The first three weeks of May were the same as April -- busy busy. With my new computer being built late last month, I was doing my best to catch up on all my bloggings (three long, long blogs. I stayed up until like 2 AM finishing the Undertale blog and I woke up at 6:30 AM that same day to get ready to meet with a friend). I was quite the zombie during that time... (f',,,,')f Now it seems like work is starting to wind down a bit, thankfully. I need my sleeps -- and I really gotta finish some of those games and series on my list! Hahaha @_______@'''
Outings/Events in May:
- Hung out with friends overall x4. - Attended Anime North with a friend (my blog is coming!!) - Had a dentist appointment *wahhhhhhh* T______T. - Did an escape room with my sister, her hubby, and three of my co-workers. We did The Unknown at Escape Games Canada. Since my sister, her hubby, and I did this room in the past, we decided not to "interfere" (except when helping with puzzles we forgot the solutions to), to see how the others would fare. We solved all the puzzles but did not get out, lol. - Celebrated my sister's late birthday with a friend. - Had a Lieu Day (today, in fact). I was out doing a bunch of errands in the morning, and now I'm at home blogging while listening to musics. - I caught the second half of Active NEETs' YouTube stream on Wed. May 29. I wish the video itself was uploaded. It was really fun and organic. They played some musics from Final Fantasy VI and V, Street Fighter, and then "Butter-Fly" from Digimon, "We Are!" from One Piece, and other tunes. Absolutely loved it. Hope I'll be able to catch them again if they do another streaming like that in the future. <3 - I succeeded in my "no potato chip" challenge last month so I broke it halfway through this month (I do love my chips!). I'll start up the challenge again another time, though I might not mention it here. - Karaoked by myself x0. - Stayed over at my sister's place x0. - Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn achievements / news: -I've re-subbed mainly to get the regalia during the Final Fantasy XV collaboration event. I got it, too! I've recently pre-ordered the new expansion (Shadowbringers), but I'm still soooooo behind in Stormblood. u____u'''
- Final Fantasy: Brave Exvius achievements / news: -My rank is currently 183 (yay I can leave the game alone for 15 hours and 5 minutes) -I've been hoarding my lapis like a squirrel. Where's the Secret of Mana banner with Flammie??? :O
Exposures:
- (Musician): Madeon -- I've started listening to more tunes from this guy (all thanks to that "Beings" AMV I saw at IFFT last month). I like what I've heard so far! :) - (Food): Japanese souffle pancake -- I tried this from Fuwa Fuwa (a Japanese pancake place), and it was soo yummy. So soft and fluffy. Quite pricey, though. I'd try it again. - (Food): Pokeball tapioca bubbles -- Onezo Tapioca were selling Pokeball tapioca bubbles for a limited time. It was made of red rice, black charcoal, and coconut. I had them with a peach green tea. They were yummy and fun!
Finished...
Watching:
- (Movie): Detective Pikachu -- It had more story than I was anticipating. I like the idea of living in a world with pokemon. :) - (Movie): Happy Death Day -- It wasn't the best, but I was entertained. Thankfully I wasn't scared either. - (TV Show): Game of Thrones -- Well... it ended. I enjoyed some things and some other things I did not like at all.
Playing:
- Nothing this month.
Reading:
- (Novel): Haunted by Chuck Palahniuk -- This was just crazy. So twisted and dark, but also entertaining and thought-provoking at times. I mini-hyperventilated at certain parts. I'd recommend it, but only if you're fine with reading twisted things.
Currently...
Playing (not all at once):
- (PS4): Dark Cloud - (PS4): Kingdom Hearts Final Remix (from Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5 + 2.5 Remix) - (PS4): iDOLM@STER: Platinum Stars - (PS4): Fez - (PS4): Danganronpa Another Episode: Ultra Despair Girls - (PS4): Nights of Azure - (PS4): Plague Inc.: Evolved - (PS3): Borderlands 2 - (PS2): Drakengard - (PS2): Mana Khemia: Alchemists of Al-Revis - (Xbox 360): Magna Carta II - (Xbox 360): Fable III - (3DS): Story of Seasons - (3DS): Culdcept Revolt - (3DS): Devil Survivor 2: Record Breaker - (3DS): Miitopia - (GBA): The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Anniversary Edition - (PSP): Persona - (Wii): Fortune Street - (PC): UnEpic - (PC): King's Bounty: The Legend - (PC): Higurashi no Naku Koro ni (When They Cry)
Watching:
- (TV Show): The Walking Dead (Season 7) - (TV Show): Orphan Black (Season 3) - (TV Show): Criminal Minds (Season 13 - Episode 17) - (TV Show): Six Feet Under (Season 1 - Episode 3) - (TV Show): X-Files (Season 11) - (TV Show): The Strain (Season 2) - (TV Show): Galavant (Season 1 - Episode 5) - (TV Show): The Office (Season 7) - (TV Show): The Goldbergs (Season 3 - Episode 9) - (TV Show): Huff (Season 1 - Episode 3) - (Anime): Log Horizon (episode 3) - (Anime): Attack on Titan: Season 3 (episode 1) - (YouTube): StephenVlogs (Day 620 <-- Stephen and Mal's big day!!)
