Review RPG Codex Review: Undertale

[Crooked Bee]

I didn't notice any, ahem, "SJW" stuff in Undertale myself. Just like with the alleged memes that aren't really there, the game has been used by the so-called "SJWs" for their own purposes.

I'm not an Earthbound fan myself. I mostly play RPGs for their mechanics, which these sorts of RPGs just don't really have / aren't about. However, Undertale is not Fallout 4. The latter is incompetent and janky in everything it tries to do. Undertale, however, achieves its design goals competently and manages to make different design elements, from combat and story to music, function coherently together, as well as breaks the mold in its specific subgenre. All of that is something many game designers wish they could achieve -- but can't. The rest is simply up to whether you enjoy this kind of game or not. It's like if I was shitposting in the Witcher subforum because I think Witcher 2 and 3 are unbearable popamole crap (which I believe they are). However, I just ignore that subforum instead.

 

[ArchAngel]

Same shit. I hate these games. To me they are just Super Mario Bros crap but from birds views. When you are older than 8 you should stop playing these games.

By the looks of it you must have fresh memories of these games.

I would seem I touched a sore spot for you. Super Mario crap your favorite game series?

These answers are not good for you, you only got 5 brofists, you are destroying your ratio.

 

[Irenaeus II]

I think Witcher 2 and 3 are unbearable popamole crap (which I believe it is)

Agree 100%

Fo be fair, I should play them one day.

 

[Eyestabber]

Thread makes me cry into my goat body pillow.

Undertale's audience in a nutshell.

One has to be incredibly dense not to notice the subtle agenda pushing in this "game".

"But there is no [insert buzzword here] in the game!"

Oh the naivety is almost cute.

Also [from the review]:

"An iconic monster, fitting for the Codex's audience, is the tsunderplane - an airplane that behaves like a stereotypical anime girl. She likes you, B-BUT DON'T GET ANY IDEAS B-BAKA!!"

What the flying fuck? How many different ways can you spell "degenerate"? AH so here is the key to the SJW/Tumblr issue: the game doesn't cater to SJW, it just caters to degenerates in general. Not every degenerate is a SJW, guise!

Duly noted!

 

[Irenaeus II]

The game does look fun, but it's like CB said, the SJWs and communists like @felipepepepepepepep want uses it for their neferious "progressilol" evil social engineering, which automatically TRIGGER a reactionary response from Global Society current targets: MASCULINE White men.

The game looks fun, still:

Ok, not so much fun as girly/gay. But still... I forgot what my point was. Have a great day.

 

[Vikter]

I didn't notice any, ahem, "SJW" stuff in Undertale myself. Just like with the alleged memes that aren't really there, the game has been used by the so-called "SJWs" for their own purposes.

I'm not an Earthbound fan myself. I mostly play RPGs for their mechanics, which these sorts of RPGs just don't really have. However, Undertale is not Fallout 4. The latter is incompetent and janky in everything it tries to do. Undertale, however, achieves its design goals competently and manages to make different design elements, from combat and story to music, function coherently together, as well as breaks the mold in its specific subgenre. All of that is something many game designers wish they could achieve -- but can't. The rest is simply up to whether you enjoy this kind of game or not. It's like if I was shitposting in the Witcher subforum because I think Witcher 2 and 3 are unbearable popamole crap (which I believe they are). However, I just ignore that subforum instead.

I think the SJW thing comes mostly from the androgynous protagonist. It doesn't seem like the game actively tried to be a middle finger to racists and homophobes, but since it doesn't feature lolis in bikinis, hipsters from Tumblr/DeviantArt took a liking to it. Then, 4chan assumed it was an SJW game, or something like that.

 

[Irenaeus II]

Also [from the review]:

"An iconic monster, fitting for the Codex's audience, is the tsunderplane - an airplane that behaves like a stereotypical anime girl. She likes you, B-BUT DON'T GET ANY IDEAS B-BAKA!!"

What the flying fuck? How many different ways can you spell "degenerate"? AH so here is the key to the SJW/Tumblr issue: the game doesn't cater to SJW, it just caters to degenerates in general. Not every degenerate is a SJW, guise!

Duly noted!

There's a large part of the Codex's audience that's seemingly weeabooo or are at least in on their jokes. We newbies are outside this culture and don't get it.

For my part, I jkeep making fun of my brother for watching retarded japanese cartoons with exagerated round eyes, but he's a cool guy who plays Talisman and Chaos Reborn with me. Both games are great for multiplayer and if you are reading and haven't play them, try the demo or some shit.

