Teacher hosting an Undertale Lets Play for their Middle School Class (Spoilers)

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I’ll update this thread as Mr teacher posts more. I just hope nobody tries demanding his head over the lesbian couple later on in the pacifist route.

Edit
Apparently this teacher is Both Canadian and openly Gay and so community fears over parental shitstorm were misplaced (albeit wellmeaning.)
/Edit

So for context, I’m a middle school teacher and I’m taking the opportunity during lunch recess, when I can, to throw Undertale up on the screen and play. The students are between 11 and 14 years old.
How it works is thus: I’m at the keyboard; they’re in a group next to/around me. In one of their hands is a random stuffed monkey that I happened to have in my classroom. They direct how things go through this monkey - when I need to decide on an action (in or out of a fight) I call out “Monkey!” and whoever is holding it tells me what to do, and then passes the monkey to the next person.

The rules that I established before play were:
No fighting. Reason being: if we end up going True Pacifist, I don’t want to have to totally replay the game to do it.

… (I kind of modified rule 1 by throwing in that we “might have to fight sometimes when it’s an important fight” to leave the window open for them killing Toriel or Undyne.)
No spoilers. Some of the kids have already experienced some/part/most of the game, or at least one branch of it, and I’ve made it very clear that anyone putting spoilers out there would be booted.
The whole monkey thing.
So anyway–

Oh. Right. Some of you are probably like “why are you making this post?”

The answer is more or less that I’d love to make a Let’s Play out of this experience but I can’t, because confidentiality. So I’m posting it here instead, in the hopes that you fellow Undertale BONEheads (ba-dum-Frisk) might enjoy reading about it.

Anyway, on with the first recap! For the sake of anonymity I’m just going to call myself Mr. Thomas, because that’s what we named the fallen human.

Part 1: The Ruins
So their reaction to Flowey went about as would be expected.
“Aw it’s a flower! Hi!”
“LOVE! I want LOVE! Give me LOVE!”
“Friendliness pellets! Get the pellets Mr. Thomas!”
“OH GOD WHY.”
“EVIL FLOWER!!”
“Why does the flower want to kill us??”

So, having their trust nicely betrayed by everyone’s favourite daffodil, they were understandably suspicious of Toriel when she arrived.

Also, Toriel has an Irish accent. Because 1) yes, I am narrating the text out loud as it comes, and 2) … I don’t know, for some reason I’ve always found an Irish accent to be matronly.

Anyway, they warmed up to her pretty quick, but there was some confusion around the first couple of fights.

“Toriel’s happy! Yay!”
“So wait, you can get through this game without actually fighting the monsters?”
“What’s the point then?”
“Shut up, this game is awesome.”

And so on. And I have to admit, knowing as much about Undertale as I do (and I do; I’ve turned into a pathetic fanboy in the last couple of months), it’s very satisfying right now to see the doubters, because I know exactly what’s going to happen to them.

I am happy to report that the Monkey told me to check the pillar at the end of the super long room.
I am less happy to report that one of the kids who has played Undertale made me flirt with Goat Mom.
This was a thing I promised myself I would never actually do. Darn it.

So anyway. I won’t add so much detail that this becomes terrible and tedious and totally un-determination-y, but between that point and Napstablook:
We skipped the first Froggit;
We didn’t take any monster candy;
We both complimented and threatened poor Froggit;
We went far too many rounds with Whimsun before figuring out how to spare;
We picked Butterscotch;
There was much comedy around the cheeky rock, which is definitely Texan according to my poor accent;
And we tried several times to take the cheese off the table.
Took them a while to figure out Napstablook, too. We even threatened him with a cruel look. But then Dapper Blook happened.

“Why is he crying up?”
“OH MY GOD IT’S A TOP HAT.”
“I wish I could make a top hat with my tears.”
“But your tears would also hurt you.”
“Yeah, but it’d be worth it!”

We ended for that day after the encounter with Blooky, but picked it back up after the weekend:
We bought a spider donut;
We started actually talking to everyone, but naturally couldn’t talk to the first frog;
We didn’t even look for the fourth frog;
We fell down the hole far too many times trying to stay off the leaves;
We met Blooky again but missed the Ribbon;
We hit the wrong switch while changing perspectives;
We skipped the Toy Knife.

When we reached Home, the kids had officially fallen in love with Toriel.
Well, most of them.

You all know the scenes - I got high praise from several kids for my proper pronunciation of ‘tsundere’, and there was a laugh when we found out Toriel’s chair is called ‘Chairiel’ - but eventually, as it does happen, we went downstairs.

We didn’t even humour her either.
“I’m happy to have you here–” “I WANNA GO HOME.”
“This is a book about snail–” “HOW TO EXIT.”
“Uh, how about a snail fac–” “OUT. I WANT OUT.”
So we went.

