Look. I really think Toby is a genius, and “Heartache” is one of the most amazing songs he’s ever done.
This fucking song and the way it really tonally establishes what the hell Undertale is, it’s so important to me. Because this song starts out and it’s pure chiptune, it’s not even SNES era music, it’s really lo-fi NES era, the sound is straining the limits of the speakers. You expect at any moment for it to become too much and give you bad feedback.
And then at :11 the first curl of brassy sound folds over it, crystal clear and perfect. It fades, and then comes back to punch you in the teeth. But it maintains that tinny NES sounds– I love the almost chiptune flute that warbles at :22, like an 8bit songbird.
THEN BA BA DA DA BA BA DA DAAAAH the full force of the song just explodes, like anguish, like it cannot be contained by its antique forerunners and so we have this cacophony of brass and this fucking phenomenal almost dance beat clap-clap/tap-tap sound.
This sound feels like old fashioned magic updated for the new age, it’s frantic and pained and steeped in nostalgia while literally reinventing itself over the span of 1:48.
I fucking die at that tumble of da-da-dum-dada-da, every time.
And the way “ASGORE” has that exact same tumble of notes and closes this loop you’ve been traversing for 10 to 20 hours. Fuck.
Though it was released almost a year ago, I have the same opinion of it.
It’s about an 8/10, niche RPG game.
If you like the characters and the humor, you’ll probably like it, and forgive it for its flaws.
If you don’t, you’ll probably hate it.
Surprisingly, there are many people who like this type of game. Though I did work hard, there’s definitely a lot of luck involved in having a game become this popular. So, it wouldn’t surprise me if I never made a game as successful again. That’s fine with me though.
Not only did I not expect this level of popularity, but initially, I was afraid of it. I didn’t want UNDERTALE to become tiring for people, or become spoiled before anyone even got a chance to play it. Early on (this was probably excessive) I even tried to contact certain Let’s Players to tell them not to make any content about it.
But, the game became very popular. Unavoidable, even. At the height of its popularity, “not liking the game” felt like a cardinal sin to many fans online. In reaction to these circumstances, others began actively hate the game, creating an endless whirlwind of discourse…
Like a thunderclap to a small dog, all of this attention stressed me out. And every time it seemed to die down, something revived it, such as the GameFAQs contest, the award shows, bizarre theory videos, and so on. At times, I wished I had a way to quell the attention. I felt a strange powerlessness. (And guilt, for feeling stressed when the success of the game SHOULD be something I’m nothing but ecstatic about.)
At the same time, countless wonderful things were happening. People told me the game helped them through a difficult part of their life. Others told me that the game had made them laugh, or cry, or say “I want to be kinder.” Many young kids told me they wanted to create games or music because of it. And, on a personal level, because of its popularity, I have been able to help myself and many people in my life. (And, hopefully, in the future, I can help many other people because of it, too.)
So, ultimately, it’s a good thing that the game reached so many people, and I’m very, very, very, very, very, very, thankful to everyone that supported it, and everyone that helped me make it.
Thank you.
And thank you to anyone who has created fanworks for this game over the past year. I’ve been in fandoms my whole life. I drew Cave Story characters in the margins of my 7th grade history class notes. So it’s amazing to see something I created incite a similar passion in other people.
Someday, UNDERTALE will fade from people’s minds. But, I’m sure in 10 years, some kid who played UNDERTALE will create a game that surpasses it…
I look forward to playing that.
Tomorrow, on UNDERTALE’s anniversary, let’s have a fun time. I am thinking I will open the askbox, and…
By barking with text-to-speech on, the dog accidentally programmed a whole game
Commission for ayarger of Toby Fox as the Annoying Dog from Undertale creating the game from the “developer room” that’s found beyond the mysterious door.
I’m glad to say there isn’t much more to say on the topic now – but what’s left to say is probably the most important things. Me and Toby had a long talk about the situation and the experience. His concerns were absolutely noble – I mean, there was a backlash against me and we both knew there would be. I didn’t expect that I’d be facing it without him saying something directly, but he wanted to avoid being specific in case that made things worse for me. In doing so, it made me feel more vulnerable and because I was becoming increasingly stressed, communicating that to Toby became ever harder.
There’s nobody to really blame in this, not Toby nor the community at large. The overflowing amount of compassion and kindness that people have shown in response to was something I was never prepared for. In the end, it came down to a breakdown in communication, I think, and the effort to prevent me coming under attack left me more vulnerable to it. I was afraid Toby was unwilling to protect me. I know he’s a decent person and what he did was out of compassion, not embarassment but fear is very, very powerful and with everything that had gone on in general, fear spoke ever louder til it became unbearable.
Please, do not view Toby harshly over this. He is a good dog. We all love goatmom, right? Like, the whole experience with the demo is what got me involved to begin with. Toriel tries to protect us from a dangerous world but its a world we’ve got to out into. Nobody is gonna judge Toriel for trying to do what she thought was best, right? She doesn’t want you getting hurt. And chances are, you’re gonna get hurt out there – god knows it took me a couple of goes to get through a couple of the bosses. Its a mistake but, you know, mistakes happen and it was compounded by my increasing inability to discuss it because of mental state. I don’t blame him for it and for what I’ve gone through, I forgive him for. I, too, am sorry for any hurt I have caused for him and anyone else involved. Y’all are good people and I genuinely consider it a privilege to have worked with you despite things. I’m sorry for putting you through the wringer.
Toby very kindly cleared things up as well in his own post for which I am eternally grateful for. He’s also personally put to rest the idea that I was outed by anyone, the idea of which seems like it was based on communication issues.
I’ve said all I need to on everything I think, unless Toby feels I’ve missed anything. I owe him a debt of gratitude for all this and I wish him all the best in every future endeavour.
Thank you, everyone, for bearing with me. I feel safe again and I can go back to loving Undertale whole heartedly again and close the book on all the stress I’ve felt. Please be kind to Toby and everyone.
It seems there’s been a lot of hate directed towards the character “So Sorry” and its creator, Sam. This is very disappointing to me, as UNDERTALE is basically a game about accepting and befriending people that are different than you. Everyone has the right to like or dislike anything they want. But there’s no reason to turn your dislike into a personal attack. Sam’s inclusion was a result of his honest support for a game he really cares about – which all of you care about, as well. And I accepted that inclusion. So, “So Sorry” is as much a part of UNDERTALE as anything else.
The reason I didn’t make a statement about this before was because I was worried that calling attention to the issue would just incite more harassment against Sam. However, it seems my silence may also have enabled harm against him, and for that I apologize. Just to clarify, potential harassment against Sam was also the reason I offered him a refund and asked him if he wanted to change his character to a different one. I promise I was acting without ill will in the way I perceived as the best for everyone.
Regarding everything else, I have talked to Sam and we are cool. That’s all I have to say. Neither of us want any hate directed towards the other. Or towards anyone, really. Please respect that.
sooo i heard people are now harassing Toby over the So Sorry thing on twitter. Like, calling him a piece of shit and stuff.
Harassing either party makes literally none of this better, for anyone, in any way. Maybe Samael should have created a new character for his backer reward; maybe Toby shouldn’t have put off talking to Sam about his concerns for so long. What happened happened, and being a rude internet dickwad doesn’t undo it or make the other party happy.
To anyone wondering, 800+ cases is way too much. Imagine a checklist of 800 things, and checking the conditions of each thing in the list at a minimum of 30 times per second.
honestly just really like undertale 