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doorbloggr · 3 years

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Friday 1/10/21 - Media Recommendations #20

Contents: Deltarune

I'd been meaning to get to this one for ages, so once again, I think to make it easier on myself, and my readers, today I am only recommending the latest videogame creation of Toby Fox. This ended up being quite an extensive article, so I split it into sections:

MY CONTEXT

OVERVIEW/PREMISE

GAMEPLAY

PRESENTATION

CONCLUSION

Deltarune (Chapter 1+2)

Toby Fox

1. MY CONTEXT

So context for my own gaming experience going into Deltarune, I have never actually played Undertale. Back when Undertale was getting big, it was only a PC game I think, and I just don't play games on PC. I probably should but yeah nah. Soon after it got popular however, I watched a comprehensive Lets Play of Undertale by Rubber Ross and Barry Kramer, and their voices for Sans and Papyrus are still to this day how I imagine those characters. Through that Lets Play, I experienced both the Pacifist and Genocide runs, and got intimately well acquainted with the characters and world Toby Fox had created, and how the actions of the player can shape how we save or ruin that world.

As a general context, I have always been a person who likes the idea of turn-based, random encounter fantasy RPGs, but the deepest I really got was Pokémon. I've been trying to change that recently, and after beating Monster Hunter Stories 2 a while back, I wanted to try more of the genre. Turn based battles are a lot more my speed than pure skill, like fighting games I've become sick of, and RPGs seem to be big on story, so when I heard the Deltarune demo had an update, I thought this is finally the time to jump into that world.

Going forward in this review, I'm gonna try and stay broad and unspecific with my descriptions, so as to not spoil. I may discuss some gameplay themes and characters, but I'm avoiding giving specifics away. I really think you need to experience all parts of the game yourself first.

Minor Spoilers for Undertale and Deltarune Ahead

2. OVERVIEW/PREMISE

Deltarune is a project of love. Pure charm and personality ooze from every aspect of the game. Dialogue is clever and snarky, and that charm even leaks into item and location flavour text. The setting and themes are fun, but with a bloodstained silver lining that is best appreciated by mature audiences. I guess I should just explain the premise?

Deltarune puts you in the shoes of a human named Kris. For unexplained reasons you live in a world of monsters and you are the only human. And by monsters, I mean curious looking critters of a variety of shapes and sizes, since, there is really nothing monstrous about them. One day at school, Kris and classmate Susie end up being transported to a whole different world where dark fountains construct monstrous subworlds, and it is up to the chosen ones, the lightners Susie, Kris and darkner (dark world native) Prince Ralsei, to seal the evils of this dark alternate world.

Deltarune is still a work in progress, and as the subtitle of this article suggests, 2 Chapters of a possible 7(?) have been released, and it is unknown at the time of writing if the rest will come out when the game is done, or as more standalone chapters.

3. GAMEPLAY

Deltarune borrows a lot of theming and game loop premise from its parent game Undertale. The tag line of Undertale was: the RPG where noone has to die. This is because the encounter based battle system is built on two courses of action to take. You may FIGHT enemies and reduce their HP to zero, or you may ACT, and talk the enemy into leaving the battle. Deltarune is built on this same system, but with extra layers. Kris is the stand in for the Undertale MC, who has the options to FIGHT, ACT, ITEM, SPARE, or GUARD. Most of those options were in Undertale too, but Guarding is a new addition where you earn Tension Points, or TP, for not engaging the enemy at all.

This TP is used for extra powerful ACT actions, or for special moves of the other party members. This is the main big difference in gameplay loop. Since the player controls a party now rather than just one person, each party member can specialise in different action types. Kris's ACT can incorporate input from other party members; Susie for toughness and Ralsei for softness, in general. Susie is the powerhouse, and if you chose the violent route, she does more damage. Ralsei is the Mage, and can heal allies, as well as use magic to resolve fights peacefully. Those extra abilities use TP.

In most turn based RPGs, there is a back and forth, where the player chooses actions, and sometimes there is a timing aspect to how well those actions perform, and then there's the enemy's turn, where most of the time you just have to wait and let it happen. Undertale and Deltarune have this truly unique system where the soul of the party members, represented by a heart, is directly controlled on the enemy's turn. It's a mini game unique to every enemy type, where you must move the heart around to dodge their attacks, and how good you dodge will decide whether you take a lot of damage, or even none at all. Deltarune adds an extra layer onto this, where if you make the dodge closer, so that the enemy only JUST misses, you earn TP, and open up more options for your next turn. I found this extra detail really endearing, and I made a lot more riskier moves than if there was no incentive to.