Edit: Both tumblr and 4chan are below adult conversational level. If you are over 18 and reading this, level up.

 

[Jasede]

Basically Crooked Bee, Scrooge, me, felipe, etc., we've kinda... leveled up. We don't just like Fallout or PS:T anymore. We like them plenty, and games like that, but we're not gonna pigeonhole ourselves or dedicate ourselves to just one style of RPG. If it's good, we'll play it; doesn't matter if it's tacticool KOTC combat crawling, classic Underrailing or a hip new jRPG that's really well made. If it's good, we'll play it and we won't feel ashamed about it.

I'd say we have more fun than you guys because we get to enjoy more games. Maybe we're even more hardcore than you - we beat Labyrinth of Touhou, after all, greatest dungeon crawl ever made that's new. :3

 

[felipepepe]

Speak for yourself Jasede! I never beated Labyrinth of Touhou ;_;

 

[Irenaeus II]

I think even nomask7, a person officially medically diagnosed as incapable of feelings by ancient alien computer robot zombies, has more fun than your girl/gay clique. Talk about disconnection with the userbase.

 

[Vikter]

Basically Crooked Bee, Scrooge, me, felipe, etc., we've kinda... leveled. We don't just like Fallout or PS:T anymore. We like them plenty, and games like that, but we're not gonna pigeonhole ourselves or dedicate ourselves to just one style of RPG. If it's good, we'll play it; doesn't matter if it's tacticool KOTC combat crawling, classic Underrailing or a hip new jRPG that's really well made. If it's good, we'll play it and we won't feel ashamed about it.

I'd say we have more fun than you guys because we get to enjoy more games. Maybe we're even more hardcore than you - we beat Labyrinth of Touhou, after all, greatest dungeon crawl ever made that's new. :3

 

[kris]

The game looked to me gay as fuck.

But seeing how everyone was praising it I decided to watch some gameplay on youtube.

After few minutes of that I came to conclusion its gay as fuck.

Joke's on you when Undertale wins the GOTY poll because everyone who's played it rates it a 5/5.

Does the "5" stand for the amount of people that played it?

 

[Zorba the Hutt]

Strange thread.

On the subject of 'leveling' though:

I'd say we have more fun than you guys because we get to enjoy more games.

I don't think any of the games this year were any good.

These little 'hardcore' indie RPGs aren't selling well because they feel soulless, loveless. Which is amazing, considering how long so many of you worked on them. Maybe you just don't have what it takes.

If leveling up means shitting on the likes of AoD and Underrail in favour of a 'hip new JRPG' then I guess I'm content to remain in that low-level gameplay sweet spot and leave the higher level quests to those with more xp.

 

[Vault Dweller]

So all in all, Eisenwald strikes me as a game that doesn't know who its audience is, and certainly doesn't know how to market itself, because even within the Codex, by nature sympathetic to such games, it's rarely talked about. It commits just about every cardinal sin there is when it comes to video game marketing, and tries to hit a market - European historical fantasy - that has never done that well outside of existing franchises in the past decade. In fact, our favorite Vince D. Weller's Age of Decadence has the exact same problem, which is why it and Eisenwald both sold like shit. It's though the elitist Codex fosters a concept of what a RPG ought to be that doesn't match what people actually want to pay for... Now why would that be, I wonder?

In any case, I'll be fair: I don't think the Codex ever called for historical fantasy lite European settings, which coincidentally is what both Age of Decadence and Legends of Eisenwald ultimately went for, to their mutual detriment. I don't know what it is with developers who style themselves hardcore Fallout fans setting their games in medieval/classical Europe. I suppose there is reason to believe, with Game of Thrones being all the rage, that there is a market for this out there. But I don't think Age of Decadence and Legends of Eisenwald are marketed correctly for that audience. After all, it's not the tactical medieval combat that's fueling the trend on TV - it's the story and the characters. And come to think of it, that's been the recipe for success for all new RPGs, including JRPG lites.

I'm pretty sure AoD sold like shit not because of the setting but
1. lack of hype / free publicity from youtube celebrites/ 4-chan/ reddit/ mainstream sites like gamespot( unlike undertale )
2. very hard combat
3. the fact that combat is turn-based is not helping with sales either.
They may be other less important reasons ( graphics is not on par with AAA games, iso camera, lack of multiplayer / co-op ) but first 2 are imo main reasons why AoD sold so shitty.

