#well kind of Kris undertale but eh

[humankk]

arts for my fic that hasn't exist yet!

...well, still planning it, it's Undertale and My hero crossover

there's technically some spoiler in there but like it's not really that important of a spoiler so eh, well go into the read more anyway

the one thing out of read more is I guess the one I'm throwing in the Underground because that's like the main point

hell yea throwing kids with time power in that hole (well technically Frisk didn't have one but they got one so I guess that counted)

(oh yea I give everyone 3 soul traits, mostly got it from a fic but it didn't like work that similar, it's mostly just for personality, the first one is the main one and the soul color)

andddd if you wanna guess the other fic plots that would be fun I would love to read it

actually Frisk is a 3 in one kind of a kid, yea that's a lot (also thinking of having Chara use Narra as a fake name sssslike occasionally, like, you know, character and narrator)

surface guys! and also Frisk for scale because yes

(if you watch my hero and know the spoiler up to like... the anime a while ag. then you would know Oboro is either dead or become some kind of zombie aka Kurogiri so you can guess what happened to make him like this I wanna read it... also his soul traits is the one he has when he was alive at least, now idk)

You can tell I did not try to make this looks pretty, I was kind of tired at that point but I stilll want to draw it so...

(anyway yea Kris just have Lancer's card to quirk him into existance to use his bike to use sometimes... well not really just for that, Lancer is also a good emotional support)

also yes I didn't really explain their quirk much here but hey, I want to see if anyone would guess it and how right they would be at it

[imptwins]

Eh sure why not.

Kintsugi - My most recent fic. An Undertale Yellow post-canon story, Ceroba finally gets her visit to Hotland and meeting with Alphys out of the way. It's a rough reunion - it's not like there's any secret what must have happened to Kanako - but we remember what's important.

Another Stranger Me - A retelling of Chapter 1 of Deltarune but with just one little change that shifts events a great deal. The enigmatic Prince of the Kingdom of Darkness welcomes the two heroes, The Human and Monster of the Light, into the foretold legend. Kris and Sebastián are-... Wait, who's Sebastián?

(18+!) The Bad Kind of Scary - HEAVY CW for noncon, abduction, drink spiking, ambiguous-aged teens, and more. By far my darkest story; in my opinion, also, by far my best. Noelle has a huge thing for The Newest Girl, but she ignores the well-being of not only her friend but also herself as she skips through red flags. Just what role does the victim really play in an event like this, and will she even choose to be one?

(18+!) These Old Bones - Toriel x Sans first time dealie. In all of my writing I endeavour to be aggressively queer and find interesting ways to explore queerness and what it means to me, but this one is probably the best job I've done of summarizing it while still being really sexy. Toriel really knows her way around an unconventional body, it turns out.

(18+!) Zetarune - I put this one last because it deeply needs a rewrite, and will get one once I'm done with some of the more pressing stuff on my plate, so I don't recommend reading it quite yet. But I still love it. Deltarune post-canon, post-college story. If I want to sell it, it's an enormous (>350k words and counting!) exploration of queerness, society, humanity, and the entire notion of what art means to me. If I'm being honest it's also an ultra indulgent author-insert harem isekai anime. It's been on a long hiatus but I promise it's far from forgotten.

Don't have many people to tag here, tumblr ain't my most-used social media on account of the vague rules lol. @overexciteddragon @frillyfrills

Fic authors self rec! When you get this, reply with your favorite five fics that you've written, then pass on to at least five other writers. Let's spread the self-love 💞

Luckily, I have written at least five things! <sigh of relief>

In no particular order:

Once Was Lost - The start of it all. I still “enjoy” the feeling that the inevitable approach to the gallows gives.

To Tame A Tiger - We are all miss Blaseball, RIV, and all that. I wasn’t as active as I would’ve liked, but I’m still proud of this piece, and how it gives a bit of character to an underrepresented player.

Future Past - While Once Was Lost is the start of things, this is where a little of the meat of the story starts coming into play.

Pulling Loose The Threads - Escalation is the name of the game here, and shows a solid link to the established canon, which I’m always wary about doing.

Holiday In Eorzea - Not just a Dead Kennedys reference! This is easily the most ambitious thing I’ve written to date, and it’s far from over. The sad thing in my mind is that it comes after a lot of other parts that are yet to be written. But sometimes, stories have their time and demand it.

Thanks for the ask, @brasideios! I’ll leave the floor open for anyone else who would like, but I’d like to hear from @kosmosxipo , @mossy-kit, and @cyndakip - Talk some Spit!

