Nokob

This was mostly just for following and talking to Homestuck liveblogs. I had my own general-webcomic liveblog. I also screened asks for Lobac. Liveblogged Undertale.

[nokob]

Perhaps on account of the Homestuck reread I mentioned, it occurred to me that Hotland is pretty similar to LOHAC. And for that matter, Waterfall's eerie teal flora reminds me of that of LOWAS (plus they're both blue). Snowdin and LOFAF are both snow-covered, and the Ruins… uh… are kinda like the ruins on LOLAR? Sure.

Plus, Toriel is a MOM, Snowdin has a bunch of dogs, Waterfall… hmm. OK, it's not perfect, but still.

[nokob]

I know I didn't get much liveblogging done this past month (in large part due to working on that puzzle), but I probably won't do much in the upcoming month either: I'm working on re-reading Homestuck in anticipation of the possible 4/13 finale. I started 10 days ago and only just finished Act 2, so I'm going to have to buckle down if I want to get through the whole thing in time.

[nokob]

From the very beginning, Undertale dangles tantalizing puzzles in front of you without truly letting you solve them — the most tantalizing of all being, of course, the multicolored tile puzzle. Complicated rules, randomization, pretty colors… it has it all. Sure, you get a taste of it later in the game, but 30 seconds is nowhere near enough time to fully appreciate it. Which is why I have taken it upon myself to implement [a version](https://www.dropbox.com/s/76e3nue7lkbr70x/MulticolorTilePuzzle.zip?dl=0) that you can spend far longer than 30 seconds on. In fact, you can keep working on it… *forever!* Muahahahahahaaaaaa! But yeah, hopefully other people find this enjoyable too! And please let me know if you encounter any bugs or if it generates a puzzle that blocks off all paths from the start.

[nokob]

So is Flowey's theme sort of like the haunting melody backwards? It kinda sounds like it. I guess I can test this… yeah, like with [this site](http://www.mp3-reverser.com/en/). …Huh.   Well then. OK, "Your Best Friend" reversed doesn't particularly sound like "Memory", though "Memory" reversed sorta sounds like itself. I guess I was looking for a connection that wasn't actually there. But what about Final Power? I see, the track proper was reversed, and unreversing it results in something that sounds pretty similar, and is like… uh… one of the others? It definitely sounds familiar… Oh, it's Last Goodbye, but about halfway through. I don't think I can derive any secret significance from that >.> (I don't remember where Final Power plays anyway… but I'm pretty confident Last Goodbye is from the section of the credits with all the names, so maybe that "final power" was actually the power of the fans who supported the project? Thousands of people wishing together can't be wrong!)

[nokob]

OK I got impatient and bought the soundtrack >.>

Nothing too spoilery as far as the song titles go… Not sure if I've heard "Stronger Monsters" or "Wrong Enemy !?", but they don't really tell me anything. "Song That Might Play When You Fight Sans" pretty obviously indicates that there's a Sans fight besides the MEGALOVANIA one; not all that surprising, and I rather expect to encounter it in my current kill-everyone-but-not-everyone playthrough. What does "Bergentrückung" mean? Wiktionary's no help… well whatever, it's probably for the best, just in case it actually is spoilery. "She's Playing Piano"… was that part of the Undyne hangout maybe? Either way, not really spoilery. "Burn in Despair!" and "SAVE the World" might be spoilery? I might have heard "SAVE the World" before, though… "But the Earth Refused to Die" seems pretty spoilery, though given that it's right before "Battle Against a True Hero", it might just be the song that plays when Undyne un-dies?

Also I thought there was a "Papyrus's Cool Song"? Whatever happened to that? …OK, a quick Google later, it looks like I'm not the only one with that question, so that assuages my curiosity for now.

[nokob]

All right, I might go back to the Sans fight later, but for now I think I'll follow my reset timeline. I'm going to see what happens if I kill everyone I encounter, without explicitly seeking them out. (Though I already Spared Toriel, so I guess this'll sort of be like the opposite of my original playthrough. :P)

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[nokob]

OK, I googled "undertale special thanks names", wondering if the moving names were the Kickstarter backers and maybe my name was in there, and I saw a snippet of text that said:

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[nokob]

I mean how she said I "wander through the caverns, attacking anyone in your path" even though I didn't kill anyone except for Toriel, who she had no way of knowing about. I'm guessing this is because I didn't move towards the kid when they tripped, though if I'm wrong about that I'd no longer consider it a spoiler.