Reading:
- (Comic): Bodie Troll by Jay Fosgitt - (Manga): Princess Jellyfish by Akiko Higashimura (Volume 2) - (Book): Plight of the Living Dead by Matt Simon
That's it for May. Here are a few pics I took this month plus a video and a YouTube video.
I finally got to try out Joker! I blanked out our names. Whenever I get a Switch and this game, I am totally maining this guy!! XD
A souvenir a friend got me from New York. For a loan shark, he's really lacking in clothes, lol.
The pokeball tapioca bubbles!
I asked my sister to stir with the straw so I could
record the bubbles moving around, lol.
Please don't mind our banter, hahaha :)
"Shelter" from Porter Robinson & Madeon. I was surprised the music video to this was an anime short. The music accompanies the short very well. Too well, in fact, lol... :')
Thanks for reading! As usual, if you have any questions / comments about anything, feel free. :) Take care and until this Sunday (hopefully -- if I can finish my blog on time)!
It's been about 3 weeks since I've built my new PC. It was the first time I ever built my own PC and I consider it one of my most proudest achievements! ^____^ You see... even though I'm big gamer with lots of video game consoles and handhelds, I'm often very nervous when it comes to handling technology. Unless I'm just pressing a button to turn it on, I often worry that I'll break it. This means I do minimal to zero tweaking of any sort. For example, my PS4 still has the original 500 GB hard drive. So for me to build a PC from the ground up, putting all the parts together, and have it running -- I'm still amazed that I was able to do it ^___^ This blog will cover my whole "PC Building Journey", from how I decided which parts to get, to all my joys and frustrations while building the PC, to making sure it worked. I'll try to be as informative as possible, but please keep in mind that newer, better computer parts come out quite frequently (like every year or so). Any specs or info I give now could be outdated years from now. So please, please keep that in mind!
PREFACE: WHY I DECIDED TO BUILD A PC
Around early March of this year, my old PC was experiencing an issue: when I pressed the Power button, the PC wouldn't turn on right away. It would take maybe 3-7 presses for it to finally turn on. A couple weeks later, it would take maybe 5-10 presses to turn on. I freaked out. All I kept thinking about were all the files on my old PC -- I didn't have them backed up anywhere, and many of the files I couldn't bear the thought of losing. I quickly ordered an external hard drive online and transferred as many files as I could. But I knew this wouldn't solve the Power button issue. I figured the only way to solve that... was to get a new PC. I've had my old PC for slightly over 7 years now (it was bought pre-built), so I thought a newer PC with more up-to-date specs would be better in the long run than trying to make any adjustments to the old PC. So I went online to shops like Best Buy and Newegg, and searched for pre-built gaming PCs. Only problem was: I didn't know what all the specs meant, so I had no idea what gaming PC was worth its price! So I watched a video on YouTube that explained various parts of a PC. But I was still lost on what the specs meant. So I watched another YouTube video about PC parts (a better one -- the video will be in the next section), and I saw that the pre-built gaming PCs within my budget only had some parts I wanted, but not all. For example, one pre-built gaming PC might list a high-end graphics card, but not a lot of RAM and not that much storage space (well, not as much as I'd like). After seeing so many different listings that didn't have all the parts I wanted, I decided that I had to the unthinkable: I had to build the PC myself.
STEP 1: RESEARCHING / CHOOSING THE PARTS
I lucked out and found a fairly comprehensive 3-part video series on YouTube. That video series became my main source of... learning and prepping myself for the whole scary process of PC building!
"How to Build a Gaming PC in 2019! Part 1 - Hardware Basics" by Paul's Hardware.