The fight with Toriel was tense. I was praised many times on my l337 d0dging skillz. The monkey went around and around the group, with the kids in the front trying to spare her and give her mercy, and the kids in the back convinced that the only way to get past her was to fight.

Eventually, when Toriel began actually responding, more and more of the kids began to show mercy. And they also whined about how guilty they felt.

“Can we flee? I want to go to my room and think about what I’ve done.”
“It’s okay, Toriel! We’ll come visit!”
“No we won’t.”
“NO SPOILERS.”

Eventually, as happens, the music stopped, and Toriel started telling us all the things she would do to make us happy. Every single one of the kids was offering her mercy. The monkey was unanimous.
And then it got to a kid we shall refer to as M.

“Fight!”

So I did.

This being the first time I had in-person performed a betrayal kill on Toriel, I at least knew from YouTube what to expect. The kids didn’t.
“OH MY GOD M.”
“Whoa, what?? Critical hit!”
“Did that just say 4,000 damage?!”
“M! You’re a cold blooded murderer!”
“NOOOOOOOO!! My heart!!!”
“M, how could you?!”
It was a trying time. They’re scarred for life.

So I gently reminded them that we had saved, and we had the option to reset and do things differently.
The vote was unanimous.

When I go back to Undertale with them today, we will be re-attempting that encounter, and I am gleefully awaiting their reaction to the conversation they’ll be having with Flowey afterwards.
If anyone enjoyed reading this, I will provide an update after the next couple of sessions. Otherwise, thanks for reading!

tl;dr: Students control my actions while playing Undertale. We’re at the end of the ruins, and they just got a betrayal kill on Goat Mom. No one is happy with this.

EDIT: Formatting. Also, the next day one of my students was still sad about Toriel. The power of Undertale, man.

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Before I begin Part 2!
Suffice it to say, my last post generated a lot more attention than I was expecting. So I have done a few more things since I last posted.

As you will find out if you head over to my blog, I have begun adding these transcripts there as well, so head on over if you ever want a look at the archive all in one place!

I recently went to the trouble of having all the kids nickname themselves, so that I can attribute some of the things I hear. So, here’s your cast of characters (some of whom might be missing):

BigMac - Likes Big Macs.
Ghost - Got stuck in the Forest Temple in Zelda
Baymax - Really doesn’t like Flowey
MKA - The most heartbroken
Creamface - Also known as “M” in my last post; objected to the name “Killer”
Shaco - Showed up today for the first time
Freakshow - Her choice of nickname, not mine, I swear
Cat - Cat.
Potato - Loud. Very loud.
Chair - Went with the first thing he saw
Brisky - In love with Mettaton
Papaya - Sits at the back
Cow - Moo.
Froyo - Wanted to be called Ice Cream, but wasn’t
Banana - A friend of Papaya
Angus - Sits there and watches everyone else make decisions
In the future, the cast list will be available on the blog!

If you have questions about this or how it works, or, like, whatever, please go visit the blog because there’s a list of big questions there from people, and it’d be nice not to answer all of them again.

The updates to this series are not going to be as frequent as this. I only play with them (normally) every other day, and I’m not planning to update every single time, so I apologize in advance but you’ll have to be patient!

Okay. On with the show.

Part 2: Dog Marriage

So it should go without saying that we left off in a very sad place. MKA was still talking about it the next day, and she’s played or seen most of Undertale already. I think she was a little shaken by the whole betrayal thing. Understandably.

Creamface, on a completely unrelated note, keeps getting called a murderer. Wonder why.
At any rate, when we started 'er up again - and replayed the pie and bedroom and book scenes, because I was an idiot and forgot to save before we confronted Toriel - we went on down, walked along the hall, and then Toriel noticed that we were looking at her funny. “Why are you looking at me like that?” she says, “like you have seen a ghost.”

“Wait a minute, she didn’t say that before.”
“Say what before?”
“That. Did she say that last time?”
“I don’t know, I was out at recess.”
It only got better when we confronted her, and Potato tried talking to her, and suddenly…
“We saw her die?!”
“HOW DOES THE GAME KNOW THAT.”
“Wait, what?”
Baymax: “Guys, that’s creepy.”
GAME: “But that’s creepy.”
Baymax: “RIGHT.”

We unanimously agreed that all we were going to do was spare, and so spare we did, again and again.

TORIEL: “Go away!”
Potato: “What do you think we’re TRYING to do? You’re in the way!”
Eventually, again, her willpower weakened, though she kept trying to persuade us to stay–
“Nobody give Creamface the monkey!!”
–and she gave us a hug, to a chorus of “AWWWWW” from the kids, some of whom wanted to turn right around and go hug her again. And then out of the RUINS we went!
Er, almost.
Baymax: “OH NOT FLOWEY.”
“What does he want now?”
Baymax: “I hate Flowey.”
“Goat Mom! Save us!”
Baymax: “Flowey is poo.”