[skottsalva-archive]

deltarune spoilers in tags so mono dont look!!!!ill tell you in pm once youve played it

[im-not-here-im-dead]

Okay since it’s pride month, here are all my 🌈utdr headcanons :D🌈

Btw, this is by no means meant to be an exhaustive list or 100% unquestionable truth. Just me having fun :D

Undertale

Frisk:

they/them nonbinary. No ifs ands or buts about it.

Toriel:

I have said it before and I’ll say it again.

Aromantic Toriel

(Applause)

And she’s pansexual

(More applause)

And a she/her demiwoman

(Even more applause)

Napstablook:

The they/that agender we love to see

Sans:

Aroace without a doubt

he/him and star/stars pronouns B)

As for gender, he’s kind of an enigma, but I’m thinkin’ star and Alphys are transmasc and transfemme solidarity and you can tear this out of my cold dead hands

Papyrus:

Also definitely aroace. Possibly oriented aroace considering a certain attractive, rectangular beauty, but who knows ;P

Papyrus using he/they pronouns fills me with great joy

They’re definitely a dude, but like, he’s a guy, but squiggly. Like, Man but reskinned with Bowling Ally Carpet. You know the ones. Does that make sense ?

MK:

No pronouns nonbinary lets gooooo

Undyne:

Lesbian. L e s b i a n .

she/her is her favorite but will also sometimes use they/them, he/him, ze/hir, ae/aer, spear/spears and other neopronouns as well as she/her

Mad Mew Mew

The sapphic transfemme we love to see

she/her

Alphys:

Bisexual Disaster

she/they trans woman

Mettaton:

The gnc trans guy we love to see

he/him

I really like the asexual headcanon for him

Asgore:

Bisexual Disaster Reprise (orchestral cover)

I can imagine Asgore going by just he/him for the majority of his life but at some point getting introduced to fleur/fleurs (either by Undyne or Alphys) and absolutely loving them

Not really much gender fuckery going on in fleurs case aside from the usual gender-nonconformity. Fleur is just the kind of fellow who likes to feel handsome and also pretty. Good for him !

Flowey / Asriel:

Generally good with he/him, but often flounders between he/him, it/its, they/them, and every combination of the three. Eh. Thinking about it is headache inducing (I can relate)

Chara:

they/it agender I will die on this hill

Deltarune

Kris:

they/them nonbinary. No. Ifs. Ands. Or. Buts.

As for their orientation? Idk. I like the aroace headcanon for them

Susie:

she/he butch lesbian let’s fucking gooooooooo

Ralsei:

he/they/fae

Gender? Honestly, ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Still questioning their orientation

Noelle:

she/her

Trans and gay real and true

Berdly:

People have headcanoned this bird as trans in every direction and I approve. Transfemme Bigender Berdly makes me especially happy

I think Berdly would be a bit of a pronoun hoarder. He/him, she/her, zhe/zher, e/em, and pix/pixel to name a few

Also, I will be claiming her for the aromantics as well. C’mon boys we got another one

Lancer:

Just a little guy :>

Also, you thought Berdly was a pronoun hoarder? Well zher hoard doesn’t hold a candle to Lancers. He/him, spade/spades, star/stars, cloud/clouds, splat/splats, blue/blues, rain/bows/rainbowself, cake/cakes, spark/sparks, etc! And spades collection will only grow in the years to come. Good for blue !

Roulx Kaard:

You cannot tell me this motherfucker doesn’t use he/thone pronouns

Queen

she/her agender for the win

Seam:

they/them (preferably none)

Gender apathetic

Ace

Jevil:

Any pronouns

Gender? I hardly know ‘er! Uee hee hee!

Abrosexual

Starwalker:

xe/xem/xir

Nonbinary

Nubert:

they/them man

My man !

