#realizing that this is also very similar to the ways in which ut and dr fans tend to interpret the relationship of the player to the pcs | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

adoranoia · 11 months

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considering just how long ralsei was left waiting in castletown, it’s maybe not so surprising that the area became so heavily imbued with his magic. this effect was only amplified by the near by presence of the dark fountain, and the prince’s family ties to said shadowy geyser. ralsei’s castle has become somewhat of a extension of himself, and it definitely shows, both magically and otherwise/in spirit, so! tl;dr, under the cut will be hcs related to the castle itself, the goings on inside, etc etc.

>to start this out i wanna explain a lil more abt how his soul magic/‘imagination’ magic works. basically, as i mentioned in this hc, ralsei’s soul magic isn’t like he can just, think of s/t crazy, and make it happen. it’s more a passive thing, powered by his own belief/hope/wonder he finds in the world around him. >and, bc ralsei doesn’t. realize that he’s the one affecting/creating these things, there is a sense of randomness to the castle. he never knows what to expect, but he doesn’t consider that a bad thing, he finds enjoyment in the thrill of adventure, after all! and, tbh; thats kinda why its Like That™ in the 1st place? it’s a subconscious attempt @ staving off the effects of prolong -ed isolation, a makeshift fix for an abandoned childs boredom/loneliness. >(this is also why hes able to find his way around the castle with ease despite it’s mixed up nature.)

>the castle seems impossibly bigger on the inside, ofc the outer shell is a looming figure in of itself, bc, well. it’s a castle. however the point still stands, bc the inside almost seems never-ending, and ever-changing, at that, bc… >his magic changes a lot the castle’s interior itself, randomly creating new, strange rooms to explore, most of which don’t even seem possible. these rooms vary in size, from smaller, more cramped spaces, to places bigger then a football field, the contents inside can be anything, rlly!–

>from a dark forest that honest to god makes you feel like you’re outside, though you know you can’t possibly be. w/ fanged plants and pretty crystals twinkling much like fairy lights, w/ tree swings that hang impossibly from above. >to a room completely made out of patchwork and knitted yarn, w/ weird art stuffs and childish looking statues, and a small pond made of water colors, the rocks/lily pads to jump across are instead, large colorful buttons.

>there’s more minor oddities too, such as: staircases that don’t make sense/seem to move every so often, meaning sometimes you end up upside down or walking down sideways on a wall. >new doors and hallways that definitely didn’t exist a moment before/pop up out of nowhere, a number of secret passages and tunnels to use as shortcuts. >random puzzle areas and maze-like sections scatter -ed around the place, similar to the ruins in UT, etc etc!

>another layer of the what/how @ his castle, is the fact the general vibe of the place is also effected heavily by rals’ own mental/emotional state. >meaning, say he’s having a Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day, the place will. be a lot less lively then usual, not as bright/with colors dulled, colder somehow, etc etc. >and, if the opposite is true, if he’s instead, doing alright/feeling happy/excited, the castle be as it normally is, lively and colorful and forever in motion, filled with song/general goings on, warm in that homey/cozy sorta way, etc etc. >there’s ofc, lots of states inbetween, but! y'get the idea.

>tho, there’s some things that aren’t so magically inclined, like how a lot of the castle runs on a series of weird rube goldberg type machines, built by ralsei himself. bc. even w/ all the free time in the world, upkeep for an entire magical castle + the dark fountain itself is a lot for just one (1) lil prince! >so, hes went and automated a lot of the more repetitive work to help lighten the load. while they’re kinda arts and crafts looking, lots of popsicle sticks and glitter glue; they’re still surprisingly complicated and generally pretty reliable.

>as well, any rooms usually left untouched by the daily magical shifts (certain hallways, the main entrance, rals’ room, the library, the kitchen, etc etc) are us -ually covered in other cutesy decorations, glitter/confetti and stickers, etc etc. >some of the inanimate objects in ralsei’s castle are ‘alive’ albeit in a subdued sense, they’re able to move/react, mostly. empty suits of knights armor, stuff in the kitchen, statues, paintings, bookcases, clocks, doors. not everything in the castle, of course. but again, y’get the idea, i think!