I probably mentioned it above, but just to close out this section, the option to either ACT or FIGHT opens up two types of play. Chapter 1, being a sort of intro part, does not differentiate, but the distinction becomes important later. ACTing to SPARE an enemy earns you money, and in Chapter 2, will lead to befriending monsters. FIGHTing will also earn you EXP in Chapter 2, making your options to hurt enemies more powerful. In Undertale, this difference in playstyle actually changed the ending in real time, and from what we know of Deltarune, it is likely going to be the same case.

4. PRESENTATION

Undertale had this unique visual charm to it that may have been a limitation of its Independent Development, but it was probably also a stylistic choice. Deltarune builds on the same type of artstyle, adorable pixel sprite graphics that bring a lot more colour and depth than its predecessor.

Many, but not all characters have little character portraits in their textboxes, and they change expressions to match the situation, and its so cute.

Character and enemy design are so top-notch. A team of designers have been brought on this time, and every one of them have brought gold to the table. Every random battle encounter is dripping with personality, as you learn how best to sweet talk your way out of battle, or how to best destroy them. Most recurring NPCs are lovable, and those who you hate, you love to hate. Dialogue is witty and hilarious, and the writing is fun.

The chiptune style soundtrack is phenomenal. Although I think Undertale's common enemy battle them was more memorable, that may just be that I have become more familiar with it. All character and boss battle themes are so catchy and energetic. Toby Fox is a master of high energy... fun music. It gets stuck in your head, and your brain bounces around at high velocity.

5. CONCLUSION

Ok so this review is already like 3 times longer than a normal Media Recommendation Article, and like 5 times longer than I planned it to be for this one game, so I should probably wrap it up here. Deltarune is a game experience I put off playing for way too long, and now I can't hold my excitement for when the next part comes out. And important to keep in mind, it is essentially a demo, in that it is just a taste of what's to come, but it is a damn meaty demo that will keep you engaged for many hours.

Chapters 1 and 2 are packaged together as a free game on most game platforms at this point, so there's nothing really stopping you from giving it a try. I don't usually rate my recommendations, but since I wrote this more like a review, I might as well...

Deltarune Chapter 1+2: 9/10

Please play it!

#blog #blogpost #media recommendations #videogame recommendations #deltarune #undertale #tobyfox #deltarune spoilers #undertale spoilers

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argentdandelion · 5 years

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Undertale Character Heights (Other Practical Applications)

(Ko-Fi and Patreon of Post Author)

There are many practical applications for specific heights. While it’s plausible monsters would bring monster-sized furniture with them up to the Surface, integrating with a society adapted to human proportions has its problems. Humans will have to adjust the sizes of various objects or have a few extra-tall monster objects around just to accommodate monsters.

Misc.

The height of a tall refrigerator (at least in the U.S.) is 5 feet, 10 inches. So anyone 6 feet and taller would likely be able to tell that the top of a refrigerator is really dusty. According to the height calculations based on overworld sprites, the height difference between Sans and Papyrus is 1 foot, 7 inches. Even assuming Papyrus’s boots add an inch or two to his height, that’s a substantial difference.

Sans would either need to shortcut to the top of Papyrus’s sink (if the work depicts it like short-distance teleporting), use a stool, or even use a small chair. Assuming a small, human-made refrigerator (5 feet, 7 inches) in everything below the Large Dog calculation (which puts Sans’ height as 5 feet) Sans would feasibly have trouble reaching the top of a refrigerator, and might need a stool or chair. (or ask Papyrus to get it)

Assuming Papyrus doesn’t use a refrigerator as a spaghetti museum on the Surface, and Sans is on the lowest size estimates, Sans might store any food he wants cold on the lower shelves or compartments of the refrigerator, and Papyrus might take food from the upper shelves.

Homes

Beds

Asgore might be able to get a monster-made bed or order a (likely expensive) custom-made bed, but he can’t do anything about the bed sizes in motels. One could therefore write a short, humorous scene about this.

Some works suppose a teenage Asriel would grow very tall, much like Asgore. So, in a work where Asriel grows to be a teenager on the Surface, his parents might try to get him a monster-made bed...only to realize the shop that made their own beds years ago went out of business.

Speaking of Asriel and Asgore, some fans figure Asgore’s bed must have a special retractable headboard for his horns or a horn-holding pillow. Such adaptations might be handy for humans trying to keep elaborate hairdos from getting messed up as they sleep.

Assuming Frisk is 4 feet tall, the bed alone in the MTT Resort is 240 square feet...making it bigger than some one-room apartments. So, if MTT Resort expands to the surface with a new hotel similarly proportioned to the first, humans may be stunned at the enormous beds. Conversely, big monsters might complain about even the largest beds in hotels being undersized. Hotels in areas with high monster populations might have to fit a few rooms to have extra-big beds with horn holders/horn-pillows, but normal-sized humans might envy these rooms reserved for very large monsters/humans.

Doorways

If one wants to write a Toriel who’s spiteful to her ex, she could specifically get a house with doorways built extra-tall, but still too short for Asgore to comfortably fit in.