Alright. That’s all I got for now. Happy pride :]

[cutest-silly-nb]

eh whatever guess I’ll get some personality traits out of the way

Kris

enby

never uses two words where one will do

loves Ralsei (and all their friends but mostly R) very much

pretty messed up kid and they know it

would probably hurt their friends by accident

very cheesy person, especially around Ralsei (like I wouldn’t put it past them to have a repertoire of cheesy pickup lines backstocked)

moirails with Noelle, probably

They’re going to end up auspiticising Noelle and Berdly eventually

takes pranks too far oftentimes

generally a gremlin child

Will protect their fluffy boi at any cost

likelihood to swear: moderate

likelihood to swear around their boyfriend: very low

likelihood to randomly kiss ralsei out of nowhere: extremely high

likelihood to eat an entire shoe: extremely high

Is always there for Ralsei. No matter what.

hates being touched, with the exception of Ralsei, Toriel, Asgore, and maybe if they’re really down Noelle and Susie (don’t count on it tho)

talks in all lowercase, oft using abbreviations

Susie

not as mean as she lets on

problem solver

by which I mean, problem puncher

as in problems are going to be wiped off the floor by swatchlings

basically same as the original game

gets pissed whenever kris and ralsei just randomly kiss

shut up she’s not jealous (probably)

has a crush on noelle but doesn’t realize it

likelihood to swear: high

likelihood to eat an entire shoe: very high

likelihood to kill someone: none

likelihood to beat someone to a pulp and pin them on a cross: relatively high

talks in all lowercase, no abbreviations

might end up auspiticising between Noelle and Berdly depends how it goes

is probably kismeses with Berdly

if she is I’ll put them on a stab-date or smth don’t worry

Ralsei

soft and bakes cakes

head-over-heels for kris and he mostly has no idea why

has amateur fire magyyks but isn’t very good with them, so he uses it only on the cauldron

likelihood to swear: he doesn’t know enough for it to be out of the negatives

likelihood to eat an entire shoe: low

likelihood to faint when kris inevitably kisses them because they made a pie or whatever: very high

has a genuine interest in light world customs

likes to make presents for his friends

doesn’t actually think very much of himself

internal monologue is almost exclusively screaming when kris is around

is always there for Kris. No matter what.

doesn’t know Noelle that well but does express genuine interest in getting to know her better

would be an amazing auspiticise probably

Perfect grammar, but will sometimes use all lowercase and abbreviations around Kris… wonder why

Noelle

likelihood to eat an entire shoe: if Susie is watching, high. Otherwise, none.

definitely realizes her feelings but she tries to ignore them

moirails with Kris. they tell each other a lot.

likelihood to ask Kris for help with her crush: ……moderate.

likelihood to accidentally freeze Berdly to death: high

likelihood to “accidentally” freeze Berdly to death: ……… let’s go with… moderate

bad at controlling her ice powers

even worse when Susie is around

actually very kind

once she tried baking cupcakes with ralsei

turned out ok

she and berdly are not and will never be kismeses

Always there for Susie. No matter what.

all lowercase, lots of abbreviations, like Jade

Berdly

Annoying AF

Perfect grammar. Very snooty.

His halberd is a halberd in LW and DW

Armor plays cheesy Game Boy Advance-quality voice clips

You name it, he’s played it, and has a very strong opinion.

likelihood to eat an entire shoe: moderate

likelihood to swear: moderate-low

Basically a blank slate for me to project internet culture onto

Toby

This one only exists so that I could mention that Undertale canonically exists in-universe, though with modified characters obv.

Likelihood to eat an entire shoe: Extremely high

[augujerdeer]

🍎👠🎃🌆👂😱💬!!! Feel free to not answer any of them!

IM CRYING BECAUSE YOU ACTUALLY SENT INE THANK YOU jnsjshdjhsdjh

🍎what are yall’s favourite foods?

I think this is gonna be a long post now that I think about it, but i’m asking everyone what their favourite food would be if they could only pick one or two (not everyone answered or can but >:0)

Mine (Jamie) would be pancakes! or grilled salmon! OR SPICY TUNA SASHIMI!!!!

Kris, Chara and Matthew immediately just have chocolate as their answer dicenksfvjk but kris says “anything” and he lives up to it sometimes

Jaiden says gummy bears and gummy worms (all he eats is CANDY)

Kobe says flowers,,,,

Sal is picking between pizza and cheesecake smoothies

Peter says he doesn’t have one yet ;;

👠how difficult is it for y'all to agree on one cohesive outfit?

So this kind of depends on how many people are out, but I usually follow whoever wants to wear something if only one person is requesting something (Like when Kris would screech and ask for me/us to wear the pink hoodie or his sequins sneakers)

But if there’s multiple people, (usually Kris, Chara, or Matthew) it might take a while ksjskjskjs but generally everyone would go rock-paper-scissors or let the other person have us wear what they want! Usually because they deserve this turn or we take turns :0

🎃how many head mates could be considered scary?

