Obviously we don't know the full ins and outs of how the game works yet (Ralsei honestly knows more than we do lol) but this comic was largely me playing with some ideas based on the fact that Deltarune operates differently than Undertale. There's no time loop mechanics like there are in UT; characters don't remember things that happened previously. BUT, we have this elaborate chapter system; literally the GameMaker engine was reworked to accomodate this system. Why? Why can we play chapters out of order in what is ostensibly an extremely linear game? Why do we have three save files available? Why do some items (namely shadow crystal boss rewards) transfer between save files?
I think the player being able to hop between moments in time in different chapters and across various save files is something that could be really interesting if applied to the characters' own abilities and goals. So I wanted to explore it here, and thought that the characters stumbling across different versions of themselves was a neat alternative to how time travel works in Undertale! Also, Kris isn't QUITE dead yet, although they're in an extremely dire situation. Susie also has the soul (hence the red eyes and change to her more dragon form), so there's no getting kicked to the game over screen as long as it's still in play.
Aww thank you so much!! :D
Thank you very much; I'm so glad it lived up to your anticipations! :D It was super fun to do!!
And I think the events leading up to that point are going to have to stay kind of vague; I've worked out little moments here and there in my head, but having an actual cohesive sequence of events is another matter. I do think that at least on the normal route, the Roaring and Final Tragedy come to pass, and what Susie, Noelle and Ralsei are attempting to do now is alter the outcome by changing events/writing past the intended ending.
Regardless of whatever the prophecy said, Kris intentionally attempted to sacrifice themself. Susie got the soul herself, but not in the way that it was perhaps intended to be used. Noelle did end up ascending to a Angel final boss state, but that fight did not end in her dying or being banished as might have been expected. Susie's got the soul with the player, i.e. the means of actually interacting with the game world. Noelle's got her own game breaking abilities that have been allowed to fully develop. Ralsei has full knowledge of how the game is actually structured, and what the "rules" are, and they've also actually transitioned and let go of having to abide by the rules. All of those abilities combined means they can actually break the game itself and save Kris!
Weird route Noelle and Kris, in the meanwhile, have been outside the game's confines the whole time, pretty much breaking more and more things as they go! But they didn't go through all of the same story that everyone did on the normal route.
I MIGHT HAVE ANSWERS??? BUT PROBABLY ALSO MORE QUESTIONS!
Thank you so much!! Yesss, def the feelings I wanted to get across!
But yeah, it's kept vague, but Kris attempted a self-sacrifice (and lost their hand in the process), which is why the other three are breaking the game in an effort to save them. Whereas weird route Kris just got used as a means for Noelle to utilize the soul. This happened over and over to the point where Kris just sort of...stopped being a person altogether, and was just a broken cage to cart the soul around in.
No sorry, I have not read Pandora Hearts! (I clearly have like five anime I need to catch up on...) Sounds interesting though!
Thank you so much, I'm very glad that you enjoyed it, and picked up on those deliberate comparisons between the two! I think it's real interesting that weird route Noelle talks about gaining freedom but is still relying on the player to tell her what to do...I want to see Noelle's real abilities set loose without having to rely on us!
But also, normal route Noelle isn't wearing the Thorn Ring. She's wearing the Gilded Rose, which I found to be such an interesting weapon that I had to include it here!
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