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#zero punctuation
demilypyro · 1 year
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always nice when Yahtzee
unequivocally likes a game
goes off about the games industry for a bit
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dreamed-for-not · 6 months
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katapotato55 · 1 year
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How to write a good metaphor
yall seemed to like my post on "how to write good horror" so i figured i should make another one of these.
1- do. not. explain. the. metaphor.
don't.
"oh but how will the audience know my deep and meaningful message- "
SOME PEOPLE WONT GET IT. if you explain what you mean then suddenly the metaphor won't be deep anymore. it becomes a generic forced message.
i know you are tempted to make a character infodump about everything, fucking don't.
followup on this:
2- a good metaphor should potentially have multiple interpretations.
"but i don't want people to get the wrong impression of the story!"
then you either need to make damn sure its an elegantly written metaphor, or none at all. the death of the author is the idea that everyone has their own vision of a story they read, rearguards of authors intent. you need to come to terms with this or else you won't improve your writing skills.
you need to trust that your audience is intelligent enough to understand the metaphor on their own without bashing them over the head with it. sometimes people misunderstand meaning, it is a fact of life.
The game little inferno was thought of as a metaphor about pollution, in which later the creators went out to say it was actually about capitalism and wasting your life with things like exploitative mobile games. you just need make it SUBTLE and hope for the best.
3- The story/gameplay/etc should inform the metaphor(and sometimes reference real life examples)
To mention little inferno again, the "you must wait x amount of time for in-game item to be given to you" is a mirror of mobile games in the real world that use timers to leach money from you.
another example: analogue horror.
broken old technology is scary on its own, but many good analogue horror artists tend to use this to the advantage.
analogue horror can be used as a metaphor for dying trends and technology, like how in the 30's through 70's we used asbestos in the walls. Analogue horror makes a great parralel to this idea (see Blue_channel by gooseworx for a good example.) . the audience questions WHY this is on an old CRT tv and not just a smartphone, perhaps to imply this was an event that happened years ago.
undertale is another example, where most RPG's encourage you to fight and to level up, undertale uses this as a simple metaphor about obsessive control and being cruel to get an arbitrary achievement (i recommend the escapist's video on "why i didn't review undertale" on youtube for way better examples)
tldr: a metaphor is stronger if you lightly reference real life occurances and implement your metaphor in the medium presented.
4- the curtains are blue because they are blue.
not everyone is going to understand your metaphor
and not everyone is going to notice every single little metaphor you add to your story.
remember those teachers that would constantly stretch to imply something in a story is a metaphor and that the curtains are blue because of some deep metaphor for death and sadness and shit?
those teachers are full of it. ignore them.
metaphors are allowed to be simple. not every metaphor needs to be a hyper deep depth defying world changing thing. I could even argue a bunch of small metaphors connected to each other can be better than one big metaphor depending on your story.
relax. don't think too much about it because your average audience member won't.
5- study movies, tv, books, games, etc and understand why their metaphors work.
don't fall into that "the curtains are blue because of a deep message" English teacher mindset mind you.
"but how do i tell what is and isn't a metaphor?" you may ask
simple. trust your gut. you won't understand everything you come across but the human brain has a way of telling what is and isn't a metaphor in stories.
(spoiler about bugsnax)
I could argue Bugsnax is a metaphor about drug abuse and addiction. The characters have personality traits commonly associated with people vulnerable to drug addiction. An athlete, a hippy, a married couple going through a rough spot in their marriage with the threat of divorce, a mentally ill person with trauma and paranoia, etc.
It isn't obvious, many people may disagree with me, but you can't deny that there are signs i may be right.