A public building made to accommodate monsters might technically be a barn, just so enormous monsters like Onionsan can fit. A human house developer might be baffled when a monster talks about building regulations that demand “horn space” for doorways.

Chairs

In brief: drafting chair black market.

Drafting chairs, which are extra-tall and often adjustable, would be roughly as comfortable for tall monsters as regular chairs. If there’s an undersupply of monster-made extra-tall chairs, taller monsters might use office-style adjustable chairs/drafting chairs as home furniture. If there aren’t enough drafting chairs in local stores, monsters might borrow/steal specialized office furniture. Monsters might shop at office supply stores and ask if there are pretty, “homey” versions of extra-big draft chairs. Employees of human office supply stores might panic because a whole lot of people want one particular model of draft chair, all at the same time. Someone might even buy up all the draft chairs and sell them to monsters at a surcharge.

On a more humorous note, Asgore might buy himself a nice draft chair and go through the learning curve of adjusting it to his proportions.

Travel

Airports

TSA scanners at the airport just wouldn’t fit extra-tall monsters. The nearest airport to Mt. Ebott might might have temporarily close its airport so it has time to fit the TSA scanners for extra-tall monsters. Or, airports must use other methods to check tall monsters for threats. (e.g., a TSA agent who’s a short lady needing to jump or use a stool to do a pat-down on Asgore) In fact, extra-tall monsters might sign up for pre-screening plans to avoid the embarrassment of trying to fit in a scanner.

Some works (e.g., Coffeelemental’s The Anomaly) suppose Asgore is involved in monster politics on the Surface. So a group supporting Asgore’s political campaigning could give him an airplane ticket to a monster rights summit...but he can’t fit on the airplane. Alternatively, the humans anticipate his discomfort and buy him a (very expensive) ticket on a luxury plane, but it’s still too small. He might research whether the plane can fit, find out it can’t, and reject the offer. Or, he might only learn about it at the airport and be very uncomfortable for the entire ride, having to hunch over immensely. Or, he could go onto the plane, reject it for being unable to even walk comfortably (for the bigger Asgore estimates) and anti-monster politicians spin that into him being ungrateful even to his allies.

Or: humans who are unusually wide and tall could use Asgore as a sort of mascot for a campaign to make airplane seats feasibly fit them.

Buses

The city near Mt. Ebott might have to import large Australian public buses, because it’s cheaper than retrofitting their own buses or manufacturing them on a small scale. To fit tall teenage monsters, schoolbuses are modified to have extra-tall roofs or just be converted Australian public buses. Or, school boards may consider it non-economical to retrofit all their school buses to fit a minority of extra-tall monster teens, so there’s only one converted Australian public bus. The (incidentally) all-monster composition of the one bus is fuel for anti-monster politicians.

Cars

(Made by CatCouch of FurAffinity; commissioned by Shadd21 of FurAffinity.)

Someone could retrofit bigger models of cars to be even bigger, to fit tall monsters. A peripheral audience of humans also buy the retrofitted cars, because they love the space. Increased availability of extra-tall cars to fit a few hundred Toriel-sized (and above) monsters is a relief for wheelchair users, who also need big vans. Alternatively: a wheelchair-van converter has a lucrative career fitting vans for both extra-big monsters and monsters that can’t move well on land (e.g., Aaron). A car manufacturer, after catching footage of Asgore struggling to fit in a chair, might contact him for an advertising campaign for extra-roomy cars that could fit even him.

Toriel Being Spiteful

If one wants to write a Toriel that’s spiteful to her ex, she could get a small (medium-sized for humans) car and “helpfully” point out Asgore would struggle to fit inside, so she’d never feel obligated to, say, pick him up from the airport. If one want to really complicate this, one could make a teenage Flowey really tall, like a sunflower. Alternatively, teenage Asriel (assuming Flowey gets a Boss Monster body again) could clearly take after Asgore in height, and Toriel could scramble to find some way to comfortably fit Asriel while still making it too cramped for Asgore.

Or Toriel could get a van because it’s the most comfortable for her height and proportions, and now people keep asking her to help them move stuff with her van. (Notably, Deltarune Toriel specifically drives a van, though her height is yet to be calculated)

Part 1 --> Part 2 ---> Part 3 --> Part 4 (here)

#Undertale #Undertale Analysis #Analysis #Undertale Character Heights #Asgore #Toriel #Sans #Papyrus

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northlandian · 5 years

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Undertale Questions & Answers!

Proven with FACTS and Evidence from the game.

This is something I wrote a little over a year ago. Never got around to posting till now.

(Obviously, this was before the release of Deltarune and the Switch/PS updates so some info might be missing.)

(Also yes I’m aware that most of this is common knowledge by now, lol. Still wanted to put it out there.)

When did Chara fall into the Underground?

