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TopicContest Stats and Discussion - Part 1363
Advokaiser
06/18/20 5:15:16 PM
#264
No, I mean, literally no one has said: "No more Pokmon, please! We have too many already!".

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TopicContest Stats and Discussion - Part 1363
Advokaiser
06/18/20 5:12:04 PM
#262
...Huh.

Haven't heard anyone not wanting any more Pokmon added (except from the latest Gen).

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TopicContest Stats and Discussion - Part 1363
Advokaiser
06/18/20 5:09:45 PM
#260
Safer_777 posted...
@Advokaiser In this poll only. In the actualy contest 2 years ago he lost as 2 Seed against a 15 Seed anyways.

Yeah, I was joking. xD

KP was the one who indirectly convinced me to pick Aerith > Waluigi back then.

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TopicContest Stats and Discussion - Part 1363
Advokaiser
06/18/20 5:07:54 PM
#259
Team Rocket Elite posted...
There are still lots of viable Pokemon and some Fire Emblem characters they could add.

Agreed on the Pokmon front.

But if there's one, just one more Fire Emblem character added to Smash, it could objectively become a potentially dangerous situation for the franchise.

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TopicContest Stats and Discussion - Part 1363
Advokaiser
06/18/20 4:54:11 PM
#256
Waluigi N9-breaker confirmed.

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TopicWhat happened to User of the Year?
Advokaiser
06/17/20 8:09:55 PM
#47
Steiner posted...
you hosted 15, then xiii hosted 16 which i won then i hosted 17 which shad won then drak won 18 and it ended so 3 years actually

So basically it was sabotaged so I didn't win 2018.

Wow, Board 8. Wow.

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TopicWhat happened to User of the Year?
Advokaiser
06/17/20 6:07:05 PM
#37
"e-pop" sounds like it would be one of my top 3 favorite musical genres.

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TopicWhat happened to User of the Year?
Advokaiser
06/17/20 5:39:47 PM
#27
Da heck is an "epop"?

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TopicWhat happened to User of the Year?
Advokaiser
06/17/20 4:47:54 PM
#20
Xeybozn posted...
It ended after we all learned that the real User of the Year was the friends we made on the way.

You're the second person I see using this phrase here (although on a different context).

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TopicWhat happened to User of the Year?
Advokaiser
06/17/20 3:56:09 PM
#13
Y'know, it kinda sucked that they stopped doing it just after I won the Guru >_>

I was finally starting to become relevant!

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TopicWhat happened to User of the Year?
Advokaiser
06/17/20 3:54:45 PM
#12
GenesisSaga posted...
Eh, it's going alright given the state of the IRL world. How about with you?

I've been working on a lot of personal projects. I'm an insider kind of person, so quarantine has benefitted me a lot.

I've also been fluctuating emotionally, but eh...

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TopicWhat happened to User of the Year?
Advokaiser
06/17/20 3:46:23 PM
#3
Oh hi, Genny!

How's it going?

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TopicWhat happened to User of the Year?
Advokaiser
06/17/20 3:44:48 PM
#1
The Wiki doesn't show anything past 2017, and I haven't seen anyone running it either...

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TopicNew Pokemon Snap
Advokaiser
06/17/20 3:42:15 PM
#47
I can see this game having lots (lots!) of DLC.

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TopicThe Show EP 8 - Wrapping Up The Excellent GotD 2020 Contest, with Leon and KP!
Advokaiser
06/15/20 10:30:53 PM
#191
Leonhart4 posted...
Too bad this didn't drop a couple months ago because it's blowing up Steam right now!

Eh, I'm happy with how things turned out.

Gotta admit my fanboyism is purely Shulk and Monado-based, but being a 6%-sitewide believer (and 10% in Guru) of a game that had every reason to choke it up feels good. P4G almost barely ruined that glorious run.

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TopicSo I'm thinking about running my first contest ever (help)
Advokaiser
06/15/20 6:50:43 PM
#16
Drakeryn posted...
Categories are fine but IMO not good to organize the bracket around (if that's what you were intending, I'm not sure). I think part of the fun is seeing wildly different rivalries up against each other.

