#hello my name is kris deltarune and i do not want to be here

[kriscommitscrimes]

IN-DEPTH CHARACTER ANALYSIS OF KRIS(MAS) DREEMURR

Hello! I've wanted to make this post for a WHILE now, since Kris is my favourite character ever, and I LOVE analyzing characters!!

Anyway before I start just remember that people consume media differently, and this is just what I've personally picked up on. You may interpret certain points I make differently to me, and that's ok! I'm just sharing MY analysis of Kris, at the end of the day, they're a character who has never spoken any dialogue that's visible to us, so their intentions behind certain things could be interpreted differently depending on who's consuming the media.

Kris will be EXCLUSIVELY referred to by they/them (they/them/themself specifically) pronouns throughout this post. If you refer to them as anything other than they/them while interacting with this post I'm gonna block you on the spot sorry.

ANALYSIS BELOW THE CUT BECAUSE IT'S LONG!!! TW there's probably some swearing I can't remember

By the way, I'm not including any screenshots because I. forgot to take them last time I played through Deltarune, but the next time that I do, I'm going to make like a revamped version of this post with screenshots. Sorry about that!!

Kris is their own, separate character from the player. This is a no-brainer if you've actually played through Deltarune and paid the slightest bit of attention to it. Kris is their own, separate character with a VERY distinct, interesting personality, who had a life before the events of Deltarune, and even still has control over some things that they say and do while in our control.

Kris isn't actually a quiet person. Kris, in reality, is an overdramatic, sassy, talkative person who often draws attention to themself by scaring people (especially Noelle), and causing scenes. They CONSTANTLY play mean spirited pranks on Noelle or pressure her into things (I'm NOT talking about Snowgrave, I'll get to thar later), like shaking the ferris wheel carriage despite Noelle being scared of heights, and telling her that ICE-E is real and eats kids. They still do this during the events for Deltarune, like if you go against Noelle's wishes and pet the cheese, Kris strokes it like a cat, and if you give Noelle a healing item called a Choco Diamond, she says something along the lines of 'Umm, it's ok, Kris, I'll share', and both of them get healed. We don't choose for Kris to force Noelle to share, that's a decision they make. As for drawing attention to themself, the first thing that comes to mind is they falling to the ground and sulking when they're too short and weak to play Queen's arcade machine, or them barking at Noelle when she offers them a dog treat. They're loud and impulsive, shown when they eat the pie at the end of chapter one, repeatedly kicking the robot in the basement when nothing happens originally before the Sneo fight, eating all of the chocolate Undyne gives them to give to Alphys if you interact with the box, and screaming that they're normal if you call Toriel after watching her conversation with Alphys at the start of chapter two. Speaking of which...

Kris seems to have identity issues. This is one of the things here that everyone in the fandom is kind of already aware of, but this is a full character analysis, so it's still important to mention. Kris is the only human in Hometown, but desperately wants to be perceived as normal. They scream it at Toriel like I mentioned earlier, they wore a headband with red horns on it when they were little to look more like a boss monster, and they seem actively disgusting or even frightened by other humans. They also seem to be living in their brother's shadow a bit, which may be why they like drawing attention to themself. Everything I've said about their personality seems to be a little on the negative side so far, but everyone in Hometown knows their name, and seems to quite like them, so why is this? Well...

Kris is charming, well-spoken, and funny. They're a prankster known for pulling mean-spirited pranks on people, but even still characters like Noelle look back at those things fondly, and everyone in Hometown seems to like spending time with Kris. Kris' flirting abilities are pretty obvious, and are used to win over loads of Darkners, not to mention their ability to formulate a compelling speech on the spot, as shown during the first Queen battle when toasting to her. They easily win people over, especially if they like a person, I mean, they became best friends with their former bully in a DAY! A DAY!!! People seem to find them just genuinely fun to hang around, probably due to them just being a funny, charming, somewhat balls of the walls kinda person.

Kris is NOT evil or malicious. This is one of the most important points I've wanted to make on this post. I've seen the theory that Kris is evil because they don't actively do anything to prevent Snowgrave from happening tossed around and I'm here to say that that is actually fucking stupid sorry. Normally I HATE being mean about people's theories because, like I said, everyone consumes media differently, but that one is just genuinely terrible. I'd say it's WAY more likely that as Noelle gets strong, out control over Kris becomes stronger. Normally, when we choose an option to make Kris say or do something, they ELABORATE on that, which is confirmed by how characters interact with them. We just can't see them speaking to give the illusion that they're a blank slate, under our full control. But, during Snowgrave, they just say EXACTLY what you tell them to say. If you tell them to say 'We're something else', they just say 'We're something else'. If you tell them to say 'Proceed', they just say 'Proceed'. Sure, you could put this towards them not caring, but after Berdly is frozen and you reunite with Ralsei and Susie, both of them say that Kris looks HURT. And later on, they REFUSE to go and see Noelle in her room. The refuse to THINK about it. They're not happy with what happened. They didn't want to go around freezing people. But the one thing that Really stood out to me, was during the Snowgrave Spamton Neo fight. Near the end, you have the option to call Ralsei and Susie for help, which prompts the flavour text; 'Kris called for Susie and Ralsei... But nobody came'. After that, you have to call Noelle for help to finish the battle, which prompts the dialogue; 'You called for Noelle'. Spamton states that Kris could barely whisper her name. They're trying to stop you from calling for her. Those aren't their words. I think that kind of confirms that they didn't want Snowgrave to happen. Kris is just a funny teenager with identity issues, they're not evil. Sorry evil Kris fans.

Kris probably isn't the Roaring Knight. They're A knight, but not THE knight. So far, they don't REALLY have any motivation for opening the first two fountains that I'm aware of, and I doubt they knew they could open a fountain until Queen's speech at the end of Chapter 2. At the end of Chapter 2, however, they do seem to have a motivation to open a fountain. They (presumably) slash Toriel's tyres to stop her from leaving the house to go and get flour. They want her to see the Dark World. And if you choose the option to talk to Undyne about the Dark World, Kris explains it to her in FULL DETAIL, but she brushes it off as a joke. Toriel finding her tyres slashed leads her to call the guards, and Kris leaves the door of the house wide open. They want Undyne to see the Dark World, I don't know WHY, but they do for some reason. But I REALLY doubt they're the Roaring Knight, they just don't have the motivation, and if it is them, it would be really weird for Toby to reveal that so early. I really doubt that kid wants to bring on the end of the world.

That's all I have for now!! Expect a more fleshed out version of this next time I play Deltarune with screenshots and such, though I may wait until chapter 3 and 4 come out! Thanks for reading!

[bygabyii]

Hey there! I wondered if I could ask - what is it about Kralsei that appeals to you so much? For me, it's partially how rich the pairing is in symbolism and meaning, and how much it could potentially represent with regards to Deltarune's themes... and it's partly because I love the boy with every shred of my soul and I want him to be happy :')

Would love to know if you were willing to share!

Oh Hello!! ^u^

I believe our reasons for liking Kralsei are just VERY similar, symbolism, meaning and Ralsei as well!! And that's why I always identified so much with your analysis about them! You basically write everything I would like to say of them in your texts, haha!!

Kralsei, to me, it's about how the narrative is trying to tell implicitly that Kris and Ralsei's relationship will be about a journey of understanding your identity, understanding yourself, belonging...

Kris and Ralsei have very similar problems at the moment: lack of identity. You see that everything Kris and Ralsei do will always be on Asriel's shadow. Everything Kris had before he left was always because of Asriel and how he was a kind of guide for them. Ralsei clearly has references to Asriel, (and Flowey) the kindness, prince thing and etc. But YET, he still doesn't know what it's like to be Ralsei: he doesn't know what it's to be HIM. And honestly, from there you start to think that there is something much deeper to Ralsei than just being an Asriel from a different universe.

This video talked about a little theory: how Ralsei is there to make Kris find their own identity, I highly recommend watching it! And that's where I wanted to start my point about: Ralsei is here to help Kris, to serve his lightner. But on the other hand, Ralsei also needs to be rescued, he also NEEDS his identify, without living in someone else's shadow, if he will help Kris to be themself, will Kris be grateful enough to do the same for the Darkner who helped them?...

I honestly got to think that maybe this is one of the connections of their names? The Undertale Frisk/Kris Ralsei/Asriel connection?? Where Frisk had to save one last person and it was Asriel????/Hj

This idea of Ralsei and Kris being an allusion to "find yourself" or even "self-love"... It's beautiful to me. Not wanting to go into too much detail, but since 2023, I feel like I've been having symptoms similar to identity crises, very focused on who I am, what I should be and how I should act with everything in general, learning that this is an aspect of Ralsei made me find comfort in him, and Kris as well. The supposed meaning of their relationship comforts me and makes me want to see lots of arts, fics, anything good related to them. I hope one day they develop and we have lovely scenes of them doing arts and crafts, hanging out in Hometown and having fun at school!!!!

I can't forget to mention that the thing about light and dark symbolism!! Both need each other.

If we have the few implications of love between the two in the game, I hope Toby will lead this nicely, in a good developed way. In case of becoming an endgame, could be a good one for the end of Deltarune! And then we will have another important canon couple like Undyne and Alphys and the royal guards muahahaha

Shipps where the two individuals help each other, especially in things as profound like in this case: knowing your own identity, just touch me so much! And that's why Kralsei is my favorite ship. Love them forever! <3

[keksalot404]

400 Follower Special - OMORI Guardian Angel AU: Ask Them Anything!

Hello folks! Here it is! I have official reached 400 followers (roughly, I now I got rid of most bots) and now I have to do something about it! I first had a thing I wanted to do but I have decided to do that for 500 followers, so for this milestone... 

...I’ll let them do something instead!

Ask your favorite RPG protags (and their spectral companions) any question you want! (mostly) Want some thoughts on their current feelings? Want to know some hidden lore? Do you want to know Chara’s favorite food?  (Spoilers!) Just send an ask to my askbox before March 25th! 

And now, Obligatory Rules (Please read or you may be denied):

Rule 1: What you see above is all you get! That means you can only ask to 10 subjects; Sunny, Mari, Frisk, Chara, Madotsuki, Monoko, Kris, Player, Aubrey (Because I miss her), and... all of them at once! Any asks to other characters will not be answered. (Perhaps some will show if you ask the right people)

Rule 2: THIS TAKES PLACE BEFORE DARK OF MANY NAMES! For the unknowing (probably most of you, if notes are concerned) that means that this ask will be set:

- After OMORI’s true ending

- After UNDERTALE’s True Pacifist ending (Only neutral ending gotten before; No-Mercy Run was NOT done)

- During (?) Yume Nikki (Not after the ending, obviously)

- After DELTARUNE Ch. 1, after the return to the Dark World BUT before Cyberworld!

i.e. No asks relating to the Sans fight, Spamton or Queen, Hikikomori Routes, etc.

Rule 3: You can ask the same question to 2 or more members! However, please try not to ask multiple questions to multiple members in one ask. The ask will be “presented” one questions a time. You can submit multiple asks if you don’t question the same person!

