#underneath the readmore: Spoilers; more spoilers; and spoilers which require context

[waffliesinyoface]

*looks at the comment sections of stuff involving Deltarune Ch 2 secrets*

ah. I see some fans are already missing the point in record time. (spoilers below cut)

okay, so. Undertale’s whole theme was talking about player choice. Especially in the murder route, where Flowey literally turns to the camera and goes “yeah I had fun saving everyone but then they got a little boring and stale because they just say the same lines of dialogue over and over. So, to mix it up, and to see more dialogue, I went around killing people to see what’d change!”

This is. a literal. direct. parallel. to what you, the player, are doing. He even mentions “some people are probably watching this right now, too scared to do it themselves”, ie: people watching a lets play because they want it to happen, but want to distance themselves from it because they’d feel guilty pushing the button.

Despite all that. The fandom latches hard onto the idea of “Chara”, and 99.999% of all discussion, art, and discourse about genocide is “look at chara, they’re so evil, they love killing people, poor frisk” and its like. no, no, they don’t matter, you get that, right? The Fallen Human is a footnote. An interesting tidbit of lore. The person. responsible. is. you. That’s the theme of the game. IT’S. YOU.

...So, how does this tie into Deltarune?

Deltarune’s theme, from what I can tell, is similar, but from a different angle, and in a different genre. It’s not just an RPG, it’s an RPG with [Party Characters]. And, for good or for bad, you have the final say in what those characters do. 

This is why, in Chapter 1, only Kris has the [Act] command, where they can tell the other characters to do stuff. In Chapter 2, Susie’s like “hey that’s dumb, why can’t I decide?” and Ralsei* goes “uh, that’s Kris’s job-” before getting cut off and by Susie going “shut up nerd”

(*more on Ralsei later)

But then! You get Noelle. And that’s where the story can change. In the normal route, the expected route, she goes along with you, but at the same time is like “uh, I just have to do whatever you say? o-okay, I guess?? That’s kinda weird, but, uh, sure???” You tell her to spare monsters, and she does so without complaint.

But.

Even if she doesn’t want to, even if it scares her, the player is in control. And what do you do when you get a new, weak party member? You backtrack a bit to grind exp on weak enemies. She doesn’t want to. She has no say in the matter. 

It’s the equivalent of a character like Marianne in Fire Emblem. She’s designed to be “The Healer”, she has the appearance, attitude, and dialogue of someone who wants to stay in the back casting heal spells. ...But that MAG growth sure is tempting, isn’t it? What if you reclassed her to be a Black Mage instead?

The only difference being, Noelle is vocally not fond of this. It doesn’t change anything, but you can see her becoming more and more horrified.

You get to town, and wander around a bit. You find a shop. Go through some dialogue options (where you affirm she’s not your friend, she’s your party member something else) and the shopkeep offers to sell you a ring.

“Sweet,” you think, “something better than the starting gear.”

It’s too expensive.

Well... that’s just too bad, isn’t it? But hey, that’s a common trope, an early shopkeeper with a rare weapon as a drop. It’s not like it’s something you haven’t done before, right? It’s a good weapon. You won’t come back here anyways, so there’s no harm done.

Anyways, this sort of behavior culminates in a spectacularly fucked up fashion, but the point of it is the same - you, the player, are in control. No matter what your party members say. Every button press is something you, the player are doing.

So, of course. Like “Chara” before them, I’m already seeing people assigning responsibility of these actions to Kris.

Despite the fact that this game literally has Kris wrest control away from the player to do their own thing. That, you can blame them for. But everything else is all you. For good or for ill.

-------------------

Anyways, unrelated to the fanbase blaming Kris, but still tying into the themes of “player control”, we have the secret boss. Who talks about severing puppet strings, wanting to be free, etc. And ends his dialogue with “maybe you can free yourselves as well” or thereabouts.

Susie, afterwards, is like “hey what the fuck was that all about? That was freaky, right?? And what was he talking about with all that crap about puppet strings”, to which Ralsei responds “no, you’re overthinking it, it’s just a weird superboss, don’t worry about it”

Which is interesting. First, he didn’t like the idea of anyone but Kris being able to [Act], and now he wants Susie and Kris to dismiss everything they just heard. Puppet strings? There are no puppet strings here. What are you talking about, Susie? Don’t be ridiculous.

Furthermore, an interesting trait of Susie is that you can’t un-equip her items. She won’t let you. If you want Ralsei or Kris to give you their equipment, sure, they’re fair game. Susie refuses unless you’re swapping it for something else. And she refuses to wear certain items. And (in ch 1) she initially won’t listen to you in battle at all. And she’ll override your choice with “why does Kris always get to pick, screw that, it’s my turn”

Kris is the player’s vessel, and as such, has no control over anything outside of cutscenes, when the player has no control. Susie, even in chapter 2, does things like “having opinions”. Ralsei is the player’s enabler, who wants their input on everything.

“Here, Kris, have a manual!” (a literal game manual) “Hey Susie, why not try letting Kris tell you what to do?” (become a proper party member) “Hey Kris, what do you think about this?” “Hey Kris, why not pick who you want to explore with?” “Hey Kris, do you wonder what Susie’s doing right now? Why not close your eyes and imagine...” (in the following scene, your choices don’t matter. At all. You have no control over Susie’s dialogue.)