I've been thinking about this particular thing and it only makes sense by putting them in different categories. This would prevent many similar rivalries from showing up and become kind of redundant.

Like, let's say multiple people vote for "Mario/Bowser" and "Mario/Sonic", but other people also vote for "Mario/Crono". I'd like to keep it organized and fair, so the former two can fall into the same category (Videogames) and the one with the most votes gets in, while at the same time keeping the latter to compete in a separate category. The same thing would apply to, say, Dracula vs. multiple Belmonts or Alucard - the lesser-voted one(s) get ditched in favor of the most popular one.

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TopicAdvokaiser reviews Undertale
Advokaiser
06/15/20 6:31:09 PM
#24
K, last bump.

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TopicContest Stats and Discussion - Part 1363
Advokaiser
06/14/20 7:15:58 PM
#227
BTW, I voted expecting Nintendo to double Sony, then seeing the rest fall in line; but seeing Sega over Sony and Atari over Sega really shows GameFAQs's userbase age.

I guess GameFAQs can at least be proud of having an overly complete gaming experience across all generations.


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TopicContest Stats and Discussion - Part 1363
Advokaiser
06/14/20 7:07:59 PM
#226
charmander6000 posted...
TurboGrafx-16

Oh, that makes sense.

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TopicAdvokaiser reviews Undertale
Advokaiser
06/14/20 7:06:37 PM
#23
Well, I was 22 when I first made my playthrough!

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TopicContest Stats and Discussion - Part 1363
Advokaiser
06/14/20 4:39:29 PM
#223
What is a NEC?

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TopicAdvokaiser reviews Undertale
Advokaiser
06/14/20 3:37:42 PM
#21
Waluigi1 posted...
First thought: jeez I had no idea you were a wee babe lol.

You mean my reaction to Omega Flowey?

Waluigi1 posted...
A 7.5 sure seems low for a game you've played through like 10 times lol. That's probably more than most big fans of the game.

There are actually quite a few games I've played a lot that I'd give a similar rating as Undertale. The main reason is that I'm a completionist at heart, and this game had more to offer than I thought at first.

The problem is that, to explore all of those aspects, secrets and such, you HAVE to replay the game (watching them on YouTube just isn't the same), and replaying Undertale past the main 3 routes kind of starts to feel like a chore. The only route that remains relatively fresh enough to replay multiple times is Genocide, since it has the best boss battles imo and it's fairly quick to go through... if you can tolerate the grinding.

Maybe one of these days I'll stream a Genocide-without-saving run. Fun challenge.

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TopicSo I'm thinking about running my first contest ever (help)
Advokaiser
06/12/20 11:16:24 PM
#5
kateee posted...
participation depends on what it is...

*sigh*

...

Okay. Here it goes: I'm planning on doing a Rivalry Contest. Like the one we had in 2011? Yes, but way cooler. I'm planning on allowing any and all kinds of rivalries.

Can Mario vs. Sonic be in? Absolutely!
Can Charles Barkley vs. Michael Jordan be in too? Of course!
Can The Avengers vs. Thanos also be in? Count on it!
Can... I don't know... ertyu vs. Kirby be in as well? If it gets enough support... sure, why not?

Since the very nature of the contest is so broad and open, I'd like to separate them into different categories (for example, we can have Mario/Sonic as a Videogame rivalry and Mario/Crono as a GameFAQs Contests rivalry).

I'd like to add some images and descriptions for each rivalry as well.

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TopicSo I'm thinking about running my first contest ever (help)
Advokaiser
06/12/20 6:59:03 PM
#1
I won't talk about what it is (yet), but I've never done something like this and I'd like basic info, tips and help about doing a contest.

It will require a nomination phase, seeding, Bracketmaker, etc. I don't know how any of those things work.

With our current situation, I have the time to do it now, but I'm also... pretty undisciplined, tbqh. The only thing that can help me get rid of that so I can run a contest myself is having enough support, starting with the simplest question: Would you participate in it? I won't do it if only like 10 people vote daily, so I have to make sure it's worth doing it at all.

All kinds of tips are appreciated.

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TopicI rank VGM soundtracks (...sort of)
Advokaiser
06/12/20 6:47:49 PM
#33
Procrastination tag.