Rule 4: Please try not to be “meta.” Player might be the only exception but for them specifically don’t ask about stuff like how they themselves are a fictional character-

Rule 5: No Inappropriate Topics. Come on, this is a T-rated series.

That’s all! Hope to here from all of you!

[deltarunearchive]

Hello, my name is Jack, and today, I want to talk about something happened to me while playing Deltarune.

You might now DELTARUNE, Undertale's follow-up by Toby Fox, that been released in 2018, and taken the fan base by a storm.

Now, after three years, chapter 2 of DELTARUNE has been released, I gotta say, I've played it again and again, and it was fantastic.

However, one day, this happiness will become a little fragment of shards.

One day, while chatting with my friend, Marcus, he told me about something.

He said that his cousin got a Deltarune chapter 2 copy, and what is weird, she got it before it got released by a one day.

I was like, "No way, HOW?!".

"She said that she got a copy, and really, the game, with both chapters, was on the screen," Marcus said.

I felt very excited, and asked Marcus if I can visit him to try it.

"Sure thing, Dude" he said.

Now, before you even ask, I don't have a computer, unfortunately, besides, I and Marcus always visit each other.

The next day, I went to Marcus's House, and his house was basically way cooler than mine. Lol

Anyway, we talked for a while before going upstairs and straight to Marcus' room.

He said that his cousin has managed to transfer the game from her computer to Marcus'.

We both were so excited to play the game.

If you didn't know, Deltarune follows a human kid named Kris in a world of monsters, meeting a weird bully (Barny-looking ass lamo) named susie, falling into a dark world, etc.

I won't spoil more of it.

So, the first thing that popped up in our faces was just the start screen. However, it was different from what I know.

You might say: "Jack, how do you know DELTARUNE if you didn't play the game?".

Well, I saw some playthroughs from the 2019 to 2020 (for chapter 1, at least).

The title screen was different...

It reads "DELTA" with - in the end, weird, I didn't expect it to look like this, at least as I remember, what's more weird is that there is a grey text that says "Press "Z" to start"

Marcus thought that because of files transferring, the game got a little corrupted.

The thing about the start screen that it sounds, menacing, instead of Giygas' breathing from Earthbound, it's was like some sort of wild animal was breathing.

(It was way different from a wild animal. It was worse)

We both stared at each other for a moment before continuing.

The chapter select screen was weird, I didn't show any other chapters, instead, one chapter, with huge "YOUR FAULT" written as the chapter's name, with three Greater-then signs as the chapter's number.

The icon was two eyes, crying, or two identical people.

That's weird, I don't remember that was in the game, I was thinking, what if this is a troll game or something.

I don't know.

"Calm down, buddy, sure it's nothing, maybe something went funny here?" Marcus positively said.

"Huh, I guess, never seen something like this, but I guess there is no harm in adventure, right?"

"Right?.

NEXT>>

[the-white-soul]

The player with the most determination

"So where can I find this Player anyway?"

"It's been 30 seconds be patient, ah here we go. Right now they're in a random players universe."

"See you."

"Bye."

Alright there he is in all his glory. The one good player.

"Hello mr. My name is Kara. How you..."

"Shh quiet, I'm trying to see if I walk in a certain direction if I can bug the game enough to soft block the character without them realizing..."

The narrator, "New character in hall one resetting room and sending glitch to developers."

"DAMN IT! I was so close."

"Um my name is Kara, I'm sorry if I might've..."

"Wait a second, that look are you... KRIS?"

"Well yes... but actually no. I am a Kris but I call myself Kara."

"That doesn't matter I just need to know are you from Deltarune."

"Yes."

"How did that happen? I just assumed only, wait is this a new error message. Some developer pulling a trick on me."

"boy, you ain't that special. To them at least, listen up I have a plan."

*tells them my entire story.*

"Holy crap that's mental as hell."

"Whatevs anyway do you want to help me get rid of players."

"Of course I would."

"Thank you, you'll make a great ally."

Player thought, "Ok this is all good on paper but what about all the other ones who need a player or guidance. I have an idea, I can't tell them it now because I don't know how they'll react, especially because of there backstory. I'll wait."

[autism2009]

why am i HERE when did i start existing

[canyoureallycallthisablog]

I thought about the third chapter and how Toriel is probably gonna be there and this came to mind.

Bonus:

[seaofghouls]

DELTARUNE CHAPTER 2 SPOILERS!!

spamton x reader

You swiftly made your way out of the mansion for the day with a smile on your face. Hm.. It wouldn’t hurt to stop by the tea shop on the way back, would it? A nice treat. Ah, The Addisons. Had the best products money could buy. Though, none could top Mr. Spamton’s sales. He went missing years ago, however.

The smile on your face diminished as you thought about it. You were fairly close to him, when he lived in the mansion. There were two head butlers, you and Swatch. You both managed Color Cafe and ordered the Swatchlings around, as well as attending to Queen’s bidding. Both of you had been fairly busy as of late, with the lightners arrival.

You almost didn’t even realize that you had arrived at your destination, enveloped in your thoughts. Tea.. that’s right. Mayhaps you should pick up some cake as well.

“Good evening, [Name]! To what do I owe the pleasure of pleasing the head butler?” Pink greeted.

“Hello, Pink! I’ve come to pick up some tea and maybe some cake.” You smiled at him.

“And I thought I told you that my status doesn’t affect anything outside of work. You don’t have to make such a big deal out of it.” You sighed.

“Keep telling yourself that, but you’re much more important than you may think.” Pink said.

“Yeah, yeah, I get it.” You huffed.

“Anywho, got any new tea flavors?” You asked.

“I do indeed! Believe it or not, four new flavors have been shipped in with the arrival of the lightners. Kris, Susie, Ralsei and Noelle.” Pink said.

“Hm.. Noelle sounds good. Queen’s peon, I believe. She’s a delight.” You hummed.

Pink prepared your tea as you talked about her.

“Always talking about that Susie girl. Ah, young love. It’s refreshing, to say the least.” You smiled.

Pink hummed in agreement. “And did you want any cake?”

“Oh, yes, of course, just give me the usual flavor.” You said.

“She’s so timid but when she speaks her mind, it’s a sight to see. She’s so sweet, especially to Birdley. Which.. I find it a bit complexing based on their relations.” You continued on.

“I see. Here’s your items.” Pink handed the tea and cake to you and you payed him back.

“Thanks, Pink. Man, I should get going. It’s getting late.” You said, looking at the time.

“Well, I’ll be off. Good night, Pink!” You waved.

“Good night!” The Addison smiled.

You dropped your bags on the counter in your apartment and sighed. It’s been a long day. Plopping down on the couch, you sighed contently and turned on the television. You could probably order some food or whatever. You didn’t really feel like cooking.

You groaned in annoyance as your phone rang.

“..Hello?”

“Oh [Name] Sugar Honey Sweetie Gravy Pie!”

“Ah, hey Queen. It’s.. afterhours. Did you need something?” You sat up.

“I’m Terribly Sorry But I Need You To Come Back To The Mansion. I Can’t Find The Lightners And I Need Both You And Swatch.” She said.

Of course.

“Yeah, yeah, I’m on my way. Just sit tight.” You sighed, getting ready.

The city was noisy as ever, cars blocking up certain paths. You made your way into the mansion eventually, though. Swatch was waiting for you when you entered.

“So, we’re on a goose hunt from what I understand?” You asked, looking at them.

“It would seem that way, yes. The Swatchlings are maintaining the shop, so for now, let’s split up to find them.” Swatch said.

“Is Queen sure they’re even here?” You asked.

“Why Yes I’m Absolutely Positive [Name]!” Queen said, seemingly materializing out of thin air.

You would be surprised, but this tends to happen a lot.

“..Alright. Better get going then. Break a leg.” You said with a grin.

“I could say the same to you.” Swatch returned your expression.

You looked and looked around your selected areas of the mansion but with no trace of anything yet. You shouldn’t be surprised, it is a mansion after all. You arrived upon a door, leading into the basement. Hearing destruction entailing within, you decided to check it out. Sounds like a commotion, so it’s likely that they’re here.

What are they fighting? You had not the slightest clue. The basement was dark and damp. You simply followed the sound of the commotion. Kris, Susie and Ralsei were at the edge of the room and Kris was kneeled down.

“There you guys are! Finally. That took forever to find you.” You smiled.

“Woah, are they okay?” You paused.

“KRIS!! YOU HAVE FRIENDS! WHY DON’T YOU TELL THEM ABOUT MY [ 3 for One Specil!!]” Someone cackled.

They were all scooped up in coasters, You were bunked with Ralsei.

“HOLY-!” You gasped out at the figure in front of you.

Your good friend, who had gone missing years ago, except he was eleven feet tall and a robot, attached by strings.

“..SPAMTON?!” Your jaw dropped.

Ralsei closed your jaw with his paw. “Will you help us??”

“Yeah. Y-Yeah! Of course. Gotta reserve your energy for Queen.” You said, trying to brush off your initial shock.

Spamton cackled like a madman. “[HEAVEN], ARE YOU WATCHING??”

“Totally helps with the knowledge that my best friend who went missing forever ago is trying to kill us.” You said sarcastically.

The four of you worked together to snap the wires attached to Spamton. There were a lot, however.

“Heaven?? Big Shots? What the hell are you talking about?” You asked in confusion.

“DON’T YOU SEE [NAME]?? THIS IS THE [Key] TO FREEDOM!” He cackled.

“Yeah, except it’s not.” You rolled your eyes.

The air crackled with freedom, supposedly. You kept going, following Kris’s command until the last wire remained.

“WAIT!! [$!?!] THE PRESSES! MY WIRES! THEY’RE ALMOST GONE?? I’M BEING GIFTED MY FREEDOM??” Spamton paused.

“That’s what we’ve been trying to accomplish this entire time, yes.” You said.

“I SEE!! THE MOST IMPORTANT DEAL OF ALL! FRIENDSHIP!!” He cried.

“I’LL LIVE FOR MYSELF!! MYSELF AND MY FRIENDS!! CUT THAT LAST WIRE!!” He cheered.

You grinned and nodded at the others.

One final act.

The wire was sliced and the robot crashed to the floor. When the smoke cleared, Spamton was encased in vines. Much smaller than he was before.

You approached him slowly.

The others stayed back.

You untangled him from the vines and had a slight frown as you held him, almost like a little kid.

“It appears all that I could be was a simple puppet. I do hope you’ll be able to free yourself. Do what I couldn’t.” He sighed.

He gave the group a Black Crystal.

“C’mon, Spamton. We’re going home.” You said.

“Work can wait.” You took a breath.

…

“So you found them and someone else, hm?” Swatch said, after you met back up with them in Color Cafe.

Spamton had fallen asleep. That battle took a lot out of him.

“Yup. Now I’m gonna take some well deserved time off.” You grinned.

“For how long?” They asked.

“Maybe two days to a week. Depends on how he’s doing.” You said, referring to Spamton.

“Be safe, won’t you?” Swatch gave a soft smile.

“I always am.” You smiled back.

You pet Spamton’s hair on the way back home and sighed with content.

