Has the heat died down? Is it OK to openly like Undertale again?

[Silence]

Well, since the fanbase itself has died down, I think you can also worry less about the backlash to the fanbase now.

Have fun. Just don't repeat the classic fanbase thing again, because then you will again get backlash.

So in short: You are allowed to like it, but Tsunderplane is still stupid.

(Also how the fuck do you get 'SJW' game. The game is inherently non-political (unless you count a pacifist route as political, but if you do, you are clearly too far gone)

 

[Eric the Orange]

It was largely a manufactured backlash.

really? I never saw any sites doing articles on it, and I saw plenty of people posting about anger and confusion about it's popularity.

For example here on the escapist you can see a lot in this thread on Yahtzees year end rewards when he gave it his game of the year.
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/6.932390-Zero-Punctuation-Top-5-Games-of-2015
and the You Tube version
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sCFGU79rX34&list=PLAbMhAYRuCUhawCEV2oXZGrienoKTN16X&index=12

I hear their was some legendary tantrums over at Game FAQs when it won their Best game ever contest. Though I don't really use the forums their so you'd have to go looking for that your self.

 

[Abomination]

The more energetic a fanbase is in their love towards a product the more backlash there will be.

Undertale's fanbase was VERY energetic and VERY vocal.

It didn't help how there were other story driven RPGs released that year as well, such as Witcher III.

For one to say Undertale was a better game than Witcher III is really stretching it. Undertale had a unique premise, but once you got past that it was mechanically quite average, even below average.

It felt like a bit of a "Leo gets an Oscar" moment. It won some game of the year awards because it was so different, not because it was a better game.

 

[Stewie Plisken]

It was largely a manufactured backlash.

really? I never saw any sites doing articles on it, and I saw plenty of people posting about anger and confusion about it's popularity.

For example here on the escapist you can see a lot in this thread on Yahtzees year end rewards when he gave it his game of the year.
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/6.932390-Zero-Punctuation-Top-5-Games-of-2015
and the You Tube version
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sCFGU79rX34&list=PLAbMhAYRuCUhawCEV2oXZGrienoKTN16X&index=12

I hear their was some legendary tantrums over at Game FAQs when it won their Best game ever contest. Though I don't really use the forums their so you'd have to go looking for that your self.

I first caught wind of it in a short piece at MCVUK. The writer didn't cite who he was referring to, when he said "Gamers hate Undertale" (his spin was very judgemental, though), but I heard afterwards that people were talking about the GameFaqs thing. I don't frequent GameFaqs either, but I assume if it won their GOTY, it did so because the users voted for it. Which would instantly make the forum tantrum part of the minority opinion.

 

[Super Cyborg]

I was wondering the opposite - Is it finally OK to openly dislike it? Any time I tried to discuss the game and my reasons for disliking it I would get swarmed by rabid fans on a bloody crusade. To be fair, the Escapist forums weren't nowhere near as bad, but in general, my experience has been that any criticism of the game tends to be met with fierce opposition...

And no, I don't dislike it because it's an "SJW game". I don't think it is one, but then again, I don't think that Inclusive = SJW by default. I don't dislike it because I'm trying to be different or edgy. I just didn't like it. But apparently, that's not allowed.

I failed to connect with that game on any level after a bit over two hours into it. I wasn't outraged, I wasn't angry, nothing like that. I was just mildly bored. I disliked the gameplay, the characters and story did nothing for me, I didn't much care how it turns out (and watching the endings on Youtube did little to convince me that I missed out), the graphics were from an era of pixel art that I just don't like. It had some nice music, but beyond that it had nothing that I was into. I wouldn't call it overrated, but it's definitely a game that zigged when I zagged...

The crux of it comes down to liking the characters. If you don't like the characters, then the game has nothing to offer. Everything that comes down to the story and gameplay comes to your attachment of those characters, and to an extent the "battle" enemies. I didn't see it as much but people came to love these characters, a number to a disturbing degree that they couldn't accept anything less than love for the game. Also, while it was cool for a little while the system could get quite tedious at times.

 

[Mister K]

There was a backlash against Undertale? First I heard of it, but I *have* been away from this place for a while.

There was the usual "Most overrated game evar", "I'm smugly disinterested in this game", "Fanbase is horrible", "Undertale is an SJW game" (not sure how people came to that conclusion but I saw it a few times).

If you feel like venturing into youtube comments check out Zero Punctuation Top 5 of 2015 for some fun reading. A lot of people were apparently disappointed that Yahtzee liked it.

