Me Remembering One Of The Most Beautiful Video Games I've Ever Played And Realizing I'll Never Be Able

!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.

voice acting as a profession is so funny because you'll see someone being like "voice actors need to be paid better! like [obscure person you've never heard of]" and you're like "oh I wonder who that person is, maybe I've heard them voice a character" and you look it up and it turns out they voice 137 characters in Futurama and 94 characters in The Simpsons and 96 characters in Adventure Time and every one of the My Little Ponies and 27 characters in Arcane and 96 characters in Kim Possible and 4 characters in Phineas and Ferb and 296 characters in Dexter's Laboratory and all of the main cast of Fairly Odd Parents and at least 6 characters in every Pixar movie and almost every animated depiction of Superman and 473 SpongeBob characters and they've been in every installment of Mass Effect and Halo and The Elder Scrolls and Fallout and Call of Duty and they were in Star Trek and Law & Order and they were 12 characters in the MCU and they also invented t-shirts and the colour green and they got paid a sum total of $3.27 and a mothball for all of it combined. then you go burn down David Zaslav's house with him inside

Acknowledging that “critical thinking” means “thinking about things in a thorough way from different perspectives” and not “finding every flaw in a thing and fixating on it until all the joy is gone” is so liberating.

It’s supposed to be about intellectual curiosity, not about finding ways to devalue things that aren’t perfect or that we personally dislike.

Can we stop arguing over whether keep inventory on Minecraft is cheating or not? Who the fuck cares if you're cheating or not in a video game? It's not even a competitive game. It's so stupid seeing grown adults get mad because someone doesn't want to lose everything they got while playing. I've literally seen people send death threats over a SANDBOX GAME! Everyone shut up and just play how you want.

I! *flips table* LOVE! *kicks wall* VIDEO GAMES! *chugs carton of orange juice* THAT! *throws lamp* EXPERIMENT! *sets couch on fire* WITH! *dumps whole bag of jelly beans into mouth* DIFFERENT! *stabs knife into coffee table* STYLES! *does backflip* OF! *gently moves potted plant* GAMEPLAY! *knocks over bookshelf* TO! *rips stuffing out of pillow* TELL! *topples trash can* THEIR! *breaks window* STORIES!!!! *explodes*

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

characters going “we were lovers once”: eh, it’s okay i guess. it’s nice enough

characters going “we were friends once”: absolutely devastating. one hit knockout i’m gone

its just embarrassing when you make a fandom related post and it doesnt get any notes like okay. so no one want to play tuoys with me. no one wants to play with our little guys together. okay thats fine. yeah its cool... puts my hands in my jacket pockets. kicks a beer can that was on the side of the road a little

terfs fuck offfff i hope you never get a single note on anything

Every Minecraft world has that one person…