>all this aside tho, the v highest floors and parts of the roof of the castle are burnt from the knight’s attack, and so those floors are the few areas not messed w/ in any way. >which is partly bc he doesn’t wanna be up there, considering; oof, but also bc its where the dark fountain is situated. anything below those top floors is game, tho.

>so, yeah! 2 wrap this up: ralsei, ofc, has some seriously bad memories tied to his castle, and thats. rlly part of the reason his magic has settled so heavily into its bricks, tbh. he doesn’t want castle town to be something he fears, or something he solely associates with those bad events. it was his + his families home, and he still considers it such, even after everything. >he doesn’t want it to be something that just. makes him sad™, so all the stuff w/ the castle, the ever changing layout, how it became a home to the strange creatures that fill the halls, the childish display of candy colors and clashing designs, is basically just. a type of stubbornity?

>tl;dr it’s him looking at the ruins of a castle he no longer knew, and digging his heels in, making it so it’s not just another thing the knight took from him, etc etc.

#* && OOC #* && RALSEI /// AND A PRINCE FROM THE DARK .#long post tw

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bloodsbane · 3 years

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okay, very quickly while im thinking about it, i want to offer my general theory for Deltarune based off shit that happens in chapter 2

this is all based off playing through the main ‘pacifist’ route AND watching/helping a friend do Snowgrave, plus various flavor text and personal interpretation of what happens at the end of Ch2; maybe ill come back to this post and throw up bits of ‘evidence’ i find if i ever find the time/energy to do so

i’ve sorta been waiting around to see if anyone else puts it into words better than i could, and there have been maybe one or two posts in my orbit that skirt around the idea, but aren’t focused on it

ANYWAY. basically, i still agree we are a force in kris who is controlling some (but not all!) of their actions. kris is still their own person, and is able to demonstrate their personal opinion/feelings, regardless of how we make them answer certain things. there are clearly choices that are ‘not how kris feels’ vs ‘how kris would probably answer’. in general, im sure this point has proven itself between chapters 1 and 2, and i don’t need to go over it too much

however, i feel chapter 2 offers a new key element to this dynamic that might backfill some things that i was wondering about at the end of chapter 1, because especially now that we’ve seen more of kris’ true behavior/personality, i find myself really reluctant to stick to the previous interpretation that after kris takes out their SOUL, they are in complete control of themself

it’s still pretty up in the air, exactly. but im finding myself more inclined to believe that, rather than it simply being a fight between us and kris, there’s some third element present in this battle for control over kris’ body.

something else is influencing kris in a way similar to how we do it, but the biggest thing is that they need COMPLETE control over kris’ will in order to puppet them. i feel like the way kris moves during these segments supports the interpretation that their body is being ‘puppeted’, given how their movements are so slow and limp and jerky when their SOUL is gone.

(i also realized, watching the game a second time, that every time kris removes their SOUL, they appear to be unconscious first: being asleep at the end of chapter 1, limply falling to their knees in front of the sink (passing out? fainting?) in chapter 2, falling asleep on the couch in front of the tv)

kris might not need US to function, but they always need their SOUL - i suppose the easiest way to get across what i mean is the idea that we’re just sort of hijacking controls that were already there. but we’re still tied, distinctly, to the SOUL, not the body. when kris(?) throws us out, we can’t do anything with them anymore. but at this point, i’d argue kris also can’t do anything without that force of will, or Determination, that powers creatures in this universe.

