Can You Beat Undertale As a Pacifist Without Acting?

[@benjaminurquhart]

I would like to elaborate on a couple things I noticed in the video First, the type of persistence glitch used (yes there are types) in the "skip everything in true lab" video only works on 1.001 Linux. This is due to it having the older input system and it being a slightly newer version of Gamemaker compared to 1.0 and 1.001 Windows. Newer versions of the game have the bugfix but have a bad input system that prevents the trick from being set up. However, that's not a problem. As demonstrated in the full skip video, you can get past Snowdrake's Mom without acting and without killing her in the same way Lemon Bread and Memoryhead are skipped. Second, I'm surprised you actually went for those skips. They're TAS-only for a reason (and even if you did get them, since you're on 1.0 it wouldn't work anyway). Anyway, nice work on the video! Maybe I should look more into the challenge community of Undertale.

[@NovemberJoy]

Hey, thanks for the extra elaboration! I actually didn't know there were multiple persistence glitches. I didn't mention it in the video, but I actually installed 1.001 Linux to try those skips with libTAS before running into technical issues. That's actually part of what delayed the video as long as it did! Thank you for letting me use your clip, and hope you'll enjoy whatever weird challenges you find in the Undertale community!

[@benjaminurquhart]

@@NovemberJoy ok well, now I have to elaborate on my elaboration. There's only 1 "persistence glitch," but there are multiple ways it can be used. The most common way (and the one used in the clips) is to store active cutscenes in order to mess with game state. There's also position storage (storing Frisk's position in the room) as well as "blcon storage" which is storing the encounter exclamation mark to duplicate battles (like fighting Asriel twice or something dumb like that).

[@Kojankoa]

TL;DW No.

[@CharaTR]

@@NovemberJoy yes at first it's toxic mass but there are some very good features if you forget about them and get stuck with it....

[@gupireal]

So we’re just writing entire essays now? This is the evolution of KZbin comments

[@npcmcishark7379]

"You gained love, and you gained love" - Sans during this run

[@NovemberJoy]

"you gained LOVE, but you also gained love. does that make sense? ...wait, that doesn't make sense. are you some kind of hacker...? well, whatever. i'll let you judge yourself. later." Thanks for the comment!

[@bobbobwski3275]

Just imagine what Sans was thinking afterwards,would he be like:”So,do I kill him?”

[@Vex-Trixztra]

Player from underplayer: May I introduce myself? ;)

[@seantaggart7382]

Sans: its strange but you betrayed us Yet who are you? PLAYER: HEHEH

[@seantaggart7382]

@@Vex-Trixztra Indeed

[@TheGreenTaco999]

virgin neutralist: "I killed 2 frogs by accident" chad pacifist: "I killed 40 people when no one was looking and wish I could haver found more"

[@NovemberJoy]

Embracing that sigma grindset by hunting down and killing 40 monsters to get stronger - clearly, it was necessary. Thanks for the comment!

[@silkmoth7951]

Don't forget about killing the bird lady with vegetable eyes and some very bad case of alzheimer! Yay?

[@TheDjuske]

the punch card skip has the energy of someone briskly walking past people trying to give them a leaflet in the street, going "sorry im busy" but instead of a phone it's just a punchcard for ice cream

[@NovemberJoy]

That's part of the reason I love it - the other part is that it breaks the game in unexpected ways.

[@RandomEphemeral]

i just say "fuck off" to these people

[@imstupid8166]

i like to think that frisk just sits down and pouts until the enemy spares them

[@NovemberJoy]

That's what Frisk does during the boss fights. Everything else, Frisk just runs away as fast as possible.

[@That1gamer86]

LOL

[@That1gamer86]

@@NovemberJoy LOL

[@asaghcfgdfuyvhrghflowey9997]

"stop looking at me like that i will kill you" *Frisk with puppy dog eyes* "fine i will not kill you"

[@outspade]

“o i cant run away :(“ “fite me >:(“ “:(“ “>:(“ “:(“ “>:(“ “:(“ “fine you win” “=)”

[@Rogue_Rouge]

Fun fact in the CORE: You know that sign that talks about patience and all that? If you just wait there in front of the force field for a few minutes, it just disappears and you get to fight Mettaton without doing any path

[@NovemberJoy]

...I've never heard of this, but a little research confirms it! I guess you learn something new every day. Thanks for the comment!

[@Garbo_trashcan]

Wow, toby thought of almost everything in this game.

[@MsPrickles]

Reminds me of the waterfall base in earthbound

[@lastcrisis4791]

I'm so impatient I've never once read that sign.

[@vitorsoares5809]

@@lastcrisis4791 actually, what sign are you guys talking about Edit: how the fuck did this reply get a heart? Not complaining

[@thebiolibrary5572]

It's kind of a Toby Fox move for Mettaton to try throwing a bunch of easy puzzles and challenges at you but completely accidentally find your actual weakness.

[@NovemberJoy]

You know, that is pretty fitting. He did it by accident, but it was still a pretty major obstacle. Good thing a simple card was enough to defeat him...Thanks for the comment!

[@vitorsoares5809]

@@NovemberJoy a simple challenge was defeated by a simple card

[@NovemberJoy]

Simplicity itself.

[@P1r4n]

@@vitorsoares5809 A Simple Diversion

[@kreeperkiller4423]

shoutouts to SimpleFlips

[@squirlis1189]

I did an assifist run where I did spare everyone but only after beating them within an inch of their lives.

[@NovemberJoy]

That's a true Assifist run, props to you! I just ran away from everyone, because I didn't need the extra cash.