Well, we know from the calendar we see in New Home during both True Pacifist and Genocide routes that Chara fell down near the end of the year 201X.

In New Home, a calendar can be found that apparently is from the end of 201X. During a Genocide route, Chara comments on the date circled in the calendar, saying that it was the day they arrived.

The Mt. Ebott we see in the intro to the game is also from 201X, implying that the intro is showing Chara’s fall, not Frisk’s. This is supported at the end of the True Pacifist route when we are fighting Asriel. He believes that we are Chara (due to his phone call after the true lab: “Chara? Are you there?” etc…), even though we are not, however, they are there with us (they are proven to be the “narrator” as we see near the end of the Genocide route when they start talking about themselves. This possibility is explained by them at the very end of a Genocide as them being reawakened by our Determination). Since they are there with us, they can help us recall a memory from Asriel just as Frisk had been doing with his friends to save them - and it’s the memory of when Chara fell into the underground, identical to the intro.

This same year, a memorial fountain was built in the MTT hotel, however, the statue of Mettaton erected on it was only added a week before your arrival.

Okay, so when did Frisk fall into the underground?

The year can’t be definitively pinpointed, however, there is enough evidence to give us a good idea.

Between the time that Chara and Asriel died, and Frisk fell into the Underground, six more humans fell. We are told during a Neutral route the story of Asriel and Chara, their death caused by the humans, and Asgore’s pledge to kill every last human who falls into the underground in order to break the barrier (because seven human souls are needed to break a barrier made by seven human wizards). This is also why Toriel flees to the Ruins. We also know that Frisk is human #7 because Undyne tells us so and because we can see the number of souls collected thus far when we go to fight Asgore. Finally, this is supported by the number of filled coffins we see in the basement.

Papyrus was born between the time the sixth human fell and between the time that Frisk fell (since he’s never seen a human before, and since all humans made it to Asgore’s castle, they must have passed through Snowdin) - however his age is a mystery except for one lead - his UnderNet username, CoolSkeleton95. It is possible that that “95” stands for his birth year, meaning that he could have possibly been born in the year of 2095 - almost 100 years after Chara’s fall. It would also make sense for him be born in 2095 because there is an explanation for why Toriel and Asgore would still be alive after so many years - as Gerson tells us at the end of a pacifist route, boss monsters only age as their children age. But Toriel and Asgore’s only son, Asriel, had died, therefore they wouldn’t age (Gerson also makes sure to tell us that if their child was human, it wouldn’t affect their ageing, so Chara has no impact on that).

Considering this timeframe of about 100 years, it also explains why the humans were chill with the monsters return, as we see them live out their lives on the surface in the Pacifist ending credits - they don’t really care about events that occurred over a century ago.

There’s a trophy found in Asgore’s home that states he and Toriel were the “#1 Nose Nuzzlers of ’98”, most likely 1998, as this obviously took place while they were still together, meaning before Chara’s death.

What all this means (if true) is that there are about 100 years between Chara’s fall and Frisk’s fall.

Why were the monsters banished to the Underground?

The whole “war broke out” thing is pretty vague, but there are hints throughout the game suggesting why they were really banished.

In Waterfall, there is a story about why the humans attacked. It explains that their one weakness is the strength of their soul, meaning that if a monster were to defeat a human, it can absorb its soul and become “a horrible beast with unfathomable power”. There is also a picture description. Later in Waterfall, there is also mention that no human has ever absorbed a monster soul before, however, nothing is said about the vice versa. This all points to that a monster has absorbed a human soul in the past, besides Asriel with Chara, since the glyphs are ancient. This is said to be why the humans attacked. The question is, which monster absorbed which humans soul, and there is no evidence to figure that one out, except for the fact that it was not Asgore (because we see him in the intro in what we can assume is his normal form).

It is also clear from the intro that Asgore was alive during the war times, and so was someone who strongly resembled Frisk and Chara, yet as an adult.

The barrier requires the strength of 7 human souls to break because it was created with the power of 7 human wizards.

What are the other traits besides Determination?

Believe it or not, despite the very strong evidence that points towards 7 traits of Justice, Kindness, Patience, Perseverance, Integrity, Bravery, and Determination, it’s all still technically speculation.

When we reach the Throne Room, there is an option to go into a basement where we can find 7 coffins with 7 different soul colours on them - yellow, green, cyan, purple, blue, orange, and red. All coffins are filled except the red one, which we find out through the story told during the Neutral route and what Chara tells us in the Genocide route that it was Chara’s coffin before Toriel took their body with them to be buried in the Ruins. The colours on the coffins directly correspond with the colours and trait descriptions that show up on the flags in the ball game in Snowdin - yellow is Justice, green is Kindness, cyan is Patience, purple is Perseverance, blue is Integrity, and orange is Bravery. We can assume that these are the other traits.