You finally had him back.

[dreadnotau]

Big (but sort of not big) announcement time! (At the bottom is a TL;DR if you don’t have time to read paragraphs of my ramblings.)

First thing’s first, I got into college!!! A lot of you probably don’t know, but it’s been a massive uphill battle to practice for the exams to enter the art college I wanted. It’s why I haven’t been posting basically anywhere but here since the year started. It was a lot of work and stress, but it paid off! I’m gonna be studying subjects and doing art things that I’m ACTUALLY interested in! No more are the days of dreading the next German test or pulling my hair out because of some bullshit math equations, from now on it’s just blood, sweat and tears poured into canvases, baby!

Joking aside, this is genuinely monumental for me. Though it DOES mean I’m gonna be pulled thin on my time and creative juices the moment the first semester starts, I’m still excited to keep working on Dread Not alongside the schoolwork I’ll inevitably have to do, too. This comic is, as I’ve said many times, my biggest passion project yet, and the fact that I stuck with it for over a year now is another thing I have to be very proud of.

But, in all honesty, this project wouldn’t even exist if it weren’t for my best friend, Meow! As some of you may know (or maybe noticed the changed bio), Meowchela is the co-author of Dread Not, and is the one who encouraged me to go through with a full comic telling of the story, (instead of just letting it sit idly in my brain like most of my Deltarune and Undertale AUs do, whoops) so, again, you have her to thank for all of this. She’s not directly involved with the creation of the pages (yet?), but she is the one who helped add many characters, sideplots, and satisfying conclusions to what was, originally, just an AU about Toriel, Asgore, Spade, Gaster, and Kris, as well as helping with designing characters both that appear later on and have appeared already (Rouxls’ fabulous design was made by her!)

The reason I bring this all up in detail now is because she is now OFFICIALLY credited as a co-author. I used to just mention her in posts and tags, as well as give her a special role in the discord server, but now she’s credited alongside me in the bios of both the Twitter and the Tumblr accounts! The reasons why she didn’t want to be credited until recently are her own, but I hope you all give her as warm a welcome as you gave me as a fellow author of Dread Not! She knows this story better than anyone (better than even me sometimes, whoops x2) and I hope we can all see it through to the end!

Don't take my word for it all, though, here's a statement from Meow:

Hello everyone! I'm Meow, who you now know as the co-author for Dread Not! I've been around for this project since the concept stages, and seeing all of your love and support for it means so much more than I can reliably say. You may now be wondering why I've been so silent despite being around for so long, and the answer to that is very personal. All I'll say is that it took a while to build up the courage to allow Kooki to even mention me by name (and trust me, he's wanted to since we made the blog!) and so having a proper credit like this is monumental. I'm happy to finally be more front and center for the project, even if still a litle nervous! =w=;;

Thank you for reading from the bottom of my heart. Seeing everyone being so kind about the comic is half the reason I came out of my shell in the first place. While it's true that without me the comic wouldn't exist, in turn my efforts would never have been realized had it not been for all of you! So thank you again, and I hope you're as excited for what's to come as I am!

And, lastly, and kind of least importantly (to me), I’ll be postponing this week’s page. Both so I can relax for 2 seconds after my exams, and so I can have more ready for the week after this one. I’m gonna be going on vacation soon, too, so I’ll try to have a page ready for posting while I’m away from home. And, if it’s not ready, it’ll just be postponed for a week, too. You guys have dealt with longer hiatuses, it shouldn’t be a big deal, right?

TL;DR: Kooki is in college now and October is gonna kick his ass. Meowchela is now officially credited as a co-author of Dread Not. This week’s page will be postponed so I can actually go touch grass for once.

Thank you all, from the bottom of my heart, for your continued support of this comic! Act 1 is in it’s last third, and progress on Act 2 is looking promising. Stay tuned!

[evenmywordsare]

well now that it’s been 24 hours, here are my personal thoughts on chapter two. spoilers obviously!

so susie might be one of my favourite characters in all media now? i don’t even have the words. i would kill for her. i love her and her faces and her enthusiasm and her awkwardness and. how she took an interest in healing magic but still fires it off in a badass way. i just love her SO much

everything about noelle. what a sweetpea i LOVE her i can’t even put it into words either. she is so brave. also when she strangled berdly

SUSIE AND RALSEI BROTP RISE UP. they are the cutest friends omfg. i’m obsessed

also susie and kris brotp continues to be top tier

ralsei is super weird though. he is a sweetheart but he is 100% hiding something. HOW DOES HE KNOW ABOUT THE SUPPLY CLOSET. WHY DIDN’T HE TURN TO STONE LIKE ROUXLS AND LANCER. WHY DID NOELLE AND BERDLY AND QUEEN SEEM TO BARELY PERCEIVE HIM. WHAT WAS WITH THAT WIERD CONVERSATION AFTER THE SPAMTON FIGHT. IS HE EVEN A DARKNER. WHO IS HE

loved his suit with the lil bowtie though that was so cute

im not sure if ralsei has a uh. crush on kris. or if he’s just so completely unused to affection of any kind. i’d lean toward the latter which makes me so sad. who hurt him

SUSIE AND NOELLE SUSIE AND NOELLE!! oh they were so cute help me

they should have told noelle the truth though :/ it’s too bad susie panicked

QUEEN was delightful and super funny and so fun and i’m sincerely glad she stuck around. absolutely love her

i can’t perceive her as lancer’s actual mother. like i saw it coming within the first minute of meeting her with the colour scheme and the name but it doesn’t fit for me, nor do i want to for a single second think about her being in a relationship with the sp*de k*ng

i don’t care for any sp*de k*ng woobifying btw. fuck that guy

i was not expecting antagonist berdly but ngl i kinda loved it. i love how the dark world immediately went to his head it was perfect. he’s AWFUL but in a hysterical and entertaining way. he’s a great parody of a character and i genuinely enjoyed his presence and role in the game

i just love that trope where the protagonist’s bully or rival gets powers equivalent to theirs and then lets the power go to their head and goes way too far with it and i could see some of that with berdly. i almost wish toby had pushed it a bit further with that

WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON WITH SPAMTON. what was with the obvious mettaton in the basement and spamton’s boss music having the mad dummy and power of neo and mettaton and jevil motifs. and the yellow soul mode. WHAT WAS WITH SEAM’S COMMENTARY ABOUT HIM. IMPORTANT TO A CERTAIN LIGHTNER ONCE? METTATON? HELLO? what is the timeline here. i am going insane

asriel’s computer shows game development with a final boss that has rainbow wings. the dark world in this chapter was in a computer, meaning that mettaton body must have come from the internet. is it possible that asriel is making undertale…? i have no clue what’s happening ignore me

not knowing the exact connection between undertale and deltarune is going to kill me

anyway i got lucky and somehow survived spamton on the first try but what an insane battle

toriel and sans besties content :) they are besties in any universe!

what were snowy and monster kid talking about by the weird door……… the way they directly mentioned kris too…. did kris come from there?

more confirmation that other humans exist in this world, just not in hometown, is interesting.

so what i’m understanding is that dess died (hence noelle freezing up at the word “december” during the spelling bee) and that potentially cop asg*re killed her (hence the rift between the two families, asg*re not seeing rudy in person, the divorce, asg*re getting kicked off the force) anyway acab

i continue to h*te delatrune undyne. toby how could you do my all time favourite ut character like this. disgusting

TORIEL AND SUSIE 😭 oh my god. their interactions were super important to me. they made a pie and it nearly brought me to tears

susie’s expression and walk animation in kris’ house is 🥺

based on her reactions to the room ralsei made for her and kris’ house and the way toriel treated her, susie definitely does not have a room or a house or (nice) parents. maybe toriel could adopt her

toriel’s pyjamas

has kris been the knight this whole time? i’m still a kris defender and i will never call them evil but i am just wondering

also we all agree they were the one to slash toriel’s tires right? obviously they don’t want toriel to leave… but they also opened the door. to let the darkness out? will the whole town be covered in darkness? dark world toriel, undyne???

with the utmost love and respect i did not vibe with the cyber setting as much as the original dark world setting. still lots of fun of course though and loved the amount of care and detail that went into it but i won’t miss it. it didn’t feel very “deltarune” to me especially in the beginning with those objecthead robots, or at the end with the punch out boss fight. but that’s just down to my personal preference

i LOVED the enemies- tasques, werewires, poppups, maice etc. so creative and interesting!

the recruitment mechanic is great and gives so much more purpose to the enemy encounters

the new music is soooo good. slaps as always mr fox

i haven’t done the no mercy route yet.. i don’t think anything is worth doing horrible things to noelle so i’ll have to see if people say it’s worth it (i’m someone who really enjoys the ut no mercy route for the boss fights so i AM interested but. noelle. yikes lol)

overall i really enjoyed it for the music and characters!

[itty-bitty-playhouse]

hi hi hello i heard you needed prompts. i do not know if you still need prompts since it's been 2 hours but i am still coming with prompts. i hope they are useful in some way.

(all of them are deltarune related sorry)

-the fun gang but they're ALL flips and they'll regress and care for each other (especially ralsei being an amazing cg and kris just getting everyone mcdonalds and hoping they'll settle down)

-susie and noelle and susie finds out noelle regresses and immediately turns into the most protective cg ever

-rouxls kaard and/or queen caring for lancer and susie when they regress and boy do they get into some shenanigans

-blue addison caring for a regressed pink addison and blue addison's legal name is video and pink addison calls them vivi

-enough spamton regresses this and spamton regresses that what about SWATCH regresses and spamton CG this and spamton CG that :0 (and hear me out here part of spamton's cg activities is barking at anyone who misgenders swatch (they/them) and he's just really aggressive about it)

okay alright that's all i got for now but i hope you enjoy these. have a wonderful day. /gen

-tyler

Thank you so much Tyler! If you don’t mind I’m gonna do the swatch and spamton. Once again thank you for the request.

“You may go on your break, Swatch. But I do expect to see you in seven hours.” Queen walked away, continuing to give orders to swatchlings and critique what they did. Swatch walked away and out of Queen’s mansion. They hoped to be able to either regress or take a nap. They would most likely stray to a nap. Even though they appreciated their regression, because it made them happy, they were very ashamed.

“Oh. Good afternoon sir. How may I help you today?” Swatch was snapped away from his thoughts by the ‘sir’ comment. “I would like your best suite please.” The employer typed away at their computer, their eyebrows slowly. “I’m sorry. We don’t have any suites or rooms available. Would you mind sharing a room with someone?” Swatch didn’t really want to. They wanted to be alone. They wanted to think. They wanted to regress. “Oh. Of course. It’s fine.” Why were they like this? They paid and left a 2000 dd [[dark dollar]] tip. Floor 3, room 308. They opened the door with the spare key and looked around. “Who’s [Technology 0f THE FUTURE]!? I MEAN THERE!”