[@squirlis1189]

@@NovemberJoy Thanku!! I should probably do a gameplay video of it in the future!!

[@Blwbelle]

I thought that was fucking typo 😭

[@alzhanvoid]

@@Blwbelle me too lol. My imagination started acting up too when I read that run name.

[@SableTheCrazyPerson]

I bet all the monsters sure liked that ;).

[@gaminggeckos4388]

3:57 This is so hilarious, considering it could happen in-universe. Like, the royal guards just say “Hey! You! Stop!” And then Frisk is just like “no.” And then the guards just give up chasing.

[@NovemberJoy]

I thought it was funny too. Thanks for the comment, glad you enjoyed the video!

[@mrdragon_thatsrobo72plus3man75]

Maybe they were talking to the text…

[@johnlin5550]

Royal Guards: "Stop! In the name of the law!" Frisk: "Bad dog!" Royal Guards: *shocked pikachu face*

[@Wildcardstudios64]

Enemy: PREPARE TO FACE YOUR DEATH!! Frisk: I don’t feel like dying today Enemy: oh… why didn’t you just say so

[@Luke-dt8lc]

@@Wildcardstudios64 Because I’m doing a no acting challenge

[@TheNerfer]

"Hey you! Stop!" "No." Frisk just walks away.

[@NovemberJoy]

Frisk didn't have time to stop for anything, not even for a relaxing musical. Thanks for the comment!

[@That1gamer86]

lol

[@kosmiyn]

"please please come back"

[@TheLorivas]

He’s doing genocide and pacifist at the same time guess it’s called the true hypocrite route lol

[@NovemberJoy]

I kinda like "True Hypocrite" for a route name, not gonna lie. Thanks for the comment!

[@idontwantahandlethough]

love it lol

[@qazisgone7292]

Lmao

[@lextahsy]

Its called neutral

[@NovemberJoy]

You're technically right, but I didn't get the neutral ending, so it's gotta have a different name. I still like True Hypocrite.

[@carlospalmer4342]

Hold up. In the CORE, he has a kill count, which only appears after the “but nobody came” message, which enables that and genocide. He’s doing both pacifist and genocide at once, I’m gonna need some cat treats to think about this.

[@joshualeahy2162]

Good kitty. 💀 💕

[@theMemeDetective]

A genocidal pacifist

[@NovemberJoy]

Huh, there's two replies before I reply here but I only see one? That's weird. Anyway...I guess that's True Pacicide? True Genofist? I don't know, but I did kill every single encounter, so it's somewhere between the two.

[@joshualeahy2162]

@@NovemberJoy Yeah same glitch is happening for me, at least I think it's a glitch? Also cool info.

[@axoltheartist]

@@NovemberJoy GenoFIST

[@morningglory5502]

Frisk refuses to kill people and then goes back and kills them simply because they hate social interaction

[@NovemberJoy]

Pretty much. A little bit of murder is worth not needing to talk to people. Thanks for the comment!

[@shilohmagic7173]

You can see Sans’s black eyes when he realizes that you’ve murdered so many people.

[@NovemberJoy]

He's not happy...but I think he's letting it slide because everything else is still as it should be. Thanks for the comment!

[@LaggerKnight]

Well, since it's locked on pacifist, you're technically only sparring with the monsters, so instead of LOVE, you gain LOCE.

[@LaggerKnight]

LOCE being an acronym for Level Of Combat Experience

[@NovemberJoy]

Yeah, absolutely! I didn't kill 40 people, I'm a pacifist! You certainly have the right idea! Thanks for the comment!

[@LaggerKnight]

@@NovemberJoy Yeah, you only won in sparring bouts with them 40 times! It's a win count, not a kill count! And no problem!

[@owenmonjesmugas3637]

Frisk: As you can see I didn't kill anyone, they just got tired. Sans: Frisk they literally are fucking dust. Frisk: It's their power, whenver they are tired they use a metamorphosis technique known as Dusty-fication.

[@twitterhaha]

this has the same energy as kiryu from yakuza (its stated that he doesnt kill anyone despite shooting at cars and helicopters, and several brutal takedowns)

[@benaming2358]

Oh my god i can just imagine Frisk walking by all these encounters whilst INTENTLY staring at a punch card and ignoring the royal guards and mettaton like you would with those fucking salesmen in malls, except that with a phone and not a punch card. 💀💀

[@NovemberJoy]

I'm glad you enjoyed this mental image! That's how I thought about it too. The royal guards and Mettaton are pretty polite to just let a human walk right past even if they are busy, now that I think about it...

[@theanimationrocket]

“We need to be VERY specific about how we do out violence” -November joy 2022

[@NovemberJoy]

Well, we do, otherwise we won't be able to do violence or people will find out we did violence. We have to hide our evil nature somehow. Thanks for the comment!

[@CharaTR]

@Starplexio no you don't have to.

[@kacperyt3824]

Fun fact:If you eat a Spider Donut at the Muffet Battle, you can instantly *skip the whole fight and just go on like its nothing.*

[@NovemberJoy]

You can, but it's not strictly necessary. Thanks for the comment about it, though!

[@NeroV1L3]

It would've been difficult if not impossible to do here since you don't get money from running

[@laytonjr6601]

@@NeroV1L3 Froggit doesn't die in one hit at level one, even with a crit (except for the first encounter where Toriel saves you)

[@lukaschen3009]

From the sped-up scene, I think he actually nohitted Muffet…

[@lefthandedscout9923]

If you punch em in the face till they're critical hp and spare you get money

[@thelazydj6575]

NovemberJoy : Wipes out Hotland's population on a pacifist route Me: yeah that seems about right.