HMM,,, I guess I would say Severous first. He’s a 8+ foot werewolf man, he is a BEAR

his fur is PITCH BLACK especially at night and his eyes and drool glow white (so he has no pupils, that’s his entire eyes), so if you’re in the forest in Providence in the middle of the night, you’ll just see a scary OwO face in the dark

HE DOESNT DO THE OWO FACE BUT ITS NOT LIKE I CAN COPY IT IN TEXT FORM

he always stands on two legs unless he’s SPRINTING , but honestly??? HES BABY and we all love him, Kobe calls him “PUPPY” and even drew him a few times while fronting ;;;;;;;; He’s actually a dad to one of our littles Penny and is gay and dates someone from one of my partners’ system

Also he doesn’t speak very well? He used to speak fluently but overtime and he was recovering from being a persecutor, his ability to speak was kind of, disintegrating? So he only speaks in SUPER SHORT and almost broken english sentences. if you visit him you can catch him reading children’s books and practicing to read and speak again,,, he’s baby,,,,

Chara (from undertale) could be considered scary inspace becaus ethey can go goopy- they’re not a scary person but if they want to scare you, (especially if you don’t know who they are i mean), they will be intimidating and stuff ;; when i first met them, they did spook me, and their eyes are very bright red

Sal (from Sally Face) I guess could be considered spooky because i was drawing him in class one time (prosthetic ON of course) and my friend said he looked scary ;;;? poor sal;;; he’s not scary at all

🌆what does your headspace look like?

*clasps hands together* goodness it’s a good thing i made this map. it’s VERY OLD but it’s still the same except imagine everything is WAAAAAY more spaced Out!

honestly i need to move the teleporters and mansion higher up (and the main tree closer to them) but this is it!!!

The most common places people go to is The Mansion, The Bunker, The Farmhouse, and The Picnic Ground! People when going for walks in the forest usually stick around the Picnic Grounds-Cave Pool-Farmhouse Triangle but usually can go anywhere- the forest is SO big though (alven took me flying once and it stretches to the horizon)

The Mansion is where most of us live! Here you can find Jaiden and the kids (Kobe, Aco, and Penny– and Carla (Carla is an NPC [who is aware of the outside?] but we don’t care she is family). Alven is also here with his lab, so is Joseph and Louise!! (and their dog, Troy). On the outside, you can’t see the mansion, only two giant doors (nobody ever uses kdndckdocsl we honestly just use the teleporters to go anywhere– Also, everything you see INSIDE the meadow excluding the bunker was what our headspace FIRST looked like!!! it was the start of everything ;; Jaiden made the mansion. The mansion has two main rooms- The Main Hall, and The Tall Corridor. There’s a looooot of history here

The Farmhouse is where I (Jamie) live! But i’m not inspace a lot so it’s honestly empty until i meditate there ;;

The bunker existed and is a place some people permanently moved to because we started having some Bad Refuses To Do Good Persecutors, or just bad people. They were VERY violent so half of us went to hide- and eventually the entire system actually moved to the bunker for almost a year and a half before moving out- and then some people stayed- mainly Matthew. People who live in the bunker are Matthew, Kris, Peter, Jade, Chara, Liam, and Sal! Icari should be here somewhere but i think she’s still hiding ;;

Most of the time if we have a new person, they move to the bunker right away. There’s a teleport system almost all over the frequent spots in the headspace so they can easily leave and enter! Matthew lives one the second ground below the 1st ground below because of some bad things that happened- he never leave the bunker because being outside scares him a lot- especially with the entire headspace being a forest :( you need special access to get down there

The Picnic grounds isn’t very special to me personally but Jaiden made it so people can have picnics!! It’s honestly SUPER pretty oh goodness, and no matter what time of day (unless it’s night) the sun is always shining nicely and it’s so pretty there, and people actually go there!!

The only people that don’t go there are Joseph and Louise because we had one bad person hurt them badly in that area,

Also the Ruined City i didn’t mention because– no one goes there- but we all know it exists. Basically it’s a purely grey/monotone/greyscale land? Like the moment you enter, the world transitions to black and white (not your body but the environment) and the only things that have colour are the miss and greenery in the background (mostly grass and parks, not a lot of trees). all the buildings are collapsed or destroyed in some way- so imagine a big area with degree and rubble and standing building but there’s so many destroyed parts like one building is missing an entire second floor and another has a giant gaping hole not eh side, etc.

we also don’t go there because it’s dangerous- there are giant SPIDER robots that patrol the area- we still don’t know why, but they shook lasers! (come back to this post later because I WILL add a picture of what i’m talking about!! i just don’t have my phone on me)

ANYWAY THERES MORE BUT ITS TOO MUCH TO PUT HERE

WE ALSO HAVE ANOTHER PLANET

👂What kind of music do y'all like?