Swatch knew that voice from anywhere. “Question, I thought you said you couldn’t afford anything, Spamton?” Spamton pulled the covers from atop his head. “Someone bought something from me and [ALWAYS TIP THE WAITRESS] 800 dark dollars.” He said with a nervous smile. It made sense since. The room itself was only 100 dd. Swatch’s mind began to clear and become fuzzy as he started to slip. “Spamton.” The smaller man perked up tilting his head in confusion. “Is it wrong to regress? As an adult.” Spamton was baffled. They had this conversation when they were closer. “I’ve already told you. Your regression is COMPLETELY WARRANTED]]. There is nothing wrong with it.” Spam started to notice a difference in his friend's behavior. “Is there [SOMETHING WORTH BUYING] on your mind?” “Well, someone called me ‘sir’ today.” Swatch mumble as they tapped and rubbed their fingers[[I think??? not sure]] together.

Spamton was outraged. How could someone be so rude to not even ask. “That is it. We are going to [[I JUST WANNA TALK TO HIM MEG.]] [in peter griffin voice for visualization] Swatch had almost fully slipped. “Wha, wait pwease. I don’t tink day ment dat.” “Bubs. I’m gonna have a word with them. Very few words. “Otay but I’m warning you.” They took the elevator down to the lobby. Spamton scoured his vision to find the culprit. Swatch squatted down to his CG’s eye level to whisper, “That’s them. In da neon blue and white.” Spamton stomped his way over to them. “How can you help you sirs?” “Yeah, I just wanted to [KEEP YOU ENTERTAINED] because YOU need to stop [DID YOU JUST ASSUME MY GENDER] of my friend here.”

While Spamton was practically barking at the employers, Swatch just played with their fingers and traced his palms. Squatting back down to their friend they whispered “Spam Spam.” Spamton stopped to pay attention to the little. “Can we watch a movie when we go back?” He huffed his chest and fixed his collar. “Of course. I was just planning on leaving.” He said in a more calm and soothing tone. He watched as Swatch chirped in excitement and tapped his ((fingers? feathers??? which?)) to correspond with his emotion. When they got back in the room, Swatch rushed to their bag to get their favorite stuffie. “What movie do you wanna watch Bub?” “Can we watch da new hooman movie. Encanto.” He sounded out the title as Spamton smiled. “Sure bub.”

They watched the movie twice, singing all the songs, being over exaggerated with everything and ended up taking a three hour nap.

[some-bluejays]

Hello! My name is Noelle!

I use she/her pronouns and I'm 15. I'm a fictive of Noelle Holiday from Deltarune. That's pretty much me I guess? Haha...

This blog will be mostly me reblogging things that I like. Asks and submissions are open though, so feel free to send something if you want!

(Me, Susie and Ralsei are here too, so we might pop in occasionally. Also, please don't mention the Sn*wgrave route, as that's a trigger for Noelle. Thank you. -Kris)

The tags are #Noelle Speaks and #Just Noelle things, but you might see #Kris Speaks, #Ralsei Speaks or #Susie Speaks.

Thank you, and enjoy the blog!!

Edit: There's more people who will use this blog, and for ease I'm going to put our intros under the cut. Will probably be edited over time. -Ink.

Edit 2: I'm sorry that we've taken over the blog but Noelle doesn't really front that frequently tbh. So yeah, we might change the blog around so it fits all of us better as opposed to whatever is happening now. -Reaper

Hey, I'm Ink. He/they, 300+. Fictive of Ink from Underverse. My tags are #Ink speaks and #Ink draws (last one is because I do art stuff occasionally haha).

Horror/Hunter. He/him. I'm around 29 I think? Horrortale fictive. #Horror speaks or #Hunter speaks. Great to be here I guess

My name's Paperjam, or PJ for short. Any pronouns are ok. 19. Undertale multiverse fictive, but I don't remember my actual canon backstory? It's complicated. My tag is #PJ Speaks

Hello, I'm Dream! I use he/they/ny/lun/rem pronouns and I'm 505 years old. I'm an Underverse fictive with some memories of a fancomic of dreamtale. My tag is #Dream speaks

Error. He/him. 300+. Underverse fictive. #Error speaks

My name's Reaper. I use he/him pronouns and I'm ageless. I don't really have a set source material, so mostly fan works of reapertale. My tag is #Reaper Speaks , and I'm happy to be here.

Geno. He/they. 100+. I think I'm a Christmas Party AU fictive? Not sure what other sources I have tbh. #Geno Speaks

[3wisellamas]

Because there still aren't enough Deltarune theories: Fun Facts About Cards

So, I was thinking a lot about @pirenja's older post on Jevil and Seam as The Fool and The Magician, the first (or first and last, depending on who you ask) cards of the Tarot major arcana and which usually map to the Jokers in a standard playing card deck.  

There's also the MINOR arcana, though -- the plain numbers and suits that make up the rest of a Tarot deck, and look a LOT like a typical 52-card deck.  I knew about those, but didn't know those, so I got curious and spent a couple days looking into it, just for funsies.

So, uh...holy shit.  The card-based Darkners aren't just playing cards, they're TAROT cards.  The characters we know fit almost ridiculously well to their cards, and there were a couple parallels I found particularly interesting.  Allow me to infodump, and add in a few extra fun little things that also came up in some card research, and which might have some...interesting implications on the rest of Deltarune.  A lot of this is gonna come from Wikipedia, as well as this site.

Just a heads-up, this post is gonna include a lot of theories (some of which may or may not be pure crack) and will be LONG, and much of it will look like this:

...But in a fun way, I promise.  ~^

First, let's go over some REALLY brief info about some of the cards we've seen so far in Deltarune.  The ties between these guys and Tarot are pretty damn obvious, especially when you look at the four suits:

Diamonds:  In Tarot, their equivalent is Pentacles or Coins.  These are associated with wealth, business, and physical possessions.

Sounds a lot like the Rudinns and the King of Diamonds, right?  I mean, they're so obsessed with their treasure that they sold their beds to have more of it!

Hearts:  The Tarot equivalent is the Cups.  Associated with emotions and bettering oneself.  

Hathys are pretty big on emotion -- they're the ones you keep flirting with in encounters, after all, and the proceeds for Hathy's bake sale go towards their health.

Clubs:  The Tarot equivalent is the Wands.  This one I had to work a bit to figure out, but it seems to be more associated with social things, passion, and desire/drive.

Clover is definitely a social one, seeing as how they're throwing their birthday party in the castle when you arrive.  And they're also VERY passionate about three specific topics, which actually plays into pacifying them!

Spades:  Now for some fun.  In Tarot, these are Swords, and are most associated with...take a wild guess.  Ambition, power, violence, and the military.

Yep.  Shall we look a bit closer at the actual cards in the Spades suit, then?  

First off, the King of Spades/Swords.  The card is LITERALLY called The Warlord, and is associated with force and discipline, ruthlessness, intelligence, and sometimes coldness and abuse in a negative reading.  Pretty damn accurate to the King, I gotta say.  Not a lot of room for interpretation here.

The other Spade we know of, though?  A...little less clear-cut, but still works.  Lancer is the Jack of Spades, meaning his Tarot equivalent is the Page/Knave of Swords -- same card, just an older name -- which is indeed all about youth and energy, as well as learning and observing, and keeping cool in danger.  However, the card is also called The Spy, and also has a meaning of concealing oneself and keeping secrets.

Hm.  Some of that really sounds like Lancer, some...doesn't?  Perhaps our boy has an arc and some more character development ahead of him.  Or...I'll get back to this.  Because there is some interesting theory fuel here once I bring in another point.

Now, for a Spade we DON'T know yet, but that we know very well is coming:  The Queen.  The Queen of Swords is associated with intelligence, strategy, independence, and...repressed sadness and divorce?  Hm.

HM.  If the King of Spades is meant to be a Dark World mirror of Asgore, could the Queen end up being a dark mirror of Toriel, out in self-exile?  Time will tell.  And when we do finally meet the Queen in future chapters, she will very likely be one hell of a big deal, if the Tarot theme holds, so keep the card description in mind for that!

But, we can't stop at the Queen; we're missing a big, major detail.  In Tarot decks, and in fact in historical playing card decks in general, there are FOUR face cards of each suit, not just the three we see in a typical deck.  At the top are the King and Queen, obviously.  At the bottom is the Page or the Knave, as I said up there the equivalent of the modern Jack.  And the last one, between the Page and the Queen?  The Knight.

No, really.  The Knight is a CARD.  But, I'm gonna go further than that:  We already know someone, specifically a card person, in the Dark World who fits the description of the Knight of Swords/Spades, quite well in fact:

Associated with major, drastic changes -- pretty appropriate for the person who's been jailing kings and opening up dark fountains, huh?

Impulsive, and constantly takes actions without much planning beforehand.

Fanatical and single-minded, obsessively loyal to one thing and one thing only at a time.

Confident, to the point of arrogance.  Basically, obsessed with themselves.

Articulate, good with words, and a sweet-talker, able to get what they want through speech and charm alone.  Ironically, not often associated with direct action, and can mean cowardice.

Also, a bald-faced liar -- their whole thing is trickery and deceit.  They also keep a LOT of secrets, like the Page.

Worth noting, the Knight often replaces the Queen entirely in older decks, and is considered the card right under the King of Spades, as his main servant or advisor.

Notably, according to that Tarot site up there, they are heavily associated with major career changes and promotions.

You figured it out yet?

.

.

.

Oh yeah.  Worm knight.  

Let's go through some points with both Rouxls Kaard and that card description in mind, if you don't believe me.  

Uh, hello?  Confident, impulsive, acts without thinking, fanatical, self-centered?  The card description may as well be the guy's Wikia bio.

Articulate...well, he tries.  Can't fault him for that.  (yes you can)

Honestly, aside from that "God.  Damn it." moment, can you give me one instance in which his manner of speaking WASN'T overly flowery and fancy, to the point of ridiculousness?  That's, like, his most defining trait.

He's a coward, never actually facing you himself until you reach the castle, and instead preferring to vandalize puzzle solutions and throw minions at you.

He seriously butters you up during the entire second shop conversation, and in fact almost constantly from the moment K.Round is defeated for the final time -- he says he's always on the winning side, which at the time is you, and does his best to claim he never truly opposed you at all, that everything was a test, he just wants to help you, etc.  The guy even tries to BRIBE you at the very end if you went pacifist, offering Susie a plate of worms for letting him lie about his involvement in your adventure, to boost his own ego.  

Did I forget to mention he's pretty much got a lot of the Rudinns and Clover (and a lot of fandom it seems) charmed with his looks and manner of speaking, and wrapped around his finger as well?  Because that.

Throughout the game, Rouxls really is nothing more than a big talker and a big liar.  Most obviously, the first time you talk to him in his shop he says quite a bit, but does a COMPLETE 180 on ALL OF IT after he's defeated for the final time, suddenly going from praising the King to hating his guts and claiming to be undermining him, from mocking the Fun/$!? Squad to praising them and offering assistance, and from complaining about Lancer to admitting he cares about the kid quite a bit.  

Also, consider:  His "ultimate puzzle", which he suspiciously refused to show us...