The video briefly went over each main part for a PC, some things to consider for each part, and then some recommendations. The video also introduced me to PCPartPicker. It's a great site that lists various PC parts, user ratings and reviews, price comparisons for some of the major online electronic shops, and a feature where you could create mock-ups of your own PC build. Users can also share their builds and get feedback / comments from other users. From there, with some notes jotted down, I went on PCPartPicker and started putting together my... "ideal" PC build. For my "ideal", I didn't think about price and just marked what I really wanted. For things I didn't understand (like "core count" and "thread count" on a CPU), I'd Google search for Reddit postings about it. Then the next day, I reviewed my "ideal" build, saw the ridiculously expensive final price (around $3270 CAD after tax! Tooooo pricey for me), and thoroughly went through each PC part, comparing different versions of the same part (like the difference between AMD Ryzen 2600 vs AMD Ryzen 2700 vs AMD Ryzen 2700x), and if I could do with an older, less costly part. Even before starting, this was the kind of PC I wanted for myself: one that could handle current video games okay (i.e. a fairly competent graphics card) with lots of storage space (i.e. a hard drive / SSD with lots of space) and one that could possibly handle graphic-editing / game-making / music production / video editing software (i.e. lots and lots of RAM. This is in case I ever wanted to veer in that direction). I also wanted a PC that could play CD / DVDs (I still have a lot of CD / DVDs at home!), so I had to make sure the PC case I got would have a slot for a 5.25" Bay (for the CD / DVD optical drive part). Between Intel and AMD, I went with an AMD build. For my build that's already pretty pricey, I had to opt for the less costly route. So here is my final build (excluding Microsoft Office because I got that from a shop that wasn't listed on their site). I'll also list the parts below with my thoughts, if any, on why I went with each of them. Often if I was undecided, I'd choose the part with higher user ratings (and higher amount of user ratings), and then whichever one costed less. The final cost including tax was roughly $2670 CAD. Still very costly, but at least not as crazy expensive as my first attempt! CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 2700 -- I did not want to settle for less than 8 cores.
Motherboard: MSI B450 Tomahawk -- I mainly chose this because of high user ratings and I thought it'd be super helpful to follow Part 2 of Paul's Hardware PC-building video using the same motherboard he was going to use. Memory (RAM): G. Skill Ripjaws V series DDR-3200 (8 GB x4) -- As mentioned earlier, I wanted to get more RAM in case I wanted to veer into using more creative / editing software. Storage (SSD): Samsung 970 Evo 1TB M.2 NVMe -- This was my splurge part for myself. I wanted my primary drive to start up ridiculously fast. I originally wanted the 2 TB version, but couldn't justify paying around $250 more just for that, hahaha... Storage (HDD): Seagate Barracuda 4TB internal -- Nothing much to say here. I just wanted a lot of storage space. If you don't consider 4TB to be a lot of space... well... to put things into perspective my old PC had a max storage space of 640 GB... Graphics / Video card (GPU): MSI Radeon RX 580 8GB Armor OC -- Sadly I cheaped out on the graphics card. I went with a model that I thought was good enough for the gaming I wanted to do (some high-end games that are older [i.e. my backlogs]). Case: Fractal Design - Focus G Mid Tower -- I had to have a case that had a slot for a CD / DVD drive. I initially thought of getting a full-sized tower, but then read on Reddit that a full-sized tower was often unnecessary. I decided to get a case with a clear side in case parts started falling or going on fire after putting things together.
Power Supply: Corsair RMx 750 W 80+ Gold -- I made sure to get a fully modular power supply. I also made sure it had a gold rating.
Optical Drive (optional): Asus DRW-24F1ST DVD / CD Writer -- I needed this to play my CDs / DVDs. This was the cheapest part to buy. Operating System (optional): Windows 10 -- According to Paul's Hardware Part 3 video, buying Windows 10 isn't really necessary, but I bought it anyway. Software (optional): Microsoft Office (one-time purchase) -- I gotta have my Excel! Ahhh, my second love... <3 Monitor (optional): AOC-G2460PF 24.0" 1920x1080 144Hz -- I originally wanted a cheaper, different monitor, but the one I was considering was locked to Amazon Prime members only. After finalizing my build, I proceeded to buy the parts. I purchased from online sites I trusted, even if the part was listed for less elsewhere. My reasoning was this: I had to get all my parts to start building the PC. My old PC was dying so I couldn't really afford to chance waiting for one part for too long. One thing to note is that PCPartPicker's prices aren't always updated. Most of the time the prices are up-to-date, but please be mindful of it. I noticed this when buying the Ryzen 7 2700. It was listed on PCPartPicker for less than the price on the actual online shop. Within a week, I received every part except for my monitor. Thinking that maybe I'd be able to hook up the new PC to my old monitor, I set aside the earliest weekend I could to do the next step. This is random, but I just have to mention this. This was an amusing product I found while looking up RAM. Do NOT buy this unless you like RBG lighting and you have money to spare (psst -- it's not real RAM!): https://www.corsair.com/us/en/Categories/Products/Accessories-%7C-Parts/PC-Components/Memory/CORSAIR-VENGEANCE-RGB-PRO-Light-Enhancement-Kit/p/CMWLEKIT2