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TopicAdvokaiser reviews Undertale
Advokaiser
06/12/20 4:36:01 PM
#18
I'm sure there's something you can comment on!

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TopicBoard 8's Top 60 Stories in Gaming - Results Topic Part 2
Advokaiser
06/12/20 12:01:34 PM
#322
*checks out Judgment*...

Huh, part of the Yakuza franchise?

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TopicAdvokaiser reviews Undertale
Advokaiser
06/12/20 11:49:04 AM
#17
Underpants's awesome. Sr. Pelo is pretty hilarious.

As for that question, I gotta say the Ruins is a pretty weak point in the game, so you definitely need to keep playing for it to get more interesting. I sort of had an idea of what to expect, but the execution was good and varied enough to keep me interested and laughing constantly along the way.

However, I definitely did not see Omega Flowey coming, and I freaking hated all of that... at first. It genuinely scared me, it came out of nowhere and it made me think the whole experience was going down the drain (E10+ is a joke rating). Replaying that in subsequent playthroughs was... alright. The fight could've definitely been harder to make all of that flashy fight more interesting. I like some good action and reflexes, so that could've been worked around better. But the first time was definitely not appreciated. By the time the final battle with Asriel came around, it was really hard for me to get as emotionally invested as I could've been if it wasn't for that thing that came before. The True Lab section was a walk in the park compared to it.

Genocide route caught me off-guard as well, but on a totally different manner. You know you're doing something wrong, so whatever you're getting yourself into is merely your fault. It was an overwhelming experience, but extremely well-executed, unlike anything I've experienced in a game before. It's surely a high point in terms of narrative, and I absolutely love the challenge it offers. Undyne the Undying's fight remains my favorite part of the game in terms of gameplay, since it relies heavily in skill, good reflexes, memorization and fun RNG well-added to the mix. Sans's fight is a really cool final boss and really lives up to its infamous reputation.

I've actually already done a "Genocide without saving" run and it was pretty awesome to say the least. (Maybe one of this days I can borrow my brother's Twitch account to stream that kind of run.)

As for the fandom part... I don't quite get why the game became such an influential and incredibly big deal. Like, I get some of it, but I doubt it's one of the best games out there. Was it the execution? The characters? The multiple routes? The Megalovania memes? I don't know.

Though I gotta say, fan content is amazing. This is one of the most (if not the most) pleasant, passionate, non-toxic and creative fandoms I've seen.

Like, just look at this (warning: spoilers):

https://youtu.be/nR31ymMSUA0

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TopicAdvokaiser reviews Undertale
Advokaiser
06/11/20 8:20:55 PM
#15
Observations?
Thoughts?
Anything you agree or disagree on?
Any suggestion for a future playthrough?

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TopicPost Final Fantasy songs for me to rate.
Advokaiser
06/11/20 6:31:59 PM
#487
LeonhartFour posted...
Kingdom Hearts is not Final Fantasy

But how come Bravely Default gets a chance?

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TopicPost Final Fantasy songs for me to rate.
Advokaiser
06/11/20 4:03:42 PM
#484
Does Kingdom Hearts count?

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TopicAdvokaiser reviews Undertale
Advokaiser
06/11/20 2:51:40 PM
#14
Well, this is what happens when I don't do a review on the same year the game was released...

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TopicAdvokaiser reviews Undertale
Advokaiser
06/11/20 6:22:05 AM
#13
Bump

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TopicAdvokaiser reviews Undertale
Advokaiser
06/10/20 4:56:53 PM
#11
Feel free to comment.

Anything, really.

Did you follow my playthrough topics? Were they good?

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TopicAdvokaiser reviews Undertale
Advokaiser
06/10/20 2:21:42 PM
#10
Well, I know it now!

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TopicAdvokaiser reviews Undertale
Advokaiser
06/10/20 2:11:16 PM
#8
...Thoughts?

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TopicAdvokaiser reviews Undertale
Advokaiser
06/09/20 8:59:57 PM
#7
Wow, it took me a whole hour to fix a blunder that affected all the text and removed the spoiler tags.

It's all good now.