(the SOUL is said to be ‘the culmination of [someone’s] being’, but now im starting to wonder if the SOUL as we recognize it -- our familiar and beloved [[HeartShapedObject]] is distinctly different from how a SOUL in this universe naturally exists outside of extreme/dire circumstances?)

so, if kris isn’t the one casting us out and taking control when the SOUL is put away, who or what is?

there have definitely already been a couple of posts talking about how there’s some outside force influencing the game and the characters. we see it more explicitly in chapter 2 - i mean, Spamton NEO is literally a puppet on strings, and one way we can defeat him is by cutting all the strings allowing him to fight us. and clearly WE are not the ones giving spamton some semblance of control - we are not the voice on the phone, we are not [[Hyperlink Blocked]]

others have noticed this, which makes me happy, but i think another huge piece of the puzzle is magic in the light world - or the apparent lack thereof. monsters could really obviously and naturally use magic in UT, but that seems to be different in DR. kris has to look up how to use magic, and catti talks about the occult and spells; noelle shows an interest in magic, too. but being able to ‘heal with just a simple spell’ is one of noelle’s wishes for a better world, one of the reasons she likes the dark world so much - obviously this is because of her father, who is sick, and cannot be healed by magic in the light world... because there’s no magic? or because the monsters here have forgotten how to utilize it?

(on a smaller note, im also starting to wonder about the town itself, because it feels very contained for reasons that aren’t just ‘this is a video game with a limited scope, duh’. but this is a mere baby egg of a thought and i have little to add)

going back to magic: the basis of my current theory is, more or less, that kris did a spell or tried to summon something, and this is what begins the events in DR. is it that kris brought US into the world, thus unlocking the possibility of going into the dark world? is it that kris brought something ELSE into the world, which then pulled us in, offering us a vessel to pilot, but ultimately the way that body is used is predestined, and so we have ‘no control’ and ‘cannot choose’ and thus ‘the ending will always be the same’?

and, of course, if there is a third party, what is it they want? do they NEED us, too, or are we standing in their way?

the first entry into the dark world is, presumably, opened by kris before WE enter the game. assuming that the [[Mysterious Third Entity]] wants to use the power of a Lightner - kris - to open dark fountains, that means we might not necessarily be required for this, that kris always has the power on their own.

which kind of makes our presence in the story even more interesting? we are a force which can prompt kris to do certain things, but not just kris - noelle can hear us in the snowgrave route - ‘a voice unlike kris’s voice...’ - we have reach beyond kris. we can utilize that reach to commit HORRIBLE MISDEEDS like the little [[revolting slimes]] we are. so what are we, exactly??

...im not sure if i have a satisfying theory to offer here. the nature of us as an element in the game is becoming clearer, but it’s still pretty ambiguous, maybe even more so now that there’s a possible distinction between US vs [[Mysterious Third Entity]]

ANYWAY... i think that’s all my thoughts out! i may possibly re-write this post to be more comprehensive someday, or i’ll just reblog this one with some visual evidence of my points, but honestly i think there are plenty of other posts saying what im saying and i just haven’t seen them. but!! i did want to compile all my thoughts, just for me.

#banebabbles #dr spoilers #deltarune #uhhh #dr theory #for safekeeping

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starlightshore · 4 years

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undertale theory: Red Souls are unnatural, it’s the Angel’s Power. Chara may have had a Golden Soul

Please read my previous theory post on DT not being the red soul if you haven’t already. tldr; the color gold is repeatedly shown as the color for determination, in the saves, the golden flowers, the heart locket. I ended that post with a discussion on what Red could be, since it’s not determination. I had trouble because it’d have to fit both the pacifist and no-mercy endings equally.

My answer is Red = Power, Gold = Determination. Chara had a Gold Soul that turned into a Red Soul.

Ok, how did I get there? So like, here’s my Tea. SAVE points clearly come in two colors at the very least. The Red soul in UT and DR have the colors gold and white respectively. The first is Determination, the second The Angel’s Power. Why did I say the Angel’s power?

(photo ID: A screenshot of Deltarune, Father Alvin speaks to Kris. He says: “Let the Angel’s power light your way.” end description.)

Let’s buckle up. This is another long one.

I don’t think I need to explain player theory, do I? Yes? I’ll be quick. The combo of a few things. Firstly in this interview Toby explained that:

“I will say that basically, what you're seeing here is not the world of UNDERTALE.“

“...To rephrase that, DELTARUNE's world is a different one. With different characters, that have lived different lives."

