Undertale Semi-Open Dead PT

[popsofctown]

I was thinking "wow maybe xyzzy is right and games don't need deadlines" when all the days finished in the first third of deadline.

Then this lylo happened

[volxen]

I was thinking "wow maybe xyzzy is right and games don't need deadlines" when all the days finished in the first third of deadline.

Then this lylo happened

It's very interesting how everyone was willing to end the days very quickly whenever we were going to spare someone, but when someone has to be lynched town decides to play up until the deadline. At least in this particular game I think that is also a way in which the Pacifist route benefited me and my partner: the game moved so fast because everyone more-or-less agreed on all of the consensus townreads (Chennisden, Elements, DDL, and Adorable). Most of the days ended very quickly with minimal information (compared to if each day were played out until the deadline), and that usually benefits scum rather than town. The game is only 31 pages long and we are at the very end of four-player mylo! A lot of games would be at 100+ pages by this stage of the game.

This is one of those very subtle reasons why I think the Pacifist route might be more pro-scum than people give it credit for. Psychologically, I think that on some level people are

much

more OK with speeding through a day if someone is going to be spared as opposed to if someone is going to be lynched. I suspect that if town had followed the Genocide route and lynched someone each day, we probably would have played much closer to the deadline on each day, and the game would be a lot longer than 31 pages long by this stage of the game. Between that, flips from lynched players, and the LOVE mechanic, town would have a

LOT

more information to go on right now. That's definitely some food for thought.

Mechanically speaking I don't think that the Pacifist route is scum-sided, but I think it benefits scum in very subtle/psychological ways that are not necessarily obvious at first. Sparing people vs lynching people really does completely change the dynamics of the game.