STEP 1.5: GETTING THE TOOLS / PREPPING WINDOWS INSTALLER /
SAYING GOOD-BYE TO MY OLD PC
Before starting Step 2, I had to do a few things: 1. Getting the tools: Paul's Hardware video mentioned only needing a standard Phillips Head screwdriver, so I borrowed a friend's screwdriver sets. I'm sure I have my own screwdriver set somewhere, but not really sure where it is right now. I was glad I borrowed both screwdriver sets because I also needed to use a smaller Phillips Head screwdriver for the NVMe part. I was also reading that having an anti-static wrist strap would be good to have, but not 100% needed. 2. Prepping Windows 10 installer: I'm glad I watched ahead on Paul's Hardware's video series and realized I needed to download Windows 10 installer onto an empty 8 GB USB before starting to build the new PC. In order for me to build the new PC, I have to unplug and put away the old PC. But to download Windows 10 installer, I have to download that using a working PC, so... I'm just really glad I caught that, hahahaha. 3. Saying "Good-Bye" to my old PC: Before unplugging my old PC, I did something really silly: I deleted all my files. I was thinking, since the old PC was dying, I was going to lose access to those files... so I better delete them all while I have the chance. My plan was to throw away my old PC and I didn't want any of my files to still be on that hard drive. After some thought, I could have saved that hard drive and treated it like another backup. It was a little depressing, deleting all those files. It felt like I was deleting a part of myself, hahaha. I'm such a dork.
STEP 2: PUTTING THE PARTS TOGETHER
This part was nerve-wracking. I followed Paul's Hardware Part 2 video very closely, and took my time at every step. I woke up around 6:30 AM and set aside the whole day. Whenever I came across a part I wasn't entirely comfortable installing, I looked for more videos demonstrating how to install it. I had to do this specifically for installing the CD / DVD optical drive, the HDD, the NVMe (I forgot Paul's Hardware's first video briefly demonstrated how to install that), and the graphics card (I had to look up a video on my specific graphic card). I also looked up a video on power supply units for an explanation of all the different cables. It was Round 2 of intense research. Since my old PC was unplugged by this time, I did all this research on my phone. And of course, I looked at the parts' manuals as well.
"How to Build a Gaming PC in 2019! Part 2 - THE BUILD" by Paul's Hardware.
"Guide to PC Power Supply (PSU) Cables" by Dans Tech.
"Corsair AX760 Power Supply Installation Guide" by Jamie Wagner.
My working area.
So some aspects of the PC building were fairly straightforward, like removing the sides of the case and installing the CPU and memory. Everything else, though... *sad face* Throughout the building process I had to constantly remind myself that I was physically weak, so whenever it'd be recommended to put a little force on the part, it'd usually mean I should put a lot of force into it. Below were some of my frustrations / mistakes while putting together the new PC (unless you are familiar with PC parts, it's suggested to watch Paul's Hardware's Part 2 video first to understand what parts I'm referencing): 1. I don't know why, but installing the CPU cooler took the longest time! I followed Paul's Hardware's instruction of screwing a little bit on each corner, but whenever I screwed in a certain distance on one corner, the opposite corner would come undone and stick up, making it pretty much impossible to screw down. And then when I'd loosen all screws and try again, the same thing would happen but for another screw at another corner. I spent probably about a good hour of screwing / unscrewing until I finally couldn't take it anymore and "She-Hulked" the CPU cooler down and screwed each corner down tightly. 2. While trying to place a screw into the right spot, I lost grip and the screw fell onto the motherboard and rolled into a hard-to-reach spot. I had to tilt the motherboard in various angles to get it out. 3. I screwed the motherboard screws into the standoffs to check they screwed in okay, but then I left them screwed in like that, when I should have screwed the standoffs into the case, put the motherboard over the standoffs, and then screwed the screws in. 4. When placing the motherboard into the case, I miscalculated where my left fingers would be and they were against the sharp edges of the I/O shield. When I realized what was going on, I quickly got my left fingers out of that area, while trying not to drop the motherboard. One of my left fingers got lightly cut :( 5. For some reason, the graphics card wasn't fitting into the slot on the motherboard. I didn't put any force but noticed it just wasn't lining up. I looked up a video to watch a demonstration on installing my specific graphic card. The video said to remove the cover that's over the pins. Oh... OTL 6. I gave up on proper cable management. The cables were so thick and durable, I was scared that bending them in sharp, 360 degree angles just so they could be plugged into the motherboard could damage them.
That CPU cooler gave me the most trouble...