(end of spoiler) the point i am trying to make: don't stretch to find a metaphor when you don't see one. if you are curious google other people's theories and make your own opinion. metaphors are hard and you will learn over time. and finally 6- do not ever do "it was all just a dream" or "the character is secretly in a coma" etc this applies to writing in general but it is still related to metaphors. the only time i have seen this done well is driver san francisco, but what it did right was A- make it so the players can guess ahead of time the mystery, such as the radio saying voices of your character in the hospital, or if you zoomed out you could hear a heart monitor. and B- it didn't completely un-do the entire story. that is my core issue with this trope. it either wastes your time un-doing the entire story readers worked hard to finish, or it is just nonsensical and terrible. "dora the explorer is actually in purgatory!" "spongebob is a metaphor for the 7 deadly sins!" "ash is in a coma and that is why he never ages! " ooooor it is a cartoon and you are forcing meaning that doesn't exist in something that doesn't even imply it. the world being a bit weird is not enough to be a metaphor for anything. If you want to make a good metaphor: do more effort than just slapping a lazy "it was all a coma" thing at the end. Like horror, stuff like this needs to be built up properly. also consider authors intent. I understand death of the author and all of that, but do you really think a retired marine biologist made spongebob to be a complex metaphor about sinners in hell ? (rip Stephen Hillenburg btw. we didn't deserve him.) thank you for reading, hope this helps. and please, learn to understand the tropes of metaphors before you attempt to make the story of a generation. edit- adding a couple more things i forgot 7- "the darkness is going to destroy the land or whatever!" i see this used all the time. spooky wookey dark shadowy bits going to destroy a land and is the hero's generic bad thing to fight. stop it. it is not a deep and complex metaphor about depression or whatever the hell you are on about. its lazy and stupid. 8- a story should stand up on its own regardless if audience members understand the metaphor or not I don't like Gris. it is a very pretty game with lovely visuals But also the entire story is just the main character moping about artistically and shit and go on about how artistically sad and dramatic this all is. if i don't understand the story without understanding the metaphor, then your story and your metaphor sucks. an example of a metaphor done well: spiritfairer without the metaphor, it is a simple game about running a traveling boat. even if you didn't care too much about the deeper meaning it is a cute story and the gameplay is fun (spoiler) if you look deeper, it can also be taken as a metaphor about greif and learning to accept your loved ones will one day die. things like the boat being filled with empty houses you can't remove is a good example of this. (end of spoiler) your story needs to stand up on its own to be good. don't use a metaphor as a crutch.
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No shame! here’s proper punctuation with a simple format and the dictionary definitions because i used to be that writer who was where some of you are now. 💖
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1. Full stop
A full stop is the punctuation name for a mark that is used to show the end of a sentence, as shown in this punctuation example:
'Lucy went clothes shopping. She bought a lovely new skirt.'
Full stops are used to indicate that it is the end of a sentence, usually communicating a complete point or thought. It highlights a new sentence is about to begin.
2. Commas
Commas is the punctuation name for a mark that aregreat for breaking down sentences, combining two clauses or showing us when to pause.
'Despite the fact I hate maths, I quite like learning about fractions.'
This shows how commas can add emphasis and tell the reader when to pause. Sometimes, commas can be misplaced. This is called a comma splice, where two independent clauses are connected by a comma, when they should really be separated with a full stop or semi colon or connected with a connective.
3. Question marks
Question marks simply indicate that the speaker is asking a question. They're used at the end of question (or interrogative) sentences.
'Do you still want to keep your teddy bear?'
4. Exclamation marks
Exclamation marks is the punctuation name for a mark that can change the meaning and tone of a sentence. They still end a sentence, but they can add emotion - whether that's excitement, anger or nervousness!
'Look, it's a cat!'
'I'm so nervous about my SATs exams!'
'I can't believe you just said that!'
All three of these sentences convey very different emotions using an exclamation mark, so it can be confusing. Yet imagine if they used a full stop instead - these emotions would be much harder to read and understand.
A sentence which needs an exclamation mark is called an exclamatory sentence.
5. Colons
A colon is the punctuation name for a mark that is used to connect two clauses.
'Never go out in the sun without sunscreen: you#ll damage your skin.'
They're also great for introducing a list of three or more things.
'I'm visiting four cities this summer: Rome, Florence, Paris, and Seville.'
6. Semicolons
Semicolons get a bad reputation for being difficult, but in truth, they're super handy!
You can use a semicolon to join 2 main (or independent clauses) which have equal importance. For example,
'Katie was hungry; she hadn't eaten all day.'