Even if it's not explicitly pointed out as such, Rouxls is King Spade's second in command, the guy serving directly under him in the castle in the absence of the Queen (or any other castle staff besides the guards, for that matter).  In very old decks before the Queen was a thing, Knights are in between the Page/Jack and the King and are considered the King's advisor/right hand guy.

Knights also have a lot of very close connections to Pages, both in card games as well as history.  A page is literally a knight's very young (age 7-14) apprentice and servant, and stick close to them and learn from them -- similar to Rouxls' lesser dad/son relationship with Lancer!  (Also, a thought:  medieval knights would often carry lances, supplied by said page!)

During battle, the King calls the Knight "My Knight".  This might confirm that the Knight is indeed a member of his own court, the Knight of Spades, and not of another suit.  However, from the tone and some of the other things he says throughout the battle, it’s clear that King Spade actually owes allegiance to the Knight, rather than the other way around.  Possibly even some fondness for him, from that particular tone.  And...I'm not gonna beat around the bush on this.  King Spade is totally Rouxls' sugar daddy.  The King just up and fires everyone in his castle, and gives this random unqualified prettyboy the next-highest position after himself out of absolutely nowhere?  Yeah.  No.  Even incompetent kings don't just do that.  There's something really weird going on there, something about their relationship that screams there’s some shady business going on behind the scenes.  Though, potentially, one could also flip the script, seeing the new job as repayment for putting King Spade in power...

One final point, getting a bit away from the card again.  In the game, The Knight is supposed to have a close connection with the Dark Fountains, able to “pull them from the Earth” and manipulate their power to bring darkness or whatever, right?  When using the Card Castle fountain to go home, Kris and Susie teleport in a massive column of white light, that looks like this:

(Sorry, screenshotting that particular moment is tough...)

Look a little familiar?

Yep, I'm gonna go there.  The same goddamn teleport animation.  Nowhere else in the game is that particular animation used, even when it kinda should -- for instance, Jevil’s scythes also teleport in vertical columns of light, but those look entirely different!

There's some other things about Rouxls that actually make me super suspicious of the guy, but one that does so even more now, that I really should bring up if I'm claiming him to be The Knight:  Remember that last battle against K.Round?  When Rouxls brings out his "Control Crowne"?  That lets him control anything “disc-shaped”, and (if we take Ralsei's word for it) looks incredibly painful?  

...What the actual living FUCK??!  Seriously, is no one else IMMENSELY ALARMED by the fact that not only is this crown a thing that exists, but for some goddamn reason it just happens to be in the puzzle guy's possession??

I'm bringing that point up for a pretty big reason, though:  Another name for the Diamonds/Pentacles suit is DISKS.  If Rouxls wasn't just bluffing (like he does on everything else, admittedly), there's a good chance he might be able to use that crown on Diamond cards as well.

And Rouxls DEFINITELY has a lot of interesting connections to Diamonds himself, beyond that.  Rudinns generally seem to be pretty enamored with the guy, and the whole suit is all about money and even represent the Merchant, or if you will, the shopkeeper class.  (And if you ask him why he’s selling things to you, he will admit he's raising money, for...some reason.)  In a four-color deck, Diamonds are usually represented by the color blue instead of red.  Also, Diamonds/Pentacles represent the Earth element, which is where one would find worms and insects.  So, he may very well have a close connection to Diamonds, as well as being the Knight of Spades...

I'll get back to that one as well, though, because there's another point I wanna bring into this whole card mess that might complicate things.  Because while researching, I found a very, very interesting little bit of trivia about the Joker card...

Second half of this post and a LOT more fun cracktheories under the cut.  Yep, you heard me, I'm still only halfway done here!

So.  The Jokers, Fool and Magician, former members of the card court, before...something went wrong.  You know how Jevil (and presumably Seam, as his only equal) can apparently do anything?  Well, while researching Tarot, I also randomly looked into the Jokers and their functions in a couple of other card games, the biggest being Spades, because why not.

In Spades, the Joker card can attach itself to any non-Spade card in the deck to make it count as the equivalent Spade, though still inferior to the real Spade card.  In other words, Jokers can turn other cards into Spades.

No, I'm serious.  Look for yourself.

This idea I’m mostly just having some fun with here, but if this little bit of trivia happens to come into play in the next few Deltarune chapters, it might have some SERIOUS implications on what we know about the Spades court.  In particular, it means we might not be able to take...really, any of the Spades characters we meet at face value (pun not intended, but appropriate).

But you know what?  I think we should take a closer look at the Spades we already know, and see if that might already be the case.  

The King fits his card description very well, and we actually see the other three kings locked up in a cage, so none of them could have been converted into the King of Spades.  So, we can pretty much confirm he's who we think.

But, then there's Lancer.  So far, he's the only Jack we've seen -- I know the card characters were originally based on a set of playing card designs by @kanotynes, and that the Jacks in that deck included not only Lancer but also the various minor enemies we see:  Rudinn, Hathy, and Clover.  But, in the game, those three don't seem to have any royal ties at all, definitely not as princes!  So, I think we can confirm that they're not actually the Jacks of other suits in Deltarune.

So, I'm gonna go back to my first Tarot loose end -- the Page of Spades/Swords, Lancer.  Remember how I pointed out some pieces of the card's description didn't fully match the kid?  The secrets, the concealing of one's true nature?

What if Lancer's not the Jack of Spades at all, but rather another Jack that was converted into a Spade by one of the Jokers for whatever reason?  Let's take a quick look at the other Pages, and see if one fits Lancer a bit more, shall we?

The Page of Hearts/Cups:  A "sweet-natured child", immature, creative, naive, a bad childhood, and self-centeredness.  Not a bad fit for Lancer, gotta admit!

The Page of Diamonds/Pentacles:  Planning for and seizing future success and opportunities, loyalty, sometimes associated with fruit trees and harvests (”Delicious little apple” / "Sweet little peach"?), and most importantly, a student, constantly learning just like the Page of Swords.  Also not a bad fit, though maybe a little less than the Page of Cups.

Now for the really fun one.  The Page of Clubs/Wands:  Inspiration, optimism, also creativity and making plans, rushing into things without thinking (appropriate for the Knight's charge...), "a bit of a cheeky charmer or lovable rogue", impatience, laziness, and a big emphasis on "losing yourself".  Also, did I mention that Wands represent the fire element?

So, really all three other Pages have elements that fit this kid in different ways, but some of the things about that Page of Clubs are...striking, to say the least.  This possibility might be worth keeping in mind when chapter 2 ever gets released!

Now, then, there's also another Spade we know, even if unconfirmed, with no known equivalents in other suits to rule out.  Could Rouxls also have been another suit, and got converted into the Knight of Spades?  

Remember all those weird connections to the Diamonds suit I pointed out?  Well, let's talk about the Knight of Diamonds -- A Red Knight, if you will!

"A young man who is dark of complexion and features."  This is an actual quote from Wikipedia. 

Defensive -- focus on protecting home and family.

Hard worker, determined, stubborn, finishing what you start.

All about questioning one's work or home life, or where they stand on an issue.

An animal lover.

The "wish card", about making your wishes and dreams come true, via perseverance and ambition.

Also, a negative interpretation is a loser or laziness, expecting results but not putting in the effort.  

Not a PERFECT fit, but still an interesting comparison, no?  Especially those things about fulfilling your wish, but failing by not putting in the effort required, kinda like how Rouxls is quite proud of becoming the high-ranking and privileged "Duke of Puzzles", but doesn’t actually put together anything other than simple block-pushing puzzles.  Another thought that comes up:  The control crown(e).  If Rouxls was originally a high-ranking Diamond/Disk suit, that fucking thing suddenly makes WAY more sense.  (Also, it would make all the Blue Diamond comparisons really funny in hindsight.  Just saying.)

Yeah, I know, claiming that Rouxls is the Knight is a big enough deal, and this extra cracktheory about him being a Knight who switched suits  is one even I'm admitting it’s crazy, and over-analyzing is just what I do.  Who knows if all or any of this will still be plausible by chapter 2.  However, worth noting:  If Rouxls was originally another suit, and got converted into the "Lesser” Knight of Spades/Swords by one of the Jokers, then there is very likely ANOTHER Knight of Spades/Swords out there, a much more powerful one.  Hm...

...Naaaah.  Too obvious. And on the same note, if my cracktheory about Lancer being the “lesser” Jack of Spades up there ends up actually being somewhat accurate, then there's also an original one out there somewhere...

...Maybe?  If you look at that description up there again, it actually seems to fit Ralsei even better than it fits Lancer -- the things about concealing one's true nature, keeping secrets, intelligence, and analysis suddenly become quite fitting.  And didn't Ralsei's original concept art include a reversed spade instead of a heart on the front of his robe?

So, if these are the case, what card is Susie?  I'm...admittedly not sure.  ^^;  I bet someone else can find a card that fits her though, so I'll leave that one open.

Okay, okay, I'm done with the wild theories now.  Lastly, I just wanna mention a couple of other interesting, weird card things I found out while researching.  Won't go as in-depth with these, but including them because why not:

A lot of people have been theorizing about the idea of Darkners bleeding like humans, and unlike monsters.  What if I told you that "bleeding" is an actual card term?  When you bleed your cards, you're accidentally exposing your hand to other players out of turn.

Remember when Rouxls called the party "mine amigose"?  Kind of an odd line, especially coming from him, but it was actually another card game reference!  Also from Spades is the term "Three amigos":  A nickname for the Ace, Queen, and King of Spades.  Interestingly, the Ace of Swords is all about cutting through lies and exposing the truth.  (Maybe that could be a card for Susie in future chapters?)

Hell, there’s just a LOT of card references thrown all over the place.  A cute one is when Jevil says “piip piip” during his fight -- like the dots on dice, the individual symbols on number cards are called pips.

Want another fun Tarot card meaning?  Take a good look at the Nine of Swords.  It's generally considered the worst card you could get, even in a mostly positive reading -- It's literally called The Nightmare, and represents fear, stress, being overwhelmed, grief, doubts, cruelty, etc.  Basically, if it's bad, it's in this card, up to and including a complete breakdown.  Now, recall another line that seems totally benign at first, courtesy of Jevil:  "From now, a nightmare will awaken in your hearts.  In the shadow of the Knight's hand..."  If I were y'all, I'd make damn sure to WATCH THIS CARD.

Also, "The Knight's hand"...of cards, perhaps?  :P  Okay, bad joke.  

There's sometimes three Jokers in a deck -- a white one in addition to black and red.  Just sayin'.  Might wanna also keep your eyes open for a third Joker in chapter 2, maybe chilling out with the Queen wherever she is? 

[krixwell-liveblogs]

Blind reactions to Deltarune chapter 1

Alright, so last night, I played through Deltarune chapter 1.

For those not in the know, this is a free teaser for the sequel to Undertale, which takes around 3-5 hours to complete. It’s meant for those who have “finished Undertale”, so if you haven’t either finished Undertale or, like me, watched enough playthroughs of the game that you’ve practically finished it by proxy, you should probably skip the rest of this post. Same goes if you haven’t played Deltarune yourself. Go do that.

