Could Undertale actually be the next Cave Story?

Undertale definitely has the same feeling Cave Story does. It is a very dark story. But it manages to keep itself upbeat. Kind of like a Grimm's Fairy Tale. Both games give off that kind of aura.

And you can very easily get dunked on by both of the games' hardest bosses.

 

And you can very easily get dunked on by both of the games' hardest bosses.

Dangit! I wish they had Comic Sans in the font family's so I could say "getttttt dunked on" in comic sans!

 

It is a very dark story.

since when was cave story ever dark? I know King and Toroko died and all, but people die in a lot of non dark things to

 

Dangit! I wish they had Comic Sans in the font family's so I could say "getttttt dunked on" in comic sans!

You might want to look again. Unless of course you are using the RTE editor.

 

since when was cave story ever dark? I know King and Toroko died and all, but people die in a lot of non dark things to

Cave Story does have a dark story, but with comic relief. Or at least, its definitely not a lighthearted story

 

Cave Story does have a dark story, but with comic relief. Or at least, its definitely not a lighthearted story

And Undertale doesn't have comic relief?

I'm looking at you Papyrus.

 

The darkest thing I can see in Cave Story is how the Doctor tries to take over the world by feeding flowers to cute bunny/dog-like beings to make them semi-scary and control them.
Oh wait, that is pretty dark.
Point is; I see Undertale being way more dark for several reasons.

 

The darkest thing I can see in Cave Story is how the Doctor tries to take over the world by feeding flowers to cute bunny/dog-like beings to make them semi-scary and control them.
Oh wait, that is pretty dark.

its not really anymore dark than the original plot of megaman

 

its not really anymore dark than the original plot of megaman

Cave Story is dark in that the entire main plot, while simple, is able to show the good and bad sides of people. Sure it has cute bad guys, but thats not really the point. When there's that rabid Mimiga boss, after it dies it shows the previous form. This makes you actually know they arent something that just has always been out to kill, but used to be a normal Mimiga just like the rest of them.
Also the bad ending is basically saying "Screw you guys, i'm goin' home." So leaving everyone to die.

So yeah its not completely dark, especially in comparison to many other video games, but definitely has a dark backstory and many dark moments.

 

Why all the hate on Homestuck? Also, Megalovania originated from the Halloween Hack, so that one doesn't count as a reusal.

he literally just said "you know it was used in three things, right?"

 

And you can very easily get dunked on by both of the games' hardest bosses.

funny thing is i never got around to beating either of them
and yes, I agree that Cave Story's story is dark, but imo Undertale is more dark than Cave Story is for obv reasons

 

Ah, yes. Cave Story and Undertale. Two one-man indie successes (Technically, Undertale had minor help from others, but whatever) that have/probably will have a semi-cult following and also have excellent game design. Not to mention both are inspired by Nintendo-titles. (Metroid and Earthbound respectively) I hear a lot of people comparing the darkness of the story and the music of both games, so I think I'll talk about those specifically.

The music in both is, no doubt, amazing and very catchy, but comparitively, Cave Story's is much catchier and, in my opinon, better. Don't get me wrong, I catch myself singing along to songs like "Ghost Fight", "Bonetrousle" and "Hopes and Dreams" all the time, but I can pick out a vast majority of the CS soundtrack (like, 33 of the original 49) that I like. For Undertale, I can pick out 20-30 good songs out of its 106 song soundtrack. Plus, until I find a song that is on par or better than "White", CS will have a better soundtrack. Also, I find Toby's constant reliance on motifs a bit annoying. Not that they're bad motifs or anything, I personally love them. But at first, I found it cool, especially while in the game, where you naturally listen to the tracks, but listening to them out of context sorta makes me feel like, "Okay, I heard this melody 3 songs back, can we move on Toby?" Its also pretty dissapointing to hear this soundtrack after hearing his full album and various works in Homestuck. I'm probably ingnoring his more original works in the soundtrack, like "Enemy Approaching" and "Heartache", but I still think they aren't as good as CS, despite being more emotion-inspiring that CS at times. Speaking of which, the CS soundtrack is gold and to make things better, Danny Baranowsky, composer for Nicalis, said in a interview that Pixel couldn't even read sheet music. That's absolutely amazing for someone who created 49 original, (barring Jenka 1, I guesss) songs for his game, using a program he created and programmed and using samples he programmed himself. I find that impressive and inspiring. Despite thr fact that the CS soundtrack is less advanced and varied than Undertale (that is to say, Undertale has a lot of instruments at its disposal, from 8-bit to real instruments, and the soundfonts of Megaman X to Mario Paint. CS has variation as well. But more in melody style and notation. Many of my favorite songs ("Cave Story"and "Safety", to name a few) are done in 3/4 or 6/4 time and Labyrinth Fight has an old-school rock 'n' roll feel to it, whereas White has the harmony and beat of an R & B song. The Way Back Home has a relaxing bossa nova feel to it and Jenka is a straight up folk song. Maybe it's because of CS's wonderful developmental backstory or nostalgia blinding me, but I prefer CS's OST over Undertale's.