After putting all the parts together in the case, I proceeded to hook up the old monitor to the graphics card when I realized something... the old monitor's cables didn't plug in! Noooooooooooo!!!!! I had to wait another week for my new monitor to arrive. When it did arrive, I was confused by all the different cables and had to look up another video.
"HDMI, DisplayPort, VGA, and DVI as Fast as Possible" by Techquickie.
After watching that video, I Google searched Reddit threads comparing DisplayPort and HDMI, leaning more towards connecting the DisplayPort until I read this thread, warning against using DisplayPort cables provided with monitors. In the end, I connected the HDMI cable. Out of the PC parts I used, I would probably get a better: power supply, case, and maybe a better graphics card. The power supply case didn't come with one of the SATA cables that I needed (I don't remember which type of SATA cable, but I was freaking out!). Thankfully the motherboard came with a couple of those SATA cables. The case had the internal bay for the hard drive kinda close to where the power supply would go, which made it kinda difficult to place the power supply with all those thick, durable cables sticking out of it. I'd like a better graphics card just because, hahaha. :) The whole PC building process took 14 hours and 18 minutes. Anybody else would probably take less time, hahaha.
STEP 3: INSTALLING WINDOWS, MICROSOFT OFFICE
This section will be pretty short -- it's the homestretch! Just like with the earlier steps, I followed closely to Paul's Hardware's video, but my experience when it came installing Windows 10 was a little different from his.
"How to Build a Gaming PC in 2019! Part 3 - System Setup" by Paul's Hardware.
When I pressed the Power button, and it turned on, and I saw the fans moving inside, I got so excited! After that it was following the video almost step-by-step until installing Windows. It could be because I inputted an actual product key that the setup process went a little differently. One difference was that Windows connected automatically to the internet -- I didn't have any choice to connect later. Once Windows 10 was successfully installed and working, I veered off the video and went about downloading programs I wanted and transferring some of the files from my external hard drive. I would go on to install Microsoft Office the next day and was re-united with my beloved Excel! Hahaha <3
My new PC is alive!!!!! XD
Forgive me for the messy cable management.
Birthday: April 23rd, 2019
For anybody curious, these were the specs for my old PC.
Thank you for your long service! *bows*
Overall, PC building was a really long, time-consuming, and money-consuming venture... but it was a really, really rewarding experience! I know months from now I will likely forget about the little details, but some things I will always remember (like CPU coolers are hard to install! Hahaha). I am glad I took the scary route and was lucky to come out of it without any issues. That's it for this blog! Thank you very much for reading! If you have any questions / comments about my PC building experience, feel free. If you have a general or specific question about PC building, I'd strongly suggest Googling for Reddit threads about it or asking on PCPartPicker. I can try to help, but chances are I may not know or not remember. Woot! The main blogs I wanted to blog about are done! Next week (May 25-26th weekend), I may take a break from blogging or I'll blog about something really light, so I can get in some relaxation time for myself. Thanks again for reading. Take care and till next time! :)
Playthrough Status: COMPLETED STORY TWICE (watched the third route on YouTube) Approx. Length: 10-15 hours each playthrough Language: English Played on: PS4 Also Available for: PC, Mac, Linux, PSVita, Nintendo Switch Type of Game: Role-playing game, Adventure, Puzzle, part bullet hell / "dodge-fest" Overall Impression: I LOVED this game! There -- my review is done. Hahaha ;)
SPOILER ALERT WARNING!!
This review will contain some spoilers -- or rather, there will be a "Spoilers" section at the end of the review to go into further detail about certain things. There may still be slight spoilers throughout the review, but I've tried my best to keep them at a minimum.
PERSONAL STANDING (Pre-exposures, thoughts, etc.)
I think it was a couple years ago when I first heard about Undertale. One of my close friends recommended it to me on Facebook. Thinking about my overflowing backlog of games (and other media), I kept the title in mind, but didn't look into it at all, certain that I wouldn't get to playing it until much, much later. Then fast forward to around July-August 2018 when I saw Undertale on sale on the Playstation Network (PSN). I decided not to buy it, thinking that I wouldn't have time to play it right away. The next time I hung out with my sister, her husband, and our friend, they wouldn't stop talking about how awesome Undertale was -- and that even though it had 8-bit graphics, it was definitely a game to experience. I got so hyped that I decided to buy Undertale from PSN -- except that the sale was over! .... ....... I checked PSN every week after that to see if Undertale was on sale. I could have bought it at full price, but I thought, 'I saw it on sale once. I could have gotten it at sale price before. I'm going to get it at sale price.' When I finally bought Undertale at sale price around February this year [2019], I played it immediately... and fully regretted NOT paying full price! XP
STORY
You play a human character who finds herself (or himself? For the ease of one referencing, I'm going to refer to the human character as a "she") in the Underground inhabited by monsters. She explores the Underground, trying to get out, while various inhabitants try to hunt her down and take her soul. That is the barest plot synopsis I can give without giving anything away. There is definitely more to the story -- you just gotta play through it! :) When I got the full gist of Undertale and the Underground, I was... impressed. When I bought Undertale, I wasn't anticipating a story with so much HEART. I never thought a game so "simple-looking" could evoke so many emotions in me -- particularly amusement, sadness, hopelessness, compassion, a deep, deep yearning, and... determination! It was a very pleasant surprise. I'll talk about a few of my favourite story moments in the "Spoilers" section.