[@NovemberJoy]

Sometimes, when things get hot, you just need a little murder to take the edge off, you know?

[@TruthfullPain]

NovemberJoy is sans?

[@vitorsoares5809]

Wdym, everything is fine, trust me

[@NovemberJoy]

It probably is, nobody will notice the 40 missing people. Also, I don't think I'm Sans...is MatPat doing his thing again?

[@TruthfullPain]

@@NovemberJoy he could be

[@nathanielthomson6600]

I'm really surprised sans doesn't have an extra line of dialogue where he tells you he knows what you did. Sans is a very meta character so it would definitely make sense for him to know you abused a glitch.

[@NovemberJoy]

It would! He probably would have judged me like usual if I hadn't gotten judged on before I went on my killing spree. He likely doesn't have a line about it because it'd be such an unlikely circumstance to have a message for. The "dirty hacker" ending is, indeed, just an error message with a lot of extra personality. I do wish he had lines for it, though: I and a couple of other people in this comment section have tried writing dialogue for what he'd say in this weird situation! Thanks for your comment, too.

[@cyanideytcuriousseadoggo]

@@NovemberJoy still that message is a sneaky jab the fact the player probably altered the ending state flags to something invalid so Sandpaper is probably right about the player being a dirty hacker

[@JetSetDman]

fun fact: in the console ports of undertale, after you answer undyne’s anime question, you’ll unlock a Mew Mew Kissy Cutie themed screen border. the border’s name in the selection screen will be listed as either “Real” or “Not Real” depending on how you answered the question

[@NovemberJoy]

Is that from the anime question, or from fighting Mad Mew Mew? I don't know, but either way it's something I wish they would add to the PC version. Thanks for the comment!

[@JetSetDman]

Oh, it’s from the anime question, I believe you unlock it directly after the Undyne date sequence.

[@thelballyt]

@@JetSetDman iirc the Real/Not Real border is actually unlocked after the Mad Mew Mew fight, but is left nameless until the Alphys date

[@sameman6884]

@@thelballytonly if you're playing switch version (as it actually has mad mew mew)

[@That1gamer86]

COOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL

[@lefthandedscout9923]

8:00 fun fact: for some reason, if you get Flowey down by half hp in the first phases, next hit does 3000 and kills him. So you only need to chip down half his hp. If you don't believe me, try cheat engine for the fight. But yeah, one ACT to call out to the souls once is needed at the end of the fight.

[@NovemberJoy]

I've never heard of this, and what I've seen from Debug Mode didn't reflect this...Maybe I'll have to do a little more research. Thanks for the suggestion, though!

[@alzhanvoid]

I'm guessing that's Toby's way of granting mercy for the poor masochistic souls trying to do this the hard way.

[@rompevuevitos222]

@@alzhanvoid Actually, this may be the safeguard most bosses use to prevent the spare from low health mechanic Even Asriel has this mechanic active (only possible to see with the use of cheat engine) so it may be a forced thing So in order to ensure a boss is never low enough for the "beg for mercy" to state activate, the game makes sure you kill them way before you get to that

[@TheFlutterQueen]

​@@rompevuevitos222so /that's/ why you kill goat mom so early First time I tried pacifist, I tried to spare toriel by lowering her health, but she got killed earlier than I expected and I lost my run Good to know

[@cyanideytcuriousseadoggo]

@@TheFlutterQueen That damn dog being a troll…

[@RaeJinxedIt]

Actually, Lemonbread isn't necessary to fight You can simply die to it and it won't appear again. This will bring it down to 17.

[@Lightplayzstuff]

Btw while doing pacifist I discovered that with ever so slight precision you can just walk past the fake checkpoint where lemonbread spawns

[@Placeholdernaame]

@@Lightplayzstuff he said that it only works on the switch, I think.

[@Lightplayzstuff]

@@Placeholdernaame oh yeah I play on the switch

[@NovemberJoy]

Yeah, I think this bug is exclusive to the Xbox version, in which case you wouldn't be able to gain LOVE and would need to act normally to beat Snowdrake's mother, bringing the total to 19. Still a net gain, but not as much as using Linux 1.001 with persistence.

[@RaeJinxedIt]

@@NovemberJoy damn, thats sad would have been epic to do that

[@Idazmi7]

Killing the Amalgamate was mercy. Don't feel bad.

[@NovemberJoy]

Well, if you put it that way I guess I can't feel that bad about it...still, kinda rough.

[@Uhhhhhnotspamton_868]

Also crystal is basically the one suffering the most

[@Markty07]

Sans : cool. You didn't murder anybody Frisk, currently reading how to get away with murder : oh yeah sure

[@NovemberJoy]

Guess Sans should've kept an eyesocket on Frisk more closely, considering the fact that 40 monsters are now dead. Guess he'll let it slide, since monsters still get freed in the end...

[@tamby_teeze]

I would’ve liked to see Mettaton EX beaten without ACTs. You cans still gain ratings from shooting, FIGHTing, getting hit, changing armor, using the stick, or eating MTT food so the fight would probably just be a lot longer and harder.

[@NovemberJoy]

You can actually finish the fight incredibly fast without needing to Act once - I was even planning for it in advance, until I realized you needed to Act to turn him around and start the fight properly. It was a little disappointing, but I think I proved how strong I can really be in other ways, right? Hope you enjoyed the video!

[@mell7249]

​@@NovemberJoy I'm late but if you've already resetted once, then you can skip turning mettaton around your second playthrough. Though I'm not sure if the previous playthrough should be counted for this or not.

