To those who have been keeping up with Deltarune, do I seem to be on the right track to collect The Endings? (Spoilers for previous chapters, slight Chapter 5 spoilers)

Submitted by twovests in games

Deltarune starts off pretty strongly with "your actions don't matter, haha". But then digs in Chapter 2's "Snowgrave Route" (/Weird route /Genocide route / Side B) with suggesting, maybe, Noelle's actions matter. Or the Queen. Etc.

None of us having had played Chapter 7, this is all speculation. But we do know at least, there is

  • The ability to Recruit everyone, paralleling the Pacifist route in Undertale but requiring a 100% completion rate. Recruiting characters saves them from the destruction of the fountain, and the game even gives you a counter, much like Undertale's Genocide route. This unlocks interactions and fun things in the Castle Town in later chapters,

    • There is also the Violent Route, where you defeat every enemy, and this changes how the game goes.

  • Side B, aka "Weird Route", "Snowgrave route", "Genocide route". This has been explicitly referenced in the game files for awhile, but explicitly in Chapter 5's "weird route". It's an alternate, parallel storyline, building up to a totally different ending.

  • Shadow Crystals, collected from very difficult optional bosses (Jevil, etc.) in each chapter, one with help from a strange route in Chapter 3. In Chapter 5, it's suggested these are unique and powerful.

    • Notably, the Chapter Select screen has a grid of 3x5 dots representing seven collectible Shadow Crystals across three saves. This implies there are only five shadow crystal bosses...!

With three chapters, it feels like there might be three intended endings here, and some are mutually incompatible. You can only get the Chapter 2 Shadow Crystal when doing the Side B (Snowgrave), for example, but you can't get the Chapter 5 Shadow Crystal on the same route.

This is about everything I know and I don't want to scour the wiki to try and get an idea of what the possible endings might be. I suspect they're just the Shadow Crystals, and you need to collect them in one of three saves on each chapter.

TLDR: Anyone more in-the-know on Deltarune, is there a good but succinct written guide on completing the available routes so you can get The Various Endings?

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twovests OP wrote

does anyone else write long opinions about video games instead of about the bad state of the rest of the world

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devtesla wrote

You can only get the Chapter 2 Shadow Crystal when doing the Side B (Snowgrave)

This isn't true, I haven't touched the weird route and I have the shadow crystal for ch2 for defeating Spamton.

There seems to be only one normal route. The recruiting system seems to just be for bonus scenes in castle town, and doesn't change the game that much. This is kinda like how the neutral route in Undertale is basically the same even if you do some killing.

The Shadow Crystals are bonus difficult bosses with a little extra story. The save slot stuff for that is mostly just a way to get the ones in previous chapters if you miss them the first time. If you get a chapter's shadow crystals in a save file, then all save files in that slot in future chapters will be able to get the crystal from a spot in castle town. This seems to be a replacement for Undertale's no mercy route for people who want tough bosses, where you don't have the be evil.

There's eggs, which are weirdo side content that doesn't come with a difficult boss. We don't know what all that is about yet.

The weird route is a horror side thing that's more fun to watch on YouTube than it is to play.

The intended way to play Deltarune is just the normal way, maybe with the secret bosses if you want a challenge. It's not like Undertale where the changes between routes are littered throughout the game, because you're expected to play it multiple times. Instead, there's so much in just one playthrough that everyone has a little bit different experience and that's the point.

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twovests OP wrote

Oh awesome, and that makes sense. I'll probably go and only do the Shadow Crystals (because I <3 hard boss fights) and the Side B routes (it seems short enough) and if there ends up being N special endings then I have You Tube dot Com

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devtesla wrote

side b is too creepy for me to actually do lol

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twovests OP wrote

Yeah. But I felt like the Weird Route had to be building to something increasingly less "force your will on a teenage girl" creepy and more horror-creepy.

I know it's kind of tired at this point, but my read of Undertale and Deltarune is that the player and their free will is like an infectious extra-dimensional entity that nobody knows how to contend with. Noelle sees that and is naturally fascinated by it.

The overworld is the first time we see you (or anyone) take damage, and the player equips the Thorn Ring onto Noelle. We don't know how different the overworld rules are, but the Thorn Ring makes you stronger the more you're hurt.

I think there's a lot of meaning in Noelle's arc in the weird route (I feel recognized in the loss of innocence, disassociation, grim fascination, and suicidality lol) but it feels weirdweirdweird to be in the driver seat for that. I'm still mulling over Noelle taking control at the end (with her pulling you in to drown no matter how many times you say "Stop").

I won't know what to think until the end. But I think her equipping the ThornRing might mean it ends with Noelle turning into a SUPER DUPER COOL POWERFUL THORNRING MONSTER WOAHHH and that would undermine the whole thing.

I don't know why I typed an essay, I guess I can't judge people who love childrens media, Deltarune is very good

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