AoD sold 'like shit' because that's what hardcore RPGs sell. If you look at the other RPGs (Underail, Serpents, Dead State, Xulima, Eisenwald, etc), the spread is kind of narrow and doesn't have much room for surprises. That's just how it is. If one is unwilling to accept it, one shouldn't make such RPGs. Such RPGs will never sell 500,000 copies but if you do it right and sell 70-80,000 copies, it's more than enough for a small company to survive.

 

[Jasede]

Not everyone is shitting on those two games, AoD is popular here and Underrail is as well. I like Underrail but AoD isn't my cup of tea. It doesn't have to be. It doesn't need to be. I don't have to prove to anyone how hardcore oldskool I am.

 

[Irenaeus II]

 

[markec]

Basically Crooked Bee, Scrooge, me, felipe, etc., we've kinda... leveled up. We don't just like Fallout or PS:T anymore. We like them plenty, and games like that, but we're not gonna pigeonhole ourselves or dedicate ourselves to just one style of RPG. If it's good, we'll play it; doesn't matter if it's tacticool KOTC combat crawling, classic Underrailing or a hip new jRPG that's really well made. If it's good, we'll play it and we won't feel ashamed about it.

I'd say we have more fun than you guys because we get to enjoy more games. Maybe we're even more hardcore than you - we beat Labyrinth of Touhou, after all, greatest dungeon crawl ever made that's new. :3

I do hope I never "level up" into someone who enjoys pretentious hipster shit.

 

[Irenaeus II]

This guy... this fucking guy... lol

Slurps the hipster current year shit and start dissing MEN who play actual GOOD RPGs. As if MEN had anything to prove to retarded furry faggots like him and his girl friends.

I'm not actually drinking right now. Just some coffee.

 

[Jasede]

Braid is pretentious hipster shit.
Undertale is a sweet story about friendship. It's not trying to be deep, pretentious or anything like that, nor is it. It's simple and that's its charm. See, if you had played it or paid any attention to it you'd be struck with how UNpretentious the game is. It's actually a really fresh breath of air since so many indie games try so hard or are 2deep4u. This game just tells a simple story with nice, friendly characters. It couldn't be anymore non-hipster.

 

[Crooked Bee]

I do hope I never "level up" into someone who enjoys pretentious hipster shit.

I'm sorry to hear you don't enjoy AoD or Underrail.

 

[Vault Dweller]

Not everyone is shitting on those two games, AoD is popular here and Underrail is as well. I like Underrail but AoD isn't my cup of tea. It doesn't have to be. It doesn't need to be. I don't have to prove to anyone how hardcore oldskool I am.

I'm not saying that someone's shitting on them. If you ask me, both AoD and Underrail were well received and had strong first week sales on Steam (couldn't really ask for more). My point was that these games didn't fail to sell well if "well" is hundreds of thousands of copies. They were never designed to "sell well", which requires mass appeal such RPGs never had. See Arcanum.

 

[Jasede]

No, I didn't address you with that remark. You know as well as I that me and the bros in this thread are just trolls trolling trolls trolling trolls. You're cool.

 

[Shin]

You guys are so fucking gay.

 

[Vikter]

Braid is pretentious hipster shit.
Undertale is a sweet story about friendship. It's not trying to be deep, pretentious or anything like that, nor is it. It's simple and that's its charm. See, if you had played it or paid any attention to it you'd be struck with how UNpretentious the game is. It's actually a really fresh breath of air since so many indie games try so hard or are 2deep4u. This game just tells a simple story with nice, friendly characters. It couldn't be anymore non-hipster.

To be fair, the game gained more fame for having the meta game stuff (I remember people going crazy for the demo because it changed the PDF manual as you played, or something like that). Braid is less pretentious because it uses its time-traveling gimmick as a gameplay mechanic without trying to make every single idea into a different aspect of the game. I'm not saying Undertale is the worst game ever, but man, it really tries to do some stuff it just can't do.

Spoiler

Freedom Planet fits your former description about friendship better, to be fair.

 

[Edward The Mediocre]

I think the review should of been this:

[review]Do you like Mario 'RPG's and earthbound, Y/N?

If yes then try this game.[/review]

Because let's be honest, all the games humor could of fit just as well in one of those games.

Spoiler

They just released a Freedom Planet 2 teaser back on christmas day.