[@MARSHT0MP404]

Literally only learned there’s a defuse act in my most recent run. I had been punching them.

[@NovemberJoy]

Welp, I guess you know now. Punching bombs is a much cooler way of defusing them, right?

[@1th_to_comment.]

@@NovemberJoy yeah, but when I do it my arm just gets obliterated

[@NekkiFan]

@@1th_to_comment. yeh dud,, me too tried punching a bomb sinc my frainds told me to so i can gey 250 buks... unforunatly i didnt get th money bu stil wort it

[@Yababaina_hands_or_orb_hands]

@@NekkiFan is that intentional

[@TheAdvertisement]

7:15 Mettaton: HAH! YOU'RE TOO WEAK DARLING! November: _Sadly nods, holding up a punch card as he walks past the robot._ 13:34 Holy crap, this feels like learning how to one-shot bosses in Omori all over again. Never knew you could straight up one-shot Crystal! ...Also that's really sad that it's her of all Amalgamates you can one-shot lmao.

[@NovemberJoy]

I mean, I guess I showed Mettaton. I got stronger than he ever could have imagined. Huh, I was not expecting to hear about Omori in this comment section. I still need to play that game, and maybe put together a challenge run for it if it's possible to do so...It's been done before, but it was actually useful for this challenge to minimize the act presses! It was actually a major inspiration for this challenge - I wanted to put together a run where I could not only do that legitimately without editing my save file, but also find some utility in doing it, and I think I succeeded. It is sad that she's the one you can one-shot, but that's just how it works. Thanks again for the comments, I'm glad you enjoyed the video!

[@TheAdvertisement]

@@NovemberJoy I mentioned Omori because with the way its battle system works there's like this complicated 5 steps process you can do in order to one-shot most bosses, and with how much you had to do to murder Crystal it made me think of it.

[@Xman34washere]

*sans being absolutely confused in the hall*

[@NovemberJoy]

"...kid, i gotta be honest with you. i have no idea what you did. somehow, you killed forty people...but everyone thinks you're a pacifist. who am i to tell them otherwise? ...i would, but it wouldn't change anything. after all, there's no way you did this by accident. so i'm just gonna let you judge yourself, k? adios."

[@untrustfool]

I love how you're honest about it, like... "no... but lets see how little we can"

[@NovemberJoy]

I'm glad someone's alright with it. It's a weird conundrum: asking a question in the title helps to gain attention, but at what point does it become clickbait...? I was hoping I balanced it out reasonably well.

[@volnartheunforgiving3952]

I like to think Snowdrake's mother and also the like 16 other people combined with her (don't forget them) was too unstable and wasn't determined enough emotionally, which is why it took damage

[@NovemberJoy]

That is a likely theory. It's also likely that Toby never considered this possibility because it's impossible to deal that much damage without gaining at least one level. Thanks for the comment!

[@sylvercritter]

i actually did a run of low-act & low-flee which led to one interesting strategy where you use punch cards to intimidate a temmie to spare her, because otherwise she's a nigh-guaranteed kill 4:12 you can actually just wait 3 minutes until the timer goes off. and you'll proceed as if nothing happened.

[@NovemberJoy]

That is an interesting strategy. I've never heard of Temmie being intimidated by ripping up punch cards before! I'll have to remember that for later. As for the bombs, I know you can just stand there and wait for the timer, but I thought it was funnier to go around punching the bombs to defuse them. Thanks for the comment!

[@benjaminurquhart]

@@NovemberJoy the reason the punch card thing works is because if your attack is high enough she becomes spareable. This is actually the speedrun strat for the Dog Ending category since the higher LV from killing Toriel and Papyrus (I think that's lv7) is enough to do that.

[@Ranolog]

This guy: talks to sans once Him 4 seconds after: *it's morbin time*

[@NovemberJoy]

True Pacicide is one of the routes of all time.

[@thatterrariaguidenpc8054]

i like to imagine that the punch card skipping cutscenes is actually an introverted frisk just shoving the card in front of the enemies' face as if she was a person with special privileges' as she just walks past them

[@NovemberJoy]

That's what I like to imagine too! It's especially funny when people use it for even more serious scenes, like the judgement hall. I'm glad we can both share this strange, funny thought.

[@RichConnerGMN]

...she?

[@dianaburn2474]

@@RichConnerGMN Some people are just very stubborn. I find it best to ignore them.

[@gylotip8393]

@@dianaburn2474 I think the people actually use gendered pronouns because Frisk has self-insert gender, since you can chose Frisk's gender. The gender of Frisk is just ambigious.

[@--CHARLIE--]

​​​@@gylotip8393 they make that excuse yes. But that's not how that works. Frisk canonically uses the pronouns used in the game. By the logic those people are using, any silent protagonist with a mostly blank personality could use any set of pronouns. Is Red from pokemon ever considered as anything other than male without it being seen as gender swapping? No! But there's a double standard with non-binary characters, where its ok to erase their identities and the representation they give that is so desperately needed. I never would've realized I was enby if not for undertale. And there are people out there who, because the fandom is really good at spreading fanon into mainstream understanding, actually believe that frisk and/or chara are canonically female, and have not once had any reason to question that. It's infuriating. And before somone complains its to better project onto the character. Do you try to make Samus a guy so she is easier to project onto? Do you try to make the Doomslayer a girl so he is easier to project onto? Do nonbinary people hijack characters genders to make them something that are already established to not be? the answers to all these is that those only happen in fan works, and its always seen as an intentional objective alteration to canon. When not discussing a character in the context of a specific fan work that is intentionally not compliant with canon, such changes aren't brought up. Because they shouldn't be. Oh and gylotip sorry if you took the brunt of that criticism. I was pointing it out because you brought it up, but those pre-emptive rebuttals to various arguments for frisk being any gender you want them to be was for anyone who would have said that, not necessarily you.