Although these souls may have “traits” it is not wise to assume that these souls are limited to said trait - they might just be their strongest or most defining feature. For example, a human with a Kindness soul might not necessarily be impatient.

We also know that each human soul did have a bit of Determination in it - it was extracted during the Determination experiments.

There is no proof to say that Determination is a more “rare” kind of soul - in fact, out of the eight humans that fell into the Underground, the majority had a Determination soul (2 of them - Frisk and Chara). It just happens to be very unique and powerful, but then again, we are not aware of the abilities of the other traits either.

It is unknown if these are the only traits, but the snowball game only outlines the six.

What’s the deal with the Determination experiments?

The Determination experiments were experiments and analyzations done on determination souls in order to break the barrier.

There is evidence to support that the DT experiments were not started by Alphys and that they were started by none other than Doctor W. D. Gaster, the previous royal scientist. By reading Mettaton’s diary entries, we find out that he used to be a ghost, and that he was friends with the monster Shyren. He writes about how her sister “fell down” recently, and then a few entries later writes about meeting Alphys at a human fan club meeting. In the true lab, we can actually see Shyren’s sister as one of the Amalgamates, meaning that she was used in the DT experiments. But here’s the thing - Mettaton was a ghost and did not even know Alphys when she fell down, and we’re told by Bratty and Catty that Alphys only became Royal Scientist after she showed Asgore her plans to make Mettaton a body. This means that Alphys was not the Royal Scientist at the time when Shreyn’s sister fell down and was being experimented on. So it had to be the previous Royal Scientist, which we are told by the Gaster Followers is Gaster. The only thing that contradicts this is the fact that Alphys straight up tells us that she was the one to start the experiments.

When we read from the lab entries, we find out that the plan was to unleash the power of the soul on the barrier in order to break it. This power cannot be created artificially, however (contrary to what we’re told by Alphys in-game), and must come from what once was living. The only things he had to work with were the monster souls and the human souls. The only problem with using a monster soul, however, is that besides boss monsters (the breed of Toriel, Asgore, and Asriel), monster souls disappear immediately after death. They had to figure out a way to make monster souls persist - and they did. It says, using the blueprints of his, they created the DT Extraction machine to extract “it” from the human souls. The substance that allows a soul to persist after death, a substance called “Determination”. The plan henceforth is to inject “Determination” into the bodies of monsters who had fallen down. The goal is that by using a vessel to support the human and monster souls, they will be able to either gather enough by keeping them alive or have enough strength within the souls to equate to a human soul, thus being able to break the barrier along with the other 6 human souls. They then need to find a vessel that will be able to absorb the human and monster souls at the same time to break the barrier when the time comes - but the catch is that humans can’t absorb human souls, and monsters can’t absorb monster souls. Therefore, he needs something that’s not human or monster. He decided to choose a flower that he believes is “special”, because it was the first one that grew, it was apparently from the outside world, and it grew right after Toriel left. They then question what will happen when something without a soul gains the will to live.

After this entry, which is entry 8, everything about the journals change. The writing style from here on out is different - less sophisticated, more panicked. It’s also in all lower case. It is my belief that this is where Alphys started taking over the DT experiments. She explains that things aren’t going well, and she’s anxious as to what to say to the families that want the bodies back to get the dust for the funerals. She also asks, “what do I do?”, further proof that she is now taking over, as she doesn’t know what she’s doing. Why she takes over here, or Gaster’s current presence in the experiments is a mystery. She then explains that the experiments on the vessel failed. After this, we can safely assume that it is definitely Alphys writing, as she talks about Mettaton and how he wants his body finished. She doesn’t know what to do, so she keeps injecting everything with “Determination”, until they open their eyes, and are alive again. It explains that they think the research is a dead end, but at least they got a happy ending out of it. They plan on sending the bodies back the following day, but then something goes wrong (“no, No, NO, NO, NO, NO”). This could be one of two things: one, the bodies of the monsters have now melted together to become the amalgamates, which does definitely happen at some point after this. This is also supported by Alphys’s entry 17, and by what she tells us when we find her, which is that monster bodies can’t handle “Determination” like human bodies, and that they melt into creatures because they can’t support it - we even see it happen to Undyne after her fight during a Genocide route; he body literally can’t handle her Determination. This is why monsters can’t be determined as well. The second thing is that Gaster has now disappeared, as evident by his journal 17. It reads in WingDings (said to be his “font”): “DARKER. DARKER. YET DARKER. THE DARKNESS KEEPS GROWING. THE SHADOWS CUTTING DEEPER. PHOTON READINGS NEGATIVE. THIS NEXT EXPERIMENT. SEEMS. VERY. VERY. INTERESTING. WHAT DO YOU TWO THINK?” These “two” leads me to my next point - entries 14 and 15, which take about the fallen monsters reawakening, the research being a bust, and how they were going to send the bodies back. These entries are written differently than both Gaster’s and Alphys’ because they use proper grammar, but they’re not as sophisticated as Gaster’s. It’s my belief that these two entries belong to the one other scientist, Sans. Although he does only speak in lower case letters, he does have a past unknown relationship with Alphys, as hinted at the end of a pacifist ending. He also has blueprints and an unknown machine in his secret lab, and he is known for loving physics and astronomy. An excuse for the proper grammar is that this is before Flowey’s reawakening, and before the time when Flowey would continuously reset. Since Sans was one of the only characters who is aware of the multiple timelines (as he eludes to during his Genocide battle with us), he could have become lazy and careless after all that time, hence why he didn’t bother with proper grammar when we speak to him. The only other lab entries after the entry 17’s discuss how the flower had gone missing, and how the families are still waiting on the bodies. Alphys then mentions how she spends all her time in the garbage dump, which we see in the Pacifist route is true, as that’s where she takes us on a date.

