Riona (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
rionaleonhart) wrote2025-06-21 05:27 pm
rionaleonhart) wrote2025-06-21 05:27 pm
Entry tags:
I Flirt With Everyone.
I've finished chapter four of Deltarune, meaning I've played all the Deltarune that exists so far! Time for another rambling post about this game.
This post talks about the normal route at first, then goes on to discuss the Snowgrave route. I'll mark when the Snowgrave spoilers are coming up, so you can duck out if you're trying to avoid those!
Okay, interesting! If you refuse to shift perspective to Susie when she's getting the sheet music, and then shift perspective to the Knight instead, it becomes clear that Kris knows the Knight's identity and does not want you-the-player to have that information.
Kris knows that, as the player, I can hear their thoughts, and they will intentionally distract themselves when they veer too close to thinking about something they don't want me to know. I am endlessly fascinated by this game.
I wonder how much Kris knows or suspects about my motivations. From my observations of Kris, I've been building up a particular image of them; what image has Kris been building of me?
Probably the thing that's most apparent about me, from the perspective of the character I'm playing, is that I'm curious; I want to explore everywhere, look at everything, talk to everyone. Hopefully it comes across that I'm not malicious.
Kris may be able to glean that I like Susie and Noelle, that I don't trust Ralsei, and that I really want to learn more about Kris themselves. They've probably drawn certain conclusions from the fact that, although I repeatedly looked at the money in their brother's dresser, I didn't take it until it became clear that I needed it to have a meal with Susie.
Kris also knows that, by this point, I'm aware there are things they're trying to keep from me, occasionally putting the two of us in conflict. As mentioned, my most obvious trait from Kris's perspective is curiosity, so they know I'll want to find out whatever they're hiding!
Very weird to try to analyse the way a videogame character might be analysing me.
Kris has hit me repeatedly with a hockey stick, which, let's be honest, does not suggest they have warm feelings towards me. But they were acting with a specific intent; they wanted to prevent me from getting to the guitar. Kris hasn't attacked me for fun or retribution; they've only attacked me when I've threatened their plans, whatever those are.
Our relationship otherwise has seemed... fairly neutral? More neutral than I'd expect, given that, from Kris's perspective, I'm presumably some silent, unknowable entity from another plane who's been controlling their actions for several days.
This game really invites weird meta fanfiction where the existence of the reader is felt within the story somehow. It seems like it could be interesting to write, but I wouldn't know where to begin!
I'm really enjoying our battle pirouette when fighting the Winglades.
Huh, the prophecy calls Kris 'the cage'. Not the vessel, not the puppet; the cage. Are we imprisoning Kris, or is Kris imprisoning us?
I think by this point I'm convinced that Ralsei genuinely cares about Kris and Susie. His behaviour may be fishy, but he really does consider them his friends. (I found the way Ralsei and Susie turned to pick Kris up whenever Kris was struck by one of the Knight's swords very cute.)
I rewatched the scene in which Kris listens in on Susie and Noelle. I'm delighted by the opportunity to see some of Kris's reactions when they're not under our control.
The yellow text seems to mark what Kris is reacting to specifically, which is handy. They're apparently bothered by things like Noelle bringing up their behavioural changes, or the two of them talking about Ralsei's resemblance to Kris's family, or Noelle downplaying her relationship with Kris.
It's hard to spot unless you're looking for it, but Kris actually blushes at some lines! Specifically, Kris blushes when their flirting prowess is under discussion, and when the subject of their Ferris wheel ride with Noelle comes up. The latter is of particular interest to me, given that I am increasingly insane about Kris and Noelle's weird relationship.
Snowgrave spoilers coming up:
Having finished chapter four on the normal route, I went and investigated how a Snowgrave route differs!
I am losing my mind about the revelation that, having removed the player's control after chapter two, Kris went looking for Noelle and tried to comfort her. And they drag Noelle out of the room to protect her when they realise the soul is there!
(You can also get Kris trying to protect Susie from the player in chapter three, if you attack her as the Zelda-style Kris sprite! I love it when we get to see how much Kris cares about their friends.)
When the player is cruel to Noelle in a Snowgrave chapter four, Kris kicks the shit out of the soul; it's a really powerful moment. They're furious! They hate every aspect of what we're making them do!
But they still restore our control afterwards, and I can't stop thinking about that. Kris really needs the soul, but for what? What could be worth this? We're hurting someone who's important to Kris; what's preventing Kris from imprisoning us permanently?
Kris doesn't want our control, but they need us, and they need us badly. Did they originally summon us, somehow? Why?
Going by what I've reasoned out so far - the Knight is Dess, Kris knows this, Kris is working with Dess's mother - my best guess is that Kris is trying to bring Dess back, and presumably they need our help to do that. Is there meaning to the fact that, in a Snowgrave route, Dess's sister is the one we're torturing? Is Kris more able to convince themselves it's worth pressing on because, if they achieve their goal, it will help Noelle?