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Topic7 days from now, I'll post here my review for Undertale
Advokaiser
06/09/20 8:44:31 PM
#17
Review live:

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/boards/8-gamefaqs-contests/78758814

It took me 8 more days, but it's finally here!

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TopicAdvokaiser reviews Undertale
Advokaiser
06/09/20 8:09:55 PM
#6
greengravy294 posted...
wtf is this formating

Oh... Let me fix it real quick!

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TopicAdvokaiser reviews Undertale
Advokaiser
06/09/20 8:06:40 PM
#4
Miscellaneous and Personal Gripes
When I arrived at New Home for the first time and got through the whole Undertale section (a.k.a the walk of feels), everything was beautifully assembled and interwoven; so much so that I was reminded of Terranigma a game so beautiful that it remains to this day as the only game thats managed to make me cry.

Well, almost all of that goes down the drain when, out of nowhere, Toby decided to turn the game into a psychological horror game after you defeat Asgore. At that moment, I had horrible flashbacks about a-certain-game-that-I-still-have-to-write-a-review-of, with which I had a similar experience, although not as extremely brutally negative. Im sure this kind of things are the things my brother would dig a lot, but I not only not dig them, I despise them, ESPECIALLY when they appear out of nowhere in an E10+-rated game (by the way, E10+? Seriously, ESRB? Are you freaking kidding me?! Did you even play the game at all?! Ugh). Toby Fox mightve thought it was going to be funny or whatever crossed his mind, but it almost ruined my whole experience with the game. Charas jumpscare? Pfft, I mean, you practically asked for it, but Flowey and his terror show?!

Another thing I wanted to point out is how incredibly forced Frisks and Charas gender-neutrality is. As someone whos mother tongue is not English, this was the first time in my life I had heard of the usage of the term they to refer to a person without addressing his/her gender. You dont know how hard it was for me to refer to Frisk as a they, for three reasons:

1._Frisk and Chara clearly look like girls to me Yeah, its a matter of perspective, but the visual design doesnt depict them as neutral as it should.
2._Whenever I used they or them as a term, I couldnt help but think of it as multiple people. It sounds so off in my head, but again, another matter of perspective where I may have not had the best English clases for a long time.
3._It doesnt make sense for the purpose of the story!

I mean, how is it that Chara lived whatever amount of years with the Dreemurrs, yet their gender was never even known by the whole kingdom! And whats with the monsters always addressing to Frisk as a they also? It sounds like all of them are saying: Its not a boy or a girl its clearly a gender-neutral human!. Please!

All of the effort Toby put into the characterization of the whole cast of Undertale was also sort of nullified by turning Frisk into the blandest silent protagonist Ive seen. They may be doing lots of friendly things backstage (every battle has Frisk doing multiple things that require tons of personality), but they also feel blank. Like a sheet of paper. Not one which you identify yourself with and write your own personal story, but one that has almost nothing to offer rather than backstage, up-to-your-own-imagination actions.

------------------

Verdict
Toby Fox is a one-man-band, a true wonder and a genius; but as every other human being, he has flaws, and some of them are glaring through their-- I mean, through his actions.

Im eager to see what else he comes up with in the future, namely Deltarune, but I also hope he doesnt make the same mistakes. I was going to say learn from them, but a lot of them are entirely subjective, so I can just hope he does the best for everything that comes after.

FINAL RATING: 7.5/10

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TopicAdvokaiser reviews Undertale
Advokaiser
06/09/20 8:06:20 PM
#3
Story and Characters
As far as the characterization, storytelling, pacing, and overall introduction to the world Its sort of a mixed bag. On one hand, each and every character has very defined personalities, tastes, reasoning, dialogues, and sense of humor. Toby Fox really nailed making the whole world feel alive and unique though not lively (because of the aforementioned). Having every possibility at hand to explore Toby Fox put an incredibly high amount of attention to detail. Speaking of which, Im a Spelling Nazi myself, and I cant help but notice how each and every dialogue and word is extremely well-written from an objective point of view. The uppercases, the lowercases, the intentional misspellings, its all a wonder when you think this game was mainly made by Toby Fox alone. Its mind-blowing that I could only find two or three typos at most in the entire game.