Semicolons show a closer relationship between the clauses than a full stop would show.
7. Apostrophes
Apostrophe is a punctuation mark that can be quite confusing for many children, but it's really important that children learn how to use it properly.
Apostrophes are used to identify something that belongs to someone or to show a letter or multiple letters are missing from a word. Yet as simple as this sounds, many children and adults often misplace or forget apostrophes, even putting them somewhere they shouldn't be altogether. The following sentence shows how to use an apostrophe for contractions, where letters are missing from "were not", "of the clock" and "cannot".
"We weren't meant to leave before 4 O'clock, so we can't go yet."
Apostrophes can also be used to show the possessive form of a singular noun.
"The student's job was to make sure no one touched the pet rabbit's breakfast."
With plural nouns where the word already has an 's' at the end, an apostrophe just gets added at the end.
"The girls' toy truck had broken."
If the word is plural and doesn't have an 's' at the end, again one can be added.
"The women's business meeting had been delayed."
One of the most common misuses of apostrophes is putting them in words which are just plural and don't show possession or contraction. For example, words such as pencils, ghosts, houses, or guests never need an apostrophe.
8. Dash
A dash is the punctuation name for a mark that used to separate words into statements. There are two common types of dashes: en dash and em dash which vary in length. The en dash is twice as long as a hyphen and is most commonly used to signify a range between two words or numbers, for example the date range:
1990-2014.
Meanwhile,the em dash can be used in place of a comma, parenthesis, or colon to enhance readability or emphasize the conclusion of a sentence. For example:
She gave him her answer—No!
8. Hyphen
This list of punctuation marks isn't exhaustive, but it does contain the most commonly used punctuation marks with names. For example:
Sarah had a part-time job that she worked on a Saturday
9. Parentheses
A parenthesis is a word, phrase, or sentence that is inserted into writing as extra information using brackets, commas or dashes. For example:
'James (who was terrified of heights) was going to ride the biggest rollercoaster in the theme park
When a whole sentence is written inside a parenthesis then the full stop will be included inside the parenthesis, for example - Please read this story. (You'll be amazed.). However, if the majority of a sentence is written outside the parentheses, then the full stop should also be used on the outside, for example, You are late (aren't you?).
10. Brackets
Brackets is the punctuation name for a mark that is a curved symbol that looks like () and they are used to separate non-essential or additional information from a sentence. For example:
She finally answered (after taking five minutes to think) that she didn’t understand the question.
11. Quotation marks
Quotation marks is the punctuation name for a mark that is the primary type of punctuation used in quotes. These are inverted commas that are used as either single (‘ ’) or double (“ ”) sets. They are used either to mark the beginning and end of a title or quoted passage. For example:
Walking across the beach Mary said, "the weather is very sunny today".
12. Ellipsis
An ellipsis(plural ellipses) is a punctuation mark made up of 3 dots. Ellipses are commonly used to indicate the omission of words, lines or paragraphs from a quoted passage. For example:
'Today...we are proud to announce our new product.'
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Dictionary version [better version In my opinion]
What is a typographical symbol?
The term typographical symbol, or any other number of phrases, refers to a character or symbol that isn’t considered to be a punctuation mark but may still be used in writing for various purposes. Typographical symbols are generally avoided in formal writing under most circumstances. However, you may see typographic symbols used quite a bit in informal writing.
Typographical symbol examples
The following examples show some ways that a writer might use typographical symbols. Keep in mind that some of these sentences may not be considered appropriate in formal writing.
The frustrated actor said she was tired of her co-star’s “annoying bull****.”
For questions, email us at [email protected]!
The band had five #1 singles on the American music charts during the 1990s.
My internet provider is AT&T.
Period (.)
A period is used to end a declarative sentence. A period indicates that a sentence is finished.
Today is Friday.
Unique to them, periods are also often used in abbreviations.
Prof. Dumbledore once again awarded a ludicrous amount of points to Gryffindor.
Question mark (?)
The question mark is used to end a question, also known as an interrogative sentence.
Do you feel lucky?
Exclamation point (!)
The exclamation point is used at the end of exclamations and interjections.
Our house is haunted!