SJW comment probably comes from 3 facts: protag is basically genderless, 2 of the secondary characters are lesbians and one of them is a bishonen (robobishonen, but still).

OT: I never knew much about Underale community untill I've read about a few things its representatives did (such as pushing Undertale for Best game ever award. Read more about such things at TV tropes). While I agree that many of those actions are... excessive, I fail to see why this should sway my opinion about the game.

I still think that it is just a good game. No more, no less. I think it has engaing storyline, fun characters and pretty nice commentary on how many play RPG's, but I also think that it isn't as good in actual gameplay section.

 

[Cati]

Eric - I don't tend to read articles from a lot of sources, so I'm going by what I saw going by my timeline. From my view, loads of people loved undertale, all sorts of people.

Then came the whole "undertale is an sj game, this is great!" thing, and apparently over on GameFAQs "undertale is an sj game, it sucks!"? And like now in this thread, everyone else is totally like "huh?" e.g. over on kym in the comments here: http://knowyourmeme.com/photos/1050957-undertale


And what seemed to quickly follow after that was "gamergate hates undertale because it's an sj game" (e.g. some rando who got that notion somewhere: http://bo-ne.ws/forum/read.php?13,510450,511087#msg-511087 ), and the people I followed were totally flummoxed, because they'd loved it and everyone they knew who played it also loved it.

 

[sanquin]

I only ever heard of Undertale hate and how bad the fanbase is. I never actually experienced either. That being said, I believe Undertale deserves the awards and general praise it gets. And just like every fanbase out there, the extreme fans are probably shit.

 

[gmaverick019_v1legacy]

I honestly didn't realize there was a ton of backlash? I personally tried the game for about an hour or hour and a half, and the gameplay just bored me to tears/bugged me, and this is coming from a guy who loves TBS and other slow/often criticized combat games, so I found it surprising so many people made it through this game.

Beyond that though it certainly had some charm, I'm sure i'll watch a let's play of it someday to actually "finish it" and see what the juicy bits of the game are about.

Beyond that I honestly didn't feel strongly one way or the other, it was a cheap indie-ish game so I'm not sure what there was to hate on so hard, unless this was like a MLP thing where the fanbase was the one people were flaming more than the show.

 

[Kotaro]

I never really gave a damn about the backlash against Undertale. Pretty much anything which reaches that level of popularity is going to receive some backlash.
Personally, while I wouldn't call Undertale the "BEST GAEM EVAR" like some people claim it is, it was (and is) pretty much a perfect storm of everything I like: a retro-styled RPG with a unique hook, quirky humor, bullet-hell elements, interesting characters, and heavy genre deconstruction. As a result, I've played through it, what, six times?
I have, however, seen some of the shitty things done by portions of the fanbase, and while it doesn't really go too far beyond what one should expect from the fringes of any fanbase, it does seem particularly gross to me given the game's overall message.

 

[Stewie Plisken]

SJW comment probably comes from 3 facts: protag is basically genderless, 2 of the secondary characters are lesbians and one of them is a bishonen (robobishonen, but still).

Then the commentary is off-base. For something to be 'SJW'-oriented, it's not just the kind of politics it partakes in, but how invasive it is about it. Undertale doesn't seem to give a flying rat's ass about promoting anything other than itself, as a game, based primarily on its gameplay mechanics and how they relate to the world it has built. I mean, Life is Strange seems a lot more SJW-ish from last year's line-up and even that I consider a stretch.

 

[BrawlMan]

It's never alright to openly like anything. You like a big AAA game, and you're just a dumb idiot who likes being pandered to and who is bringing the industry down. You like an indie game, and you're a smug, pretentious asshat who likes the smell of his own farts.

You wanna be a cool guy -- Then don't (openly) like anything.

What is this, high school? Then again, the people I knew in high-school didn't usually care if you opened liked or disliked certain games. I know that I am sick and tired of black n white mentality. Why can't certain people just get over themselves when others have a different opinions? As long as you can back up your opinion and not be an ass about it, your cool in my book.

I was surprised the Nintendo fans in particular were so hostile to Undertale. You'd think they appreciate the successor to the Mother games they keep (rightfully) pestering Nintendo into actually releasing properly.

I did not even hear about this, and I'm just as surprised. If that is the case, I am sensing a lot of envy and hypocrisy right now from those section of Nintendo fans.


And to the original poster, like Undertale as much as you want. I am not fan of it, nor most RPGs in general, but I know a good game when I see one, or has an audience it can captivate.

