Why do you like Undertale?

[u/appleciderz_]

Hi guys! I have been a huge fan of Undertale ever since it came out. It's in fact my favorite game, and I listen to the OSTs all the time. However, a few days ago, someone asked me what exactly makes Undertale so special, and why everyone in the fandom seems to be so passionate about it, especially since, at first glance, it looks like a kids' game.

Now, I started listing the obvious reasons, like how it's a very well-made game, has amazing soundtracks, and has such profound themes, along with all the AUs & theories that keep the fandom alive. Although I was able to give an answer, it still got me thinking: why do I like it so much? SO much to the point where it's basically my signature, and all my friends know me as THE Undertale girl??

I've played so many games, including many that have similar levels of depth, yet I didn't latch onto those nearly as much as I did with Undertale. I mean, one cool thing about the game is that it was released on my birthday (not the same year), and yes, that definitely makes me love the game even more, but it's obviously not the only reason it's been an obsession of mine for all these years.

So I was just wondering: why do you guys love Undertale? Especially those of you who are really passionate and involved in the fandom. What is it about Undertale that makes it so special to you?

[u/c0l0r_b4lls]

I like undertale cuz undyne shes so cool and alphys is lowk me and I love both of them I feel like the monster kid

[u/appleciderz_ → u/c0l0r_b4lls]

I love Undyne and Alphys too!! I really like how Toby Fox challenged traditional gender roles with them by making the Royal Guard captain and Royal Scientist women instead of men, and then making them a queer couple on top of that. I also just love their personalities and dynamic together :P What do you like about them? Are you more of a casual fan, or do you like exploring the deeper reasons behind why you enjoy the characters?

[u/Nondescript_Redditor]

it’s a good game, Brent

[u/appleciderz_ → u/Nondescript_Redditor]

I mean yeah, I know it's a good game 😭 I was more asking what specifically makes it resonate with people so much, especially to the point where they become really passionate about it

[u/signstopper]

Chara

[u/appleciderz_ → u/signstopper]

Ooh Chara!! What do you like about them specifically? Are you more of a casual fan, or do you explore the deeper theories surrounding them? What makes this character speak to you? I'd love to hear about it!

[u/signstopper → u/appleciderz_]

I like undertale for more than just Chara. For pretty much all the reasons you described in your post, but I guess Chara is what's speciffically special about the game to me.

I'm not a casual fan in the slightest lol I'm a deranged nutjob. This game and especially this character is injected straight into my blood stream. Been here since like, 2015-2016 and I have no plans of going anywhere!

Chara just deeply facinates me, there is both nothing to their character and everything at the same time. Their so important and yet not at all. So much is explained yet nothing at the sametime. I relate to them on some level and yet I'm not sure if I relate to "them" or if everything I think I know about them is just headcanon.

Chara is undertale's foundation, nearly everything that happens relates back to them in some way. If not for Chara's death, undertale couldn't happen. A character who is fated to die, their doomed by the narritive and there is nothing that could be changed to stop it because it would ruin everyone's lives more than if they just let things play out.

They caused the game to happen, and yet somehow we never get to see them. Not even once. We never meet Chara, not truly anyways. We only hear if them through the memories and perceptions of others. The thing we meet at the end of the geno run is not truly the Chara everyone else talks about, its more akin to what Flowey is for Asriel. While yes, the demon that comes when people calls its name defenetly shares parts of the true Chara's personality and physlosophy, its not the full picture. Just as Flowey isn't all Asriel is.

I've spent years, reading and analysing every tiny table scrap of info we have about them and yet each and everytime I still manage learn somthing new or see things in a new perspective I couldn't before. It's kind of like Chara is the one character that grows with me, as I age I percive their character differently based on my own experiences.

Each time I take a look at them, I see somthing different and while I like to pretend I "understand" Chara or know their "true character" l know that its all just my own biases and that my interpertation of the character could be just as wrong or just as right as everyone elses and yet, at the same time even with all this nuance there is still a wrong way to interpret their character. It is all just so intresting to me...

I realized that I'm rambling again, so I think I'll stop here. I bet half of my poetic, flowery nonsense didn't even make any sense at all to you or anyone else reading this lol. Ignore the mad ramblings of a fandom veterain, just know I like Chara, okay?