THE HUMOUR
I didn't mention this at all, but Undertale is a very funny game! The humour ranges from absurd and goofy, breaking the fourth wall, to downright silly and corny. Often the humour comes from interacting with the various characters and the environment, and other times it is the amusing thought that somebody came up with this, and actually did it! One of my favourite funny moments was the lamp scene. :)
One of my favourite funny characters to interact with.
Everything he says is funny in a sad way.
I'll post a video of all his interactions in the "Spoilers" section.
THE SERIOUSNESS / THEMES
Despite all the humour, there is a good amount of seriousness in Undertale. Where one scene can make you laugh and smile with utter amusement, another scene can "sober" you up and tug tightly at your heart strings. Undertale also explores and addresses a number of themes, some grim (like suicide and depression, among other things). I was surprised to see such serious themes touched on in such a light-hearted funny game, but at the same time -- really respected how honestly it approached them. Undertale really has a lot to say, and every word / action is well-appreciated! :) I'll mention a couple of my favourite serious moments in the "Spoilers" section.
GAMEPLAY
Certain aspects of Undertale play out like a standard RPG -- get into monster battles, gain EXP, gain money, explore new places, buy items / equipment, solve puzzles. Other aspects, namely the battle system, change things around and you're left with a unique and challenging experience. In Undertale, the battle system is set up in a way where the player can spare monsters instead of killing them. This is completely different from the "Run" option (i.e. running away from a battle), as most times sparing a monster requires first talking / interacting with the monster. Each monster is different in how they should be treated before they can be spared. When a player successfully spares a monster, the monster often leaves some gold behind, so the player can still continue with other aspects of the game (buying items / equipment). I really love the battle system. It's unique and gives more options on how to treat a monster in battle and can feel quite rewarding at times. I will say though... trying to spare every monster a player may encounter is not easy. It is possible to die because after trying to interact with the monster, it will still go to their turn, which is usually an attack on you. So... sparing every monster is kinda like an unofficial "hard mode" for Undertale. When a monster attacks, this is also unique to Undertale. It turns into this mini bullet hell / "dodge-fest" mini-game where the player controls a heart that is trying to dodge incoming projectiles / obstacles for a few seconds. The attacks vary from monster to monster and also which monsters are present in the battle. For example, Monster A might stick a jumping frog on you and Monster B might pour some rain drops. If Monster A and Monster B are both in the same battle, then you might end up dodging both a jumping frog and pouring rain drops at the same time. While I am horrible at bullet hell games, I enjoy trying to dodge the monsters' attacks in this fashion. I think it is fresh and can keep a player attentive while playing.
Some of the different interactions the player can have with the monsters. The interactions vary between monsters.
An example of the mini bullet hell / "dodge-fest" mini-game. This is also different for each monster.
YOUR STYLE OF PLAY
One thing I really LOVE about Undertale is that how you play shapes your gameplay experience. Almost every choice, big or small, come with consequences. You can do too much of one thing; you can do too little of another thing. And it'll often have some kind of impact somewhere. I think that is so awesome. I think it adds a bit of realism and can vary your gameplay experience a little every time if you make different choices. I should also add that there are various endings in Undertale and how the monsters are treated play a key role in determining which ending you can get. I'll summarize my own two playthroughs in the "Spoilers" section.
Something I did too many times... and this was the consequence.
GRAPHICS
The graphics, while sometimes "simplistic" and goofy-looking, worked really well in Undertale. The graphics are distinct, cute, expressive, and with their own kind of charm! :)
CHARACTERS
There is a huge cast of characters in Undertale -- each with their own unique voice, struggles, and motivations. By the end, I was surprised by how much I deeply cared for many of them. My absolute favourites are Toriel and Sans, with close seconds being Asgore and Papyrus. I'll talk a bit about Toriel, Sans, and another "favourite" character in the "Spoilers" section.