 

[CaitSeith]

It was largely a manufactured backlash.

really? I never saw any sites doing articles on it, and I saw plenty of people posting about anger and confusion about it's popularity.

For example here on the escapist you can see a lot in this thread on Yahtzees year end rewards when he gave it his game of the year.
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/6.932390-Zero-Punctuation-Top-5-Games-of-2015
and the You Tube version
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sCFGU79rX34&list=PLAbMhAYRuCUhawCEV2oXZGrienoKTN16X&index=12

I hear their was some legendary tantrums over at Game FAQs when it won their Best game ever contest. Though I don't really use the forums their so you'd have to go looking for that your self.

I first caught wind of it in a short piece at MCVUK. The writer didn't cite who he was referring to, when he said "Gamers hate Undertale" (his spin was very judgemental, though), but I heard afterwards that people were talking about the GameFaqs thing. I don't frequent GameFaqs either, but I assume if it won their GOTY, it did so because the users voted for it. Which would instantly make the forum tantrum part of the minority opinion.

It wasn't GOTY. It was Best Game Ever; and before Undertale, Ocarina of Time always won it.

 

[SweetShark]

It's never alright to openly like anything. You like a big AAA game, and you're just a dumb idiot who likes being pandered to and who is bringing the industry down. You like an indie game, and you're a smug, pretentious asshat who likes the smell of his own farts.

You wanna be a cool guy -- Then don't (openly) like anything.

Act like a Tsundere then.
I hate the most Tsundere type of people.
Except Girlfriend from Hōkago Play. She is a real human being and not over the top.

Also OP, don't afraid because opinions. Also 10/10 game for me. Finally, it was just a silly competition, so no real impact at all.

 

[CaitSeith]

It was a mildly interesting game that at that was quite creative in its presentation of its core conceit, unlike sayyyy, Spec Ops:The Line. Was it a bad game, by no means, was it overhyped, most certainly. Course, that's certainly no reason to bash the game itself.

Personally I consider the genocide run in Undertale as The Spec Ops: The Line of indie games. The difference is that it doesn't force you to murder innocents, and gives you countless opportunities to stop killing and continue with the normal plot.

 

[Ryallen]

I wouldn't say that it's an SJW game, (Although I can easily see how people would think that, as the protag is confirmed genderless, 1/2 of the relationships in the game are homosexual, and if you fight anyone you are automatically a psychopath) but I WILL say that it is a game designed specifically with Tumblr in mind. Given it's quirky and silly characters and massive amounts of people getting along and utter refusal to be tied down by your labels, man, I'd say that tobyfox made the game in such a way that it would blow up on Tumblr. Normally, I would say that it's just a coincidence that it did blow up on that... site... but then I found out that he worked for Homestuck as their soundtrack designer and it all just kinda clicked. That's not to say that it's not a good game on its own merits. I enjoyed the game very much. I wouldn't say it's the greatest game of all time, not by a long shot. But I will say that it's the most fun I've had with a boss fight in a very long time.

 

[Stewie Plisken]

It wasn't GOTY. It was Best Game Ever; and before Undertale, Ocarina of Time always won it.

Well, not to shit on Gamefaqs and its community, because I pretty much have no right to do so since I don't know how they operate, but that sounds more of an indulgence thing than anything carrying weight of any sort outside the community.

 

[Hero of Lime]

Well, I've gotten unnecessary heat for not liking it. So I guess yes, or would that mean no? I don't know. Pretty sure the legions of fans that remain to this day would never make it easy to seem bad for being an Undertale fan.

And no, I don't dislike it for it's popularity, I'm too mainstream in most things to be a hipster like that. I only mention this since I've been accused of being a hipster or contrarian for not caring for the game plenty of times.

I certainly have some ideological differences with it, namely the "deconstruction" themes. It's easy to shame other RPGs involving killing monsters for exp when your monsters have unique personalities and quirks that make them more than just a rabid creature out to kill you.

 

[Casual Shinji]

I certainly have some ideological differences with it, namely the "deconstruction" themes. It's easy to shame other RPGs involving killing monsters for exp when your monsters have unique personalities and quirks that make them more than just a rabid creature out to kill you.

I don't know, even with all the quirkiness, I found it annoying as hell to try and not kill them what with all the 'dodge the bits' gameplay. But then I only played it for like 30 minutes -- maybe the gameplay got better later on.

 

[lord canti]

I think an equally good question is whether or not it's safe to criticize the game now.