Weird thought (genocide and pacifist/neutral spoilers): what Sans is experiencing during the Sans fight on genocide must be kinda similar to how the player is feeling when battling Flowey
As a phenomenon, this sort of mechanical constraint might have communicative value. Nonviolent resistance, after all, is a performance of sorts: resisters play a role in response to an aggressor, ceding one type of power in the hopes of gaining another. In doing so, they submit to significant constraint and the possibility of intractable failure. Being beaten or jailed is not a failure of nonviolent resistance, it's a state that's planned for and accepted as a possibility.
The constraints of Undertale's nonviolent combat, then, might suggest something similar, highlighting the way that choosing not to fight is a profound risk, not to be taken lightly.
i feel like this part of the article is on the money, but what comes after it is not, really. Immediately after the Toriel bit, Flowey brings up the possibility that you'll get into fights with people who aren't willing to back down. Undyne and Mettaton both criticize pacifist actions and sparing them serves as a kind of refutation. Before you meet Asgore, Sans emphasizes that the situation you're approaching is one with no easy way out, and during the epilogue, Asriel brings up that the surface world may not be so forgiving. The game is full of unavoidable encounters in which puzzle solving is the only nonviolent way out. Pacifism is *not* supposed to feel low risk; it is, nevertheless, the right thing.
while i'm rambling about this game and its ending (true pacifist):
Spoiler:
i think it's interesting how the Flowey battle (which is clearly a nod to Giygas), is this disturbing, fourth-wall-breaking thing and an emotional slap in the face, whereas Asriel, the real end boss, is a much less bleak, more optimistic encounter, i think? In some ways the presentation is more reminiscent of a traditional final boss enemy: swirling backgrounds, OTT attacks, celestial imagery. But somehow, to me, that battle felt all the more exciting and important for coming after the Flowey battle. idk, did anyone else feel the same?
i'm guessing he maybe couldn't figure out one of the puzzles and thought the problem was with his reflexes or something when he's actually doing it wrong?
Comments
i got "owned", lol
the game remembers if you die and start over, or quit and try again
http://angeban.tumblr.com/post/132784702035/not-when-i-shift-intomaximum-overshitpost-my
the ultimate crack ship
and call toriel
Assassin poems, Poems that shoot
guns. Poems that wrestle cops into alleys
and take their weapons leaving them dead
Assassin poems, Poems that shoot
guns. Poems that wrestle cops into alleys
and take their weapons leaving them dead
Assassin poems, Poems that shoot
guns. Poems that wrestle cops into alleys
and take their weapons leaving them dead
Assassin poems, Poems that shoot
guns. Poems that wrestle cops into alleys
and take their weapons leaving them dead
Assassin poems, Poems that shoot
guns. Poems that wrestle cops into alleys
and take their weapons leaving them dead
still weirded out tho