Jamie - what do you mean people have favourite music? i’m just kidding uksdeijfdkj i like indie and broadway!!! pop is pretty cool but it’s not my first choice at all ;;; rock and metal hurts my ears

Chara - they have 4 playlists on spotify! One playlist is called Soft Knives for calm music (it’s usually happy but there could be some sad ones there- but no angst songs- imagine songs you can sleep to or calm down with). Blunt Knives is for angsty or apathetic moods- and Angry Knives is for ANGRY LOUD music. The have a 4th playlist called Chara’s Classical Collection. Chara can range from Classical music to indie music death metal and rock. They usually hate pop

Kris - he loves rap and r&b! though he loves a lot of music besides those! He loves tally hall and kid bloom :0 mostly chill or music that makes you go aW YEAH (his words) he also has Classic Songs in his playlist. So if you have it one shuffle, you’re listening to some sick bops and then all of a sudden Rockefeller Street Nightcore comes on and you get whiplash. doesn’t like metal or rock. He has a second playlist called “it’s Saturday Morning” for stuff like heo soul or “music you can dissociate to but not in a bad way” (Listen to Sugarcoat by Kid Bloom or Different State of Mind (some artist) for a general idea)

Matthew - rock and stuff similar to chemical romance and panic! at the disco. they like metal and rock but he says Sal’s and Chara’s are too aggressive for his taste- and hen you find out he sometimes listens to screamo

Sal - honestly i find his playlist super weird ? Some music sounds weird to me but otherwise his playlist is full over a lot of genres ! It’s kind of wack and funky- not the genre- but the amount of variety he has. And in his 2nd playlist is death/metal and rock- a bunch of loud music that can be fast sometimes too- is not afraid to head bang in public and do air guitar

Peter - We’re not sure yet but he likes music from his time- plus old music- specifically New Wave for now!his playlist is super new and he hasn’t been here a while so we’re not sure o>o

Jade - Soft calm or upbeat and happy music

Kobe and Aco - they are babies- Kobe still sings the ABC’s everyday so

😱do your headmates have any phobias?

i don’t think any of us has phobias- because it’s defined as “irrational fear” actually wikipedia says it can be CAUSED so nevermind dkjjkfd

Honestly these feel like triggers more than phobias butnit first thendescription of a phobia so;; i’m putting POSSIBLE because we’re not sure

Chara - Possible Nyctophobia (fear of the dark, but specifically extreme pitch blackness for Chara), Possible Ecclesiophobia (fear of the church -either building or what it represents])

Matthew - Agoraphobia most probably (fear of going outdoors/leaving the house, some say wide open spaces)

Sal - somewhat Cynophobia but wants to overcome it (fear of dogs) ((likes dogs but is afraid of them honestly))

Kris - Monophobia/Autophobia (Fear of isolation and abandonment) ((this is a big one))

That’s all i can think of for now

💬free space! one cool fact!

uuHHH,,,,,, i can’t think of any, but i know one thing: i love our system and i can see everyone’s trying really hard to take care of each other or are doing a lot to process their own memories and feelings ;;;

[chickenscript]

teamwork (deltarune)

A/N: i was a secret santa for @calmchapsart this year. 

hope you enjoy this chap! it’s been a while since i’ve written for undertale and this is the first thing i’ve written for deltarune ^^” i was kind of struggling to figure out what to write exactly but i rolled with this. i was actually thinking up what i could do with the skelebros after i finished but this is what i decided on in the end. merry christmas everybody~

“Are you sure these parts are even supposed to go together?” Susie grunted, looking like some hunched up gator, sitting across from Kris on the floor of their room as she held part of the display model they both agreed on making for their group project.

Kris mutely nodded, still concentrated on hot gluing something together.

The part Susie was holding looked like thimbles in her large, grasping hands and she struggled not to fumble and accidentally break them. There’s been a few times where Kris had to settle her down before she snapped and tore the objects to bits in an irritated fit. 

Most of what she helped cobble together looked messy and uneven, and there was more glue on her hands than the actual project itself. Kris, on the other hand, didn’t have that problem.

It irked Susie.

“Ugh, when are we gonna get this done? Feels like we’ve been workin’ on it forever.” she huffed, lip curling at the end and nostrils flaring.