We know that the DT experiments with the monsters still haunt Alphys until the time we meet her. During a True Pacifist route, she leaves the note before entering the true lab to discover “the truth”. She also eludes to it during a near-Genocide Neutral route end of game phone call with her.

The DT experiments prove that all human souls can possess Determination since they’re extracted from the other human souls that are NOT Chara’s.

What is “Fun” Value?

Fun Value is an RNG between 1-100 the game rolls every time you start a new run.

In theory, it looks like each number represents a different timeline, sort of similar to the “many worlds” theory (where there is an infinite number of universes for every choice and decision made). In each “timeline”, one little thing is different than the rest.

The known different occurrences to happen due to the fun value are as follows: 2-39 have a 100% chance of having a “Wrong Number Song” played to you in Snowdin; 40-45 have a 100% chance of Sans prank calling you in Snowdin; 46-50 have a 100% chance of Alphys calling you trying to order a pizza in Snowdin; 56-57 have a 100% chance of giving you nightmare mode puzzles in Snowdin; 61 has a 20% chance of having the NPC G Follower 1 show up in Hotland in front of elevator R1; 62 has a 50% chance of having the NPC G Follower 2 show up in Hotland in front of elevator L3; 63 has a 50% chance of having the NPC G Follower 3 show up in Hotland in front of elevator L2; 65 has a 50% chance of opening up a sound test room, which has a room with 4 different soundtracks, and it also includes the “Shadow Ghost Man”; 66 has a 100% chance of opening up the fake hallway but a 10% chance of giving the door that leads to “Mystery Man”; 80-89 have a 100% chance of having Clam Girl show up in Waterfall (if you speak to her at the right time, this somehow unlocks a part of Sans’s photo album in his basement if you were to get the key. Butterfly effect much?); and finally, 91-100 have a 100% chance to have “Goner Kid” show up in the moving platform room in Waterfall while Undyne is chasing you. The rest of the fun value numbers do not change anything specific.

Who is Doctor W. D. Gaster?

There is a very slim chance of encountering 1 of 3 NPC’s in the game that mentions a man named Doctor W. D. Gaster. And boy, with very little said, there is still so much to know about this guy.

The dialogue from the NPC’s, who are named G Followers 1, 2 and 3, explains that Gaster was the royal scientist before Alphys. Even though he was a slower worker than Alphys, he was brilliant, very difficult to replace, and he was responsible for creating the Core, the source of electricity for the entire Underground. But one day, he vanished without a trace; he fell into his creation and shattered across time and space. GF1 asks is Alphys will end up the same way, GF2 says he's literally holding a piece of him, and GF3 claims that he is listening.

The GF’s are found in Hotland, near the Core, outside elevators R1, L3, and L2.

As mentioned above, there is evidence to believe that Gaster is responsible for starting the DT experiments.

The “Mystery Man” sprite is believed to possibly be Gaster. If you touch him, his eyes widen and then he vanishes.

GF1 says that Gaster “fell into his creation”. This could either be the Core, or the DT extraction machine or possibly something else we don’t know of.

In the True Lab, there is no entry 17, and it can only be accessed by manipulating the game files. The entry is written in WingDings (Gaster’s “font”, which is also what the “W. D.” in his name supposedly stands for), which we can strongly assume means that Gaster wrote it.

There are many hints throughout the game and in the game files that suggest that Gaster is from a timeline that was lost. First of all, in order to even encounter the GF’s your “fun” value has to be very specific. Even to encounter the “Mystery Man”, you must roll a 66, and even then, you only have a 10% chance of even finding him. This can suggest that he was somehow erased from history. The quote from GF2 “he shattered across time and space” can also suggest that he is literally scattered throughout time, that only hints of him can come up in various timelines. Another hint is that if you are to try and name yourself “Gaster”, the game will literally either restart or crash, suggesting that it is not possible to be in any of the timelines whatsoever.

