whathappenedtodecember

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Little reblog game! Reblog this and tell me in the tags what your favourite track from the undertale ost is :)

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encounter

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This animation of Kris slamming against a prophecy breaks my heart </3

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I have a feeling that a titan's form depends on who summoned it, just as a darkner's does.

Titans are the fear of the dark given form.

The Roaring Knight summons a titan at the end of chapter 4. Is this what their fear of the dark looks like? ...because I don't know if it's just me, but this titan...

strongly resembles a tree.

Here are the titans from the prophecy, for comparison:

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In Undertale, the healing items you can buy from Gerson are a Crab Apple and Sea Tea, In Deltarune during the dinner party, the two things Gerson offers Kris, is tea, and an apple..... HOW FAR IN ADVANCE DOES TOBY PLAN THIS SHIT?!?!?! DID TOBY MAKE APPLES A BIG THING ABOUT KRIS JUST FOR THIS?!?!

Isn't it more likely that he planned that the other way around, lol

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dess guesses

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warm up sketch

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DELTARUNE: So the Prophecy is just the Game’s Code right?

(SPOILERS for Deltarune (all chapters) and Undertale)

Let’s get into a couple of Prophecy-related brain teasers:

Why does the Prophecy only start from the point where WE start playing the game?

Why does Lord of the Hammer follow the EXACT SAME chapter format that only the Player should know about?

Why does the S rank minigame perfectly predict the events of the Weird Route?

Why does knowing the Prophecy let Ralsei know so much game-specific knowledge like Noelle’s equipment, whenever the player switches perspectives, and know the Player’s inputted name?

Why does the prophecy list with an angled bracket?

Try thinking of it this way:

The Prophecy is the immutable script of Deltarune’s story. A linear narrative that the characters cannot divert from BECAUSE their personalities and futures have been written that way.

What if it is the script? The written dialogue, the ones and zeroes, and the if and then statements that compose the game itself?

Sure, the Prophecy isn’t literally worded like the game’s code… (If only coding were that easy…) but framing the narrative this way just makes too much sense to me.

Having major plot points unmask themselves as 4th wall breaking scalpels tearing into how we engage with games is the mark of Undertale/Deltarune’s writing.

This is what makes this series so unique and effective as emotional, introspective fiction.

Here’s some of the most blatant examples:

Determination = A Player’s desire to “complete” a game 

Asriel/Flowey = Fading emotional investment in a world and its characters when re-experiencing them.

LV + EXP = Playing games detached from their stories and only as disposable products.

Vessel + Kris = Players attaching self-insert traits onto their MCs

With Chapter 4 making The Prophecy front and center as one of the main themes of the game, it too must be viewed under a ludonarrative interpretation.

Personally, I think it’s this:

The Prophecy = All “available” choices in a game are illusions because they have always been pre-programmed

The Prophecy being code, I think, is a deeply scary concept.

If Deltarune’s Prophecy were just traditional fantasy/YA novel plot magic, that’s easier to reconcile with. A simple plot device that lets the characters start on their character arcs and work towards some end-goal, that is almost always interpretable.

It’s a classic power fantasy trope. One that even Deltarune plays around with.

Already, we have quite a lot of theorycrafting about whether or not the Prophecy has already been broken. Whether it’s by Susie not being the girl or the existence of the alternate story path, the Weird Route.

A lot of us hold hope that the good parts of the prophecy can stay while the bad are just the vague parts.

Beyond the Spiderverse is going to be so lame if it turns out Miguel was just really stupid.

But… if Deltarune’s Prophecy is code or a metaphor for a universe that is fundamentally programmed to follow it, it’s a far less inspiring tale.

It would be undeniable proof that every word said, every interaction, every “choice” was never guided by a person’s autonomy but solely through cold, cause-and-effect conditions.

Do choices even exist, when a game has already coded every possible interaction?

If you fought an enemy differently, selected a different piece of dialogue, saved one or more characters than what the narrative implied, create a new ending… is that really a choice or just a path already designed for you?

If you had somehow broken out of bounds with a REAL choice… wouldn’t the game just crash?

If it is all just code, what would these characters think after seeing their code? Wouldn’t every living, breathing moment come into question as all just a trick? Wouldn’t it all just be meaningless?

No one can choose who they are in this world.

Your choices don’t matter.

If you go back as far as the Earthbound Halloween Hack (sorry Toby) and read the “Making Of” page that outlined his process for the game… you’ll find a very very interesting segment:

I really want you guys to focus on that last paragraph:

“My game makes it very clear that you are empowered when aren’t choosing anything really, and it feels awful.”

