joxter rabidi was playing sdv for 4 hours huh.... #specialinteresthours babeyy
undyne#specialinteresthours
SO
the hero's journey, right?? Undertale fits it almost EXACTLY. (you might want to pull up a chart if you've forgotten what these mean from your highschool english class)
we start with the Status Quo, aboveground, we have the Call to Action with Frisk falling in, the Refusal of the Call when facing flowey (the refusal is not on Frisk's end but the PLAYER's fear on seeing flowey), Meeting the Mentor with Toriel, Crossing the Threshold very literally with leaving the RUINS, the Tests Allies and Enemies throughout Snowdin, Waterfall, Hotlands, and the CORE, Approach to the Abyss in the castle especially with the judgement hall, the Ordeal/Revelation/Abyss during the Asgore and Photoshop Flowey fights, the Reward is the Alphys date, the Road Back during the long true-pacifist pre-fight cutscene, the Resurrection in the Asriel fight, and the Return with the Elixir during the final credits.
You'll notice there's one arc missing there: the TRUE LAB.
The true lab is one of the creepiest parts of the game. The music is a dissonant rendition of Alphys' theme, the monsters are horrifying melting versions of the ones you befriended along the way, Alphys' descent into depression and isolation is written along the walls, the lights flicker, fights come out of normal things, the rules of the game break in creepy ways--there's no denying the true lab is SCARY. but why is it so horrifying? because it doesn't belong in the story.
let me backtrack. Undertale EXPECTS its players to be well-read and well-played. a basic knowledge of anime, jrpgs, and fantasy tropes is integral to the success of the story and its narrative subversions. So the average Undertale player knows the hero's journey, even though they don't know they know it. Many stories, especially the JRPGS and fantasy stories Undertale draws on, follow it.
So players completing the Alphys date are happy! they're hyped to go fight Asgore again and something will have changed and they'll get their happy ending! They have their reward, they're ready to head back to the Ordinary World (aboveground) with their friends.
And then Papyrus calls you. And the first thing he says--and this is brilliant--is "HOWDY."
Papyrus doesn't EVER say howdy at any other point. but FLOWEY does. and it's Just Wrong Enough to set you on edge. And then you get that Unsuspicious message about following Alphys to her lab, and you go down there, and the whole time you're thinking "what the FUCK"
because the true lab isn't supposed to happen. there is NOT supposed to be a horror segment shoved into the game at this point. Just like you are NOT supposed to be reading Alphys' suicide note just after her befriending segment, because that's not the way games like that work. you befriend them and things are better for them! not you befriend them and they flee into their depression basement! AND just like there is NOT supposed to be a whole segment of overworld you can't even AFTER you've killed the final boss once that isn't, like, the Battle Plaza thing.
and that's why the true lab is SO scary.
on a related note, it's part of why photoshop flowey is so scary! you think you've HAD your Ordeal/Revelation/Abyss moment and it's gonna get better from here. you spared asgore. there will be a little more and then the end of the game! NO. you get the return of someone you might've forgot existed and then. and then. THE FUCKING GAME CLOSES.
Think back to the first time you played/watched undertale, when that game closed. You went APE SHIT, didn't you. games don't do that. games don't take your final choice away and leave you with the creepy villain laughing at you and destroying the world and then CLOSE THEMSELVES.
and then the flowey fight. the HORRIFYING photoshop thing with its LOUD LOUD music and screenful of crazy attacks! that's not how the game is played! so OF COURSE you were scared. even if when you're expecting it it can be a little cheesy it scares you because it's NOT RIGHT. that's not what should happen at that point in the story!
Toby Fox KNOWS THAT and he does it ON PURPOSE to scare you shitless by BREAKING THE HERO'S JOURNEY. he puts in just a few segments that aren't what you're subconsciously expecting next in an otherwise RIGIDLY structured hero's journey and it HITS YOU HARD.
that's part of why I love undertale so much it's just. So good at what it does and for REAL and DEEP reasons.
thanks for coming to my tedtalk!
moved and became feral
jaime worms 
Hyg but tired 
ROWAN