Kept forgetting to do my compare/contrast list of ASoTV vs actual chapter 3. Whoopsie! But at least I’m doing it now? Spoilers ahead for the new chapters, obviously.
We’ll start with similarities because there’s less of those lol:
- TV World!!! I was pleasantly surprised to see that the chapter 3 dark world was actually called TV World like mine. You may remember that in the first couple chapters I called it TV Land instead, as a reference to the TV channel of the same name; I figured, if I was trying to be semi Toby-accurate, he wouldn’t want to give his world a copyrighted name. Turns out me and him might have been on the same page with that one!
- Toriel and Undyne did in fact enter the dark world.
- Spamton!!! Was VERY surprised to find out (bc I didn’t see this on my initial playthrough) that Spamton can come out of glasses-form to talk to Tenna. That was crazy. Like, omg, ASoTV reference??? /j Also cool confirmation that the secret bosses aren’t actually dead. Except for Gerson, I guess.
- There was a cooking show mini game AND a rhythm mini game. Granted, my versions of those games were combined, but I’ll take what I can get.
- The gang did in fact wear their cowboy outfits. Nobody could’ve anticipated horse Ralsei though.
- There was a sneaking section!! I knew that part would still be in the game!!
- Susie finds out that Darkners are objects. It’s funny — I debated against doing that reveal because I wasn’t sure it would happen so early on. I didn’t put quite as much focus on it as Toby did, but still!
- This kind of felt like a given, but Tenna’s desire for Lightner attention/fear of the future. Toby and I handled it in very different ways, but the core of both characters was their fear of becoming obsolete, and their desperation to keep the attention on them. I guess I kind of figured that because, well, a TV’s whole thing is being watched.
Is that it? I think that might be it. Onto the differences!!!
- Elnina and Lanino are NOT siblings, REPEAT, NOT SIBLINGS! I don’t think I’ll ever get over that, lmao. It’s only because I wrote this fic based only on the information from the sweepstakes, and nothing after, but man that’s so funny. I mean I also got their names wrong but the accidental incest is more important.
- Susie and Ralsei never really bring up who made the Dreemurr house fountain. Susie brings it up for a second, but she never finds out Kris did it. Of all the ideas from my fic I thought might happen, that one surprised me the most. I guess I didn’t have the context of Kris working with the Knight though; maybe there’ll be a big reveal of everything they’ve done later on.
- Neither Toriel nor Undyne join us on our dark world adventure. Can’t lie, kind of sad Toriel didn’t get some dark world character development, but I understand if Toby wants Noelle to be the only other party member. The “new Lightner party members every chapter” thing was only ever speculation from the fanbase, so I’m not disappointed.
- Tenna!! Obviously I got his appearance (and 3D-ness) wrong, but most of his personality as well. And thank god, because he’s such a sweetie! He just needs a little therapy and a few good pep talks.
- Secret boss Mike :( and Mike just in general. Farewell, Mike the secret boss who hides in caves and drinks dirt coffee — you will be missed. Really enjoyed the “Mike” fight though.
- Ralsei, I believe I owe you an apology. Here goes: I’m Staaaaan and I was wrooooong, I’m singing the Stan Wrong Song. I shouldn’t have taken that chance, now here’s my remorseful daaaaaaaaance. Yeah, sorry Ralsei, I was way off on Kris’s feelings towards you. However!!! Let it be known that, while I saw Ralsei’s actions as suspicious, I did NOT see them as malicious; Kris is just an unreliable narrator who, in my story, was wary and thus angry towards this guy who pushed them in directions they didn’t like. I’m super invested in how his canon character is being developed though!
- Can’t lie, I was super shocked that there weren’t really “channel” areas in chapter three. I honestly assumed that would be the most accurate part of my whole fic. I think it’s because I saw Elnina and Lanino and figured there would be more channel-based characters like them. We do technically get channel segments in-game, but not whole devoted areas with their own bosses and stuff.
- THE KNIGHT??? HUH??? HUH???????
I think that’s it, at least for stuff that’s directly comparable. If I just listed off everything from chapter 3 that didn’t happen in ASoTV, we’d be here all day. But yeah! Glad I finally remembered to make this list. I really really really enjoyed both new chapters, especially chapter 3! The LoZ sections were unexpected but fun, and Tenna has quickly become one of my favorite Deltarune characters. Super funny and neat to see what fan theories were accurate, semi-accurate, and completely off base!