Generally speaking… I'm not sure where I stand with spoilers at this point. My plan is to try to watch other people play the parts I haven't played myself, so any recommendations for that would certainly be appreciated.

(Right now, I'm watching Sception's let's play of it, though based on the first installment, he seems to be going much the same route I did.)

I guess I'll go ahead and say that the only stuff I still consider spoilery is stuff that I just haven't seen yet.

[nokob]

hahahahahah the death screen music is the same as the Annoying Dog's!

And apparently Sans can talk on it, like, uh… hmm, I guess it doesn't really make sense anymore for the normal person to be Asriel, does it? Though I don't know who else it could be, and honestly I'm not sure to what extent they really exist. Maybe they're a figment of my imagination? Or maybe it's like… some part of Asriel that wasn't included in Flowey, some echo of his SOUL that lingers on.

if we're really friends… you won't come back.

So, I can't just continue on like that… but I can reset. That's the real way to change my mind, isn't it? Let's see how different that is from my previous playthroughs.

Really, Human? Well, do what you will. I'll be waiting for you!

Hmm, not sure what that means?

Woah I can Flee from Toriel?

That is right. Go upstairs.

And then when I go to bed…

Human, please… Wake up! You are the future of humans and monsters…

Is this… Asgore? Somehow? It does sound like him…

I guess I still have to Fight Toriel to proceed, though.

And Flowey isn't there… urgh yeah I don't want to have to go all the way to the End to get something different… I guess I could maybe try just killing some people and not others? Though if my original experience with Undyne is any indication, whether or not you kill the normal monsters doesn't affect the plot much unless you get all of them. Still, I could do that in some areas but not others; I could kill some bosses and not others… but which? And would any of that mean that I wouldn't just end up either fighting Sans again or having Flowey ask me to do yet another replay?

And heck, one of the things I want to watch anyway is a stream by the creator of the awesome webcomic Metacarpolis, which seems like it would let me see "all the main endings" in a relatively natural way. So I think I'll just do that first. [Edit: I guess that's not up anymore? Well whatever, the point stands. Sort of.]

…Or is that just a poor excuse for being lazy…? Hell if I know.

Woah when I fought Sans again to make sure I got that quote right, he said something different when trying to spare me! Let's see where this leads.

Oh and the normal person who talks to you when you die does sound like the person I heard in my sleep earlier? I thought they were different… Is it actually Asgore, then? Even when you're Fighting him? He does apparently know that his killing you doesn't stick, so… does he actually want you to almost-kill him? To what end? "The future of humans and monsters”… does he want you to pass through the barrier and convince the humans to release the monsters from the underground and try to get along with them? But he still Fights you as a test I guess, much like Toriel. To make sure you have what it takes.

Doesn't look like that dialog is changing any more, though.

Oh, but it is different when I attack! …But yeah, I don't think that's another path or anything. So… I'm going to say that this is the end of this liveblog. Again.

I'm not going to claim that it's the real end, though. We'll just have to wait and see.

[nokob]

Hahaha, good to know. I think I've heard that the original was for his Halloween Earthbound ROM hack? Yeah, looks like it.

(inbox cleared)

[nokob]

Well, the river person is still there, so I can get back to Snowdin like that.

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[nokob]

"Name the fallen human." it says

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[nokob]

Looks like the only stuff I missed from the news ticker was: MTT-BRAND STILL TOP-RATED || SCHOOL CANCELLED OVER REACTIVATED PUZZLES

Since his mothah passed on, he couldn't stand. Living at home anymore.

This doesn't really fit with "the box lunches my parents bring us every day”…

Well, I guess there are multiple Snowdrakes there…

Also seems like the Hush Puppy doesn't stop the Annoying Dog from appearing and taking the artifact.

Just as a human cannot absorb a human SOUL…

Dangit!

You're not actually Nokob, are you? Nokob's been gone for a long time.

When it said “Enter name" at the beginning… I wasn't entering my name, was I? Haha, wow. …Though there's still that empty coffin…

…Frisk?