It had only been about an hour.

Granted, that was probably the longest time Susie's worked on anything school related before. Kris wasn’t even sure what Susie did when she was slacking off, besides munch on chalk in some shady part of a hallway or staircase and heckling at other students.

Come to think of it, the two of them hadn’t been on friendly terms for very long so there wasn’t much Kris did know yet...

“Eh? My...hobbies? Well uh...”

Susie’s eyes turned dodgy, shoulders raising up some more like the hackles on a nervous cat. She held another paper and cardboard figure between her claws; it was so puny and very temptingly crushable.

“I like football.” her face cooled down but her brows were still stitched together as she worked the figure into a slot on the display in front of her.

The styrofoam of the display squealed and made a little disheartening crunch sound but it didn’t break. Thankfully.

Kris could definitely envision Susie on a football field. 

Tall, barrel built, decked out in a uniform with huge shoulder pads and snarling with readiness behind the mouth guard of a dark, scuffed helmet. She could definitely plow people into the stiff turf. Even if they looked and were about as formidable as her.

Kris placed their figure down and reached for the pieces of another, reloading the hot glue gun in a few clicks.

“Just a bit longer, huh?”

Kris believed Susie could handle this. She handled the whole hero thing well enough after a while and she was getting the hang of being careful with delicate matters. For the most part.

“Pf, you wanna play a game of football with me?” Susie’s long snout bore a huge, crooked tooth smile and her eyes squeezed half shut.

It was much less menacing and wicked than Kris remembered her giving them a few days before it all happened and turned things upside down.

“I’ll put ya in the ground, loser.”

Eh, she’s done worse.

[hamigakimomo]

delta rune thoughts, of course

under here!!

So, from what’s clear to me, about that thing that happened at the end, and how everyone comments about how different you were acting, YOUR soul, the players soul, is the red soul. Kris may or may not have a soul, but the red one is yours, and you were controlling the “vessel” (Kris), during the events of the game. When you go to sleep and end your part of the adventure, only then is Kris able to break free from the control, tear out the foreign soul, and cage it up. 

(Why even pull out the knife?? Kind of a dumb “dun dun DUNN!!! OOOH SCAARRYY EDGY” moment, but like.. hey, it could have a ton of meaning for all I know. I never really liked the idea of pandering to the “oooh evil spooky chara is the best thing about the game” crowd, but eh. (I have paragraphs years back written about why I don’t think chara was a 100% evil demon lol)

But uh, that’s just the theory me and my roommates have pretty much decided on.

Either way, if I assume that’s what’s actually going on, I’m VERY curious to see what happens in chapter 2. Do we somehow get to re-posses Kris’s body? Will they do something bad that we subsequently have to clean up the mess of? Will they be the true villain of the game with a twist motive. or will there be a different twist involving who the true villain is?

A big theme in this seems to be choices, and well.. determination, in a sense. The LACK of it. You have no determination in this game, your choices don’t matter. I’m wondering if it will be a meta commentary on how in many episodic, choice-driven games, you don’t actually get a choice and you don’t actually get endings that are very different, the same thing still happens.

I think that proves that in just how this episode plays out. I’ve talked to different people who played, and there ARE slightly different endings to the dark world part!: -If you’re more nice, the monsters come and help you defeat the king, and you go into the fountain. -If you’re not AS nice, the monsters freak out about the fight instead of helping, and Ralsei is the one who saves you with his pacify move, and you can go to the fountain but you don’t get to talk to the other monsters. -If you’re mean, the monsters all try to chase you at the end and you have to run to fountain, to go through it. (I haven’t seen this in action, just heard about it) But notice something..? They all end the same. In ALL of them, you go to the fountain, and you get to go home, and the fate of the dark world seems about the same! And you still get to be friends with Susie. Like.. I guess you could say, even in undertale, you still get to go home in all the neutral endings, but I feel like things changed a lot more. Like characters might be dead etc. In this game you can’t actually even kill anyone. So like... your choices haven’t really mattered.

ALSO, another thing, is your name. Undertale goes the entire game with NO ONE saying your name, only for you to find out later that your name wasn’t even your name at all. But in Delta Rune, everyone is saying “Kris”, like, CONSTANTLY. I feel like it’s trying to hammer in the fact that this isn’t you. You didn’t choose it.