Next, there’s Toriel only using fire magic in UT but not in her home in DR. Monsters have graves instead of performing their dust spreading traditions in UT. Humans aren’t feared for their powerful souls while monsters are seen as fragile.

Why bring this up? We don’t know if humans naturally have souls in DR. I’d even argue because souls are the culmination of your entire being, and as it exists as something you use to navigate DR and control Kris + friends with, I’d argue it represents YOU solely.

“At the start of ??????, Kris is a LV1 Human. ‘Body contains a human SOUL.'”

Either the red soul is Kris’ soul changed Red, or it’s a foreign entity taking over their body. I don’t know which fits better, because with the first is the vibe I get from us taking Kris’ previous SAVE point. This action can symbolically represent us taking over their literal body and soul here. Obviously, the red soul put into Kris has to be either Kris’ old soul taken over or brand new, as the description says there’s only A SOUL. Singular.

Now, back to the Angel being connected to the Player. As other smarter people have said, this is the song track that plays when the soul is used to close the Dark Fountain. Simply called, “Your Power.”

(photo ID: Another Deltarune screenshot. Kris and Susie standing at the Dark Fountain, the Red Soul floating upwards to close it. end description)

With the combo of that and SAVEs being the “power of x”, a literal shining light of power, I feel it’s safe to connect all of these together. The Red Soul is You, the player, you use your the emotion of Power to bend time and control Kris. It is “Your Power” through the Soul that you can leave the darkworld. I’d argue that both the Red Soul and the white light are the same Power by all of these being used for both the SAVE point and the red soul.

Now, you could say that this could just be separate from the Red Soul like how Determination is. After all, all humans have determination. Power being the SAVE power in DR doesn’t mean the Red soul also means power. Kris even used the SAVE point before your control, and if you’re the Angel and it’s your light, how come they had it before you came?

Well, to that, I’d argue while we’re the Angel, we might not be the true true Angel. Kris was possessed with the Red Soul before we got there. Gaster had to make or at least connect to the Red Soul at the Vessel creation scene. All these connected themes tie you to the control of the player to the red soul and the word “power.”

More evidence, simply put by Chara in the No-Mercy Run:

“Greetings. I am Thank you.Your power awakened me from death. My 'human soul. 'My 'determination.' They were not mine, but YOURS.”

There are three things Chara says here. Your Power, Your Soul, Your Determination. They’re separated. They’re different things.

“ Why was I brought back to life? You. With your guidance. I realized the purpose of my reincarnation. Power. “

Here’s more emphasis on the word Power and it’s connection to You, the player. Chara is being literal here, your red soul brought them back from the dead.

We know for a fact that Chara’s soul was red at least when they died. The coffin, painted with a red soul, is described with: “ * (It's as comfortable as it looks.) “” And with the artificial nature of Gaster calling onto You to control Kris, I wouldn’t say it’s that far fetched that he’s the reason Chara’s soul color is red now. They lied in the same time period, as Chara had lived in New Home and Gaster lived in Hotland. It’s been a long time since Gaster was the scientist.

(photo ID: Screenshot of Undertale, Frisk stands in front of Gaster Follower #1, a greyscale Goner monster of the orange monster in Hotland. They say: “It makes sense why ASGORE took so long to hire a new Royal Scientist.” end description.)

The game repetitively mentions that Chara died a long time ago.

“ * You're not actually (player name) , are you?* (player name)'s been gone for a long time. “

I don’t think it’s a coincidence that they’re both described this way. At the very least, it’s not a stretch they’d been at the same time period, and had interacted. As Asgore’s trusted royal scientist, tasked with likely trying to find a way to free monsterkind without killing Chara, would of had to studied their soul. And with his very direct connection of connecting to the Player’s Red Soul in DR? It’s Gaster’s doing that they’re red.

