Other Games What is Undertale's message?

MAJOR SPOILER ALERT!!!

So, the beloved game with friendly characters, funny storyline, interactive puzzles and tons, TONS of bad puns! It's a fricking game of the year because of how different its storyline is. Rather than the classical "Go-and-Kill-Them-Cause-They're-Bad-And-We're-Good" it takes an RPG to a WHOLE other level!

But why is it so damn good? Probably because of its story and morale which is "Killing isn't necessary". But... Is that it? No like, a pretty good lesson for you guys to take on your list that violence isn't always necessary to solve problems there's supposed to be something more. I mean, steam said it's story RICH. Meaning that it's something that learns us a few of things at once. Example: Star Wars! (Except the 7th one, that one lost its morale completely) Back to the future and a few more

Spoiler: Star Wars' morale

The old Yoda talk: Fear leads to anger, Anger leads to hate and hate leads to suffering. And believe it or not, it's actually a thing. People that get bullied constantly sooner or later become hateful and scary. And all they need is just a little bit of love...

It also shows the consequence of the Yoda talk. What YOUR suffering can do to the ones of OTHERS? And that's where the 4-6 episodes come in.

Spoiler: Back to the future morale

It shows you that being a weak good-for-nothin' geek isn't gonna bring anything good in life, only bad things.

It also shows you that you have to MAN UP a little to get over your problems and get a better life, get your ass up and go in to battle like a real man.

So is there anything else in Undertale? Well, yeah? The morale that No violence is needed is only in pacifist run. The neutral... Well, the attempt to do a "Good Beats Evil" type of morale but what about the one everyone hates? The one that kills all the fun from the game ENTIRELY? The one that is the reason we start to love Flowey? That bastard that no one loves suddenly becomes someone we wouldn't want to die... What if... We try the Genocide run?

We kill everyone we love and receive hints from Sans that he may know things about the existence of different timelines and is aware of the space time-continuum to be destroyed. At the end, Flowey also mentions that we do it only for curiosity and Sans say that we do it just because we can... And then you kill Sans, Asgore and Flowey and appears this bitch: Chara.

She introduces herself by YOUR name! Infact when you name the character, the outcome depends on who you named. If you named Frisk, then it's pacifist, if you named Chara then it's genocide. If you did neutral, well, you called someone random out of the 8 kids that fell in.

So she introduces herself to you, saying that she has been revived by you because of your "determination". Saying that when the number of Exp. Atk. Def. etc. Increases, the feeling is great. She also says that she likes power. That's what she represents actually: Power. She then talks 2 minutes of crap until finally asking you if you would like to ERASE the world, or DO NOT.

If you choose ERASE, Chara will be glad and will destroy the world and the game timelines. Calling you a great partner. If you choose DO NOT.

Spoiler: DO NOT option

"You must've misunderstood...
SINCE WHEN WERE YOU THE ONE IN CONTROL?!

And she then fucks the entire world up. The funniest part is, she ACTUALLY destroys timelines making every time the one she wishes. She has a power to control dimensions and at the end of it all, she wants even MORE POWER. And she asks you to give her your soul. When given, she takes control of you and kills everyone. You CANT have good endings anymore. Only the obscure Red paint all over the piles of dead monsters.

So what did we point out:
1. The one we mentioned earlier, no violence is required.
2. You can do bad things only because you want to know what will happen, sometimes it's best just to not know.
3. The "determination" could be a bad thing.
4. People who get a lot, won't EVER get enough.
5. Some mistakes made, cannot be fixed.

And that's a LOT! For having a RICH story, this one is the best! So, what did you think of my "Dig-Deeper" or review? Tell me things I could've missed and tell me if it's bad, but say why. If you noticed, people that don't agree with me but explain to me why, I'm cool with them. So yeah, thanks for reading this :>

Sweet dreams... Chara will come to your house... Ahahahahaha

 

Honestly m8 you basically overthought undertale. Just play it like real life and don't be a psychopath. Either that or get dunked on.
@StarlightFox

 

People and their Undertale...

 

Seriously, this guy barely scratched the surface just yet.
The real message is actually more of a meta commentary about games: it defies all the tropes of a normal game and throws multiple interface screws at you (looking at you, sans), and you're still ripping apart timelines, but even then you don't do it to truly give everyone a happy ending, you do it because you're bored and want to have more fun with them.

 

Oh ofcourse, that's what makes undertale such an amazing game. But to be square, there is no real moral to use in real life other than "Don't be a murderous psychopath" or "There are no truly happy endings". And tbh if you already didn't know the first one, you should be in a mental clinic or like, some religious sanctuary.

 

My brain is stuck between two opinions about Undertale. The first is that Todd created a game that was rife with meaning and complexity on a level that many of us cannot fully understand. The second is he just created very high quality 10 Dollar digital food for thought that is choking out anyone who tries to analyze this game on a deeper level. The allure of this game is that it defies expectations, and playing it is a new experience the human brain is drawn to. In general, we get happy when we perform an old task that brought us pleasure (eating food) or we experience something new (reading a new book or seeing a new movie). That logic could be carried over into video games to explain the continued sales of series franchises such as CoD or GTA, as well as the newfound success of Undertale. I mean (one of) the message(s) of this game is that we shouldn't look for all the secrets in games and try to experience all the possible outcomes because it will bring us more harm than good, but here we are playing a video game. That's exactly what video games were designed to be, an escape from the real world and its consequences where your actions have no meaning and dont have to have any tangible effect on your life whatsoever. (Some of) The games message(s) is(are) shrouded perfectly in a capsule of comedy that enables it to be swallowed by almost any casual player, but still effectively convey meaning. Im going to list all the messages I think I got out of this game.

