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Undertale rants pt. 1

As much as I love Undertale Asriel is such a disappointing final boss of what's meant to be Undertales true ending When compared to Sans, Omega Flowey, and even Asgore; Asriel fails as a final boss

Sans practically cheats the whole fight; getting the first cheap hit, his karma damage, dodging all your attacks, and just using general cheap tricks to mess with you. For the entire Genocide route all monsters (for the most part) go down easily and let you walk all over them. Sans is the perfect final boss as he shows you that your actions have consequences and if you're gonna fight dirty then so will he. It's not just how hard his fight is, it's how he playfully mocks you throughout the fight that really frustrates you. He doesn't want to kill you. He knows you'll just come back. He just wants to piss you off until you quit. Until you reset and bring everyone back. That's why his fight works. It's made to be frustrating and annoying. You've made your choice now Sans is gonna make sure you pay for it

Throughout the entire game characters have dropped hints about the King Asgore. Truly setting him up to be the final boss. And while any player knows that he is not he sure as hell still feels like one. The choice to let us know at the very last moment that we are going to have to kill him is heartbreaking for anyone who is trying to play the game as intended and spare everyone. Especially after hearing how much the monsters of the underground look up to him. He gives them hope for a better future and the player, if they wish to return home, has to tear that all away from them. And when you finally meet him...it's even more heartbreaking. He is a kind gentle soul not truly wanting to hurt anyone. He'll even let you run away or wait until you're ready before he fights you. He creates a very peaceful welcoming aura that you know won't last long. When you do fight him the opening song "Bergentrückung" plays as you're given one last boost of determination. One last reminder that this is it. This is the end. Everything you worked for is finally going to pay off...and then he destroys the mercy button. Now you are forced to fight him. No matter how badly you want a happy ending the game will force you to turn to violence. The fight is designed to get harder the longer you stall. Like Flowey said: It's kill or be killed. If you want to win this fight then you have to attack back. The regal boss fight music and increasingly difficult attacks truly create a very tense fight. Asgore can't even look you in the eyes as he fights you... knowing that one of you won't leave here alive. My first time fighting I had died so many times that I forgot the person I was fighting and I just kept spamming attack and then after the final blow...you defeated him. It was over. You won but at what cost? But you're given one last bit of hope... One last chance at a happy ending as the Mercy Button reappears....you spare him...he talks about taking you in as a family...and then....that's ripped away from you. As you watch Asgore be killed by Flowey who has been hiding in the background for much of the game who you've surely forgotten about during your adventure but might always been in the back of your mind wondering what that weird flower from the beginning was all about... Then he takes the human souls and-

Omega Flowey breaks everything you know about the game. From sending you back to the start only to twist it, to destroying your save file just like that, to mocking you Everytime you die then bringing you back just to do it all again he, much like Sans, is toying with you. But for a different reason. Simply for his own enjoyment. The fight takes everything already established in the game and throws it away for something truly chaotic and, during the first playthrough, frightening. Everything about it is meant to be unnerving, suspenseful, and make you feel like everything is truly hopeless. Flowey twisted himself into a grotesque mix of flesh, plants, and machinery. The fight has no turn based combat or even a bullet box instead putting you for a, seemingly infinite, bullet hell section. The music is like nothing else in the game being very overwhelming, suspenseful and frightening as well as being timed to the phases of the fight. The first time you play you have no idea what's going on however it's also not too confusing to where you can figure it out and eventually gain the upper hand. The hopelessness that the music and Flowey conveyed changes into an uplifting melody as Flowey slowly loses his confidence and begins spamming attacks in hopes of regaining some control. It's not noticeable at first playthrough but Flowey seems to spam one attack a bunch in the final phase while spamming reloads as if he's trying to find something, anything that will work as the tables are turned. Ending the fight with the option to spare...or to kill Flowey... The fight is one of the most beautifully constructed combinations of boss design, music, and gameplay that create a very unique and edge of your seat experience

And then theres Asriel

The fight is built up very dramatically. Everyone came together to try and find a peaceful solution just like you, the pacifist player, has strived for. Only for Flowey to try and take it all away again. And I do mean all of it. The human souls. The monster souls. Everyone's hopes. Everyone's dreams. And now...he's back to Asriel...but with the powers of a god. The fight starts off like any other until the song kicks into beat and the background becomes a collection of beautiful vibrant colors and- Well that's about it for the first phase. The unique actions are pretty fitting and definitely makes that unique...the music definitely slaps...but most of the attacks aren't anything game breaking. Not like Omega Flowey or Sans or even Asgore breaking the mercy button. There's nothing that's too fundamentally changed about the gameplay. The final attack isn't even that interesting and it's not until the second phase that we get anything really groundbreaking. Asriel (despite saying he's been holding back and is going to unleash his full power) only uses one fire attack. Though I guess it could be reasoned that he is still very much a child inside and spamming this attack is similar to Omega Flowey or a kid playing a particularly hard video game and they'll just start spamming whatever seems to work. Saving The Lost Souls and Asriel is very compelling storywise but it doesn't make that much of a fun fight. That sums up Asriels fight perfectly. It's very story driven, is a beautiful conclusion to the game but not a very satisfying final boss the same way Sans and Omega Flowey were

But I love Undertale and Toby Fox and no disrespect to him or anyone else working on it. It's still a very fun game and has characters and fights I adore. I just was disappointed at how standard Asriels fight is in comparison to the other final bosses. I hope the final boss of Deltarune would trump all these bosses and we'll see Toby create more masterpieces in the future whether it be games or just music.

But hey....maybe the reason Asriel didn't break the game as much as Flowey is because he didn't get every monster soul...maybe he is in shock the entire fight as he's not at full power and is confused about how this isn't working... because he missed one soul ... Napstablook's....If he got Napstablook's soul there's no telling how powerful he'd be Maybe he'd be unbeatable But .... Napstablook didn't let him take their soul....therefore:

Napstablook is the true hero of Undertale