We know either Kris didn’t have a Soul or their soul turned red. We see the Red Soul change colors in battle, so we know it’s possible. If it’s the player’s connection that’s brought Chara back, and you play through Chara who influences Frisk, that’s all Red Soul work. Gaster is likely the reason Chara is back from the dead and that we can play Undertale. Bam.

and here’s my last piece of evidence that Chara and Frisk by extension aren’t natural reds either:

(photo ID: The Undertale collector’s edition has a golden heart shaped locket with the deltarune symbol on it’s face. Next to it, a small art booklet with the word “Undertale(tm).” In the logo is a red heart. Below the logo is a gold soul, and below that Frisk falling into a patch of golden flowers. End description)

The locket is Gold. The soul is gold here. Now, maybe it’s only not Red because the art is in sepia gold tones, but the logo still has a red heart. I wouldn’t put it past Toby to have made this as a hint.

and again, there’s no red flower. Only Gold.

(also i am aware someone else has made a similar “red is not natural” soul color theory recently, but I only saw that when researching this and I feel I’m having more to say than just that here so it’s fine? I hope?)

anyway, tldr; the word power is both used to describe the Red Soul and the white SAVE power, it’s heavily connected to the Angel’s power and light. Gaster’s influence in this artificial soul can imply the Red color is unnatural, and he could very well have given Chara this soul color as they lived in the same place/time period and had the means/job to do so.

also anyway I think a Gold Soul would be cute as hell and a cool concept, please feel free to use it. I love to see it

#undertale #deltarune #deltarune theory #undertale theory #ut theory #dr theory #theories #personal stuff #ok to reblog #long post

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legendcrown · 2 years

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>tl;dr it’s him looking at the ruins of a castle he no longer knew, and digging his heels in, making it so it’s not just another thing the knight took from him, etc etc.

#* && OOC #* && RALSEI /// AND A PRINCE FROM THE DARK .#long post tw

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kytea · 4 years

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The True Nature of Deltarune

Deltarune Chapter 1 has been out for over a year now, and being the big UT/DR fan that I am, I’ve been slowly mulling over both games, reading many fan theories and putting together my own interpretation of what I believe the nature and goal of Deltarune will be. This will be a long one so grab some popcorn, put on your matpat hats and click to keep reading!

So what is Deltarune? Is it a sequel to Undertale? Is it a prequel? Is it an alternate universe? Is it the coming of age story of a bunch of teens? Is it a complex meta-narrative on the nature of video games?

The answer is yes to all of the above. And to begin delving into this we must first understand the creator of this game: Toby Fox.

I won’t toot Toby’s Fox’s horn too much, we all know how talented and hardworking he is, but he’s also very emotionally perceptive and empathic. His general disposition is reminiscent of avant-garde artists that push the boundaries of artistic creation in a medium.

Toby loves mysteries, and in the early version of Undertale there was an included file that disparaged hackers and went on to say that it’s difficult to add mysteries in games these days due to data miners and such.

Thankfully, this did not stop Toby from lovingly adding quite a few big mysteries to Undertale that have yet to be resolved. Knowing Toby and his strong desire to share his story, a story that according to him, kept him awake at night:

“For the past 3 years I've been waking up in the middle of the night unable to go back to sleep because I've been thinking about the scenes that happen in the game. Even though so many details are still hazy, I really want to show you the things I've been thinking about.That's really my only reason for making this game. If I don't show you what I'm thinking, I'll lose my mind.“

I don’t believe Toby will let these mysteries go unanswered, and it is here that we can begin to understand what Deltarune is about.

The Mystery of W.D. Gaster

Truly, the biggest mystery of Undertale is that of W.D. Gaster: former royal scientist, creator of the CORE and the Determination Extraction machine.

A player can go through the entirety of Undertale multiple times and never even hear word of Gaster’s existence. This is because all the events that pertain to him are hidden behind a value in the game’s files known as the “FUN value”. Outside of actually manipulating this file manually yourself, it is, to the average player, random. The FUN value can trigger multiple different events throughout the game, some of which include running into “Followers of Gaster” or even Gaster himself.

While the latter has nothing to say before he “boings” out of existence, the former Followers all tell an eerie tale of a scientist who fell into his own creation and was scattered across time and space.

But hold on. Time and space? Why does that sound familiar?

Ah yes, during the Sans battle he speaks about an “massive anomaly in the timespace continuum”.