In any case: for a while, when chapter two came out, I thought we were inhabiting Kris wholly against their will, an uninvited guest in their body. It's apparent by now that it's more complicated than that.
Kris may not like some of the things we make them do; in the case of Snowgrave, they loathe our influence. But, for whatever reason, they're intentionally keeping us around. We're stuck with Kris, just as Kris is stuck with us. Kris isn't our vessel; they're our cage.
My best guess, and I'm venturing into pure speculation here: Kris is missing their soul somehow. To seal the dark fountains, possibly in an effort to save Dess, they need a human soul. Only Kris can contain the soul; they're the only human in town. So they've called another human soul into their body, and that soul happens to be mine. (Or yours! It's the player's soul, in any case.) We're not controlling Kris's soul; we're an entirely separate soul, and Kris's soul is absent.
Thinking about it, this probably doesn't make much sense. Noelle mentions that Kris's voice sounded a little weak and shaky when they were comforting her, probably because they were soulless at the time. If Kris was soulless before we arrived, the quality of their soulless voice probably wouldn't strike Noelle as unusual. Unless they lost their soul recently?
It's implied Kris has a recurring habit of whacking their soul into the birdcage. Maybe it eventually just got fed up and left. I've solved the mystery, and Toby Fox will personally show up at my door to present me with a trophy any day now.
I'm so invested in Deltarune. What a game. Undertale was mostly just a fun diversion for me, but Deltarune is a game I'm absolutely passionate about. I look forward to future chapters with both anticipation and fear.
The fear is at least in part that I won't be able to beat the bosses. There were a couple in chapter four that I really struggled with!
This post talks about the normal route at first, then goes on to discuss the Snowgrave route. I'll mark when the Snowgrave spoilers are coming up, so you can duck out if you're trying to avoid those!
Okay, interesting! If you refuse to shift perspective to Susie when she's getting the sheet music, and then shift perspective to the Knight instead, it becomes clear that Kris knows the Knight's identity and does not want you-the-player to have that information.
Kris knows that, as the player, I can hear their thoughts, and they will intentionally distract themselves when they veer too close to thinking about something they don't want me to know. I am endlessly fascinated by this game.
I wonder how much Kris knows or suspects about my motivations. From my observations of Kris, I've been building up a particular image of them; what image has Kris been building of me?
Probably the thing that's most apparent about me, from the perspective of the character I'm playing, is that I'm curious; I want to explore everywhere, look at everything, talk to everyone. Hopefully it comes across that I'm not malicious.
Kris may be able to glean that I like Susie and Noelle, that I don't trust Ralsei, and that I really want to learn more about Kris themselves. They've probably drawn certain conclusions from the fact that, although I repeatedly looked at the money in their brother's dresser, I didn't take it until it became clear that I needed it to have a meal with Susie.
Kris also knows that, by this point, I'm aware there are things they're trying to keep from me, occasionally putting the two of us in conflict. As mentioned, my most obvious trait from Kris's perspective is curiosity, so they know I'll want to find out whatever they're hiding!
Very weird to try to analyse the way a videogame character might be analysing me.
Kris has hit me repeatedly with a hockey stick, which, let's be honest, does not suggest they have warm feelings towards me. But they were acting with a specific intent; they wanted to prevent me from getting to the guitar. Kris hasn't attacked me for fun or retribution; they've only attacked me when I've threatened their plans, whatever those are.
Our relationship otherwise has seemed... fairly neutral? More neutral than I'd expect, given that, from Kris's perspective, I'm presumably some silent, unknowable entity from another plane who's been controlling their actions for several days.
This game really invites weird meta fanfiction where the existence of the reader is felt within the story somehow. It seems like it could be interesting to write, but I wouldn't know where to begin!
I'm really enjoying our battle pirouette when fighting the Winglades.
Huh, the prophecy calls Kris 'the cage'. Not the vessel, not the puppet; the cage. Are we imprisoning Kris, or is Kris imprisoning us?
I think by this point I'm convinced that Ralsei genuinely cares about Kris and Susie. His behaviour may be fishy, but he really does consider them his friends. (I found the way Ralsei and Susie turned to pick Kris up whenever Kris was struck by one of the Knight's swords very cute.)
I rewatched the scene in which Kris listens in on Susie and Noelle. I'm delighted by the opportunity to see some of Kris's reactions when they're not under our control.
The yellow text seems to mark what Kris is reacting to specifically, which is handy. They're apparently bothered by things like Noelle bringing up their behavioural changes, or the two of them talking about Ralsei's resemblance to Kris's family, or Noelle downplaying her relationship with Kris.