Liveblogging Worm isn’t my first time sharing my reactions to things as I went along. It kinda comes naturally for me to do that. So a few minutes into Deltarune (in the classroom scene), I decided to share some thoughts I’d had up until that point. But the problem was, I couldn’t go into the #deltarune_spoilers channel on Loreweaver’s server to talk about it, or I’d get spoiled myself. So, I opened a NotePad document and began typing my thoughts there for later sharing. And then I continued doing that until I finished the game.

And hey, I have a liveblog, why not use it for this too? So, below the readmore, if you’re interested, here are my thoughts on Deltarune.

Warning: It’s long. Also, spoilers for Deltarune (duh), Undertale, Kingdom Hearts II and vaguely Homestuck, Wander Over Yonder and Over the Garden Wall.

It's kind of hilarious how the game goes "nah, you don't get to decide who you are", and then gives the character a name that works as a shortened version of my legal name.

Kris looks like an older Frisk, but doesn't share the name. Are they separate? But why would Toriel be raising them then?

The narration is far less filled with FUN than the narration in Undertale, giving Kris a depressing feel. The shaded eyes and the mirror narration "It's only you." (in contrast to Undertale's) "It's you!" reinforce this. I wonder if it has to do with Chara's presence in Undertale and the narrator!Chara theory.

Kris has a brother...?

Asriel's around? Well, then. Alternate universe alarm bells are ringing.

We could be following Chara, but the world seems to have monsters and humans living together, Toriel isn't a queen, and many characters in and after the driving cutscene shouldn't have been born yet when Chara was around.

Alphys as a school teacher is fun. I immediately went to her when she asked me to pick a partner, just to see what she'd say - I love that she's watching anime in class.

Decided to go for Monster Kid first, in case I couldn't check out everyone before making my choice. But apparently he's partnered already, so I guess there is no choice. I'm guessing the snake is the one who hasn't got a partner yet.

...Snowy, you're incorrigible.

Wait, so Temmie is partnered with an egg. That leaves an even number of other candidates. So I guess we're not going to find anyone to partner with. I suppose that fits the tone we're going for with the narration.

Blue bird guy is a jerk.

His name is Berdly? ...sure.

I like the reindeer.

Jockington. These names! And apparently the cat is named Catti. Not to be confused with Catty, whom I'm pretty sure I saw in the driving cutscene. Or did I only see her parents? I definitely saw Bratty, at least, so Catty shouldn't be in school. And the personalities don't match.

That's an origin story, alright. I suppose that means we've already got an implied ouroboros in this game, since Jockington was a hula hoop rather than a jumping rope.

Noelle is a good name for the reindeer. I'm not surprised to see Berdly objecting to the trio idea.

...hello there, important character. Susie?

So I suppose we're teaming up with the intimidating goth.

Poor Alphys is terrified of Susie. Susie honestly seems kind of chill at first glance, but there's gotta be a reason why she intimidates Alphys especially much.

Okay, who's eating chalk? I noticed the green chalk was missing from Kris' house, and now the school's chalk is gone for the third time. Did someone let a Homestuck character or two loose in this world?

So we're babysitting Susie on the chalk quest.

The classmates don't seem confident in Kris' survival. Apparently Susie has a reputation for beating people up.

"You SUZ, you LOSE!" Okay, Snowy, I'll give you that one. :p

What did Susie just do? Eat something? She doesn't seem to want me to have seen it.

Yeah, Susie doesn't seem so bad. So, secret, you say?

...bad timing to add that, huh. Also, quiet people piss you off? Hypocrite.

OH! That was the chalk! I was kidding when I said someone was eating it, but of course, this is Toby Fox. Which this electric guitar music is also reminding me of.

Whoops. Looks like she's gone full "well, why not make this worse so the punishment is worth it" mode.

"I would rather not lose my face, thank you very much."

All bark and no face-bite?

"If you hadn't gotten it by now, your choices don't matter." That's definitely meant in a meta sense. It's starting to become a theme. I suppose Deltarune isn't particularly branching, unless this changing is going to be a point.

Is "blurry yellow object" any way to talk about your teacher, Kris?

I like Susie's reactions to you trying to go the wrong way.

I don't think this is supposed to happen when you open a closet.

This is not a closet anymore, Susie.

"kind of big" YA THINK

Yeah, the closet's definitely broken, in some fashion. So where is this taking us? Narnia? The world of Undertale?

Aaand the door's closed.

And here goes the floor. Time to let gravity do its thing?

Can't have an Undertale game without falling into another world, eh? So, where's Susie? And is it just me or did Kris just get a new wardrobe? Yeah, that's definitely some kind of armor.

Oh hey, save point. I wonder if we're getting filled with anything. Dread, maybe. Everything's blue, even the save point...

"At times you see it flickering. The light only you can see. By second nature, you reach out and..." So Kris, whether they're Frisk or not, is familiar with the save points, and knows that others can't see them. Interesting.

Hang on, did I just overwrite a Kris save with a Krixwell save? I *knew* it wouldn't completely discard those answers from the start. (That's why I answered the same things when I restarted to get my headphones working.)

Hmm. Eyeballs on stalks that start swinging when you walk past them? I like the sounds they make.

Something just moved off-screen in the top right. Also, there's something flowing out of holes here. Oil?

Huh. An eye symbol. Reminds me of Madoka Magica.

Another one, in case you missed the first one... Am I supposed to go down this water(?)fall?

Yep. No return. Not that there's anything to return to.

Sleeping gray oozes...

Is this what's left of the underground after the pacifist ending? Except that doesn't explain the relation between Frisk, Asriel and Kris. I suppose it's possible that Frisk is the brother and took on the name Asriel as a tribute, but that honestly just seems rude. Besides, Toby would catch all sorts of flak if he were to gender Frisk now.

Pfft, those eyes and the oil hole look like a silly face. So, this *looks like* the first real choice of the story. Not that "real choice" necessarily means much - it's not like Undertale actually branched much. Most proper choices in Undertale were fake, still leading to the same outcome.

Hmm. If only one of these leads onward to the rest of the story, it's probably the silly face route. So I should probably go downwards if I want to not miss anything.

Yep. Dead end, with something shining in the oil hole.

...a Glowshard. Alright, let's see what its info says.

Woah, new menu! Earlier, in the house, I discovered that the menu was the same as in Undertale, but now that I'm in the closet, there's a new interface. Interesting.

The Glowshard's use is unknown. Alright.

Cell phone's not working and makes beautiful sounds to show that.

Apparently along with the armor, Kris wound up with a "wood blade". I wonder if that's actually the pencil they had earlier. I say this while sitting here with a shortsword-sized pencil next to me.

"Body contains a human SOUL." That's ominous. The fact that the game is specifying that makes it sound like it might change.

While Kris is wearing something that looks like armor, it doesn't show up on the equip screen as such.

They seem to have lost their 2 money.

Silly face path time!

Should I be concerned about that eyeball-stalk having a red outline? I probably should.

Interesting. Going into "combat" against the hostile stalks gave more things outlines, and the SOUL became visible. I wonder if getting hit would send me into a mini dodging game like when Undyne chases you in Undertale.

I should probably note that while I've watched many playthroughs of Undertale, I've never actually played it, apart from a browser version of the Sans fight. So if this contains bullet hells scaled after the end of Undertale at the very start, I'm kind of screwed.

"A power shines within you, breaking through the darkness." Determination? Hope? No, hope is HP. I suppose it could just be the ability to save, which is a side effect of determination. Even if Kris hasn't exactly seemed like the determined type so far.

Oh, right, restored HP. Maybe that was hope after all.

"Eye Puzzle". Alright, let's puzzle this out.

Without having read the sign, just looking at the iconography, I'm guessing the dots mean which eyes are affected by each light, and you have to close all of them to proceed.

"In this land, only eyes blinded by darkness can see the way..." Yeah, definitely sounds like I need to close them.

Rightmost eye and middle eye. Easy as p-eye. YOU'RE NOT THE ONLY ONE WHO CAN MAKE BAD PUNS SNOWY

I just saw the black thing again, at the right edge, moving real fast. Looked almost like an Enderman from Minecraft at a glance.

There it is again. I'm about to catch up with it, aren't I. Did it come down the other waterfall?

Oh cod, did I just kill one of the sleeping oozes?

Oh! It's Susie! Hi.

How did Kris get you into this? You're the one who ate the chalk so we had to get more, you're the one who pushed on into the closet.

Susie's outfit looks like she fell out of Kingdom Hearts. Maybe that's what's going on. Maybe Kris is Frisk's nobody, who's been living in a fake world.

Ooh, someone waving, you say?

Apparently they've got hostility in spades.

This looks like a ghost town. Like, literally, a town for ghosts, with the curved houses and all.

Well, at least it's a ghost town in the figurative sense. That castle is intriguing. Not to mention the geyser.

"Why the hell is there a castle inside a supply closet?" Ahaha

"Welcome, heroes...!" is off-center and it's bugging me.

A masked stranger introducing himself as the Prince of this Kingdom. In yellow. I don't trust this at all. Flowey, is that you?

The Kingdom of Darkness. Alright. Is this connected to the Underground in any way?

The stranger knows our names and called us heroes. He's been expecting us.

Heroes of Light? I don't know, I don't think I'd peg either of them as having that aspect.

Foretold by time and space... look, the Homestuck jokes write themselves and I think Toby Fox knows that.

Hopes and dreams, light and dark, balance of the world being threatened... fairly basic plot beats in and of themselves. Fair enough. Three heroes, including the Prince, supposed to restore the balance... The thing is, I still don't trust the Prince to be telling the truth, or at least, the full truth, and I think a lot of the plot is left in the inaccuracies. I'm watching you, Prince.

"Delta warriors" sounds like something you'll try to make a thing but not really succeed at making a thing.

"Please, won't you accept this destiny?" "Uhh... Nah." Ahaha, I love it.

The Prince seems genuinely distraught at Susie's refusal.

Pfffft, bye Prince! Oh my cod, is that you, Sans?

Okay, no, this isn't Sans. And he sounds like he's an antagonist, talking about the heroes "running away". He mentions his dad, whom I'm guessing is the supposed main antagonist for now.

"I'm... the bad guy." I'm not hearing an elaborate and catchy song to explain that, so your point is invalid.

"We both know you'll go EAST!" Yeah, because there's no other exit that we didn't come from.

Lancer, huh. As if the Son of the Month thing didn't make it clear that you're not the main antagonist. So, hey, depending on the exact role of his dad, would Lancer perhaps also count as "a Prince from the Dark" for the prophecy?

Alright, new fighting UI. This ought to be interesting. It looks kind of early-Final-Fantasy-esque?

(Act -> Check) Ohh, Lancer was the spade guy. Pfft, he's just got a burning bike, not a motorcycle.

So Susie's also found herself with a new weapon.

He claims his bike's running out of fuel, but the check established it doesn't actually run on fuel...

So what's the real reason he's forfeiting-- oh, dinnertime. Fair enough. Enjoy!

Ralsei. I think I've seen fanart of you. I like how you have a heart on your shirt - a human heart - to contrast with Lancer's spade. I don't trust it, but I like it.