I think this is what the Weird Route’s true purpose is.

Remember the S rank minigames and how they depict Kris manipulating Noelle into the “Forbidden Path” even before it ever happened? The one that has an Evil Route, an Ice Palace,  an Ice Key, and a giant locked door, just like in Dragon Blazers 4?

The S rank minigames are an adaptation/ripoff or literally just Dragon Blazers 4 itself.

… which is an adaptation of Lord of the Hammer. 

… Which is an adaptation…. of the Prophecy.

The Mantle minigame is the Weird Route’s Prophecy. 

The Weird Route, which we’ve been commonly interpreting as the path to a new ending, to REAL choice, is just another intended deviation. An intended ending.

Because Toby coded it, and so did Dragon Blazers 4.

The greatest trick that Tony ever pulled was convincing the world that his game could be broken.

Since we’re on this existential crisis train, let’s go over one of the questions I asked again:

Why does the Prophecy ONLY depict the events of the game we’re allowed to play?

It’s because that is only significant portion of this entire universe’s history. 

This religious scripture that has supposedly existed for time immemorial, which has been adapted into Lord of the Hammer and Dragon Blazers over time, was never history that was meant for the characters. It was for us.

It’s as if the prophecy acknowledges that Deltarune is an artificial world, designed only to tell a story to us. A story that only begins once WE’VE started playing it.

Undertale's Prophecy has a similar vibe as well.

The Angel ultimately determines if the underground goes empty with the monsters breaking free (True Pacifist) or killed off (Genocide). Both sides of this Prophecy are ultimately determined by our choices. The monsters are simply the "characters" in this larger game meant for us.

Yet, we are still locked to pre-programmed endings that the game has already set in stone.

Adding to this, Deltarune is very publicly stated to have been written backwards to adapt an ending that Toby saw in a fever dream years ago. 

A vision granted by a higher power to liquify the brains of an entire generation. The true prophecy.

Meaning, this entire story and its characters were written SPECIFICALLY to accommodate the conditions necessary to reach this ending.

And NOT as a natural conclusion achieved by the characters themselves…

… And I’m realizing that this is such a total bummer.

It’s unsatisfyingly fatalistic. Not just philosophically but even to the players who’ve invested so much of themselves to this story. Like… what’s the damn point?

I’m certain this is why Toby doesn’t look at the Earthbound Halloween Hack so fondly anymore (... amongst other angsty-related dialogue choices) Like sure, it’s a thought provoking sentiment but it kind of devolves into “hey, did you know that it’s YOUR fault for playing my game? Why don’t you just turn it off? lol?”

If this significantly longer RPG full of these very beloved cast of characters followed this exact design philosphy, I imagine it would NOT go very well.

And keep in mind, this is Toby in his edgy, teenager days tackling existential themes. (a recipe for art you’ll regret in 5 years) 

I bringing the Halloween hack back up because it’s clear to me that he’s been thinking about this for a long long time. You can see traces of this crisis in the whole “one ending” concept. Deltarune, in a way, seems like a second go at this concept.

And with Toby being more experienced and aged this time around, we’ve already seen a lot more introspection and depth on this conversation.

Look back at all of the “awakened” characters in both games.

Sans, Jevil, Spamton, Seam, Ramb… even Ralsei. 

These are characters that discovered something artificial about their existence. Whether it’s the true nature of their world or just a general concept of existential malaise, these characters have become powerful, smarter, popular …sexymen? in a broad sense.

But if you look at them for what they really are, they’re all alone. They’ve become insincere,  crueler, holier-than-thou… to the point where they’ve become self-isolated.

They’re not endorsements for nihilistic surrender, they’re cautionary tales. 

And at the end of Chapter 4, Kris and Susie are on the same path to madness after having seen their dark future. They might deny it at first and pointlessly try to defy their code, but there’s likely nothing they can do to stop the tragedy.

If they can't stop it, if nothing can change...

Surely… there’s gotta be something else that matters?

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unintelligible

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at least there's susie deltarune

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you got narratives we can haunt?

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And in case I don't see you again....

good afternoon, good evening, and good night!

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the horns you've always wanted

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hey. hey toby. why do you get stronger after defeating a titan spawn. after we're told that our only course of action is to destroy the titan. what's the difference between killing and purifying. why does only one make us stronger. why is this one of the only instances of the true death animation in the game. what the hell is a titan spawn. why did the thing chasing us in the dark have the silhouette of a titan spawn. why does the titan have a save point face. what is a titan, really. what's going on. I'm scared

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explanation for my inconsistent dessign