Flowey, as you all know, was on to us. I know what you did, he said. You murdered her. And then you went back, because you regretted it.

BigMac: “Flowey is totally breaking the fourth wall here.”
MKA: “I will never trust a flower again.”
Freakshow: “I feel like Flowey is going to follow me home after school today.”
Baymax: “I HATE YOU FLOWEY.”

After Flowey went away, we happily wandered onward and out of the RUINS–

GAME: UNDERTALE. By Toby Fox.

“What? That was just the intro?”
“I’M SCARRED FOR LIFE.”

–and out into the snow, and funny enough, it was Creamface himself who found the camera hidden in the bushes. Unsurprisingly, Baymax thought that was creepy. They were so busy talking about it that they totally missed the snapping branch and then Sans’ shadow as he followed us.
So we arrived at the gate.

BigMac: “Is that Sans? OH MY GOD IS THAT SANS?!”
“Who’s Sans?”
“NO SPOILERS.”
BigMac: “It’s Sans!! YES!!”
“Have you played this before or something?”
BigMac: “No, but I know Sans!”
“DON’T SHAKE THE HAND THOMAS! DON’T DO IT!”

And then the whoopee cushion happened, and hilarity ensued, and we all know what happens next…

“That IS a convenient lamp.”
“Too convenient.”
“DON’T TELL HIM TO LOOK AT THE LAMP, SANS.”
SANS: Terrible Jokes
PAPYRUS: Irritation At Terrible Jokes
BigMac: “I guess Papyrus has a BONE to pick!”
Everyone: GROANNN

We got the Tough Glove from the box.
We decided not to call the fish.
We pet/pat/pot Doggo, and successfully did not move.
We collected a Snowman Piece.
We found out where all the ice was.
We arrived at Papyrus’s first dastardly puzzle, the electric maze…

Cow (Monkey): “Uh, go forward I guess…”
PAPYRUS: Sizzles
“Wait, what?”
SANS: “I think the human has to hold the orb.”
Papaya: “He just-- did he just give us the answer?”
“Follow the footsteps!!”

… and were presently on our way again.
We got a purple flag in the golf game (Mr. Kyle sucks at Undertale golf).
We investigated the ‘His’ and ‘Hers’ outposts.
We bought some Nice Cream!
We refused to pay Sans 50g for fried snow (we’re cheapskates).
We investigated the snowdecahedron - Chair said: “I get it! It’s like a… decahedron. Shape. Or something.”
We walked right past the Jumble.
We said crosswords were harder.
Our day’s session ended at the spaghetti, where we picked up today and continued along our merry way.

SIGN: “Warning: Dog Marriage.”
“What?”
SIGN: “(Yes, you read that correctly.)”
“Oh. Okay.”

We encountered Lesser Dog, and pet it not once, not twice, but thrice. Creamface then took us right into the pile of snow, and then quite accurately up to the hidden switch, and then we were told by the Dogi to identify oursmellf…s.

“Mr. Kyle makes this look so easy.”
Banana: “How are you even supposed to dodge those axes? …Oh. Like that.”
Cow: “Aw! Puppy love!”

I should note here that we got ourselves re-sniffed far too many times before someone decided to be bold and pet Dogaressa. Eventually, though, we wandered along and happened upon the X puzzles.
We solved the first, rather quickly.
We attempted to solve the second.
We attempted to solve the second.
We attempted to solve the second.
We solved the second.
And then we found ourselves across from Papyrus and Dr. Alphys’s glorious puzzle invention.

Ghost: “SOMEONE GET SOME PAPER AND WRITE ALL THIS DOWN.”
GAME: “Do you understand?”
MKA: “Of course!”
“Oh my God the colours.”
Risky: “Seizure warning!!”

And…

“Oh.”
“You can walk on the pink, right?”
BigMac: “FABULOUS.”
Papaya: “Dr. Alphys was totally trolling Papyrus.”
Baymax: “Flowey still sucks.”

We have now refilled our determination standing amid a heap of failed snow-dogs with very long necks. When we return (an update that will come after the confrontation with Papyrus), we will continue along through the japes, and there will be more awful voice acting and more monkeys!
Stay tuned for Part 3!

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My middle schooler is going to want to come to your class now… She hasn’t played this game, but she talks about it because her friends play it.

But this is totally awesome!

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Thank you, this is so awesome.

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Note this is not me. I’m not this teacher. I’m simply sharing what I think is awesome. Apologies for the confusion.

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Oh, my confusion, not yours! It’s awesome, though. Thanks very much for sharing!

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