On the other hand, even though the introduction to the Underground and its different subsections is nice and all, the storytelling and pacing are kind of weak; they are good, but not great in my opinion, especially when you have to replay the game for multiple endings. Many areas felt like they dragged on a lot just in order to get to the next one on subsequent playthroughs, and the characters didnt offer much this time than in the previous time that I passed through a certain area or said certain something to someone in particular.

Although, I have to admit, some utter brilliance is hidden behind that narrative limitation, and its something I genuinely appreciate. What am I referring to? Well, some of that is thoroughly expressed in Floweys speech in the Genocide route a brilliantly written speech that I wasnt even able to understand until I played through it twice, and I was finally able to grasp nearly every detail of it in subsequent Genocide playthroughs. He says: At first, I used my powers for good. I became friends with everyone. I solved all their problems flawlessly. As time passed, people proved themselves predictable. What would this person say if I gave them this? What would they do if I said this to them? Once you know the answer, thats it. Thats all they are. Toby Fox knew that I would feel EXACTLY like this when I finished doing Neutrals and Pacifists possibilities. He also knew that there was this special route that you may or may not want to touch if you love the story and its characters something that hits you particularly hard once you get involved with them, which makes it all the more excruciating and emotionally hard to do, which is something Ive never seen in a game before. Flowey also mentions this as part of his speech: It all started because I was curious. Curious what would happen if I killed them. I dont like this, I told myself. Im just doing this because I HAVE to know what happens. Ha ha ha What an excuse! You of all people must know how liberating it is to act this way. At least were better than those sickos that stand around and WATCH it happen. Those pathetic people that want to see it, but are too weak to do it themselves. I bet someone like watching this right now, arent they? Thats all true!! You just do it because you want to see what happens later, and that is something that even Sans mentions in the final battle in the Genocide route (a thing that I also didnt understand until multiple subsequent playthroughs: i know your type. youre uh, very determined, arent you? youll never give up, even if theres uh absolutely NO benefit to persevering whatsoever. if i can make that clear. no matter what, youll just keep going. not out of any desire for good or evil but just because you think you can. and because you can you have to. Utterly brilliant. And later, he adds: Nowadays, even thats grown tiring. You understand, Chara. Ive done everything this world has to offer. Ive read every book. Ive burned every book. Ive won every game. Ive lost every game. Ive appeased everyone. Ive killed everyone. Sets of numbers Lines of dialogue Ive seen them all". Even the Genocide route can grow tiring. At least when you get past the first shock of what you've done, it comes down to the objective things you have to do in order to enjoy the route again. Undertale, in terms of storytelling dynamism, is a one-trick pony, for better or worse; but the acknowledgement of said self-proclaimed nature being expressed in such a way makes it ironically brilliant. What do you get after doing such madness? Nothing! You end up corrupting yourself, killing the friends you previously made and gave them a happy ending, resurrecting an evil entity, and most importantly, losing your own soul. The fact that the game shifts from making you feel like the only hope of the underground, to making you feel like an absolutely horrible monster thats determined to do something thats CLEARLY wrong, and ending up having no benefit in persevering whatsoever, is some top-notch immersion.

Having said that, its too bad that the game clearly has an intended way to get through it to get the whole experience and the most enjoyment out of it: Neutral first and foremost, Pacifist next, and finally Genocide. If you mess with that intended order and nowadays youre almost assured to fall for it, youre not going to fully grasp everything that the game throws at you. You know what the biggest spoiler for me was? It wasnt reading a random comment while listening to Asgore that said: At least Hopes and Dreams wasnt called Asriel; it also wasnt watching a video called What happens if youname yourself gay?. No The biggest spoiler was playing the demo back in 2015, because thats when I found out you could spare every monster in existence. Thats what made me go through Pacifist first without realizing I was also completing a Neutral route in the process. It wasnt until after I did Genocide that I wanted to try a true Neutral routing and was like: Ohhh So this is why x happened! And: Huh I didnt know you could get this outcome I mean, thats still the premise of the game, right? But for a game thats so easily spoilable, a lot of the charm is lost if you dismiss a route entirely. That definitely Works against the nature of the game, but oh well

