Before everyone starts jumping on me (since I know this game has gathered a big fanbase), let me make something clear: Undertale is a decent game, it’s far from a bad game, but I do not understand the hype behind it…let me share my opinions.

I never found myself completely immersed in the world or story; for a game this short (not counting going for the multiple endings), it took me a long time to beat because I could never really get into it. The game has a lot of charm I’ll give it that, but it never attracted me…talking about characters in specific, the only one I truly liked was Papyrus, he was the only part of the game that made me laugh; Alphys was kind of funny at first, but his constant status update on “Facebook” and the constant calls got old pretty fast. Sans was…completely indifferent for me. I killed Undyne so I can’t really say much about her. Toriel and the King same as Sans. Overall, for a game that I guess one of its main focuses is the characters, I never felt attached to them…at all (except Papyrus).

What I say above is basically my main gripe about the game, and since the rest of the game is nothing really special, the whole experience felt bland for me.

“Combat” (more like dodging really, since there’s very little combat overall) is decent, fun at first, but even the small tweaks and changes to the boss fights never resonate with me, the robot guy (can’t remember the name) boss fight was probably the only "normal" fight I truly enjoyed.

Music overall is good, probably the best aspect of the entire package.

For me, the only truly good and very awesome part about the game was the fight with Flowey, when you first fight him where the game “crashes” and the saves the guy uses, the crazy stuff the guy throws at you, that was truly a very awesome part of the game…sadly it was the only one.

I remember seeing people all over the web saying how very little you should know about the game before playing and how there’s a big payoff at the end; and honestly, aside from the previously mentioned Flowey fight, I don’t see how anything of that would have mattered; I got the neutral ending which was “meh”, and since I don’t think I will play this game again, I saw the other endings on youtube, and unless the videos I watched missed something important, the other 2 are nothing to brag about really (Genocide one is probably the best).

So to summarize…the game is decent, but nothing special.

Why is it great?

The battle system is unique and can vary based on playstyle/story path.

Story paths and decisions are actually different and matter. For example if you choose to go the neutral route, and then instead of going true pacificist you go for genocide, there certain characters that make you feel bad for it. Every decision you make has consequences, and they pull your emotional strings.

The story is good, and the characters are well developed. The backstory is also nice.

The characters have charm and are humourous. They are also very unique as far as video game characters go.

The world feels immersive, and is well-thought out. There are no plotholes.

The music is awesome, and the aesthetics while simple, are nice to look at.

Gameplay and story are intertwined well.

The world is interesting and fun to explore.

Those are just a few things that come to mind.

I haven't played it, but I think the opponent's turn in a turn-based RPG being represented as essentially a top-down shooter is a novel idea. Seems like a really clever way to make turn-based battles more engaging, especially since all of the bosses tweak the mechanics to make their fights unique. I see a vague similarity to something like Battle Network there.

Also, the Mercy option is just demon negotiation from Shin Megami Tensei done well, so that's cool. I like the battle themes too.

I think you should give a try to alternate endings. It'll give you more details about the plot, and the playthroughs are very different. It's a game which is aware that you're playing with the timeline once you beat it, so there're lot of great and wonderful situations after you beat the game for the first time.

I really didn't see anything special with the Mercy option; excluding the bosses which have some personality, the normal monsters aren't worth saving (unless you are specifically targeting for a pacifist run). 

In SMT there's the added bonus of using that monster in your party; of course, Undertale is a completely different game from SMT, but in the former I felt sparing monsters 90% of the time is useless (again, unless you want to get one of the endings).

I feel I have said my fair share of Undertale at this point already, so... I'm not going to do it! xD I'll just say I really enjoyed it myself. I found it to be charming, interesting, and fun. And that music is so goooood. I am fine accepting not everyone is going to like this game. Everyone has different tastes~

I agree with Osed125.

It's a good game, but it really don't deserve this hype.

Have not played this yet but I definitely think the hype around this game will negatively impact newcomers. I played Ocarina of Time for the first time in the Wii VC knowing it was the greatest game of all time but I feel Windwaker and Twilight Princess were better games because OoT had horrible frame rates and an archaic battle system compared to the latter two.

Because it's original, absolutely amazing soundtrack, good visuals, and just a fun game.


But to be honest though, it's not the first kind like it. Cave Story was a S+ ranked Indie game way before it. Not only that, but the developer of Cave Story made it without any money, did it during his free time(alone), and made it free.


Cave Story to me will always be the golden ticket of Indie games. Games will be close, but most will fall short in some way.

The crazy thing is this game is still home console and handheld exclusive to Nintendo yet Nintendo hasn't tried to market this game at all during the recent indie boom. If I was Nintendo, I would negotiate with the creator to make more games for them and fund all of them if they continue to be as sucessful as Cavestory.