Believe it or not, I don’t sign on very often for the whole “indie game” experience. I see nothing wrong with them obviously, different strokes for different folks and that’s great. But take it from me, more times than not when new indie game comes out I very rarely if ever the first, second or even 250th person to jump on that bandwagon. A majority of the time it’s a matter of price.Not to say that they are overpriced, but more “I know what kind of experience I’m getting, and I could probably get BETTER for that price”. This mentality is much of the reason I have skipped out on Toby Fox’s magnum opus, Undertale till now. Sure I could have bought it at any time, 20 dollars is nothing compared to what I end up spending on even older retro games I add to my collection regularly. Turns out however a great way to get me to buy into a critically acclaimed indie game is to put it on sale for half price on a console everyone says is dead and has no games.

The Vita

I recently went on a trip and decided Id start Undertale for the flight there and back, on the Vita, and man oh man this game hits me in so many ways I can barely control my fingers as I type. My goal was simply get as much done as I could on my flight to my destination and my flight back and talk about the game some

 How do I describe Undertale?

I’d describe it as a Role playing game very much aware of the gag, a game that takes many of the tropes and sometimes the oddities of the genre and pokes fun at them for great effect. Ever ask yourself why Storekeepers in other games will happily empty out their pockets to buy whatever trash you have on you? Yeah, not a thing here, the first town I entered, Snowdin. I decided to buy and sell some goods because hey that’s what you do in a video game. Trying to SELL the shopkeeper anything lead them to point out just how absurd it was that any business owner would just buy whatever garbage you threw at them. Boy oh boy it got better, the first INN I got to in said town was actually kinda pricey. Could it be because Hotels in real life aren’t super cheap Or because the game literally heals you every time you touch a save point? (Speaking of which I really should see if anything happens if I use an INN).

 Character wise, I feel like I have talked to and met some odd,strange and yet lovable characters. Now prior to playing the game I wasn’t completely blind to what or who may appear while I played. Monsters like the loving Toriel who simply want you to stay with her and be safe, Sans and Papyrus who somehow manage to make me laugh and also make me question whether the game is sentient. Undyne, an armored clad fish warrior who simply wants to help all monster kind, or just a small talking flower that urges you to talk into its bullets, Even the random encounters have some sort of personality, and character to them.

Speaking of random encounters, a Roleplaying game wouldn’t be complete without some kind of battle of system. Undertale  is what happens if you took dialogue options, bullet hell and moral choices and rolled them into a battle system. The battle system is truly something to behold, you will find yourself checking every monster to figure out things about them. Maybe this monster wants to comedian and simply wants you to laugh at their jokes, maybe they are depressed because people keep using their antlers as ornament and trash hooks. But don’t think you can just run into monsters without any kind of hitch, it is a BATTLE after all, that’s where the bullet hell aspect of the game leaving your tiny little heart to avoid bullets, giant orbs, knives, and…Dogs?

Leaving you with the dilemma, help the monsters and let them be? Or kill them? Now I have to admit I’m not 100% how the game will treat you if you decide to be THAT guy and murder every single monster you find, but  I find it pretty interesting. Take it from me I’m not innocent of eyeing the “Fight” button at times when some of these monsters really do annoy me.

I feel terrible I skipped out of this game for so long, I should have bought it at full price but playing it now, I genuinely find myself even MORE excited for Tobys upcoming game DELTARUNE. Here is the big kicker about this piece guys.

I am only half way through the game