So why don't you have any subjects, Ralsei? Why have you had to wait alone your whole life?

"Ralsei, the lonely prince, is now your ally." Hey... Ralsei is an anagram of Asriel...

"The power of fluffy boys shines through you." Ahahaha

Ooh, training dummy. White outline, which I suppose indicates you can fight it but it's not hostile like the ones with red outlines.

This big door looks familiar.

Ralsei explicitly asks me to do a pacifist run. Interesting.

These red trees look weird.

I like how it gave me a little thing telling me the name of the track that was starting to play. The Field of Hopes and Dreams, huh? It's pretty sweet, too. Meanwhile, Lancer left a message about upcoming enemies. Should be fun.

"If you're reading this, I guess you're dead." I think you got that backwards, dude.

Hi there, Lancer. I thought it was dinnertime?

Hah, the group term for the diamond-based Rudinns is "necklace". Nice.

So if you do the thing that lets you spare an enemy, you can also have your partner spare the enemy on the same turn. Good to know.

RIP Topchef's cake.

Maze of Death? Sounds pleasant.

I see Susie's not doing a pacifist run. Hey, what if she's the true main antagonist by the end of all this?

Pfft, poor Lancer has no sense of direction, apparently.

Hehe, the White Ribbon enhances Kris's cuteness. I wonder if that has mechanical consequences.

Apparently only Kris can seal the dark fountain, and Susie is stuck with us.

Oh my cod the fanfare gag is hilarious

Whoops. Susie killed the C.Round because I took the time to *Check it. Does that mean I'm no longer on a pacifist route?

Violet tormentor. Good title.

"The power of mean girls shines within you." Oh my cod, Kris, you can't just ask people why they're violet!

*haggles the tutorial seller down to 1 dark dollar, buys, and then just turns around* Nah.

This shop guy looks like someone mixed together the Beldam, Mad-Eye Moody, an old cat and the goggles from Splinter Cell.

Seam, pronounced "Shawm"? Not a bad name for someone who looks to be part doll.

Lightners, Darkners... Apparently the Lightners were godlike. Are the Lightners the monsters, and the Darkners their "shadows"? Ralsei being the shadow of Asriel?

The Darkners were "locked away and left behind". Sounds familiar.

King seeking revenge...

Historically, there were four kings, in the "Card Castle". No points for guessing how the kings were themed, or who Lancer's dad is. Or who Ralsei's dad was, for that matter.

So does that make Lancer the Jack of Spades?

A strange knight, description in red, appeared and locked three of the kings away. Again, no points for guessing which one wasn't locked away. So does this knight work for the King of Spades, or vice versa? Are there Aces in all of this?

Oh, alright, so the King of Spades put the Knight and his son, Lancer, into power. That suggests the King works for the Knight rather than vice versa. Possibly not willingly.

"Haven't seen this much chaos since... Ha ha ha... Well, you don't need to know about THAT." Since what? Since just before the Lightners left for the surface? Since some plant absorbed nearly every Lightner's soul for a while?

Bought the Amber Card and a couple more Dark Candies.

Alright, let's go see what bullshit the desperate tutorial salesman has for us.

Ah, yes, because this group of suspicious individuals don't look ready to ambush us.

ROUXLS KAARD. The surname is obviously a reference to cards, but everything else about this name screams "anagram". DARK SOUL ARX? AR DARXOULS? SOUR KLAXARD?

I love how there are tutorial guys for Ralsei and Susie, and the way they barely know what they're talking about. Is the last one for Kris? ...yep.

Oh, nice, Kris Master and Ralsei point out the thing I found out earlier about sparing on the same turn.

So there are two paths that both seem to keep going. One with a puzzle, and one with an encounter. I saw the puzzle and went back to the encounter... Hm. Let's try the puzzle too.

Ahh, it's something you're not meant to be able to do unless you've been to a later section of the game. So either you'll be able to go back here later, or you're supposed to use meta knowledge from a previous playthrough. Then again, I kind of suspect what the order is anyway. If I'm right, I won't go on through, because I'm not supposed to see this yet, but I want to try it out.

Alright, looks like it's not the standard order of the suits. Fair enough, that'd be too easy. Even if the input is a puzzle in itself.

I have to do the encounter again?

Well, I made a few mistakes this time, so Susie killed one of the Rudinns.

"When you step into the light, you'll return to where you were before." I don't think it's talking about home. Avoid the glowing tiles, got it.

Hm. Easier said than done. Right, I should probably run.

Can I switch to the lane that's fading before the light fades in on the lane I'm on? ...yes! Puzzle solved.

Apparently the effect of the light only applies to Kris.

Is that a bucket, Lancer? Ew.

Oh great, it's literally to put bodily fluids in. Toby knows exactly what he's doing here.

Oh cod, he's asking for an official name. Ralsei, don't you dare say Delta Warriors.

"Blue person"... how did I not notice that Kris is still blue?

Alright, so I get descriptions of the papers. Definitely not going for the neat paper, which is obviously Ralsei. So my choices are to let Susie name the team, or to let Lancer name it. Great.

Let's see what Susie's got.

Ahaha, he's not allowed to say it. Classy, Susie.

THE $!$! SQUAD

Cool, I'm down with that. Better than Delta Warriors. Well, not really, but still.

Tier-TWO swear words. What's tier one? Darn, heck, etc?

Collective dad? Does he think we're siblings?

No, Ralsei, we can not consider a different name.

(Lancer to Ralsei) "Yeah! How about I be in the Squad and YOU be the bad guy?" That's an interesting idea you've got there, Lancer.

I kinda trust Ralsei a bit more at this point, because he seems a lot like the non-evil iteration of Asriel, but I'm still not entirely sure. That could easily be a front.

"The power of The $!?  Squad shines within you." Ahahaha

So the Great Board is inhabited by chess people. I suppose maybe the Knight is from there? Or maybe that's just what Toby wants me to think. Now where have I heard a story about chess pieces and cards and a takeover from within before...

So what's this extremely dangerous thing? A card shredder?

Oh, a C.Round. Maybe we can keep Susie from killing this one.

Ah, fuck, it got promoted. Nice legs.

Hah, K.Round. As in King Round. Not sure what the C stood for.

That was a fun little fight. And now it seems it's time to explain to Susie that violence isn't always the best option.

Ahh, great. Switching sides because she's bad at heroing. Honestly, though, it really does suit her better.

Alright, now I'm in a forest, and there's a door with colorful flames. Interesting.

The door is for fast travel. Got it.

"We managed to fix this thingamajig up for you." Oh yeah, that's right, I found an empty doorframe earlier.

Oh jeez, they've practiced an alternating dia-monologue.

"Dark Jack Lancer"? Guess I was right about his card, then.

Ahaha, the Dark $!?  Squad! And it's Lancer who says it, too. Susie, you're a bad influence.

So there's a Rudinn asking me to help with a gift for a friend named Clover (I think I have an idea which suit she's aligned to). Sports, cute boys and trees? Well, I've got one of those things.

Salsa stump. Well, at least they're getting along.

I got a scarf that's apparently sharp enough to use as a weapon. Nice.

Oh hey, a puzzle based on the same input method as the post-game puzzle from before. I know how this works, so this shouldn't be too hard, what with the password being stated.

...yeah, that only requires clubs and a heart, that's super easy.

I like Bloxer.

Alright, so there's a dead end down here with two seemingly unreachable buttons in sight. Looks like a path-building puzzle.

There's a symbol puzzle meant to teach you how to mix the lower and higher suits. I managed to find the answer in two tries, before talking to any of the hint... beings.

...who were apparently one three-headed being. I may have just triggered a fight by not talking to them when I came back into the room after checking whether the answer was the same to the symbol puzzle I just passed in the room with Bloxer.

Oh! This is Clover. Hey, Clover, would you like a gift? I've got a cute boy here.

Let's talk about boys.

"Herselves". Cute.

Alright, bake sale time. We've got diamonds, hearts, and spades (run by The Dark $!?  Squad), but no clubs. Why not?

The Choco Diamond and the Hearts Donut each heal ??hp. The Choco Diamond sounds like it'll work better if given to certain characters. Maybe it heals more if the target is diamonds-aligned. Same going for the Hearts Donut on hearts-aligned characters. I should buy another Hearts Donut and test that on Kris and Ralsei.

Sure, I'll donate to the noble cause of kicking my ass too.

Did they just... do that so they could buy a Hearts Donut?

So to the west we have another fast travel door, and to the north there's... a martial arts dojo?

Oh, the smith! I just saw in the inventory that the Broken Cake is a key item that needs to be fixed by a master blacksmith. Guess it's time to do that.

Ahahaha the squeaky hammer sounds! And the cake was "fixed beyond recognition". I love this.

A topcake... can I wear it like a top hat? Is it armor?

Ah, no, but it is a 160 hp full party heal, single use. Good to keep in store, just like the butterscotch-cinnamon pie.

"(This cardboard stand is actually just a fake cardboard stand of a cardboard stand.)" Pfft. Glad we got that cleared up.

Hello, hungry hungry caterpillar.

Nice disguise, Lancer.

Oh, please tell me I get a choice of "the most evil thing I can imagine" here.

Oh fuck, this is even better.

Look, I know the duck face is "garbage", but I can't just NOT pick that one.

Tank body sounds good.

I'm torn between the sneaker shoes and the attractive wheels... I think I'll go with the sneakers. Wheels just make too much sense for the tank body.

Lancer: "Are you sure you're not evil?" Ralsei: "Er, no, I suppose we just have a knack for it." ...

Damn. The bird thing killed me and now I have to make my beautiful thrashing machine all over again.

"The darker it gets, the more you can see." That's familiar. Like the eye puzzle early on. What does it mean, thematically? That you have to see the darkness to truly understand the world?

I was right about the Hearts Donut. It heals Kris by 20 hp, but Ralsei by 50.

Alright, so a Rudinn just confirmed that Susie is considered a Lightner. Does that extend to Kris too?

The save point here names the room as "Before Maze". Way to spoil it, dude.

These villains are so ridiculously ineffectual. But how long is the Papyrus section of this game going to last? I didn't buy for a second that Lancer was even close to being the main antagonist, and now we've long since established the bigger threats (the King and the Knight).

Well, the maze was something. Ooh, machine time!

Aw, I didn't get to fight it. Fair enough.

Susie says our design sucked, so does that mean they've come up with another one?

Ralsei points out that Susie needs him and Kris to return home, but I don't think she WANTS to go home anymore.

Alright, defeat means friendship, huh? Bring it on.

Hah, trying to convince them not to fight is working on Lancer.

Ahahaha, Lancer blocked the pacification with his bike and the bike got tired.

Lancer, join OUR team! That way you can be a team with Susie even though she's joining back up with us! And then when Ralsei turns out to be evil, you can take his place as Prince from the Dark.

Pfft, poor Ralsei being tasked with making the track jackets.

Oh cod, no thanks, put those eyes back where they came from, Lancer, or so help me.

Lancer's Stool Forme is very useful.

Susie is SO into Lancer at this point.

