@Wagomu:
! Having both endings gives you the full scope of the meaning of determination and is a brutal examination of the player's relationship to the game. I find it brilliant that the genocide run takes as much tedious effort as it does with the grinding and additional challenge, since it really makes you work to ruin everyone's lives. Flowey pretty much calls you out on it, playing through each variation of the game just to see what's different, not caring about who gets hurt in the process. This is the crux of the game to me. Why do we game? Why do we feel the desire to fully complete a game? How does that reflect on who we are? What do we actually care for these characters that we can feel so emotional towards? Even the idea of selling your soul and ruining the game just to play it again questions why you would want to return to a world that you have shown nihilistic intent towards. Engaging with the ending has made me reevaluate the way I see games and, now that I think of it, media as a whole. Non-interactive media, though, doesn't have the ability to put you in control of the lives of its characters. This is a message that can only be delivered by a game. This is why I have so much praise for Undertale, beyond its charm, humor and outstanding gameplay for an RPG. It poses important questions about the nature of games that I think engaging with could really grow the depths of the medium.
Love it.
There've been a few games since gaming started that exemplified the medium and showed what it can do that other media can't, and this one definitely joins those ranks. But in more than a basic "ah, yeah, I see- games can be art" way (like your average SoTC or Majora's Mask) that might convince naysaying laymen. One thing I find interesting is how obtuse and _in_effective Undertale would be for a newcomer to video games. They'd see the anti-tropes and fourth-walling, sure, but so much of the subversion relies on finely-tuned expectations and a love for the medium. I feel like so much of what I appreciate in this one, as well as at least part of the conclusions you came to about nihilistic engagement, can only emerge if one has enough background to reflect on those ideas (playing for sake of playing, completionism, and blind determination in EITHER direction- because I believe the pacifist route was also meant to require some aggravating teeth-gritting as you endure waves of attacks without retaliation, all in the name of achieving the abstract, ephemeral "perfect" ending).
But anyone who does game would be remiss to pass up Undertale. It really elevates the craft in a way very few other games have done for me, and in a completely novel way.
Thinking of writing a Gamefaqs review for it… Hmm...
@Wagomu:
Contemplating buying the soundtrack and making a formal writeup for it.
Also, please do this- I'd read every word. I broke down and paid the $10 on bandcamp for the album yesterday. I don't remember the last time that a game's soundtrack was basically playing on rotation in my brain like this (basically every boss tune and main area theme is gold)…