[@maskitoad]

Novemberjoy : "doing the fight without calling the souls would be slow and hard Merg : *ez*

[@NovemberJoy]

There are some things even Merg can't do, and this might be one of them, considering he needed a segmented run to no-hit Omega Flowey the regular way. Doesn't mean he isn't way better than I am, though. Thanks for the comment!

[@gravity_cow]

@@NovemberJoy Two Mergs, on the other hand

[@zeebeeplayz]

I'm gonna argue that the omega flowey acts don't count, here's why. This run isn't called "without pressing the act button" it's "without acting." When you press the act button, you don't immediately do an action, it presents you with different options to use. Considering the omega flowey acts don't give you any options, I think that makes them different enough to the act button because all we did was press the act button. For all we know, we just wanted to see the options.

[@NovemberJoy]

...You know, that's another way of looking at it that I didn't think about! I guess Flowey doesn't like giving us options. Hopefully you enjoyed the video!

[@Ricoxemani]

I love how the thing that stops these challenges is always some stupid small thing like a memoryhead

[@NovemberJoy]

It's always the things you'd never expect to be a roadblock that turn into impassable barriers. You know, there's a proverb in there somewhere...Thanks for the comment!

[@colinwedig2552]

new route idea: aborted pacifist. go through normal pacifist run then do genocide once you're in the true pacifist gameplay, until you reach level 19.

[@NovemberJoy]

This would likely result in a lot of Sans confusion, since there's no way that should be possible. "...kid, how'd you do it? last time i saw you...you didn't gain LOVE, but you gained love. but now? you threw that love away for a little LOVE. you got busy. so now...if you take one more step forward...you are REALLY not gonna like what happens next."

[@Sik-1802]

Once i beat UNDERTALE True Pacifist route with LOVE 20 and Real Knife and The Locked, i changed the File0, i'm a dirty hacker! (If you put your EXP on the File0 as 9999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999, if you spare, talk, or kill the Dummy, u get LOVE 20 because you will gain the EXP on the final of the battle. Real Knife and The Locked are just itens numbers on the right string.

[@Zilicon]

there’s actually a way to beat true pacifist with lv20. it takes over 4 hours to do though. m.kzbin.info/www/bejne/bJWnfYumd9xpi8k

[@seantaggart7382]

@@NovemberJoy Sans in fight: look i had hope we would see the surface but now? Its gone

[@LilacMonarch]

@@NovemberJoy sans will just call you a hacker

[@pikachumaster0518]

the funniest part of this is that you completed a true pacifist route at level 14

[@NovemberJoy]

I'd like to think Sans noticed, but just didn't want to ruin the moment by pointing it out.

[@cyanideytcuriousseadoggo]

@@NovemberJoy that Skeleton definitely knew. Their judgement lines straight up mention the LV the player’s at. Ofc they know the players LV at all times

[@GodChaos333]

Awesome. I was looking forward to what you would do next. Unfortunate you cannot do it normally, but that’s a nice change of pace. Cool to see an actual impossible challenge. And good to know what needs to be done minimum to win. Also the glitches was cool to see.

[@NovemberJoy]

I'm glad you enjoyed it! I might try more challenges like this where I try to minimize a certain action instead of banning it entirely. I was hoping the glitches and messed-up routing would help, so it's good to hear feedback! I should definitely get to work writing and editing the next challenge...

[@dana.d.4627]

B-b-b-b-but that means we can't check!

[@NovemberJoy]

Truly the most difficult part of the challenge, alongside not being able to flirt with Papyrus.

[@superking100]

...then sans notices you have a ton of LV, and drop-kicks you to game over.

[@NovemberJoy]

"geeeeeet dunked on!!!! if you're really a pacifist...you won't come back." Thanks for the comment!

[@spamtong7649]

I remember "can you beat minecraft without_____?" Now we have "can you beat undertale without_____?"

[@NovemberJoy]

You can come up with weird challenges in a lot of different games, it just so happens that Undertale has a lot of potential for weird challenges too.

[@Nickwilde7755]

@@NovemberJoy Can you beat The Stanley Parable without buttons

[@woah7_7]

From the froggit in the ruins: "you can fight until an enemy will give you mercy, then you can spare them"

[@NovemberJoy]

It is true, you can do that, but some enemies won't give you mercy no matter how hard you beat them up. That's what gives the challenge in this challenge. Thanks for the comment!

[@MrMeowstic7]

I knew that this would be impossible to do without acting going in. The only things I thought of that actually did make it impossible were the true lab and asriel. I forgot about the others though buy I guess I learned donething new with the punch card glitch

[@NovemberJoy]

I had a feeling too, but I still wanted to give it a good shot. Glad I taught you something with the punch card shenanigans!

[@Average_Moldovan_User]

therapist: PaciFIST is not real, it cant hurt you! PaciFIST:

[@NovemberJoy]

...This would've been an even better joke if I used the Tough Glove. Sadly, I was using the pan instead. Thanks for the joke!

[@LillianAtsui-Kanari]

This was worth the wait. A good video that's late is better than a bad video that's on time.

[@NovemberJoy]

I'm glad to hear that. I was worried it was taking too long and that people's expectations might be too high.