MUSIC
The music -- is -- sooooooo -- awesome!!! Almost every track fits perfectly with every scene, ranging from goofy, fun, heartfelt pieces. Toby Fox (creator / composer of Undertale) makes great use of leitmotifs (recurring musical phrases -- like melodies, chord progressions, or simple rhythms -- associated with a character, location, or emotion). With Toby Fox's use of leitmotifs, almost every track evokes a multitude of emotions that enhance the current scene. It is hands down one of the best video soundtracks I have listened to in a long time! Below are a couple tracks I really like (even though I like them all). I'll also share my favourite track plus another track I really like in the "Spoilers" section.
"Heartache". I love the fast beats!
"Bergentrückung" + "ASGORE". This video is an extended version.
When the drums start beating around 0:52,
I get so revved up like you wouldn't believe!
REPLAYABILITY
Undertale has a lot of replayability! It is absolutely impossible to experience / see everything in the first playthrough, and even after replaying multiple times, it is still possible to go through the game and miss many things. The missable things (so far that I know) tend not to be very critical to the story, but are little tidbits that flesh out the world just a bit more. There are three different endings, so that would require at least two to three playthroughs (two playthroughs if you know what you are doing), if you really want to experience all endings. I generally don't like missing things when playing through a game, but I'm really glad I missed a bunch of things when playing Undertale -- it gives me an excuse to replay it in the future! ^____^
CLOSING THOUGHTS
I know I am super late to the party... but if you haven't yet played Undertale (you may be a late bloomer like me), and enjoy games that are quirky, unique, and with a wonderful story, characters, and music, I highly recommend checking this out! It is definitely a game to experience. It is a game that leaves a lasting impression in your soul (at least it did for me). Kudos to Toby Fox for creating such a wonderful, wonderful game! :)
Thanks for reading! If you have any comments, feel free. :)
So I'll do the scrolly thing and the "Spoilers" section will appear after that. Then I'll add some more scrolly things after the "Spoilers" section in case anybody wants to comment, but not see the spoilers.
I'll talk about a few of my favourite story moments.
I do have more favourite story moments. But if I listed them all, it'd probably take a long while. My first favourite story moment was... the "Tutorial scene" with Flowey explaining that "LV" stands for "Love" and "EXP" stands for "Experience Points". It starts off like a standard tutorial to an RPG. And then once you touch those "friendliness pellets", everything changes. It was completely unexpected and awesome!
Like any player playing this for the first time without knowing anything
about the game, I grabbed those "friendliness pellets".
Another favourite story moment -- was the story of another human and Asriel, as was told by the various monsters (during the Neutral run). Paired with the "Undertale" music track... oh man, I couldn't stop crying. The story was soooo sad. But I loved it -- the idea of a monster and human caring for each other like siblings, crossing boundaries like that... and then being misunderstood by the humans above (because that happens all too often)... but then Asriel refusing to fight back... and then dying on a bed of flowers... *cries* Below's a YouTube video of the scene to refresh the emotions ;)
The monsters retelling the story between Asriel and another human.
Soooooo saaaaaaaad.
My third favourite story moment was at the very end of the True Pacifist route and we see Frisk living with Toriel (if you chose to live with Toriel in the end)! It was a simple moment but was so sweet! Toriel finally gets a family again! *sniffle* :')
I'll post a video of all his interactions.
And here it is! :) His words and expressions are just so hilarious in a sad, sad way. Hopefully the words will be legible enough! I think you can click the bottom right corner of the video to enlarge.
This character -- I hope he finds his happy ending one day!
I'll mention a couple of my favourite serious moments.
One of my favourite serious moments was Sans judging Frisk during the Neutral run and revealing the true meaning of "LV" and "EXP" ("Level of Violence" and "Execution Points"). It -- wow -- it really turned things upside down! I loved that Sans looked at killing monsters (in an RPG) from a different, yet brutally honest (and relatable) perspective, and I loved that Sans asked you to reflect on your actions!
Sans explaining how killing numbs the soul.
Sans still explaining.
I love the lighting / use of shadows.
I think it gives more impact to Sans' harsh truths.
Another favourite serious moment was at the very end of the True Pacifist run. Asriel asked Frisk why she climbed Mt. Ebott, as legends said those who climbed Mt. Ebott were said to disappear. When Asriel asked "Was it foolishness? Was it fate? Or was it... Because you...?", it caught my breath. It never occurred to me to wonder why Frisk climbed Mt. Ebott. Just thinking that Frisk might have wanted to kill herself... it's a truly sad thought. :(
I'll summarize my own two playthroughs.