I wonder if that will be something you fight against in the game, your lack of actual agency, OR if that will be a fact you just have to accept. The game starts out with a trick, like Undertale. You think the flower is friendly, but no, it’s Kill Or Be Killed, and Flowey tries to force that idea on you. But you fight against it. In Delta Rune, it ALSO starts with a trick. You think you can choose your character, but you can’t.”Your choices don’t matter”, it practically mocks you, but.. will this be the thing you fight against? will your choices ACTUALLY matter in the game? and how is that gonna be shown??

I’m just rambling but idk, i’m very curious. So far, I’m not sure how I feel about it as a whole, it felt... like there was less heart, than the first game? But the feeling is so different, and I like that. I WANT it to be different. Toby CAN’T just make another Undertale, he can’t wow us with the same meta themes or the same 4th wall tricks or the same anything. And I don’t think he will.... well, at least that’s my hope. I’m excited to see how he’s going to make this game truly it’s own thing.

[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.

[tini-ballerini]

How much do you love your writing? Especially your fanfics like Bystander Effect? What do you think of writing as a hobby? What do you think of Undertale (and by extension, Deltarune)? ((Sorry for all of the questions! I saw the blatantly lie thing and thought, might as well go for it! Sounds fun!))

[Blatant Lie Answer]

- How much do you love your writing?

Honestly, I feel like there’s nothing that I can really do to get better at writing at this point? It’s so easy and actually kind of boring by now, I sit down and the words just flow!

- Thoughts on Bystander Effect?

Kind of over it by now. It’s been a fun two years but I want to move on and write other things. The main character falls kind of flat nowadays and most of the things I had planned for it don’t really spark much joy anymore.

Undertale/Deltarune opinion?

¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Eh. They’re nothing special.

[Actual Honesty answer because I went to bed like right after posting the Anti-Honesty Hour post and I’m also actually really emotional about all of these questions]

- How much do you love your writing?

I have… so many emotions about my writing in general. It’s a form of anxiety release when it works, and I’m always trying to figure out new ways to get better and to incorporate more things that I’m learning into my writing. I wish I could say it’s easy – I’ve actually been going through a pretty severe case of seasonal apathy, where even though I know what I want to write next, I just can’t seem to make myself sit down and actually write it. I’ve been trying to combat this by doing more planning-oriented things, but it’s a slow going process. =n=

- Thoughts on Bystander Effect?

I am so frustrated that I can’t get myself to just sit down and work on this monstrosity lately. I’ve poured so much of myself into this gosh darned fic that not finishing it is just not an option anymore, to the point where most of the overall themes are pinned down and the big major events for  the climax are figured out almost to a T. I know exactly how I want to tackle Hotland, the Core, New Home, side missions and relationship building moments I want to pin down, special events and character building, especially for Ellie’s character arc – but I’m just. I dunno, man, I open the doc and sit there for like five minutes just feeling absolutely no desire to actually work on it? While conversely yelling at myself how much I want to work on it. It’s frustrating!

- Undertale/Deltarune opinion?

[Insert long happy screaming into a pillow here]

Undertale was the game that became my obsession three and a half years ago – it got me through the first several months of my current job, back when I was still fighting down the work-related anxiety of “what if I fail as badly as I did at the last one”, and I wouldn’t be myself today if it didn’t exist. I owe a lot of emotions and comfort to the characters.

Deltarune gave me possibly even more emotions – that sort of emotional surge you get from finding a really good AU fanfic and get to dive in with all of your favorite characters all over again, and get to see all the ways that the environment around them changes their character while it stays the same. I love Kris, Ralsei, and Susie as the main protagonists, Lancer makes an adorable enemy-to-friend, and I really look forward to where Toby goes with it in the future.

The only thing I wish was different about Deltarune would be if I could have seen Papyrus. I was really looking forward to meeting him for the first time all over again, so I could fall in love with his character again. Oh well – something to look forward to in Chapter 2!

[toralyzer]

Deltarune take

It’s a pretty classic Portal Fantasy. Kris's life sucks, they get sent to a fantasy world and take on a heroic quest, they come back with a new perspective on life. There were also a bajillion narrative parallels to Undertale. I kept waiting for both of these things to be subverted somehow, but they never were. I'm okay with that, since it was executed well and made me feel good at the end.

There were also a few meta-videogame tricks that I thought supported the story in neat ways: "you don't get to choose who you are in life" at the beginning, Susie's "your choices don't matter", and the way the whole town is opened up to you at the end of the game the way it wasn't at the beginning. I also like how, because everyone is used to the characters and interface of Undertale now, that can be used to represent Kris's "normal world" to contrast with the "fantasy world".