Wow!
Comma, colon, and semicolon
Commas, colons, and semicolons can all be used to connect sentences together.
Comma (,)
The comma is often the punctuation mark that gives writers the most problems. It has many different uses and often requires good knowledge of grammar to avoid making mistakes when using it. Some common uses of the comma include:
Joining clauses: Mario loves Peach, and she loves him.
Nonrestrictive elements: My favorite team, the Fighting Mongooses, won the championship this year.
Lists: The flag was red, white, and blue.
Coordinate adjectives: The cute, happy puppy licked my hand.
Try out this quiz on the Oxford comma!
Colon (:)
The colon is typically used to introduce additional information.
The detective had three suspects: the salesman, the gardener, and the lawyer.
Like commas, colons can also connect clauses together.
We forgot to ask the most important question: who was buying lunch?
Colons have a few other uses, too.
The meeting starts at 8:15 p.m.
The priest started reading from Mark 3:6.
Semicolon (;)
Like the comma and the colon, the semicolon is used to connect sentences together. The semicolon typically indicates that the second sentence is closely related to the one before it.
I can’t eat peanuts; I am highly allergic to them.
Lucy loves to eat all kinds of sweets;lollipops are her favorite.
Hyphen and dashes (en dash and em dash)
All three of these punctuation marks are often referred to as “dashes.” However, they are all used for entirely different reasons.
Hyphen (-)
The hyphen is used to form compound words.
I went to lunch with my father-in-law.
She was playing with a jack-in-the-box.
He was accused of having pro-Britishsympathies.
En dash (–)
The en dash is used to express ranges or is sometimes used in more complex compound words.
The homework exercises are on pages 20–27.
The songwriter had worked on many Tony Award–winning productions.
Em dash (—)
The em dash is used to indicate a pause or interrupted speech.
The thief was someone nobody expected—me!
“Those kids will—” was all he managed to say before he was hit by a water balloon.
Test your knowledge on the different dashes here.
Parentheses, brackets, and braces
These pairs of punctuation marks look similar, but they all have different uses. In general, the parentheses are much more commonly used than the others.
Parentheses ()
Typically, parentheses are used to add additional information.
I thought (for a very long time) if I should actually give an honest answer.
Tomorrow is Christmas (my favorite holiday)!
Parentheses have a variety of other uses, too.
Pollution increased significantly. (See Chart 14B)
He was at an Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) meeting.
Richard I of England (1157–1199) had the heart of a lion.
Square brackets []
Typically, square brackets are used to clarify or add information to quotations.
According to an eyewitness, the chimpanzees “climbed on the roof and juggled [bananas].”
The judge said that “the defense attorney [Mr. Wright] had made it clear that the case was far from closed.”
Curly brackets {}
Curly brackets, also known as braces, are rarely used punctuation marks that are used to group a set.
I was impressed by the many different colors {red, green, yellow, blue, purple, black, white} they selected for the flag’s design.
Angle brackets <>
Angle brackets have no usage in formal writing and are rarely ever used even in informal writing. These characters have more uses in other fields, such as math or computing.
Quotation marks and apostrophe
You’ll find these punctuation marks hanging out at the top of a line of text.
Quotation marks (“”)
The most common use of quotation marks is to contain quotations.
She said, “Don’t let the dog out of the house.”
Bob Ross liked to put “happy little trees” in many of his paintings.
Apostrophe (‘)
The apostrophe is most often used to form possessives and contractions.
The house’s back door is open.
My cousin’s birthday is next week.
It isn’t ready yet.
We should’ve stayed outside.
Slash and ellipses
These are two punctuation marks you may not see too often, but they are still useful.
Slash (/)
The slash has several different uses. Here are some examples:
Relationships: The existence of boxer briefs somehow hasn’t ended the boxers/briefs debate.
Alternatives: They accept cash and/or credit.
Fractions: After an hour, 2/3 of the audience had already left.
Ellipses (…)
In formal writing, ellipses are used to indicate that words were removed from a quote.
The mayor said, “The damages will be …paid for by the city … as soon as possible.”
In informal writing, ellipses are often used to indicate pauses or speech that trails off.