It's hard to spot unless you're looking for it, but Kris actually blushes at some lines! Specifically, Kris blushes when their flirting prowess is under discussion, and when the subject of their Ferris wheel ride with Noelle comes up. The latter is of particular interest to me, given that I am increasingly insane about Kris and Noelle's weird relationship.
Snowgrave spoilers coming up:
Having finished chapter four on the normal route, I went and investigated how a Snowgrave route differs!
I am losing my mind about the revelation that, having removed the player's control after chapter two, Kris went looking for Noelle and tried to comfort her. And they drag Noelle out of the room to protect her when they realise the soul is there!
(You can also get Kris trying to protect Susie from the player in chapter three, if you attack her as the Zelda-style Kris sprite! I love it when we get to see how much Kris cares about their friends.)
When the player is cruel to Noelle in a Snowgrave chapter four, Kris kicks the shit out of the soul; it's a really powerful moment. They're furious! They hate every aspect of what we're making them do!
But they still restore our control afterwards, and I can't stop thinking about that. Kris really needs the soul, but for what? What could be worth this? We're hurting someone who's important to Kris; what's preventing Kris from imprisoning us permanently?
Kris doesn't want our control, but they need us, and they need us badly. Did they originally summon us, somehow? Why?
Going by what I've reasoned out so far - the Knight is Dess, Kris knows this, Kris is working with Dess's mother - my best guess is that Kris is trying to bring Dess back, and presumably they need our help to do that. Is there meaning to the fact that, in a Snowgrave route, Dess's sister is the one we're torturing? Is Kris more able to convince themselves it's worth pressing on because, if they achieve their goal, it will help Noelle?
In any case: for a while, when chapter two came out, I thought we were inhabiting Kris wholly against their will, an uninvited guest in their body. It's apparent by now that it's more complicated than that.
Kris may not like some of the things we make them do; in the case of Snowgrave, they loathe our influence. But, for whatever reason, they're intentionally keeping us around. We're stuck with Kris, just as Kris is stuck with us. Kris isn't our vessel; they're our cage.
My best guess, and I'm venturing into pure speculation here: Kris is missing their soul somehow. To seal the dark fountains, possibly in an effort to save Dess, they need a human soul. Only Kris can contain the soul; they're the only human in town. So they've called another human soul into their body, and that soul happens to be mine. (Or yours! It's the player's soul, in any case.) We're not controlling Kris's soul; we're an entirely separate soul, and Kris's soul is absent.
Thinking about it, this probably doesn't make much sense. Noelle mentions that Kris's voice sounded a little weak and shaky when they were comforting her, probably because they were soulless at the time. If Kris was soulless before we arrived, the quality of their soulless voice probably wouldn't strike Noelle as unusual. Unless they lost their soul recently?
It's implied Kris has a recurring habit of whacking their soul into the birdcage. Maybe it eventually just got fed up and left. I've solved the mystery, and Toby Fox will personally show up at my door to present me with a trophy any day now.
I'm so invested in Deltarune. What a game. Undertale was mostly just a fun diversion for me, but Deltarune is a game I'm absolutely passionate about. I look forward to future chapters with both anticipation and fear.
The fear is at least in part that I won't be able to beat the bosses. There were a couple in chapter four that I really struggled with!
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I'm also kind of worried about being able to beat the bosses in future chapters. This chapter was already fairly difficult for me. I am not good at videogames so I might end up just watching lets plays for future chapters if they get any harder and that's a considerably less immediate experience.
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I'd like to see the team introduce difficulty or accessibility options. A lot of people love this game, but it's definitely going to be too tricky for some; the Jackenstein and Titan fights were tough. It'd be nice to make it possible for people of any skill level to play through the whole story.
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That makes a creepy amount of sense! Kris seems desperate to glue their crumbling life back together, so they turned to powers beyond their own world in hopes of changing fate. And it comes with a steeper price than they imagined. D:
I love Deltarune so much. Every chapter feels like a cliffhanger because I want to know what's going on so badly. ;;
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What a phenomenal game indeed!! I am so so excited for the future chapters and even more delighted we can essentially experience them together. Thanks as always for sharing your thoughts! 💕
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Thank you so much for commenting on my earlier entries about these chapters, too! I was exploding from my inability to look up any discussion without getting spoiled, so being able to share my thoughts and know you were listening really helped.
especially when it involves topics/characters/themes I have a passing interest in at best.
It's really interesting to me that different people are drawn to such different aspects of Deltarune! Every Deltarune fan I know has found their way into a different corner; you love Tenna and Mettaton,
"omg I hope Riona plays bc I want to see her go batshit insane over this"
EXTREMELY ACCURATE ASSESSMENT. Wow, I have been losing my mind.