It is very hard to find a lead on how Gaster could have vanished from time by falling into one of his creations unless he created something else that we are unaware of.

It is possible he injected himself with Determination, which is why Mystery Man might appear a bit goopy (since monsters aren't capable of withstanding Determination), and why GF2 could possibly hold a piece of him.

It is claimed in the journals that there were blueprints used to create the DT extraction machine, however, if he really did write the journals, where he got these blueprints or if he created them is a mystery.

There is a possible link to Gaster with Sans. As speculated above, there is a chance that Sans was another scientist just like Alphys, at the time when Gaster was Royal Scientist, since he loves physics, and possibly wrote some of the journal entries. In the Genocide route when you fight him, he uses a weapon called a “Gaster Blaster”, another possible invention of theirs or Gaster’s. Sans also has a secret basement with a workshop, only accessible is you prove to him that you can go back to your save point. He then gives you a key to the basement (after pulling a prank on you across time and space, apparently). In it, you can find blueprints written in either an unknown language, or symbols (possibly WingDings), a broken machine, and a photo album. In the photo album, there’s a picture you can access only if you talk to the Clam Girl where it describes Sans standing with people, with the words “Don’t Forget” on it. These people could possibly be Gaster and Papyrus, or maybe Gaster and Alphys.

On Toby Fox’s twitter, he shared his original character designs for a few characters in the game. On Papyrus’s, it reads: “Has a brother named Comic Sans (aka just Sans), and a — named —”, with the —’s being blacked out. There is tons of speculation saying that it reads “Gaster”, and that he was their father, since Mystery Man resembles a skeleton, and since he also has his own font (WingDings) just like Sans and Papyrus.

There is another possible Gaster sprite, which looks like a ghostly sort of figure, who only appears once you approach him. If you attempt to talk to him, it reads *[redacted]* in wingdings. “Redacted” would imply that there was going to be a conversation there, but it was removed. If you exit the room he is found in, you end up in the sound test room, with four songs, one being “Gaster’s Theme”. If you choose to play Gaster’s Theme, you won’t be able to play any of the other songs. Once the song finishes, the game will crash.

Sometimes when you ride with the River Man, he will tell you to “beware of the man who speaks in hands”. This can refer to the man who speaks wingdings because hand symbols represent some letters in wingdings. He can also tell you to beware of the man who came from the other world.

If your “fun” value is over 90, you can encounter “Goner Kid” in Waterfall. They ask you: “Have you ever thought about a world where everything is the same… except you don’t exist? Everything functions just fine without you… Ha ha… the thought terrifies me.” This can reference the fact that the world in the Underground is going on with no mention of Gaster, as he is possibly wiped from the timelines. He then says, if you’re still holding an umbrella: “An umbrella…? But it’s not raining.” This can be referencing one of Sans’s themes, “It’s Raining Somewhere Else”, which relates to the speculation of Sans’s ties to Gaster.

How did Flowey come to life?

The story of Asriel’s death is quite sad, but Flowey’s reawakening is almost sadder.

It is revealed at the end of a Pacifist route that Flowey is, in fact, Asriel Dreemurr, King Asgore and Queen Toriel’s son. Using the 6 human souls plus literally every soul in the Underground (to equate to the strength of another human soul), he transforms into Asriel, God of Hyperdeath. The souls of your friends become memory heads, and the only way to save them is by jogging their memories with things that happened throughout the game. Once this is done, you save Asriel from himself by replaying the memory of Chara’s fall. With this, he transforms back into himself and finds out that you’re not Chara, but your real name is Frisk. He then returns the souls, but not before breaking the barrier. The monsters leave and eventually, he transforms back into the soulless Flowey.

We find out in New Home during a neutral route that Chara was the first human to fall into the Underground. Asriel finds them and brings them back to the castle. They are raised as Asriel’s brother, and Asgore and Toriel’s child. But what we didn’t know, until Asriel tells us at the end of a Pacifist route, is that Chara hated humanity and that they wanted to free monsters. The way we are told it by monsters is that Chara got sick and died, but we find out in the True Lab tapes that Chara poisoned themselves in an attempt at suicide so that Asriel could absorb their soul, cross the barrier, and get 6 more souls to break it. The power to control Asriel’s body was split between them, so Chara was the one that carried their body across the barrier into their town, to lay on the golden flowers. When the humans saw Asriel holding Chara, they thought he killed them, so they started to attack. Knowing they were capable, Chara wanted to attack back, but Asriel didn’t want to kill them, so they were stuck, taking blow after blow. Finally, they took the body back, crossed back through the barrier into the Underground, and Asriel died, his dust spreading across the golden flowers in the garden. This is when Asgore pledged to kill every human who fell into the Underground, and Toriel, appealed by this, left him to the Ruins, taking Chara’s body with her to bury in the exact spot that we fell.

