Studio Musician | Undertale OST: Friendship, Hopes and Dreams Reaction & Analysis

There is a good video called ‘All the undertale songs are connected’ which shows how insane Toby went with the leitmotifs

You mentioning that “how can a boss be this pacifist?” Is WAY more apt than you might think

"Last goodbye" is called "mus_expressmyself" in the game files. What a masterpiece

If you ever get the urge to listen to these again, try listening to Finale immediately after Your Best Nightmare— they come directly one after the other in the game, and it helps you understand how the music evolves over the course of that Event.

These songs hit indescribably harder when playing the game. The context that can only be experienced by personally playing it is something else. If the music hit you, give the game a shot. You'll not be dissapointed.

Dude I fucking love your analysis so much. Emotional intelligence is totally the essence of the entire game and the music reflects that

20:22 oh my god! No way lol You just helped me realize something. *Spoilers ahead* When you get to Asgore the first time, what does he say? *Dum dee dum* HE IS FREAKING HUMMING THE UNDERTALE LEIT MOTIF! I gotta sit down

The emotional impact these songs have is unREAL. I was teary eyed the ENTIRE time, these songs are like an integral part of my childhood, I cannot hear "His Theme" or "Undertale" without crying bro.

34:42-34:52 Love when YouTubers figure out the context of undertale/Deltarune just from the music

Undertale (the song, not the game) is sad because during the part where it plays monsters appear, but don't fight you. Instead they tell you the tragic tale of the underground, and it IS sad, especially if you easily feel emphatic.

Approx 20:00 The term is anemoia: a feeling of nostalgia for a place or time you have never known.

I think my favorite part of "Your Best Nightmare" is the section starting at 15:15 . With the way the strings are played (plus the in-game context), it almost feels like the song itself is laughing at you. And then the synth that gets added over it on the repeat nearly sounds like your own voice trying to scream out over the music, but you just get drowned out.

“Undertale” and “Last Goodbye” contain some of the only examples of actual live recordings of musicians playing instruments. The acoustic guitar in Undertale by another musician, and the piano in Last Goodbye played by Toby himself

The Pacifist story of Undertale can do amazing things to your emotions. This game is one that most players will never forget, especially that hug at the end. I was actually ugly crying and my Mum came in and asked me if I was okay.

The legend says Toby cried while playing the piano part in Last goodbye

Most of these songs are “about” or somehow involved with one character in particular who has a few different sides to him. He’s tragic, friendly, heartwarming, earnest, but also cruel, terrifying, solipsistic, and deeply, deeply sad. The plot of the entire game pivots around him, the horrible circumstances of his existence, and his efforts to do anything about it.

The “Hit me again hit me again!” And then righty after “Not so hard! Don’t hit me so hard!” Had me dying😂

When you said "ghosts are appearing all over" for the "your best nightmare" reaction. . . Ghosts would be scared of what that song is for.

22:50 Since you asked about where Toby got his sound effects, there's actually a ton of sources, some made by him, some are just default FL studio instruments, some even being obscure old Ronald McDonald commercial clips or heavily edited Spongebob lines, but the most prominent ones are definitely FFVII, Touhou, and the Mother series (mostly Earthbound, which is Mother 2). He uses instruments from those games' soundtracks a lot, and it has inspired his music writing as well with those games (especially the latter 2) being what got him interested in music in the first place, so even though he learned music by ear he was kinda' guided a bit by those games. Probably the biggest and most obvious example of this is in Finale at this little midsection at 11:02 , those background trumpets are from Touhou, they're the famed ZUNpets named after the developer and composer of and for Touhou, Jun'ya "ZUN" Ota. If you're curious to see just how much those games influence his work you might want to check out any of those games' OSTs in the future. Other Undertale themes which make heavy use of those games' soundfonts are Undertale OST #69 One True Love (FFVII), OST #24 Bonetrousle (Earthbound), OST #84 Amalgam (Earthbound), and OST #98 Battle Against a True Hero (Touhou, also ZUN's personal favorite in the soundtrack!).

Undertale was an incredible internet phenomenon, it caused tens of millions of people to enter it's community, even those that didn't play it. In 2018 it had 3-4 millions players on steam, not counting how many people played it for free in the years when it was free and not on steam at all, and when it came out on consoles in the following years, and the fact it was made by ONE person, who also composed all the music, with the help of his small team of friends, which was a handful of people. Even tho it's aesthethic was not unique in the slightest, it boomed, it became so popular, i think in part it was for the music, and for how good the game actually is, the uniqueness is found in it's lore and storytelling, how the game interacts with you, it's easter eggs and a lot more. If you did not play it, i absolutely recommend doing so, not because of the joy and sadness you will probably feel playing it, but because of the surreal experience it provides the player, there is no other game i will ever compare to Undertale except Deltarune, which came after, beacause Undertale is simply its own thing.