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TopicAdvokaiser reviews Undertale
Advokaiser
06/09/20 8:05:24 PM
#2
FIRST IMPRESSION

That same year, a few months later, BGE 2015 was happening at the time and, well, we all know the story. I decided to give Undertale a try, so I tried the demo and I wasnt thrilled. The game looked overall way too simplistic for my own taste, especially the battle menus; they reminded me a whole lot about my first experience with FFIV, where I kind of had to use my imagination in terms of what was going on in battles, and it gave me bad flashbacks. Either way, I proceeded, finished the demo twice, and thought: Its okay, I guess? Kind of like a 6/10 game.

But, of course, I couldnt judge a game based on the first 30 minutes of gameplay, so 3 years later there was a Steam sale and I was finally able to get my hands on the full thing:

https://www.log~~~faqs.com/post.php?id=907843583&db=4

By already knowing that you could choose to not fight anyone, but not knowing the outcome of each routing, my plan was to go Pacifist -> Neutral -> Genocide. And this is where things get a little fishy. Undertale is a game that came out exactly in the right place, at the right time, which is sort of baffling to me, and at the same time it makes sense. It bafles me because the game is supposed to be enjoyed blind, blinder than your dog when hes searching for the food you purposely threw on the floor for him to eat it, even though its literally next to him; but we live in an era where all of that is extremely spoilable from the start. I mean, the final battle for the secretly-placed Genocide route became one of the most infamously hard boss battles in gaming history, featuring in multiple Top 10 lists and whatnot; Megalovania (the theme for said battle) became a widespread meme that is still kept alive to this very day (did you know theres a Coffin Dance Megalovania remix on YouTube? Its awesome, check it out); and freaking Sans is in Smash now! Why Sans and not the little gir-- I mean, child protagonist?, you wonder. Well, if you want to look for the answer yourself without going to the actual game Youre gonna have a bad time. I guarantee you that. The reason why it makes sense, though, is because it made a certain click with people; a click that I cant truly explain, but that resembles a bit to the ultra BOOM that Ocarina of Time brought over when it was first released.

--------------

COMPLETE EXPERIENCE

Battle Mechanics
Either way, were here to talk about my own perspective on the matter, right? Well, thankfully, as I progressed through the game, (namely since the start of Snowdin Forest onwards), I became more and more involved with the characters and their development; the battle system became more engaging and proved to be way more dynamic than what it offered at first; the use your imagination thing was no longer an issue, since the funny dialogue totally made up for some interesting outcomes that made me want to know what else could happen if I said this or did that to a certain enemy. The way it was emulated and handled was pretty creative and compelling; it no longer felt like a cheap or forced attempt at making it look and feel retro, but rather like a different approach at the genre (I mean, despite taking my inexperience into account, I know for sure there arent or at least werent lots of turn-based RPGs that blended real-time action into the mix). Each new battle mechanic felt fresh and exciting to try out, and each possible dialogue felt intriguing enough to look after them.

Sound and Music
Something that stands out from the start and only accentuates thereafter is the music. Not only is the OST excellent, extremely varied, and memorable, but it also tries a unique concept that I had never experienced on such a magnificent level: Remixes and leitmotifs. Whenever I played a game that used them, I could identify those elements right away in a sort of obvious manner, and many times they were just remixes where you clearly preferred one over the other because they are often the exact same song but with a slightly different sound or tone, or even the same song in a different genre that you may or may not like. This OST, however, is a completely interconnected work; one where you can identify one or two leitmotifs from other songs along the way, but youre sure to have missed another ten not so obvious ones. The brilliance does not lie on the leitmotifs themselves, but on the fact that the whole soundtrack relies almost entirely on them while at the same time making it sound like each piece is entirely unique; and most of all, the soundtrack rocks!

As far as the sound goes, Toby made a good job at making each click, dialogue, item, slash, etc sound nice and pleasant. He also made the bold decision of incorporating real-life sound effects (or more realistic ones) with 8-bit ones to make it not sound entirely retro, including the music, and it definitely was the right choice. Well, Papyruss voice may not make a lot of sense, and Undynes may be a lot deeper than it should be, but those are minor nitpicks.