This is where things get interesting - Asriel’s dust spread across a golden flower; the exact golden flower chosen for the DT experiments. We are told this story by him in New Home during a Genocide route: after injecting the flower with Determination, he reawakens because he gained the will to live. Asriel was eventually found by Asgore but was surprised to see that he was feeling absolutely no emotion for his father. At first, he tries to kill himself, but at the last second decides he doesn’t want to (because he has the will to live aka his Determination) and ends up right back at his save point. This leads into a downward spiral of trying every single possible route - from Pacifist to Genocide. He did this up until we fell into the Underground because our Determination was stronger than his - proving that the person with the most Determination gets control over the timeline.

It is likely that Sans found out about this ability of his, since he knows about past timelines. This is why the line Flowey says at the end of a neutral route about Sans (“Don’t let him find out anything about you. He’s caused my fair share of resets”) makes sense. What Sans did to him is a mystery.

How was Chara Reawakened and Able to Take Over Frisk’s Body?

Unlike the rest of the fallen children, Chara had a Determination soul. Because of this, their reawakening was possible.

Chara tells you at the end of a Genocide route that they were only able to be reawakened with your human soul, and your Determination - otherwise, it would’ve been impossible.

The point that people miss regarding their reawakening is that fact that no matter which route you take - Neutral, Pacifist, or Genocide, Chara is reawakened. This is proven due to the fact that Chara is the second-person speaker in the game: the narrator. Every time you do an action, Chara is the one that describes it. This is proven by what the “narrator” says during a Genocide route; speaking directly as who they are in some instances. We can also tell Chara is there because of the memories that are recalled. Every time you die, Chara remembers Asgore’s voice talking to them right before they die (“Chara! You have to stay determined”). While in Waterfall, there is a point where Undyne knocks you down into the garbage dump, and you are sort of “knocked out” for a second. During that brief moment, Chara remembers the moment they fell into the Underground and met Asriel. Finally, during the fight with Asriel, the only way you’re able to save him is with the help of Chara, recalling Asriel’s favourite memories with them, which brings him back to his true form.

Chara only starts to take over your body once they see your intentions of eradicating everything from the Underground (their first “take over” is in Snowdin, when they refuse to stand behind the conveniently-shaped lamp. We don’t get control in that moment). The question is, why wouldn’t they try to stop us from killing everything in the Underground if they hated humanity but cared about monsters enough to sacrifice themselves for them? It’s possible that it was because, unlike all other traits, Determination is not limited to good or evil - it can be both. Since in a Genocide route we chose the latter, and Chara fed off our Determination and our human soul, that’s why they turned into a demonic destructive child.

What makes Determination so unique then if it’s not rare?

Determination can somewhat be considered an outlier from the other traits - it has qualities only it can have.

Determination souls are the only souls that can save, load, and reset. We know this because of when Flowey tells us during a Genocide route that before we came, HE was the one who had the most determination, that he had the power to “go back” to his save point in the garden.

Determination is the only trait that can be used for both good and evil. Take the trait patience for example; it has one objective to itself, and that it to just be patient. If your patient, the soul is strong, and if you resist, the soul will grow weaker. However, as we see in the game, Determination can be used to offer hope and love, or create a Genocide and grow LV. It doesn’t matter if it’s good or bad, as long as you’re determined, the soul will be strong.

Determination can rewake a dead Determination soul, as we see with Chara.

Determination can allow both a human soul and monster soul to persist death. We see this with both Frisk and Undyne, and we also can tell by what was found through the Determination experiments.

Determination is one of the strongest traits, even going so far as to melt monster bodies that possess too much of it. We see this with the amalgamates, with Undyne, and we can read about it in Alphys’s journal entry 17. It’s treated more so as something physical than a trait like the others.

It is possible that a Determination soul is defined as a soul composed of an equal amount of the 6 other traits, creating physical Determination. This theory is based on the ball game in Snowdin, where we establish the six traits with the corresponding flag colours. However, should you get a red flag, it reads: “Bravery, Justice. Integrity. Kindness. Perseverance. Patience. Using these, you were able to win at ‘Ball Game’”. This can imply that these six traits create the “red”, which is the colour of our soul, which we assume is Determination.

Is there a difference between “Fallen Down” and DEATH?

Absolutely.

Whenever we kill a monster, it immediately turns to dust, and we get XP for killing it. However we read that there is another term used if we read Mettaton’s diary, and it’s called “Fallen Down”. He writes about his friend, Shyren, and how her sister had “fell down”, also explaining how she no longer has her sister to stand up for her. This sounds like it implies that she’s dead, however, when the True Lab journals describe the monster bodies that are “fallen down”, it describes them as comatose, and that they haven’t turned to dust yet. Therefore, “fallen down” means that they are in a coma, likely to never rewake, and dust = death.

#undertale #theory #facts #evidence #frisk #chara #questions #answers #determination #gaster

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