The dark story is something else entirely, though. Both do the "Cute, lovable characters; dark story" thing, but Undertale does it better. With CS you sort of have to think about the things happening in the game to understand why it's dark. The above comments do it better justice. From the Mimigas reverting to their original form before dying, to Hero's End. Ballos' tortured past and pretty much everything surrounding Curly. But CS does its darkness subtly, making the bright, bouncy visuals and music seem like a facade. That's pretty genius if you ask me. But Undertale, Undertale has better characters and world-building. But is an RPG, that's kind of expected for an RPG, especially a JRPG. It has better, more varied and developed characters that play off of each other. The world is so very interesting and cool and every second I spend in it is absolutely amazing. I will say that both games have intersting NPC'S and hidden goodies for those who look for them. However Undertale still beats CS becasue of it's Earthbound-inspired, and ever so witty dialogue. I love UT for it's story and characters, CS for the music and gameplay, and both for their charm and new things they each bring to their respective genres.

On that note I don't like Homestuck. It started out alright, but it became boring and full of long and mostly redundant Pesterchum logs. Problem Sleuth was way better. Cue shitstorm.

There's no shitstorm here, man. Just me. Quoting and commenting on your post. So it's more of a mokey flinging their feces as opposed to a cylindrical wind funnel of defication.

What I find weird about your comment is that the general consensus (at least on reddit, youtube and tumblr) is that the first 3 acts are boring and the 4th act and ownward is where the story picks up and gets interesting. Your comment is quite the contrary to the majority and I find that interesting. Very interesting.

I read Problem Sleuth and many of Hussie's other adventures after Homestuck. And because of how accessible Homestuck makes all of his previous works seem, and how you can see how all of their elements in HS, I found them much more enjoyable. But that's just my opinion, you're free to yours and I respect that.

Can I ask where you stopped off at? Becasue the intermission part between act 4 and 5 are pretty Problem Sleuth-esque, and there are various references to his previous sprinkled throughout.

 

Can I ask where you stopped off at?

I believe I stopped sometime after the end of Act 4. The end of act 4 is the last event I remember.

Becasue the intermission part between act 4 and 5 are pretty Problem Sleuth-esque, and there are various references to his previous sprinkled throughout.

Actually it was the intermission between 3 and 4.

 

Hmm. You stopped at a prime part for Homestuck IMO. Like, I always tell people that Act 4 is true Homestuck and my favorite act throughout the enitire comic, and if you didn't like it after act 4, Homestuck might not be for you. To be honest, I didn't really like Act 5 until Post-Sgrub (after the Trolls played their versions of the game) and Doc Scratch took control of the website. Act 6 is pretty okay too.

Also, I totally forgot that the intermission was between Act 3 & 4. I haven't read HS entirely since like 2014. And when I do read it, its in bits and chunks from places I bookmark and when Hussie does upd8. It's a shame you didn't like it, I thought you might've. Anyway, I'm not going to try to change your opinion, I just thought yours was intersting.

 

Honestly after getting past the boring first part the story was weird and different and interesting, but an endless spew of story bullshit - mostly shipping and sprite fusing - started happening after the...gigapause? Megapause or gigapause, one of those. When I stopped it wasn't because it was boring or anything, I just was sick of trying to keep up with all the bullshit that was happening.
Cascade and game over are still cool animations tho.

 

Problem Sleuth may have had its fair share of bullshit, but at least it was bullshit you could keep up with.

 

Honestly after getting past the boring first part the story was weird and different and interesting, but an endless spew of story bullshit - mostly shipping and sprite fusing - started happening after the...gigapause? Megapause or gigapause, one of those. When I stopped it wasn't because it was boring or anything, I just was sick of trying to keep up with all the bullshit that was happening.
Cascade and game over are still cool animations tho.

Problem Sleuth may have had its fair share of bullshit, but at least it was bullshit you could keep up with.

I understand how you all feel, but I've invested too much time into homestuck to not see it through to it's conclusion.