Huge thumbs up on that department.

Graphics and Level Design
Unfortunately, even though the whole point of the game is making it look and feel 8-bit, Toby may have overdone it a bit too much or underdone it, in this case. There could be many things that he couldve done to make it look and feel better than your average 8-bit game heck, even Crystalis, an NES game from 1990, looks better than Undertale. The game always ran steadily even in my old Pentium IV! And no, Im not complaining about the game running fine on an old computer Im complaining about the game looking extremely simplistic despite having no real reason to. The only eye-candy we get is the final battle with Asriel in Pacifist, and the fight with Asgore to a lesser extent. The different areas didnt feel lively at all in terms of graphics that was a job exclusively handed to the music department. Balance, mate!

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azuarc - Good friend, VGM lover, Guru Champion.
I pass my baton on to you!
TopicAdvokaiser reviews Undertale
Advokaiser
06/09/20 8:04:54 PM
#1
UNDERTALE
(The Review)

Well, having already finished the game up to everything I planned to do from the beginning and along the way, its finally time

Time for THE REVIEW.

----------------

BACKSTORY

My experience with turn-based RPGs is pretty lacking overall. The first one I ever played was Pokmon Blue, back in 1999, when I was 3-4 years old. I absolutely loved messing around with it, getting no farther than Mistys Gym Battle, or even farther than Viridian Forest. Our Game Boy Color was eventually lost, as well as the game. I played a lot of games over the course of all my childhood, but I only played whatever games were at my disposal or the ones my brother wanted, instead of actually knowing which games were the popular or good ones back then. That made me a rare gamer breed I used to play various games lots of hours at a time, but I never really knew anything about the gaming industry, nor it was something I found myself compelled to check out. Due to this, I actually didnt know what an RPG was until many years later my brother told me about Final Fantasy a franchise that I had heard was famous and all, and that said franchise was also a must-play in terms of the videogame world. He introduced me to it because he decided to try it out, starting with Final Fantasy: Mystic Quest (he thought it was the first one in the series at the time, lol), then later played Final Fantasy IV. He offered me to play Mystic Quest due to how overly easy and accessible it was to get myself properly introduced to the genre, but that if I wanted, I could start right off with FFIV. The year was 2009, I decided to jump ahead to FFIV, and I was confused as to why the Fight menu didnt let me battle with the enemies in real time, and I was kind of disappointed. Im not joking it took me several hours and many towns to realize it was going to keep being this way. I eventually enjoyed it and became very invested But I felt it was a little too long! It took me 48 hours to complete it, after all. It was the longest game I had ever played in terms of main story.

It was around that time that I wanted to become fully invested in the gaming industry as a whole, and started to inform myself and play a lot of games, mainly classic ones I mightve missed.

In 2015, my brother and I rediscovered Pokmon by Um Our smartphones had the totally legitimate capacity of handling the original games, so we became thrilled, like kids with new toys. He picked Red, I picked Blue, and it was all extremely fun. You could argue nostalgia fueled us big time, but I was finally playing the game properly for the first time as a High School student, so I understood everything that was going on perfectly, appreciated it 10 times more, and finished it for the first time. It was truly an amazing experience. Then my brother convinced me to try out the second Gen and I was like: Uh but there were only 151 original Pokmon. It didnt matter we both picked Gold and Silver and were fascinated as well. Were currently already past Gen 3, but were waiting on getting our hands in the next Gens by having the proper hardware to play them on (i.e. some cheap DSs and 3DSs).

Why did I always like Pokmon so much but was kind of disappointed with Final Fantasy IV (at first), despite both being turn-based RPGs? I dont quite have the answer right now, but it may just come down to a mix of expectation + experience + execution, all mashed up to make up for these complete experiences.

Why do I say all of this? Well, hear me out.

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azuarc - Good friend, VGM lover, Guru Champion.
I pass my baton on to you!
TopicBoard 8's Top 60 Stories in Gaming - Results Topic Part 2
Advokaiser
06/07/20 8:51:48 PM
#269
Also, good thing the legendary Mod, writer and reviewer DetroitDJ didn't participate in this since I bet he would've been really sad to see no support for Final Fantasy Tactics.

