>>133767I think the LOST and Heartbound comparisons were perfect.
But the blog made me wonder, how long WILL Deltarune go for until its at a point where being a newcomer is too hard to get another resurgence in popularity?
When Chapter 2 came out, the newcomers had at this point completely missed undertale's peak popularity and hype train. Even when watching/playing undertale fully many did not know anything about Gaster as the conversation died and then when Deltarune came out it picked right back up with everyone expected to know about that previous era.
I remember the original Survey Program release of Deltarune Chapter 1 was talked about almost exclusively as "Undertale 2" or along that line. This was only 2-3 after Undertale's release so the idea that people who encountered it being unaware of UT and its discussions wasn't really something to consider.
Move to September of 2021, during the pandemic and a huge shift for the internet and online only projects, Deltarune chapter 2 comes out in a surprise free release. Newcomers this time around simply were not there to experience the original popularity and theory discussions for Undertale. The video shown is an example of one made in response to this.
At the time that video was made, it would've been all someone needed to understand Gaster. It still was an ongoing thing, so to a newcomer it wasn't difficult to jump on the "hype-train" that older fans were already in.
Now that video, by itself at least, has been rendered obsolete for the problem it previously solved. There's new content for the game revolving that, and a newcomer would not get the full picture by looking at a now outdated video.
Yet, every new chapter will mean that the information required to hop aboard this theorycrafting "hype-train" will become longer, more comprehensive, and would take more effort.
Previously you could get most of the "hidden" details just by seeing some rare sprites and dialogue. Before the release of chapters 3/4 and after the release of Chapter 2 there were 2 ARGs full of lore. The blog puts it better than I do, but something undoubtedly will not be able to be replicated for those coming in after that. A part of the experience would be much more difficult (the sweepstakes videos don't give really anything story-wise apart of the ARG) to go through if you weren't there when it was happening. As the game goes on it would just get harder and harder to understand.
Also I would like to bring up something else. Howard/Orkastle was already mentioned twice previously in this thread so I don't see much use in mentioning him more, but I watched one of Howard's streams and he was talking about how Toby is beginning to have a (slow) dissonance with some of his fanbase. The streamer noted recent attempts at canceling Toby. While he says that those cancellation attempts have failed badly, the fact that they previously weren't as common is something to note.
While I didn't think too much of this when I first heard it, the critique blog helped me understand whats going on.
The section of the blog about players "missing out" on the community/theorycrafting of Deltarune from its start will have a larger Dissonance with Toby the less they understand the "hidden" parts of the game. As said there, Dess is practically just a few passing mentions if you ONLY play the game, even if you find any possible eastereggs/bosses. They will play, like, and enjoy the game, but slowly less will have the mental attachment to the game that you think of when you think of Deltarune's abysmal fanbase. (or as referred to in the blog, the cult of personality)
Names like Dess will just feel like passing mentions to those that haven't looked at any theories or communities. The impact the game expects you to have when the inevitable reveal arrives will be lost on you, and maybe even feel rushed, as you weren't apart of Deltarune as a fandom. You played Deltarune in full up until now, but you didn't experience it in full. Something will feel off. You could watch videos on the lore and ARGs, and if you happen to like it enough you may understand it better and begin to see it as apart of it. But if you don't check out videos, or you do and it doesn't resonate with you? Now your someone who is aware of the game, who may be apart of Toby's target audience, but you didn't drink the Kool-Aid. You don't feel like you owe yourself to him or his games. You aren't part of the cult, your part of the dissonance.
This is where I believe those cancellation attempts came from. Like I said, these types of people will come slowly, but every chapter release will lead to these becoming more common.
I definitely don't believe the game will ever lose popularity, at least before the last chapter has long been out. But the line that new fans will have to cross to truly feel like they're "in" will tighten, and this may cause cracks in Toby's fanbase down the line.