In life, following any one path for too long can lead to an undesirable outcome. Living a balanced life opens up many more possibilities than never straying from the path you're on.

The main argument against this message is the happiness of the true pacifist ending, however I believe the fact there are so many different neutral endings based on your actions is supposed to represent the complexity of lives in the real world. Everyone makes different choices based on what they value, and as a result there are many different "endings" in life. But if we pursue only one path for too long (i.e. becoming addicted to substances, never moving out of our parent's house, etc.) our lives end up miserable and we miss out on a large part of what makes us human. This can be shown by the story changes that take place during a genocide run, which represents following one path to the extreme and the ultimate consequences this can have on our lives (and our save files)

There are no save points in real life.

This game has only 1 save file, and if Todd had his way the game would uninstall itself when youre done playing it for the first time so it could never be played again. Unfortunately it is a video game people payed good money for, and although it slightly cheapens its meaning Undertale's reset feature is necessary. I believe Sans's genocide dialogue points out the fact that you shouldn't play Undertale like other games, just restarting it after its over, because its not SUPPOSED to be like other games. The relationships you develop in Undertale are crude and laced with dank memes, but its characters are the closest the gaming industry has come in trying to approximate real life in a long time. Therefore its trying to get you to make decisions in game like you would in the real world rather than just maximize your entertainment. This, coupled with the previously stated 1 save file emphasize permanence in the decisions you make in all aspects of your life, whether it be the decision to spend 6 hours escaping from reality by experiencing an adventure set in a virtual world, or studying for the test you have to take tomorrow. In life you only get 1 chance, don't count on hitting any save points.

Be nice to people.

A simpler message seen throughout the game, but mostly towards the end. Sans's phone calls are the perfect example of this message, because a character you spent a lot of time getting to know and interacting with judges you based on your compassion towards others, so you are hurt more when he tells you to "go to hell" or that "you're not welcome here". From this we take away the idea that befriending others results in a more positive experience for everyone involved. In general, being nice to people opens up many more possibilities (endings) in life than being a loner and enacting hostilities with others around you.

The breakdown of a life as it draws nearer and nearer to its end.

This message is hard to put into a phrase. The best example of collapse can be seen in the full spectrum of Sans's encounter dialogues from the true pacifist ending to the genocide ending. At the beginning of the game he is cheery and lighthearted, his biggest concern in life is doing his job guarding some remote outpost. When a threat is introduced into his life (genocide Frisk), he changes his goals to prevention of risk by trying to convince you not to continue of the genocide route in order to maintain his way of life. He grows steadily more and more desperate as he continues to see his world crumble around him until his final boss fight, which is supposed to represent the death throes of someone as their life draws to an end. His difficult attack patterns, and even his attempt to stall the player with his unending turn show that when faced with the reality that your life is going to end, resistance against the inevitable, however futile, is still the ethical and logical choice of action. The change in focus of his life from seeking happiness to self preservation is a less important message, but nonetheless grim and fitting of the tones Undertale resonates with.

Nobody gets life right the first time.

Stop playing video games. Seriously. Undertale's shaming of grinding and repetitive playthroughs leads to the conclusion that leading a type of "grinding" lifestyle (getting a mid paying job somewhere and working your life away doing something you hate) is silly, and while it will work just fine, there are better alternatives out there for your to experience. Unfortunately society does not work this way, but it would be amazing if it did. This game shows that it will either take divine knowledge (walkthrougha or spoilers on how to get certain endings) or at least 2 tries to live your life perfectly, making all the correct choices you possibly could, and yet it only has 1 save file. You will make mistakes in this game, and you will make mistakes in real life. While there is arguably more you can do to come back from mistakes in real life than in this game, the message that you will not be able to achieve all of your dreams the first time around, a.k.a. at all, definitely applies to both Undertale and the real world. The key to leading a fulfilling life is rolling with the punches, and trying to make the best of every situation. The only reason for this disparity is the difference between what is considered a bad choice in this game and real life. In real life if you start killing people its probably pretty hard to be a good human being again too.

Thinking about what the "right" decisions are in this game brought me to question whether or not sparing Undyne was the correct choice, and by extensions if true pacifist is truly the best ending. Undyne is a killing machine, with the ability to regenerate through pure force of will, for whatever motivation she may have. Had Alphys not positively influenced her ideas about humans she might have been consumed with enacting vengeance on the humans for exiling all monsters underground when they all one day inevitably find a way to break the barrier and escape from underground. She might be much more of a threat to happiness and life alive than dead. She certainly caused her fair share of fear and pain under Asgore's guard already, practically killing 7 humans based on a simple decree from her leader combined with an already present hatred for humans after the war. Even the seemingly clear cut decision to spare everyone might not be the happiest ending, and the answer to that question depends on how you would define happiness, which is different for everyone human being on this planet. What do you guys think?

tl;dr Change is good.