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azuarc - Good friend, VGM lover, Guru Champion.
I pass my baton on to you!
TopicBoard 8's Top 60 Stories in Gaming - Results Topic Part 2
Advokaiser
06/07/20 8:47:02 PM
#266
ZenOfThunder posted...
AND YOU CAN VOTE FOR THEM NOW IN THE BEST FEMALE VILLAINS QUOTE CONTEST, RIGHT HERE ON BOARD 8

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/boards/8-gamefaqs-contests/78753864

I kind of pictured those words in a sort of WATCH TODAY'S MATCH BETWEEN THE ROCK AND THE UNDERTAKER, AT RAW!! way.

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azuarc - Good friend, VGM lover, Guru Champion.
I pass my baton on to you!
TopicBoard 8's Top 60 Stories in Gaming - Results Topic Part 2
Advokaiser
06/07/20 8:38:40 PM
#261
pezzicle posted...
also can i just say that the people on this board are weirdly nice which is not like other places here nor other forums i've frequented

I'm really glad you feel that way. Most of us know each other fairly well, so it would be nice if you stayed around here if you like!

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azuarc - Good friend, VGM lover, Guru Champion.
I pass my baton on to you!
TopicBoard 8's Top 60 Stories in Gaming - Results Topic Part 2
Advokaiser
06/07/20 7:50:44 PM
#248
*The bolded ones showed up:

+10 Terranigma
+9 The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
+8 Final Fantasy IV
+7 Illusion of Gaia
+6 Crystalis
+5 Soul Blazer
+4 Driver 2
+3 Undertale
+2 Castlevania: Curse of Darkness
+1 The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask

Kind of disappointed to see what got in and what didn't, honestly.

  • Ocarina of Time may be super overrated, but the storytelling and presentation blew my mind. That may be the only really worthy game that got in.
  • And as much as I love Majora's Mask, I used its slot pretty much as filler (well-thought-out filler, but still!).
  • Actually, my +1, +2 and +3 were pretty much fillers, since it was kind of hard to think of really compelling and full-fledged stories as the list went on. I mean, Undertale had an awesome execution of the story, but it wasn't a ground-breaking story for me. Seeing it so high makes me worry about the quality standard for stories/storytelling in videogames...
  • ...But then I remember Terranigma's story exists and I'm kind of relieved.
  • Driver 2's story, characters and cinematics are awesome and ahead of their time. Highly recommended.
  • Crystalis is the pinnacle of NES storytelling. Mind-blowing as well.
  • I forgot about To the Moon, so it would've probably placed around +3.


Anyway, there's a review I've yet to post.

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azuarc - Good friend, VGM lover, Guru Champion.
I pass my baton on to you!
TopicBoard 8's Top 60 Stories in Gaming - Results Topic Part 2
Advokaiser
06/07/20 5:06:44 PM
#152
KamikazePotato posted...
Top 20 so far!

6.Final Fantasy VII
7.Zero Escape: Virtue's Last Reward
8.Life is Strange
9.Silent Hill 2
10.NIER
11.Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty
12.The House in Fata Morgana
13.Disco Elysium
14.The Last Of Us
15.Planescape: Torment
16.Umineko: When They Cry
17.Chrono Trigger
17.Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors
19.BioShock
20.The Walking Dead: A Telltale Games Series

At least 12 out of 15 games on that list are M-rated.

I'm... not sure what to say or think.

MatureFAQs...?

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azuarc - Good friend, VGM lover, Guru Champion.
I pass my baton on to you!
TopicBoard 8's Top 60 Stories in Gaming - Results Topic Part 2
Advokaiser
06/07/20 4:44:24 PM
#147
If Undertale makes it, I'm gonna be kind of surprised at its potentially high placement.

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azuarc - Good friend, VGM lover, Guru Champion.
I pass my baton on to you!
TopicContest Stats and Discussion - Part 1363
Advokaiser
06/05/20 1:56:14 PM
#211
HouseholderFAQs

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azuarc - Good friend, VGM lover, Guru Champion.
I pass my baton on to you!
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