[@kali.deusadacriacao]

Sans is like "You have a realy high L.O.V.E to be here. But i dont care"

[@NovemberJoy]

"eh, you're gonna break the barrier anyway. you also left my brother alone...no reason to raise a big stink over it now. just...try NOT killing people next time?" Thanks for the comment!

[@seantaggart7382]

@@NovemberJoy he's like Dude Wtf? Eh you helped us but someone's family is now not going home

[@TheAdvertisement]

You know for a game whose main pull is that you can spare enemies by acting and convincing them to stop, it's kinda ironic how most of the bosses don't require you to act in the slightest-

[@NovemberJoy]

Yeah, most of them just require you to spare, flee, or just survive - acting doesn't escalate their battles. Mettaton EX might have been interesting to show off without acting, but we sadly couldn't even fight him without acting to turn him around first.

[@CyanicCore]

When Alphys said she gave Mettaton anti-human combat features, she didn't mean the bombs.

[@NovemberJoy]

Turns out you don't have to defeat the human - just stand in their way while being completely invincible and refusing to move unless they do the one thing they refuse to do for no logical reason. Easy!

[@CyanicCore]

@@NovemberJoy Foolproof. Additionally, it was nice to see some of the less used exploits and mechanics play a part. The Core oversight was familiar - actually, I believe it came up a few months ago, but watching an amalgamate pass was a little shocking.

[@foiledagain1914]

Lovely how temmie somehow has practically infinite money but can't go to college unless YOU give it to her

[@NovemberJoy]

It's just one of those things you shouldn't think too hard about. After all...it's Temmie.

[@LilacMonarch]

@@NovemberJoy Tem doesn't know how to check a bank account and just relies on the shop to keep track of money

[@GCalebB]

I called it myself as "Agressive pacifist" But "Hypocrite route" is funnier for me now

[@NovemberJoy]

I like "Hypocrite Route" as well, considering it's the True Pacifist route but you kill dozens of people along the way.

[@Staticblox]

"Sure I may have committed a massacre but raising the local economy completely makes up for it" -NovemberJoy

[@NovemberJoy]

Politician moment

[@25nikolet]

4:45 HOLD THE FUCK UP. THAT MF SOLVED THAT PUZZLE WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK.... H O W

[@rianthreeden]

Can't belive you killed 40 monsters and still got the true pacifist ending lmao Toby didn't check his flags right

[@NovemberJoy]

This was a bug in the first release, so it got patched fairly quickly once it was discovered. I guess nobody had the bright idea to immediately go back and kill monsters after getting that Undyne call?

[@rianthreeden]

@@NovemberJoy lol yeah dose anything unique happen if you kill post undyne call in the newer patches, or are you unable to encounter in core anymore.

[@Zilicon]

@@rianthreeden you can’t kill any monsters in core after you get the undyne call anymore. only in 1.00

[@cyanideytcuriousseadoggo]

@@rianthreeden So if I get it right later realeases remove the accidental line to re-enable core encounters?

[@emanuel_616]

16:15 i love this moment, flowey histeric laughing and you with 51 hp

[@NovemberJoy]

I thought it was a pretty good moment too. Glad you enjoyed!

[@nestorgraciano3316]

That was crazy What's next?? Genocide without attack?? 🤔

[@npcmcishark7379]

Kill them with kindness

[@TheMrsYWilson]

Genocide without Encounters?

[@TruthfullPain]

Genocide without killing???

[@YoLemonStar]

Genocide without existing???

[@renzjarredcarandang8984]

@@YoLemonStar how

[@jacobblakely2224]

Royal Guard 1 and 2: Hey! You! Stop! Frisk: No, I don't think I will.

[@NovemberJoy]

* I've got better to do. Thanks for the comment!

[@tapwater4425]

The “I like hurting people but don’t want to take it too far because then it wouldn’t be funny anymore and just make me feel guilty” route

[@NovemberJoy]

And yet everyone still thinks you're a pacifist...it's a pretty interesting route when you think about it.

[@cyanideytcuriousseadoggo]

16:04 of course you did THAT once all our backs were turned

[@NovemberJoy]

But hey, I still freed all of monsterkind, right? That means everything's fine.

[@thecolon3face]

as an actor, i can confirm that undertale.

[@NovemberJoy]

Thank you for your input, actor! I can also confirm that Undertale!

[@Twilor]

Flowey is the literal god of having to act

[@NovemberJoy]

That must be why the dancing Act buttons are there - to taunt us over the one thing we're not allowed to do! That, and the part where he locked the soul on the Act button so I couldn't select anything else...Thanks for the comment!

[@LilacMonarch]

@@NovemberJoy Asriel, Flowey, no matter his form he knows your weakness

[@saxolot2810]

You are the first player i've seen using legendary heros for the attack buff and not the heal, kudos for that!

[@NovemberJoy]

Weird challenges tend to make you use resources in unusual ways - that's what I like about them!

[@DarkiXDEOfficial]

this could be called the introvert route

[@NovemberJoy]

The Introvert route, where you freeze up at the very idea of talking to people...and also brutally murder dozens of them with a blank expression on your face. Huh.

[@ZaCloud-Animations___she-her]

2:13 Doggo: "HUH!!! A FU(xxing stick!!!)"

[@NovemberJoy]

That's what happens when you close dialogue early! It's more like "HUH!!! A FUN STICK APPEARS!", but your version might be better in its own way.

