!Undertale True Pacifist Ending Spoilers!

I can't believe Undertale is turning ten years old this summer. I cannot stress how much my life changed after experiencing this silly little game.

Little Me had been playing video games their whole life, but had only really thought of them as fun things to do on weekends. I mean, I knew they could have storylines and stuff, but I hadn't really considered they could be stories in the same way as books or movies.

Then I found Undertale in the form of a YouTube lets-play. And at first I was like; "haha, this game's cute and funny". But the person I was watching was doing True Pacifist, and so it quickly turned into so much more than that.

A game where there are monsters and you don't have to fight them? Where you are encouraged to make friends with them? As a Neurodivergent tween who would write Pokemon fanfictions about cities ruled by humans and Pokemon together, and attempt to befriend Endermen in Minecraft by wearing pumpkins and placing cool blocks for them to pick up, it felt like finding someone who finally got it.

I couldn't stop thinking about it. I loved all the characters. I laughed so hard, even at the jokes I didn't really get. I was so invested.

It was the first time I ever cried at a video game. Comforting Asriel at the end was the most emotions I'd ever felt over a piece of media that wasn't a Pixar movie. I remember thinking; "wow, I didn't know video games could be like this".

I grew up with my parents playing games like Dragon Age and Uncharted, which Little Me couldn't comprehend in the slightest. And even as I started to understand more complex stories, I still didn't really think the plots or characters were part of the appeal of games like that. I thought my parents just liked stabbing and shooting things.

Undertale changed my perspective on video games as a whole. They could be like movies. They could be like novels. They could be art.

It was the gateway drug that got me into indie games (and made gaming one of my primary hobbies). I loved the music so much it got me into listening to video game soundtracks outside of their games. The "despite everything, it's still you" line will stay with me for the rest of my life. It had some of the first LGBTQIA+ representation I'd ever seen in media. It helped me find friends. Omega Flowey is still one of the most terrifying boss designs ever. It taught me how to spell "spaghetti". In every game I've ever experienced since, there has been at least one thing I can't help but compare to something in this one.

And, of course, it taught me to always stay determined.

Undertale did so much for me. I wouldn't be the person I am today if it weren't for this game.

Sorry for the long, sappy post. I just really can't believe it's been ten years already. Wow.

More Posts from Thesecretbeetle and Others

thesecretbeetle

1 month ago

the most annoying people are people who don't understand storytelling. they be like "oooo how convenient that this thing happened to the main character in the very beginning". yeah no shit. that's why the story begins here

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thesecretbeetle

1 month ago

no you have to contribute to your fandom if you don't want it to die. most fandoms die because people say 'it's so sad watching the fandom die when the hype dies' without doing anything about it. I'm not saying you have to push out 100k word slow-burn fic, I'm not saying you have to make fan art or gif sets or edits or anything. I'm just saying we as a community should contribute to our fandom if we don't want it to die, and by contributing, I'm talking about giving kudos, commenting on your favorite fics, reblogging your favorite art and just talking about your favorite characters. that's enough to keep a fandom alive. that's the most effective way to keep a fandom alive in my humble opinion.

fandoms die because people stop talking about it, fandoms die because people stop engaging with fan content once the hype is gone. what I'm saying is, mainstream media's hype may be gone, but our fandom can stay alive and thriving if us as a community don't let it die.

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thesecretbeetle

1 month ago

sexymen and trisha dont discriminate between the sinners and the saints ig

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thesecretbeetle

1 month ago

Baldwin is a cool name. It is the opposite of Hairloss

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thesecretbeetle

3 months ago

Encouragment for writers that I know seems discouraging at first but I promise it’s motivational-

• Those emotional scenes you’ve planned will never be as good on page as they are in your head. To YOU. Your audience, however, is eating it up. Just because you can’t articulate the emotion of a scene to your satisfaction doesn’t mean it’s not impacting the reader.

• Sometimes a sentence, a paragraph, or even a whole scene will not be salvagable. Either it wasn’t necessary to the story to begin with, or you can put it to the side and re-write it later, but for now it’s gotta go. It doesn’t make you a bad writer to have to trim, it makes you a good writer to know to trim.

• There are several stories just like yours. And that’s okay, there’s no story in existence of completely original concepts. What makes your story “original” is that it’s yours. No one else can write your story the way you can.

• You have writing weaknesses. Everyone does. But don’t accept your writing weaknesses as unchanging facts about yourself. Don’t be content with being crap at description, dialogue, world building, etc. Writers that are comfortable being crap at things won’t improve, and that’s not you. It’s going to burn, but work that muscle. I promise you’ll like the outcome.