Stray Thoughts [now liveblogging Deltarune ch 2]

clearly the world was created retroactively

open a dark fountain and the corresponding dark world abruptly exists and has a retroactive past

 

But then why would Queen be aware of the difference between the "wonderful dark world" that the Knight created and what came before that?

 

she’s a computer- in reality the library’s new hi tech laptop, probably with some sort of cortana or Siri AI. of all the Darkeners, shes the most likely to know what’s going on in the outside world.

 

Something something shadow puppets, the objects casting shadows are there whether or not light is, but the shadows need light to be cast.

 

And I'm back! Sorry for the delay, life has been somewhat troublesome.

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I have three observations here.
1) This is awfully Freudian.
2) Look at that knife. The Knight is definitely Kris.
3) I kind of feel like I'm playing Mother 3 backwards. Running around too late to stop a mysterious double from sticking pointy things into the earth to create worlds? What's next, a dinosaur brings my mom back to life?

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That's cause they're a nerrrrrrd.

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You know, I have to give Toby props here. "I want to cover the world with darkness" actually sounds like a reasonable, almost sympathetic, motive here, instead of something you say when the Care Bears come to stop you. Way to subvert the cartoon villain trope.

 

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Oh, right, Undertale.

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... is it? Not in equal amounts, going by the last game. Like, have you actually gotten to test this idea, or are you just guessing?

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Oooh, nice, I've got chills.

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Chills are gone now.

Also, after two games of that "unspecified december festival" nonsense, you're going to hang the pure-hearted prisoner spread-eagle by the hands? In a white robe? And her name is Noelle Holiday? The "it's not really Jesus" pretense is wearing a bit thin, here.

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Seems a bit foreshadowy, thanks for asking.

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She asked, having taken Noelle up to a high place to tempt her with power.

 

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Daww.

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I kinda figured it was a statue, actually. Besides, it's a pacifist run - neutralizing your advantages won't actually work, because I'm not going to actually take advantage of your weak points to kill you. I have to convince you that you can't win, which I can't do while you're thinking "if only I could get to my giant robot, they'd be helpless against me!"

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Boy, it sure would have been nice if you'd told us that earlier. Then again, we didn't actually warn you we were coming here, so how would you know we needed to be warned?

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Yeah! Fighting spirit!

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You can't see it because I'm facing away from the camera, but I'm making this face:

-_-

 

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theworstpersonyouknow.gif

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Why did they need to be "modified" to work together?

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...huh. I guess I was right not to go full Ducky after all.

 

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Garbage in, garbage alcoholism

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Well, then. Okay. I guess now we see the violence inherent in the system.

Speaking of which, how did the fight mechanic work again?

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Joke's on you! I already have all the skateboards I want! The skateboards... called friends. Friends... who I am literally riding like skateboards right now.

 

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I thought this was just villain bragging. Then I got my own ass kicked by her final attack. I mean, I guess if I won the fight, then I would have to make a decision that mattered about what to do with Queen.

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A "pin"? I think that's both an authentication pun and a Mother 3 reference.

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That would really byte.

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Natural ending of Noelle and Queen's story, or ominous foreshadowing of Kris and mine? You decide.

 

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Tokyo-3 problems.

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That mood you get at the end of every portal fantasy, when the author's like "but then they had to grow up and live in the real world" and you're like "fucking why?" (Except you don't really say fuck because you're ten, but you feel it.) Wise authors at least acknowledge what the characters would reasonably want - Lewis had the Pevensies stay for years and only go back by accident, and Carroll had Wonderland be much less fun for Alice the character to be in than for Alice his daughter to hear about. But still, it always struck me as kind of shitty for authors to be like "here's a cool magical world, reader, and I'm going to make you love it but then tell you you have to stop because Grownup."

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Then again there might be some logical flaws with this particular plan.

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Okay, I know I've been making jokes all along about Kris's lack of affect. But seriously, everyone else's sprites are so expressive, even though they also get dialogue portraits with expressions. Meanwhile Kris isn't even making the -_- face. They're just... looking down, I guess? Not even watching, let alone participating or reacting. I really doubt it's because they're bored.

 

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Huh. Not to go all pro-democracy, but it seems that this entire plot could have been solved by a public-comment-and-feedback process.

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Yeah, so's everyone else. At least you got to see the Knight's actions.

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Are they really going to ask me to accept that she's going to keep believing this whole thing was a dream? I'm having trouble with that. Dreams and real life aren't actually very similar. The only reason anyone's ever confused is that you can't think very clearly while you're asleep.

 

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Why do you even have that program? Did you somehow anticipate the possibility of us leaving on friendly terms with you still around? Because that wasn't what you should have been expecting a win or a loss to look like.
Also, why did you put a space in the file name, but not in the graphics?

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Does this mean the fountain powers are related to the SOUL and not Kris themselves? Is that why the birdcage is on a wagon, are they wheeling it around town as a magical power source? Walking down the street at 2 AM, knife in one hand, pulling the wagon in the other? Glowing red heart in the cage, and the wheels going squeak, squeak, squeak?

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Yeah, still having trouble with this one. The very fact that they're telling each other it was a dream is evidence that it was a shared experience.

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Well if you hadn't lied and told them it was all a dream, maybe they'd be grateful for the things you did instead of thinking you didn't really do them.

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I suppose this is a reasonable motivation for not telling everybody. Neither of them wants a bunch of attention and pressure from random adults. And, trusting Birdly to keep a secret you care about seems stupid and doomed. But this really does not explain your initial lie to Noelle.

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It is. And yet, we do. According to evidence on tumblr and AO3, we really, really do.

 

Somehow Susie was also thinking it might've been a dream, but in fairness to her it doesn't seem like Kris had a lot to say about it.

I think Noelle was flustered enough about the dream ferris wheel scene, and Berdly the sheer idea of crushing on Susie and deciding to be stupid, that they were both grasping for reasons to conclude it wasn't real - or eager to compare details