He nervously stammered and said, “Look, I … You see … I wasn’t … Forget it, okay.”
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I don’t do not own any information listed above. This can all be found on google/chrome/safari
Divider credits go to @cafekitsune
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ajaxgb · 6 months
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trutown-the-bard · 2 months
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We need to take down DSP next. He’s had it good for too long! Too long I say!
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This feels like something crime man would do.
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redlettermediathings · 6 months
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Jack's new home! It's gonna be great. It's gonna be great.
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sibblank · 6 months
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as someone who stopped watching ZP because of the changes the changes the parent company was making, seeing it return independently owned and with none of that shit is really kind of beautiful
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catcomixzstudios · 6 months
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A bit of good news for everyone.
After the editor and chief of the longstanding gaming and culture network, The Escapist, was fired, the entire video-making staff followed him over to a fully employee-owned group called Second Wind.
These creators - most notably figures like Yahtzee who is responsible for his 15+ year old, short-form game review series, Zero Punctuation - plan to continue working on the projects they've established in one form or another.
As of writing, the Patreon alone is already hitting around $4,000 a month.
With all of the projects crashing or getting cancelled lately, it's genuinely SUCH a blessing to see such a dedicated team getting to not only escape corporate whims, but also getting such a HUGE outpouring of support.
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thelreads · 6 months
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Holy fucking shit the entire Escapist channel?!?!
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luimnigh · 6 months
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Feels weird to say that Zero Punctuation has ended.
It was kind of a gaming institution at this stage.
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sam-dugesian · 5 months
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Guess who's back
youtube
back again
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katapotato55 · 10 months
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Undertale analysis: Chara was a bad person but not because they were an "evil serial killer child" like the fandom portrays.
TW: mentions of mental illness, self harm, and suicide. SPOILER FOR UNDERTALE. yes this game is 8 years old and scarily popular, but its still worth playing! its 10 bucks on steam! get it! Post also contains stupid edits I made to ENHANCE your experience by at least 50% guaranteed or your money back (post cost $0)
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first: some backstory. I played Undertale way back in like, 2016 when the game was still fresh yet gaining popularity quickly. The fandom soon after became criminally insane and went on a moral panic where people were harassed for "playing the game wrong". I remember stories of youtubers cancelling Undertale let's plays because they would kill a character and people would get upset. other than AUs, the biggest thing that stuck out to me was the strange obsession with claiming Chara is an evil demon child who is the root of all evil and eats puppies and enjoys drinking the blood of the innocent. and then counter-culture made it so that chara is actually innocent and that the PLAYER is the horrible evil monster eating puppies etc etc.
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two extremes that i half-agree with, but mostly disagree with. There was an INSANE black and white mentality that flooded the Undertale space with no breathing room for mistakes. nowadays people have matured and the fandom calmed down, so now would be a great time to explain why i think Chara is a more complex character than people give them credit for. please don't hurt me.
1- Chara very much had mental health issues.
and not in the horror movie way where they were a caraaazay evil serial murderer
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a huge misconception is that people assumed the garden tools in toriel's house being dulled was somehow "proof" that Chara was an evil serial murder or something.
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though... I think people also forget Chara heavily hinted at struggling with serious depression and misanthropic tendencies.
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Chara climbed the mountain to end their own life. the reason the garden tools were dulled wasn't because the Dreemurs were trying to protect other people from Chara, they were trying to protect Chara from themself. it baffles me how a lot of people didn't catch onto that. It could be that we were young teens and didn't know better... but i digress! "but kat? how is Chara a bad person ? are you saying people with depression are-" get that objectively wrong idea out of your head. Having a mental illness does not make you a bad person. If you struggle with suicidal thoughts please get help from loved ones and don't EVER think you are a bad person for struggling. no. chara is a bad person because...
2- Chara was a bitter misanthrope that didn't care about anyone else or their feelings.