Playthrough 1: Well, I played this completely blind. No FAQs (unless I was stuck at a puzzle). No reloading to fix any mistakes. Whatever consequences was dealt, I took. As a result... I killed the tutorial dummy at the beginning. I was testing out the attack controls. I didn't know one hit would kill the dummy... I tried killing Napstablook when I first saw him. I accidentally killed Toriel. I was intending to get her HP to a low-ish amount and then try sparing her. But then that attack dealt soo, sooooo much damage. Seeing Toriel's heart break in two while she was still thinking of the player.... It was like a sharp punch in the gut. I was filled with so much regret. I took a piece of the snowman and kept it in my inventory throughout the game. I found the Temmie village. I went on to kill every main character except for Papyrus and Sans. Papyrus was the only one to offer to spare me, so I took it, and I went on a date with him. I tried sparing the others, but none of them accepted it. Seeing Undyne's slow movements towards her death was really gut-wrenching. And then the implications that Alphys committed suicide because Mettaton was killed. Then... I cried my eyes out on the way to Asgore (during the monsters' story of Asriel and another human). Then and there I decided to let Asgore take my soul. When Sans told me the true meaning of "LV" and "EXP", it was another swift punch in the gut. When Asgore destroyed the "Mercy" button, I was shocked. At the very end when I decided to spare Asgore and then Flowey killed him... I was sad and enraged. At the very end, I decided to kill Flowey. I couldn't forgive that he killed Asgore. The phone call from Papyrus was laced with regrets. When he said he couldn't contact Undyne and Alphys, it made me sad because I knew exactly why he couldn't get through (I killed Undyne and Alphys committed suicide). Playthrough 2: I decided to play it again, but doing the True Pacifist route, meaning no killings of any sort (as well as doing all the other requirements to reach the True Pacifist route)! Overall, I found it much more difficult than the Neutral route. Instead of just mindlessly killing (like what you could possibly do while on Neutral route), I had to experiment with the interactions for each monster. To briefly summarize... I died a ton! Not just to buy the Temmie Armor at a cheaper price. While sparing monsters can give you gold, sparing monsters do NOT give EXP. That essentially means that fighting bosses and monsters would always be at Level 1 (i.e. super difficult!). The True Pacifist route was truly a more rewarding experience, offering so much more insight into each of the main characters and revealing more about the monsters and the Underground. I loved talking to the Snowman character at the end of the game. When he / she thanked me for carrying a piece of him all over the place, I was very touched. :') Watching Playthrough 3: I titled this "Watching Playthrough 3" because I knew I'd never be able to bring myself to actually play the Genocide route. It's way too brutal to kill every monster when I care for so many of them. So I watched a run of it on YouTube. It was interesting to see just how different the characters treated you once they acknowledged you as somebody who was there to kill everybody. I laughed at the empty shops (laughed in a sad way). It was sad to see every character die, especially Sans. When the player dealt Sans the final blow and blood dripped out of his mouth, I held my breath. Poor, poor Sans... *cries*
I'll talk a bit about Toriel, Sans, and another "favourite" character.
Toriel: I love her nurturing and caring personality. I actually cry now every time she dies (if I happen to catch a "Let's Play" video on YouTube and the player kills her). Sans: To me, Sans is a really great character. He's funny, easy-going, smart, and a playful trickster -- i.e. my kind of guy, hahaha. I also really like his laxed approach to most things in the game, but also taking things seriously when he has to. It's kinda like -- while he goes on with Life with a light-hearted demeanor, he still thinks and ponders about everything seriously. Some of his seriousness comes through during the "dates" with him. I also really like that Sans' protecting of / kindness towards Frisk wasn't really based off of Sans liking Frisk and wanting to be friends with her (though that could have been true close to the end) -- it was because of the promise he made with somebody he was friends with. To me, that showed the kind of lengths Sans would go to honour a promise to somebody he really cared for. Another "favourite" character: It's Temmie! Actually, I just love all her facial expressions. I think they are hilarious and cute! :)
Tem's Shop! I love how Temmie's face moves all over the place, hahaha. ^__^
I'll also share my favourite track plus another track I really like.
If I could, I would list the whole soundtrack. I'm listing these tracks in the "Spoilers" section because I'd prefer that these tracks be experienced first while playing through Undertale. :)
"Undertale". This is by far my favourite track in Undertale.
It is so wonderful and expressive!
"An Ending". This makes me feel... a sense of failure and sadness.
I can still recall when this track played for my playthrough.
It was a phone call and Papyrus was on the other end, telling me that
he couldn't reach Undyne, Alphys..
If you read my spoilers, thank for reading them! Now to finish with more scrolly things. Feel free to comment :D
