appear similar, but I never considered the similarities of the two mechanics as battle finishers. Neat observation.
At this point, with about 25 true hours into the game, I'd wager that I've beat the game to death enough. I honestly have not done a purely neutral run of the game since I've never felt the need to only kill off certain characters, so that might be something for me to sample eventually. Beside that gap, I did two Pacifist runs and a Genocide run and have invested my emotions into them both sufficiently.
Pacifist and Neutral
The Pacifist run provided a satisfying conclusion. I never commented much on the Neutral run’s ending, which is a shame. Both the endings for the Neutral route and the Pacifist route include my overall favorite moments in the game. I’m a baby when it comes to emotional stories, and the story with Asriel and the fallen child tore me up. Accompanied with gorgeous tracks on your way to the Asgore battle, the entirety of the Asriel battle, and the final moments before leaving the underground with everyone, the game presented, at least in my teary eyes, some passionate themes. Asriel’s whole tragedy and childhood with the fallen child definitely twisted my insides the most. The collective dreams of the underground to one day leave for the surface stirred me inside almost just as much. Every character had his or her own background and dreams, most of which felt relatable. I can see how the ending may seem too much like emotional bait to some people. That’s understandable. To me, the story of the whole game felt appropriate and kept me hooked the entire time and occasionally watery eyed. The finales for both runs really brought the story together.
The boss battles at the end of both the Neutral run and the Pacifist run did not grant much of a challenge but did paint fun, theatrical fights. Going through Flowey again since my first post, the battle still lost a huge amount of tension for me. Like a sizeable number of encounters in the game, the battle seemed largely fixed to make the player feel disadvantaged, but I could recognize the tricks because I was not panicking like the first time. Even still, the whole weirdness in the appearance of the fight and the fusion of the personalities of the souls as subsections of the fight separates it from many boss fights that I’ve played due to its uniqueness in comparison to other battles in its game. Flowey’s battle just pops, and while not as entertaining the second time into it, I still liked what it had to offer. Now, Asriel’s battle built itself up as the fight went on even though I felt no concern during the fight. The stakes and dialogue from Asriel made the battle a blast, and the light show and friendship feelings added to the whole deal. Although the ending of the fight struck as cheesy, I would reload that fight on any rainy day to swirl up my emotions for a few minutes. And that final walk around the map and then to the surface sends the game off soundly.
Genocide
God, as much as the Genocide run bothered me, it absolutely hit its mark. This run made me realize how much this game really isn't meant to be an RPG, traditional level-up experience. One might think that gaining "levels" would benefit you, and while it technically does, the Genocide run steals away any satisfaction from leveling. You can get a bunch of weapons, armor, and food for free, and you can afford fancier foods that even boost your damage in battle. Too bad that most of the battles are pushovers. I love that. It builds up the premise that all of this destruction is not worth anything. This run packs two good bosses; however, the Genocide run mostly denies the player from utilizing the EXP, GOLD, and items that they've assembled. Most bosses take one hit. The towns have no people. Half the shops are empty. When you reach the main attractions, despite your level advantage compared to other runs, you still fight on even playing fields.
The whole atmosphere of the Genocide run just compounds on the idea of selfishness and dissatisfaction, particularly by adding a constant eerie vibe. Again, the lack of conversational monsters immediately stands out. You probably wouldn't want to chat. No puzzles appear. You probably wouldn't want to solve them. All that you want to do is to shred the world apart. Any monsters who do emerge either express contempt or terror toward you. In addition to the emptiness of the world, the musical shift heavily impacts the environment, and the shift is simple yet effective. Dropping the pitch and the speed of the normally cheery tunes deadens areas of the game; the newly melancholy music emphasizes just how strongly the world wears down by your actions. The biggest example of where this unsettled me was the hotel lobby with only the food stand employee. His demeanor and dialogue options combined with the distorted music as I approached the end of the run hit me hard and freaked me out a tad. Similarly, windy ambient noise when you clear all of the random encounters in a section of the world bothered me substantially. Going into the Genocide run, I only knew that I had to kill monsters until I could kill no more in a spot, but I did not expect the ghastly noise and unnaturally empty encounters that would follow.
Of course, the two new boss fights had to exist in the Genocide route to entice some players to try the run. Undyne did not provide too much difficulty, but the way that she transformed in order to stop you, a menace to the entire world, gives a powerful picture of true determination. The improved spear tossing gave me more of the pleasure that I missed from the first fight and more. Sans, who I do not think that anyone would deny as the hardest boss in the game, conversely gave me unbelievable difficulty, yet I laughed every time he boned me. I did not count but would not doubt if I totaled deaths in the 30s or 40s. All of his attack patterns caught me off guard multiple times, and excluding his marathon attack, I would say that the vertically moving horizontal bones or the quick beam dragon heads gave me the baddest of times. Gradually, I adapted to his attacks and knocked him out.
I won’t say much about the conclusion involving the fallen child as there’s not much to say. I do not like how this event permanently alters your game, but the slight alteration is totally justifiable given the subject matter of alternate timelines, absolute control, and temptation that appear in the Genocide run.
Other Thoughts
The whole goofiness of the game had me laughing most of the time, which is something that I’m extremely glad to say. Games rarely put me into that joyous of a mood, and I can sense some warmth in my stomach knowing that there are still games out there that can give me that gorgeous sort of experience. As I made clear, the emotional impact of the story never let me go. It may not attract some people, but it attracted me. Unless you’re looking for a purely serious RPG, I would recommend this game to you. Try to stay away from spoilers as much as possible. I managed to separate myself from massive spoilers, only exposing myself to a bit of the context around the Neutral run’s conclusion. It will certainly help to give you most of what this game has to offer. The game is short, and I know that you’ll love almost every second of it once you hit your hook.
If you don’t have interest in the game, at least check out some of the music. If you do want to play the game, wait until after you’ve played it as mentioned in my last post and dozens of other people. The music does a phenomenal job to build the game’s moods, and I’d be in a damned pickle to find more than a couple lousy tracks.