Personally, I'm just ignoring that final cliffhanger scene. On it's own, it seems like some story-undermining bullshit, but I more-or-less trust Toby to do something good with it in the next chapters.

I think Kris shines as a character in the beginning and end sections, when they’re a normal kid, and we get to gradually understand what life is like for them and why they have that shadow over their eyes and what it might have meant for them to go on this adventure. I think during the quest itself they become more of a support for the speaking characters’ stories, especially since their/your choice to Act or Fight doesn’t matter. (More on that later.)

~

Susie’s and Lancer’s story felt more “Undertale”, subverting tropes of conflict and good and evil and blending action and adventure stories together with feelings and friendship stories. It felt like it was doing its own thing that just happened to be facilitated by Kris’s Portal Fantasy story. And I liked it a lot!!!

Susie has a really really strong character, no pun intended. At the beginning I was conflicted, because I didn’t want her to keep hurting people but I understood where she was coming from. But the way Ralsei’s initial appeal to niceness only made her feel criticized and didn’t help, and yet she ultimately chose to chill out and try “act”ing because she found her own reasons to care about another person’s wellbeing, felt like a perfect resolution to her arc and I loved it a lot.

I also loved how her story made new creative use of the battle system in a way Undertale didn’t. The way she auto-battles while Kris and Ralsei are player-controlled, the way this allowed her to fight Lancer totally separate from the party, the way she joins the party “for real” and unlocks a new range of actions!

I love Susie.

~

The most disappointing part of the game was where mechanics from Undertale were only halfway carried over, something Toby acknowledged in his FAQ. The choice to Fight or Act feels much less meaningful since either one defeats the enemy nonlethally and has almost no bearing on the story or the ending.

I think the problem is that Deltarune deals with the theme of violence very differently from Undertale, and both the audience experience and the design of the game were hampered by preconceptions.

Deltarune just isn’t interested in the idea of total pacifism. After all, we have an entire party member whose core strengths are violent, even after she “joins the party for real”, and she and Ralsei both ultimately concede to each other’s perspectives.

R: * I was foolish to think we could act so soft to everyone.

R: * This isn’t a world where kindness always wins, is it?

S: * Eh, it’s complicated.

S: * Yeah, sometimes there’s people you just gotta fight.

S: * But if you NEVER let your guard down, then...

S: * You might just... hurt someone you care about, too.

I think it’s a surprising choice given how much more room there is for games like Undertale that reject the centering of violence. But I don’t think it’s a bad choice or a betrayal of the original game’s meaning.

Where Undertale subverted RPG and fantasy tropes, Deltarune plays them straight. Undertale placed us in a peaceful society where it would be bizarrely cruel to attack instead of just talking. Deltarune, however, sends us on a quest to save everyone from an evil king, with enemies actively trying to prevent us... while at the same time, we’re actually never given the option to kill or do lasting harm - in a sense, “sparing” is taken as a given.

Undertale is about having power and how you choose to wield it over others. Deltarune is about being powerless and how you choose to protect yourself.

Here’s how I would fix the Deltarune battle mechanics.

First, all the options to fight go INSIDE the “Act” menu. There’s no narrative consequence or moral judgement attached. In fact, the generic “Fight” command could be replaced by all sorts of fun and silly variations that are specific to the enemies. Susie could trip enemies, give wedgies, punt them into the sun, etc. Rework the enemies so that both violent and nonviolent strategies are called for depending on the situation.

In the beginning, Susie still automatically fights all the time, but the problem is framed a little differently. The problem isn’t that she fights at all, it’s that she always chooses to fight, even when it’s ineffective or detrimental. There could be some fights where her auto-fighting is helpful, but others like K. Round where it makes things worse.

Perhaps while she’s autobattling, she always just does a generic “Attack” or “Axe Swing” action, but once the full act menu is open to her she has a varied and interesting range of both violent and nonviolent moves.

There would be no difference in the ending based on whether you used violence or not. Probably, the underlings overthrow the king either way, and are grateful to you for taking him on even though you had to fight them along the way.

Although it doesn’t have the same kind of anti-violence message as Undertale, I’m pretty interested in a game of this kind that expands on the “Act” Menu idea and makes battles more narrative than numerical. I think it still in some ways humanizes the enemies/NPCs and subverts the playstyle of thoughtless murder created by traditional battle systems, even while it returns to the essentially conflict-focused narrative of traditional RPGs.