Bullet Hell or High Water
We've talked a lot about how Undertale's encounter model works to subvert traditional ideas of combat within RPG-- but what do the actual...
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Seriousness and silliness in Undertale
Something that set Undertale apart from other games (in my experience) and made it extremely enjoyable as a result, is how ridiculous it...
Does having expectations going into Undertale ruin the experience?
My discussion section on Friday spent a considerable amount of time talking about whether we identified with or as Frisk - or neither. A...
Suspension of Suspension of Disbelief
Throughout our discussion of Undertale, we’ve spent a lot of time talking about identification. Frisk’s relatively neutral identity...
How Toby Fox successfully surprised us a second time
Is it too late to write a blog post for fifth week? I hope not, because I’m making one now. Anyway, there are going to be some spoilers...
Local Child Makes Friends By Picking Fights
(alternate title: Goat Mom Did Nothing Wrong) Undertale's turn-based battle system features a bullet-hell style form of combat. Both...
Why do I talk to everyone in Undertale?
We talked a lot about Undertale's combat system in Thursday's class and I don't want to beat a dead horse but I had a couple of thoughts...
Random Encounters, "Ball Game," and Undertale
On Thursday there were a few exchanges about the nature of random encounters in Undertale and how quickly the ACT options could get...
You come here often?
Undertale places a huge amount of narrative weight on its ability to directly address the player. The game treats the fourth wall as more...
Subverting RPG Abstraction in Undertale
In Mason Arrington's lecture on Tuesday, he spoke on the element of "abstraction" as a key part of the RPG. That is to say, RPGs take...
Did Undertale push me to make 'moral' decisions?
In class it appeared that many were aware of Undertale being an rpg where violence is not necessary. I went into Undertale knowing little...
Alternate Combat Systems and What Non-Choice Can Do
I'm a big fan of turn-based RPGs, which is diametrically opposed to my love of D&D. As was mentioned in class, many turn-based games...
I killed Papyrus and I have no regrets
In my first play-through of Undertale, I killed Papyrus. He proved to be a constant nuisance from my first introduction to him and his...
The Narrator of Undertale
As part of the "create a non-obvious question for Undertale" assignment I came up with the question: "Who is the narrator and what effect...
Navigating Minority Representation in Gaming
I was struck by one of the answers given by an interviewee in Shaw's reading. When thinking of minorities in media, Ephram noted that he...
RPG Abstractions (?) as Self-Referential Tools
One thing Mason talked about in class yesterday that I still have trouble understanding is the role of abstraction in RPGs. As Mason...
What sort of novelty makes an RPG?
In his presentation today Mason talked about how RPGs play with their own language and dialects. I think this helps explain a lot of...
Red Dead Redemption 2 and the Ethics of Accident
This post contains no plot spoilers. Like many other ravenous gamers, I bought Red Dead Redemption 2 on Friday and rushed home to play....
Ethical decision making sims = replays?
In the series of debates from Thursday I remember hearing the first time someone brought up the ability to replay games and how that...
Abstractions of people in Papers, Please
The son, wife, mother-in-law, and uncle of the player character of Papers, Please are just circles that state their status and a line of...
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