Team Hatoful presents the Undertale Demo - Part 4

[davidn]

It's the final part of the Undertale demo! In this, we realize what we now have to do, and head to the final confrontation, which I attempt to resolve in the most peaceful manner possible.

Please have a supply of buckets for tears on standby, and curb any temptations for extreme violence towards plants that this video might unexpectedly awaken in you.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G1bP0dUPdEA

Comments

[lupineangel.livejournal.com]

18, 22, 20, 18, 331!? That's either the worst case of plot-scripted hax I've ever seen (I'm looking at you, Breath of Fire 3 plot-unwinnable battles that trick me into using all my healing items), or critical hits in this game are orders of magnitude stronger than they have any right to be. I know some things can fail so hard they loop round into being awesome again, but to be so awesome that it loops over into failure? Really?

Also, fuck you Flowey, you venomous little weed. I realise that getting rid of a goat with fire-based magic seems like a double-win from the point of view of a rotten dandelion, but seriously. Spellcasting: W - E - E - D - O - L...

Would it be possible for Team Hatoful to play something that isn't... I dunno, deeply emotionally traumatising next?

D.F.

[dr-dos.livejournal.com]

It's simply amazing to me, how in just an hour this game establishes itself as something so special.

I can probably count the number of games where I've felt real emotions towards the characters on one hand, and then this demo takes itself to that level so passionately, and so immediately.

The other games that have made me feel for the characters have always been me reacting to something that happens, PMD2's ending sequence, the reveals of various Phoenix Wright final cases, the various sacrifices in Cave Story.

But then, this is first where the the tragedy is your own conscious doing. I think everybody who plays through this finds themselves refusing to fight Toriel, and then in desperation whittling her down hoping she'll accept mercy at low health.

(In my first playthrough my final hit on her had the attack bar dead center and I thought that was some instant one hit KO for timing it right)

It's weird how games have been capable of this for a good 30+ years, but so few come remotely close to offering anything this game does. 30 years and it's extraordianrily unique to have a game where you have enemies and the solution to them isn't punching or shooting them until they stop moving is virtually nil.

I had heard a decent number of things about this game in bits and pieces beforehand. (And you totally missed out by not calling her Mom on the phone and then flirting with her afterwards.) I planned to just wait for the full release because why get excited for a game that's god knows how far off? Then another friend was upset he couldn't get somebody to play it and so I made sure to when he asked me to as well, and good lord. It's funny to think how it's all just a demo because it stands better on its own right now than most games ever do.

Since you haven't yet, be sure to plug the Kickstarter! http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1002143342/undertale

[crassadon.livejournal.com]

Naughty Teo. . . . How did you create this Flowey voice? It seems so impossible to emulate, yet so fitting for the character. .

[ravenworks.livejournal.com]

(I guess this is mostly directed at Kjorteo, but for lack of a relevant post...)

I've been waiting for discussions of the the next Undertale recording session to come up before bringing this up, but really it's probably better said sooner rather than later -- I'm just going to bow out of this one. Hatoful managed to have enough great stuff to counteract most of how miserable it is -- Undertale just undermines everything it goes to the trouble of setting up. There are ways for these ideas to work, but this isn't it, and judging from Radiation's twitter he isn't even INTERESTED in finding them, just in making sure everyone gets the ending he wanted, to hell with the thesis of the other 90% of the demo... I nearly bowed out beforehand, but I agreed to see how it turned out, and it DID turn out better than I expected, but I like the actual game even less and less the more I think about it (and the more I learn about Radiation), and there aren't even enough roles to go around *anyway*, so it's not like I'm leaving you with holes to fill or something. Unless I find out that he's somehow learned a lot about storytelling before the full game comes out, I just don't think this holds anything for me.

[budgiebin.livejournal.com]

Raven, I respect your choice to bow out. I think I can speak for all of us when I say that we would still appreciate your presence and some commentary, but if you feel that your experience with Undertale is not worth the time invested, don't do it for our sakes.

The thread above this comment makes me think that the team needs to just sit down and have a big talk about what direction we want to go in. If we want to continue playing games together, then we have to make a solid decision about the kinds of games we want to experience together. Genres, themes, so on and so forth. If it happens that we just have to lie dormant for a while, or do things in different groups, then I think we have to decide pretty soon.

I propose we sit down in IRC some evening this week or next and really figure out what our goals are as a team now that our main project is done. I feel a little pressured now that we have a surprisingly large number of fans. I feel as if we have to do something on a fairly regular basis for the people who enjoy our work. If I am responsible for our public face, and if I have taken on some leadership roles, I have to know what our boundaries are. I need to know that I am doing okay and not, in fact, dragging people into something they don't want to do.

There are a lot of games out there, and to have 5 different people agree on what to play is just like ordering toppings on pizza. It's even worse if it's a mostly blind experience. We also need to figure out what we are doing next week, which is our next clear Saturday - How are we running the good ending's play, how long might that take, and will we do one (or both?) of the manga readings? What will we do *next* after Undertale?