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there are several lines of dialogue that point to the fact Chara did not like humans. There is a high probability that Chara had a hard home life before falling to the underground and that is possibly why Chara was the way they were. I am not going to send you a million screenshots as to every single bit of evidence of this, I am not made of time and jpegs. (besides i spent the entire budget on photoshop edits) I am however, going to send you the most damning evidence on my side: the true lab tapes. In the pacifist run, you can visit the true lab and find Asgore and Toriel's old home videos. The tapes basically showcase Chara's plan to Asriel where they were to eat the butterscotch flowers, and then Asriel will absorb their soul when they died.
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you can watch this youtube video on all of the true lab tapes. to recap the story, Chara died, Asriel absorbed the soul, took Chara's body to the human village and then the humans thought Asriel killed Chara. Asriel refused to fight, walked back to their home and died in the flowerbed. Later on if you talk to Asriel, He mentions he wasn't the one who went to the human village, but it was Chara that was controlling him. He refused to hurt the humans and fight back and essentially they were both taken down. so here are my thoughts (please remember this is my interpretation you are OK to disagree with me)
-Chara probably just used the freedom of the monsters as an excuse to off themselves, Then put that emotional responsibility on Asriel. -They then USED Asriel's body to try and enact revenge on the humans in their death as some kind of messed up murder-suicide but in the wrong order -This ends up Killing Asriel, then he later became a bitter misanthropic husk after being reincarnated by Flowey. Possibly due to the trauma. -This ends up putting the ENTIRE underground in a depressed state with no hope and causing a massive war with the humans -their adopted parents are now divorced due to this tragedy and both Toriel and Asgore started to have conflicting issues on the topic of humans -Asgore basically trapping everyone with him in his own grief because he didn't want to actually face what happened and played the long game collecting souls one by one. -Toriel struggling to move on and essentially trying to mother any human that falls down without facing her demons. -Litterally all of undertale happened. essentially Chara was not a bad person because they were a child version of Jason Voorhees Chara was a bad person because they manipulated their family into having emotional responsibility for their self-inflicted death and hatred of humanity. They made their issues everyone else's problem and didn't consider how their horrible actions would affect others. and in a way, that is one of the morals of Undertale If you don't care about others and how your actions will affect others, then you would be making the world a shitty place in the end. Lets get back to that thing I said earlier about fans harassing other players for little mistakes. killed Toriel on your first play through ? congratulations! you are a horrible irredeemable person who deserves to get death threats ! /s God forbid we have nuance and acknowledge that most players at this point feel BAD about what happened since this is their first play through! And that they CARE about what they did to their new friend! These kind of people ignore the fact that the issue with the genocide run wasn't just the deaths, but that the player didn't consider how the monsters felt after you just ripped away their happy ending. which is the mentality that both Chara and Flowey had.
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here is a video i recommend. to quote this video about the sans fight: "They call out the player not for acting immorally but for acting with no moral guidance whatsoever. Flipping back and forth between good and evil for no real reason except that they want to see what happens. In the boss’s own words, committing genocide “because you think you can, and because you can, you have to.” " Chara offed themself and made Asriel emotionally responsible for Chara's fucked up revenge fantasy without considering others feelings The player restarted the timeline (more than likely the good ending) to kill everyone all for the reason of curiosity without considering others feelings. the reason why Chara goes after you at the end of the genocide run is because you basically VALIDATED the deep dark desires of a mentally damaged person and made them watch their loved ones get ritualistically murdered. meanwhile in the pacifist run (with no history of the genocide path on your file), you simply let Chara remain as they were when they passed away. You didn't validate their dark mentally unstable desires, you simply shown Chara that the world isn't a horrible place and that actually caring about other people leads to a better life. If you HAVE played genocide before the pacifist ending, then the lesson does not sit because you still basically led them down a dark path in the end. By caring about how others feel and the impact you leave on people, you are helping retain hope for a better future for everyone, and that is one of the many reasons why i love Undertale.
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thank you for reading this massively long analysis, it took me a lot of time and effort to get this put together.
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yourfaveisclasspected · 5 months
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YAHTZEE CROSHAW is a MAGE of RAGE!
Requested by @autisticsupervillain!
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emptyheadgamer · 6 months
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After the escapist shit the bed and caused everyone to quit, the first episode of yahtzee's new series is out.
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