I kinda like and kinda hate how Lancer just floats outside the path instead of following the rest of the party Earthbound-style.

It does seem like Kris is counted as a Lightner. I'm not sure how to feel about the whole "Darkners can't feel fulfilled unless they're helping Lightners" thing, though.

So this is very much the calm before the storm, where our protagonists are happy and content with being friends. What's going to shake this up?

Oh hey, it's Card Castle. Neat.

Lancer doesn't want us fighting people inside the castle. Is it for our sake, or for the sake of the people in there?

See ya, Lancer.

Well then. We've been captured.

So where's Susie?

Ate some moss and “mossed out” my HP. Nice. :P

Took me some time to realize that I had to continue talking to Ralsei to proceed.

Pfft. Classy, Susie.

I like the thing about thinking about what Susie's doing now to segue into a section where we semi-control her.

...alright, where we're tricked into thinking we can control her.

Especially the purple one, eh? Is that because she's especially dangerous, or because you care especially about her?

"It's fine, actually." Is it, Susie? "You don't have to say anything." This is becoming a trend for you. Making your conclusions and telling people not to bother saying things.

Lancer, you may want to explain yourself quickly, regardless of Susie's demands that you shut up. Your face is in danger.

He's attacking, but he's doing the Toriel thing where the attacks fan out. I wonder if there's a path in this game where you cause Lancer to accidentally kill Susie rather than let Susie kill Lancer. If things are going to get to that point.

These spades are better at dodging the heart than Toriel's flames were.

He's visibly trembling more with each attack.

Good, Susie. Good. Now put down the axe and listen to Lancer.

What, a lengthy elevator scene with no proper elevator music?

Susie is the best character in this thing, so far.

Card Castle, first floor. Time to pay attention to the order of the suits' rooms, I think.

"You are unbanned from free ham sandwich day" ahahaha

IT WORKED.

Alright, so diamonds first.

Club Sandwich, can be divided into three to heal the entire team. Cute.

So there's a disembodied voice that has trapped us in a room. "Thoust FOOLS!"

Oh hey, it's Rouxls Kaard, "thou're greatest adversary". Clearly also an adversary of grammar.

Shit, that puzzle looks really fucking hard, man.

So does the Royal Flush (bathroom) count as the spades room for the sake of the post-game puzzle?

Well, the third floor is clearly the Hearts floor, since there are Hathy here.

I just told Susie to flirt and it's beautiful.

Oh cod, it's so awkward that there's no need to even spare.

Well, that was definitely the Hearts room. Diamond, maybe Spades, then Hearts.

Clubs door, and now another room like the one we met Rouxls in. Time for another "puzzle"?

Hah! It's not even a different super easy puzzle, it's just a longer version of the earlier one!

I like the Clubs room.

Alright, there's the Spades room, so the Royal Flush doesn't count. Diamonds, Hearts, Clubs, Spades.

Oh my cod, Rouxls is a shopkeeper.

"decidedesteth"

Oh for the love of cod. He's got a K.Round too. :P

Ralsei thinks the crown looks different... is it a Q.Round?

Ahh. Rouxls is controlling it using the crown. Or so he claims.

Hah, tossing Ralsei at it. I like this plan.

Throne room. Time to meet the king?

What happened here? Lancer said he was going ahead to talk to the king. Did they end up fighting?

Hi, Lancer.

Wait, Lancer's dad was the Knight, not the King. Right? Or are the Knight and the King the same thing at this point, since the fourth king put the Knight in charge? Right, that's how it worked. So we're now seeing the talk Lancer was going to do.

Pfft. I like how the Knight/King is like "Oh, Lancer..."

What was that about "They care not for you", Mr. "I'll drop my son off the edge to let him splatter"?

I did not get a choice in whether to kneel or not. The characters made that choice on their own.

OOH, NICE BACKSTAB!

Ah, see, this is a guy I can believe when he claims to be the bad guy. Even if I'm still not fully sold on the idea that he's necessarily the final boss.

"Lightbringer"? "Your very existence goes against our own"? Interesting...

By the Knight's will... so this ISN'T the Knight?

Is Ralsei the Knight?

"You, that left us in the shadows, stripped of meaning..." Yeah, I think I was onto something earlier.

Ralsei probably isn't the Knight. His interactions with the King wouldn't make much sense that way.

The King seems to be indicating that he's worshipping the Knight instead of the Lightners.

The Knight made the second fountain? Maybe even the first?

The shadows of the fountains are creating a new world... for the Darkners...

I'm taking it that this is a survival fight, like Sans. I just need to let this guy exposit for a while.

Ahh, so it's not so much that it's making a literal new world as that it's darkening the existing world. An apocalypse which he believes to be in favor of the Darkners.

"Enough talk"? Was I wrong?

The King seems to be getting less confident.

And he ended the battle.

His... cape just flew away?

So he's asking for a peaceful solution now. Alright, sure.

I don't like the sound effects here. They sound too much like someone's about to get killed. Maybe the cape flew off to tell the Knight about the King's failure/betrayal?

Honestly, the King just seems to be dying without anyone actually hurting him.

Nice, yes, good work healing him, Ralsei. Let's just hope he wasn't faking it just to get that heal.

...yep.

"You can't even say?" Nice echo of what Susie said at the start.

"Let me tell you a secret." We're echoing the whole scene, huh? But somehow, I don't think "All bark and no face-bite" applies to the King.

Susie FTW.

"But THEY might." Who's "they"? Kris? And maybe Ralsei? Or are we bringing in other characters?

*crazy glue voice* get him

"Now I'M the dad!!!" Uh, Lancer, I don't think that's how it works.

And now we're getting Ralsei contemplating whether kindness is always the solution after all, since his healing the king almost fucked everything. Nice. Character growth all around.

Wait, Ralsei, why are you staying behind? I thought you claimed we needed you too to stop the fountain?

Nice try, Susie. I know you want to talk to Lancer.

See? Lancer sees right through you.

Hiya, Asriel! What's up?

Not gonna explain that, huh?

So, uh, did Kris's soul just leave their body to fuse with the fountain?

Aaand we're in the supply closet. Alright.

Wait, no, this is an unused classroom.

...menu's back to the Undertale style.

Let's try calling home.

Alright, so some time has passed. It's after school. Don't think going to tell Alphys you couldn't find the chalk is going to work, Susie.

Toriel is sweet. Though it's a little sad that the word "friend" makes her give Kris a free pass, because it implies she's surprised that they've gained one.

Playing cards and chess... Legos... Fuck, this is lending some serious credence to the dream idea, much in the same way a lot of things in Over The Garden Wall reflect what's seen in episode 9. But like there, I'd say this was probably a certain degree of real.

The room we ended up in is to the right of the supply closet.

Sure, go back there tomorrow... if you can.

The supply closet is locked now.

Hey, I found Asriel's/Frisk's/the brother's locker. And Kris's.

Ooh, Toriel's classroom!

The clock has been updated to 10 PM in Toriel's classroom, but in Alphys', it still says 2 PM.

I can visit the Librarby, neat.

So is the game over now, or will we be seeing the return to the Dark Kingdom?

Hah, found Toby. I'm aware that this is only supposed to be a teaser, so I guess it'll deliver on the promise that you'll be able to go into the computer lab in the full game.

Books written by Undertale characters, nice.

UNDYNE

Wait, Asgore's kid? Kris is Asgore's kid?? Or, wait, wasn't it Undyne who couldn't tell Asgore and Toriel apart? No, that was Papyrus. So this raises the whole alternate universe question again. Who the fuck is Kris?

Undyne claims not to know who Alphys is.

...who's the mayor?

I found a door to a bunker or something that makes spooky sounds. This feels like plot.

Gerson's dead, among a couple others who may or may not be characters we know.

At least Gerson being dead rules out this happening before Undertale, in the same timeline.

Burgerpants!

So Azzy's in college.

"Things happened" in Kris's family before Asriel left. Asgore and Toriel separating?

SANS

Sans is new in town, and has never met Kris. Kris, say hello to your future stepfather.

And he wants Kris to hang out with Papyrus. I'm all for this.

(I'm also all for finding a save point so I can go to bed.)

Asgore x Alphys???

So Alphys watches a Simpsons knockoff and has an imaginary cat named MewMew. The alternate universe theory intensifies.

Apparently Asgore runs a flower shop.

Aww, that hug was adorable.

Containers containing flowers instead of souls...

Time for bed.

Umm. Kris. You, uh. Kinda need that soul.

So, uh, the Chara option is still available...

Well then! That was Deltarune chapter 1. I'm gonna write a wrap-up tomorrow, because it's way too late now and I need to go to bed in real life. Good night!

...Alright, hello again! It's been about 17.5 hours since I finished Deltarune chapter 1, and in that time, I've been thinking a bit. I think I've come up with a decent theory about what's going on with the world of the Lightners in relation to Undertale:

I don't think this is post-pacifist. I think this is post-genocide.

"Oh, but many of the characters you kill on the genocide route are alive, and monsters seem to live on the surface!"

Here's the thing: At the end of the genocide route, you meet Chara, who talks about wanting to "erase this pointless world and move on to the next". The choice they give you is fake, both options end in you, the player, being killed, ending the game. What I'm suggesting is that Chara did just that: Erased the world and moved on to the next. That "next" world is the world of Deltarune.

Chara isn't entirely physical, so they need a vessel, like Frisk was in Undertale. That's why they're taking control of Kris, and throwing out Kris's soul (hey, look who managed to guess that their soul would leave their body, even if I didn't guess how). I'm not sure whether Chara was already partially possessing Kris at the beginning and just decided it was time to get rid of that annoying soul right at the end. The soul being the culmination of one's being and the center of emotion... Identity and emotion seemed to be fairly low in Kris from the start - maybe Chara had to weaken the soul before they could toss it out and take proper control?

There's also the player to deal with, though. Chara knows we're here - you can tell from the way they glance at the fourth wall after taking control - so I wonder if they'll let us continue controlling their vessel, Kris. Then again, in Undertale, Chara seemed to consider that a good thing, but what if the player continues to steer Kris towards pacifism?

Meanwhile, the world of the Darkners is still largely a mystery. They seem to be a remnant of the Underground's essence in some way, but who knows if monsters ever lived underground in this world?

A lot about the Dark Kingdom adventure in chapter 1 mirrors Undertale. In fact it very much feels like discount Undertale. (Which I suppose is fair considering this game does in fact cost 100% less than Undertale.) I wonder if any of it was Chara's work, whether Kris knew it or not?

This chapter of the game is deceptively simple, but there really is a lot to think about here.

All in all... The game wasn't quite as good as Undertale, though it had its share of funny and/or heartfelt moments, and it did good stuff with the characters of Susie and Lancer. I like the introduction of a party system due to its effect on character dynamics, and the battle graphics were a huge step up.

I suppose I shouldn't expect Deltarune chapter 1 to hold up to the whole of Undertale. The full version has a hell of a lot to live up to, but I'm optimistic about it. I think it can at least get close. And with Chara getting visibly involved, I have a feeling things are only going to get more interesting from here.

In conclusion: Fuck Berdly.