An Undertale rant: the biggest spoiler you can give without even knowing it.

So I just played and finished Undertale for the first time yesterday. I fucking love it. I love it so damn much. Its gotten to the point where I can’t even stop thinking about the characters, moments, gameplay and music from the game. So being as obsessed as I was I decided to go online and converse with others on what they think of the game. People are pretty cool and its nice to talk about our favorite moments from this game.

However there is one thing that I have noticed. When viewing lets plays of the game, people were already talking about how they are going to play the game.

And this is where the spoiler comes in. And that spoiler is the fact that there are multiple endings based on whether or not you kill everybody.

Now multiple endings on their own are not a spoiler, and neither is the fact that you can save every creature that you fight. It’s the knowledge that both of these factors affect one another is the spoiler.

When I played the game, I didn’t know about the multiple endings, so I played it normally. I thought, “hey, its cool that you don’t have to fight anyone, that’s probably just a battle mechanic.” The title says you can go throughout the game killing anyone. It DOES NOT SAY that it will have story implications.

So I killed some things. Why? Simple.

Stats.

Yes the inner chyra in me and everyone should come out at the beginning of the game. There’s an HP bar right? And I have a defense stat right? So I assumed that if I leveled up a little, then monsters would be easier to DODGE and I could take more hits. Become more of tank. Make the game easier.

And that’s the key. Making it easier. That I feel the reason is that everyone kills at least one on their first run, when they do not have the knowledge of different endings. To make fights easier.

That’s how this games narrative effected me so deeply. Undyne telling me that “you only killed them cause it was easy” and sans explaining what exp and LV meant made me scream “HOLY SHIT”. Because while they flipped the RPG formula as we all know, it also creates a deep regret that the player feels.

So when I watch let’s player or talk to people who knew ahead that they shouldn’t kill anyone, it makes me feel sorry for them. They never had their heart ripped when they found out they were actively killing innocent creatures, the shock when they realize that the stat don’t matter, and most importantly the feeling of wanting to fix their mistakes.

And that’s why the game encourages. Flowey at the end tells you want to do, how to get a better ending, giving the player hope for a better ending for these characters we’ve grown to love. The game was made purposely short for his reason. So that the player could quickly run through and create a new playthrough based on their past experiences.

Instead, people who know the fact that there is a pacifist ending are only getting other people's knowledge, and not their own.

I was fortunate enough to not have anything spoiled, and the experience I had based on that was magical. I just feel so sad for those that didn’t have the same excitement and revelation that I had, and are just going down a checklist of what to do to get to the end.

So please, I beg you, when recommending the game, you can say you don’t have to kill anybody but please don’t say it affects the story. It might be selfish of me to think this, but by doing this people are just going to be putting more hours into undertale, and isn’t that only a good thing?

TL;DR: The worst spoiler people can give is that there are different endings based on the way you play. Its okay to say you don't have to kill anyone, but please don’t spoil how it affects the plot. People will replay it on their own.

Thanks for reading as I just vent about an experience I had and want others to have. All my points may be meaningless but I just wanted to get my opinion out there. Somewhere.

Anyway a similar experience that may be different, but goes through the ups and downs is this video by dookieshed. Its centered around goatmom, but its based on the feelings I had at the undyne and final sans meeting. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UELdGDYAHcI