[@ZaCloud-Animations___she-her]

@@NovemberJoy Doggo's just SO FRIGGIN' _PSYCHED_ about fetch! 😆

[@Battler_3]

NovemberJoy: *gets 40 kills* the game: yea thats alright you can get true pacifist bY breaking the game

[@NovemberJoy]

Ah, yes, "True Pacifist". It helps if all your kills are somewhere where your friends don't have to see or find out. Thanks for the comment!

[@jeremymarcil6287]

When you have no social skills but are really nice. I spare you I spare you

[@NovemberJoy]

Pretty much, yeah! That, and running away from social contact. We did a lot of that as well. It made things pretty akwird.

[@Panic_Attack420]

I’ve figured out who can beat the game without acting, without a break: Todd Rogers in his prime, with his completely legit multi day marathons, but he’s been quiet since the invention of proof standards. Idk if we’ll ever see it

[@NovemberJoy]

Maybe I'll have to give him a call, so he can show me how he beats Asriel without any ACT presses by starting in second gear and giving his soul gas. Thanks for the suggestion!

[@thereallegitimatemontblanc]

royal guards: Hey! You! Stop! frisk: haha *no*

[@NovemberJoy]

* I've got better things to do. Thanks for the comment!

[@immakat1514]

Hey I mean 0 presses for the non-true pacifist ending is still really awesome, I would count that personally

[@NovemberJoy]

It's up to you, but it is still nice that I managed to get that far before running into a grey area that some would count and some wouldn't! Technically, it is a pacifist ending, just not True Pacifist...

[@ConnorTheUndying]

"Can you beat Undertale as a Pacifist without ACTing?" *9 minutes later* "Okay, now kill literally everyone in the CORE."

[@NovemberJoy]

Well...we still reached the True Pacifist ending and shattered the barrier, so I guess it was pacifist enough for the game's standards!

[@hisho_isa]

Finally someone who will use glitches in their challenge videos

[@NovemberJoy]

This is actually the first run I've done where I allowed glitches, actually! I'm thinking there will be more later on, though...

[@mranderson9553]

"hey you stop" doesn't stop, refuses to elaborate

[@NovemberJoy]

This is the behavior of someone who has the sigma grindset - never let anyone slow you down or throw you off your routine. Thanks for the comment!

[@screm1471]

At the beginning, I thought “this is gonna be a short video if the ruins and waterfall were that easy!” And then I checked the video time

[@NovemberJoy]

Yeah, things heated up a lot in Hotland, didn't they? Hopefully you enjoyed the video!

[@ClodsireBcuzYes]

18:21 4th wall break from alphys

[@NovemberJoy]

That was part of why I put that scene in there - I thought that line was perfect for the video!

[@ClodsireBcuzYes]

​@@NovemberJoyoh, didn't know that lol

[@nicolasn12]

i was thinking the same chalenge but deltarune, i call it the pacify challenge you get stoped by checker but the challenge past that point is just wow, exciting and fun.

[@NovemberJoy]

Could be fun one of these days to stream or something. Thanks for the suggestion!

[@Shendrift]

Some Sans judgement dialogue I made for this run: * if you keep this up, monsters will reach the surface in no time. * however… * you’ve also killed enough people to reach LV 14. * i’m, uh, not sure what to say to that. * … * i guess you’re a pretty ‘sick’ person. * heh heh, get it? * anyway, i’m gonna try to get ahold of one of those punch cards. * see you later.

[@NovemberJoy]

I do like this dialogue. I tried writing my own, but this one's a little longer and maybe a bit more in-character. Thanks for the comment!

[@wizardmidnight9231]

Technically you diddent press act that much “SAVE” isn’t “act”

[@NovemberJoy]

I'd go with that, if it didn't turn back into "Act" while I was saving the Lost Souls. If you're willing to not count those, though, the theoretical minimum drops to 5 act presses...

[@SuperSomieStuff]

You’re case for beating Flowey is true! Using hacks to lower his hp in the first phase, it continues as normal

[@NovemberJoy]

I thought so! Of course, it's still purely theoretical, because that would take a VERY long time, not to mention you'd have to do it without being hit too many times. Thanks for the experimentation, though!

[@goob3888]

This guy needs way more subs his videos are so good and this is the first time I've watched him

[@NovemberJoy]

Thank you! I hope you'll enjoy whatever else I put out in the future.

[@CharaTR]

14:02 *this is now cursed image*

[@NovemberJoy]

She is a very cursed image - which means Temmie did her job very well, assuming she's the one who drew this character. Thanks for the comment!

[@CharaTR]

@@NovemberJoy np:) It's very nice of you to try to answer everyone like me.

[@CharaTR]

@@NovemberJoy I'm sorry, but I'm meraj, who did you use that "she" for?

[@NovemberJoy]

@@CharaTR I try to answer everyone. It takes a lot of time and it'll eventually be unsustainable, but I like doing it. As for the "she", that refers to Snowdrake's Mother and to Temmie Chang, the game's main artist. Hope that clears up any confusion.

[@CharaTR]

@@NovemberJoy no ok i'm glad you didn't tell frisk or charaya i hate their gender because of the fandom...

[@Left4Cake]

The [Act ] button only opens the act menu, it's the actual act options on the act menu that count as acting.

[@NovemberJoy]

That's the rules I was going for, and all the places where I counted Act presses do exactly that. I don't know of any point where simply entering the Act menu does anything noteworthy. Thanks for the idea, though!

[@RPGtourguide]

A very interesting challenge, even if you weren’t able to completely satisfy your own stipulations at the end. You came very close! Well done!

[@NovemberJoy]

Thank you! I'm mostly satisfied with how far I was able to push the challenge.

[@BusterBrown1217]

That moment when your supposed to be at 1 hp but you're at 51: uhm. Reminds me of a no-hit sans fight.