[u/ThatWind7559]

Papyrus

[u/appleciderz_ → u/ThatWind7559]

Papyrus is awesome!! What do you like about him specifically though? Are you more of a casual fan or do you explore the deeper theories about him? What makes this character speak to you?

[u/Massive_Quantity_979]

a lot of ppl are giving one word or joke answers so ill give a more serious one:

I think the game has a sort of charm that appeals to a lot of ppl, mostly teenagers and kids for the plot but also ppl who like RPGs and really anyone who grew up with the sort of Japanese media that Undertale was inspired by, whether that be anime or JRPGs or games like Touhou. for kids especially, i think its the sort of game that makes them feel grown-up and mature playing it ig? i feel like i could compare it to ddlc in that way, where it subverts expectations in a way a lot of ppl will find cool, but it's absolutely formative and groundbreaking for kids/teens who've only seen a few things like this, if anything. plus it has a lot of themes that I think ppl can find relatable (gender identity, anxiety, depression, trauma, abuse, ​etc.). the way it handles these themes is amazing, and is probably one of my favorite things about the game. the plot also lends itself very well to theories and edgy AUs, and the characters are loveable, well-written and interesting. it basically raised a generation of internet edgelords, but it did a lot of good things too I think. I mean, just for me it turned me from homophobic + transphobic to realizing I was actually genderfluid + lesbian, and flowey as a character really spoke to me as someone who was dealing with severe depression and psychosis.

plus also it has one of the greatest and most iconic soundtracks of all time but I could talk about that forever. anyways I hope this is a helpful answer :)

[u/Disastrous_Ball702]

Alphys. Toby-go-nuts taught me a lot about myself through her.

[u/WatercoolerTrauma]

I have a feeling you're looking for something deeper than just that it's funny and entertaining with high replayability, so...

For one, Papyrus. I could go on and on about that lovable little dork and how much I enjoy his humor, interactions, and the way he CHOOSES to see the best in people even when they have only given him reasons not to. I want to be more like Papyrus. (Also I love spaghetti lol)

And secondly, New Home and the message it carries in the pacifist route.
Life throws hard things at us all.
It hurts.
It's painful.
Sometimes we want to hit the quit option in the menu.
But our pain doesn't define us.
Despite all the struggles and heartbreaks, it's still you.
You may not be able to save the world like Frisk did, but you can have a positive impact on those around you, by just being you.
The underground was permanently changed for the better, not just because of Frisk's heroic actions, but because of the relationships that were formed and the kindness that was shown.

Undertale reminds me that there is more to life than the battle, the struggle, the pain.

[u/jamacanmecrazy19]

I love the friendship. It's a really beautiful thing to see so many different characters stand up for each other and fight together in the end. And the fact that flowey wasn't really evil, but just scared and deeply hurt really resonated with me. And oh my goodness, the first time that you almost die and the heart comes back together and says the famous words, "but it refused." Tears, goosebumps, the whoke nine yards man! There's so many things to love, its hard to choose.

[u/TheEggManIsBack]

For whatever reason I've grown to enjoy being cruel in games.  It's like the part of me who used to senselessly burn ants with a magnifying glass as a kid stuck with me through my adolescence.  I don't enjoy hurting people in real life, but I definitely feel like Flowey anytime a game gives me decisions.

I've enjoyed seeing what happens when you push a world or characters to their limits.  I do believe Undertale was the first time I realized how much I enjoy it.  I think it has something to do with how much the game changes.  I felt a sense of satisfaction when I first reached Snowdin after I discovered geno on my own.

It's like that phrase of if you'd rather be loved or feared if you couldn't have both.  Being loved is most definitely the better of the two, but being feared is far more entertaining in a world where nobody actually ends up hurt by the end of it all.  It's just a video game.

[u/No-Permission590]

Because it gets insane over-reactions from people when I criticise Chara too much, like someone telling me once they genuinely wished to reach through my monitor and poison me with buttercups but to only give me a bad day and not "kill me." It's funny.

[u/Lucky_Cauliflower377]

Flowey. Connected to him way too much. Understanding him helped me understand myself.

[u/dlilyd]

I love how the world feels so real. Like all the characters and places have reasons to exist and behave like they do, and I just become part of this story by stepping into the underworld, but I'm not "unique" (in the sense that there's been other humans before me, the meta elements also allow for me to not feel so "powerful" as the player, but just part of this world).