So… why was the coffin empty? Asriel did bring Nokob's body back, right? Their skeleton didn't just get up and walk away, did it? (Though there are definitely still plenty of mysteries surrounding Sans…)

And when Undyne cut that bridge out from under me… did I actually hear a voice, or was that, like, a vision of the past?

Comfort him/Do not

MY SPRITE MOVED AAAA WHAT

(The coffin is empty…?) (You didn't notice before, but there's something like…) (… mummy wrappings at the bottom of it.)

So there definitely used to be something in there.

Like, milennia of being imprisoned finally over?

So some of these monsters really are thousands of years old? Yeah, that's like pretty chill I guess.

But ASGORE doesn't have a child. So he's been stuck at the same age… And probably will be forever.

Woah. I guess that explains how he's been alive for thousands of years…

Oh my god the music doesn't play in Papyrus's room It plays everywhere else, regardless of what music was there originally…

OK, yeah, the boxed-lunch Snowdrake was a different one from the one whose father was in the resort. And it looks like that's who Snowy is, too; they had to share their lunches with him because his parents weren't there to make any for him. (I guess it's not just that specific Snowdrake's parents who made lunches for everybody; all the parents made lunches for their children.)

Final time: 2493:34

On top of my first playthrough's 4809:52, that's… 7303:26 minutes, or just over 5 days.

So, I guess I'll rename the UNDERTALE folder in AppData and see what the genocide run is like. (And try to figure out what the deal is with that door in the cave in Snowdin; maybe I need the legendary artifact, and I was just using the Hush Puppy wrong?) Then I'll finally stop being wary of Undertale spoilers.

—Oh wait, there's more when you restart the game? (Without renaming the UNDERTALE folder, of course.)

YOU still have the power to reset everything.

Heh, that's what renaming the folder's for, so I don't have to do that :P

See you later… Nokob.

Hahahahahaa

Huh, there's no one on the Continue/Reset screen now! (Or rather, the Continue/True Reset screen.) I guess they all went to the surface.

But yeah. That was pretty great! It even made me cry, during the scene with Asriel after you SAVE him.

I just wish Asriel didn't have to leave so soon after he returned, and without even saying hello to everyone… It seems like he's the only one who didn't really get a happy ending. I mean, he sort of did, but… not nearly as happy as it could have been. Still, I guess there's nothing stopping him from changing his mind and going to the surface as Flowey. He could still meet up with his parents and explain what happened to him; I mean, the amalgamates' families seemed happy enough despite their loved ones not being quite the same people they were before.

[nokob]

Well, it's been a month since my last sizeable post… I think it's time to officially admit that I don't really feel like doing this liveblog anymore, and just go ahead and continue playing.

[nokob]

That's my house. Or, it WAS my house, until we set it on fire. But hey, can't say I've never done that before!!

knew it

I try to be a good neighbor, but I think they're scared of me.

Napstablook, scared of Undyne????? the revelations just keep coming

That's the store of Gerson, the Hammer of Justice!

Nice! How do you get the title "Hammer of Justice", I wonder… Maybe a judge has to whack their podium with you or something? Preferably while shouting "Order in the court!" Or perhaps "JUSTIIIICE!!!"

The toughest monster that ever lived…! He fought in the war between humans and monsters… And he survived! He's a real hero!

Huh, there were presumably plenty of monsters who survived that war, right? I suppose most of them didn't really fight in it, though…

A field of echo flowers… They babble back and forth to each other… … until their words become meaningless noise. Creepy, huh?

That sounds pretty cool, really. Kinda disappointed I don't seem to be able to actually hear it.

I mean, the path to Temmie Village is never lit up here. But why would you wanna go there!? It's down south if you want to avoid it.

Oh hey, there's a more reliable way to find the location of Temmie Village! Though I'm guess I'm not sure if I just got lucky last time or if the river person always says that… the first time they bring you to Waterfall or something? I haven't done that yet this game, have I? But then, I've already been to Temmie Village anyway.

Speaking of Temmie Village…

Ring… Ring… (There's no response…)

Hahaha

[nokob]

Hah, there's Undyne on the Continue/Reset screen!

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[nokob]

Ah, OK; I guess they both did try to get me to stay in the underground, didn't they?

Thanks for clearing that up!

(inbox cleared)