[@NovemberJoy]

I never thought about it that way, but it's actually fitting. Fun fact: Flowey can't kill you during that cutscene - your HP won't drop below 1, even if your max HP is 1.

[@OtonashiIo]

"I'm gonna say, the SAVE button doesn't count as towards our act presses" I knew it

[@NovemberJoy]

I decided not to count it when the button said SAVE instead of ACT. It helps that it turns right back into an ACT button while you're doing the actual saving. Hope this explains my reasoning!

[@mastermewtwo5503]

I would not have survived through Papyrus's battle... Just keep losing until he gives up.

[@NovemberJoy]

That is one way, and that's actually what I did in the "no dodging" challenge. I just fought normally, though, because there's nothing stopping me from dodging. Thanks for the comment!

[@Kuwsru]

4:18 i actually never knew that you can defuse a bomb in act menu, on every single playthrough I was attacking the bombs even on pacifist because I didn't know any other way 💀

[@NovemberJoy]

Huh. Well, I'm glad I taught you something, then!

[@AdamTheKitsune]

Did you know that the bandage gives you a 100% chance to flee from battles?

[@NovemberJoy]

I did know. It helped a lot for most of this run, since escaping was my main way of dealing with random encounters. Thanks for the comment!

[@CarlosMoreiraAbreut-oh3ex]

2:06 you get the sans call 😮

[@NovemberJoy]

...I'm trying to remember. I think it might've been the Sans call, but it also could've been the Alphys call where she tries to order a pizza. Either way, fun!

[@Panic_Attack420]

New challenge: beat all Undertale routes without using HEALING ITEMS, optional challenges could be not using temmie armour, stained apron, complete omega flowey/asgore fight on true pacifist and don’t skip any fights with punch card (where possible)

[@NovemberJoy]

That's a very possible challenge, and one that Sans actually acknowledges on a Neutral route! I was considering streaming a playthrough of Undertale without saving, healing, or changing equipment, because that's one thing I actually haven't done that I need to try. Thanks for the suggestion!

[@Panic_Attack420]

@@NovemberJoy ah ok

[@Panic_Attack420]

Completely impossible for me tho lol bc I cannot dodge properly to save my life

[@graysongdl]

Gotta love how KZbin's awful auto-generated chapter system thinks that the Ruins took nearly 1/3 of the video. And yet "Money" was a necessary chapter for it to add.

[@NovemberJoy]

Might have to start putting chapters on my own videos so the auto-generated ones don't get too weird. Hopefully it didn't detract from the video too much.

[@graysongdl]

@@NovemberJoy Not at all! It's just a funny observation. But yeah, if you want to get rid of the auto-generated chapters, making your own is probably a good idea. Someone might even appreciate the chapters being there!

[@jscnvapa]

november:*in the beggining of true lab* memory appears. *cant do anything but act* november:BRUH.

[@NovemberJoy]

Yeah, that was pretty unfortunate...I had to try to make it a minimalist run from that point on, but I'm still proud of how low I was able to get the count.

[@silkmoth7951]

Killing 40 people/monsters in the CORE: Alright Killing Snowdrake's Mom: NOW LISTEN HERE YOU LITTLE...

[@NovemberJoy]

You can excuse genocide, but killing someone's mother who's not even a threat in any way is too much, right? I get it.

[@Real_random_dude376]

Alternative name for the ending you did "the betrayal ending" and it is going in true pacifist and in then later kn the game, you kill some, but you just had no other choice

[@NovemberJoy]

It'd be a very strange ending indeed, especially since our reasoning in this run would be "I didn't want to press the ACT button." Thanks for the comment!

[@noti7510]

you are filled with . . . PERSISTENCE leg. heros fully restored

[@NovemberJoy]

Wait, I get infinitely-regenerating Legendary Heroes? Not only does this help immensely with survival, but I think I just solved world hunger!

[@snas3028]

I hope this dude keeps uploading on an active schedule, because his quality is awesome.

[@NovemberJoy]

I'll try. Thanks for the comment, I hope you'll enjoy anything I put out in the future!

[@Robin-234]

I love these kinds of "can we beat [game] without doing x" videos that don't stop as soon as it becomes impossible to do that. It's much more fun to see the game finished despite that.

[@NovemberJoy]

I feel the same way, I like to see the absolute minimum if avoiding it entirely is impossible. Those end credits mean a lot more at the end of a challenge playthrough...Glad to hear you enjoyed it!

[@AshN1ght]

So, for everyone interested like me, short answer is no, you cant beat it without acting on a flowey (even when you said those doesnt count, its still an ACT button), also amalgamas

[@NovemberJoy]

I guess the Omega Flowey part is up to personal interpretation. The theoretical minimum is still 1 ACT button pressed to win that fight, though, assuming you can dodge long enough to hit him 6000 times. I knew the challenge was impossible, but I wanted to see how far I could push it and I also wanted to try a "minimum X" challenge alongside all the "No X" challenges I've done in the past. Hopefully, you still enjoyed the video. Thanks again for the feedback!

[@FNSBoI]

So fun fact, after alphys leaves you can chase after her to exit the core, then you can get the phone call from undyne making this way quicker if I’m Correct

[@NovemberJoy]

I think you have to have completed a Neutral route beforehand for the phone call to show up, at least from what I've heard. Thanks for the suggestion, though!

[@FishSticker]

This is a fantastic video, subscription gained

[@NovemberJoy]

Thank you, Fish Sticker. Hopefully you'll enjoy whatever else I put out in the future!