And during this battle Sans says a lot of other cryptic things without context, for example, he laments not being able to “go back” somewhere. But where or when is he referring to?

He mentions how he and others were monitoring time-lines and their readings showed them stopping and starting, jumping left and right, and eventually ending. Who was he monitoring these readings with? This all seems incredibly scientific and sci-fi, I thought Sans was just a silly skeleton, is he some kind of time cop? (he does have a “badge” in his workshop) He also uses skeletal weapons known as “Gaster Blasters”.

What…? Gaster Blaster?

Okay, now we KNOW Sans DEFINITELY has some connection to this mysterious scientist W.D. Gaster, but what? Well, for starters W.D. Gaster is short for Wing Dings Gaster, a type of font that he also speaks in.

Who else is named after and speaks in specific font types? Sans and Papyrus of course!

Furthermore, in the concept sketches for Papyrus, Toby wrote and redacted parts of a message that says: “has a brother named comic sans and a [BLANK] named [BLANK]”.

Who is this mysterious redacted person and what is their relationship to Sans and Papyrus? The easy money is on a family member, and for sake of argument lets use the prediction most of the fandom has already concluded and accepted: that Sans and Papyrus have a father named Gaster.

So Sans and Papyrus have a long lost father that was a scientist. This explanation would begin to explain why Sans has a weapon named after him, and why he wanted to “go back” to some place or time, perhaps in an effort to save him from his fate.

There’s a hidden event in Undertale where if you reset after listening to Sans speak about LOVE and EXP in a pacifist route, and initiate the conversion a couple of times in a row, he’ll catch on by the expression your face that you’ve heard it before and will surmise that you’re a time traveller and give you secret code words to tell his past self.

This will lead to him giving you the key to his room which ends up just being a prank at first.

But then you find a key to the secret workshop/basement hidden behind his house.

Once you enter the workshop, you’ll find some blueprints written in symbols you can’t read (wing dings?) and a curtain covering a machine that doesn’t seem to be working, among other things.

Toby Fox tweeted a message regarding this machine a few days after Undertale’s release around the time people were figuring out FUN values and the secrets surrounding Sans and Gaster.

“You’ve all seen the happiest outcome. Neither of them could fix the machine, no matter how hard they tried. No one can.”

This tweet seems to imply that if the machine could be fixed that Undertale could have a happier outcome.

And this my friends, is the gateway to the nature of Deltarune.

Deltarune, according to Toby Fox, is a game for players that have completed Undertale. But what does it mean to complete Undertale, and I mean, TRULY complete it? Toby often expressed that he wasn’t happy with how people told others how to play the game, that it is best played completely blind. Having played Undertale blind myself, and having watched others do the same, the natural way the game is meant to progress is that first players will experience the Neutral Ending, followed by the Pacifist Ending, and Finally the Genocide ending. This is because the game cruelly plays against your expectations of how an RPG should work and this almost guarantees that you will kill at least one monster your first play through. As if the fact that the fight button is always the default position in battle isn’t enough, in the early parts of the game you are told that you may need to weaken a monster before you can spare them. This naturally brings to mind the systems of Pokémon, where you have the best chance to catch a Pokémon if it’s at low health. Well, if you try this during the Toriel fight, as most do, you’ll find that as soon as you get close to critical health, you’ll instantly kill her.

Poor goat mama..

Difficulty-wise, the neutral route is the most easy, because you can level up a little and gain more HP. The Pacifist route is a bit harder because your HP is lower, but with the experience you gain from the previous route, it should prove no problem. Finally the Genocide route is the most difficult because it takes a concerted effort that implies knowledge of the previous routes to kill every single monster.

So an ideal Deltarune player has knowledge of all three main routes of Undertale, and may have experienced or heard of Gaster.

Is this player you? If so, ask yourself, what would a “happier outcome” look like to you? And be honest. Many fans in the Undertale community have already answered this question in the form of fanworks. Some of the most common elements among them are as follows:  

1) Frisk and all the monsters are free from the Underground and living on the surface with humans.

2) Asriel is revived.

3) Gaster is revived.

4 )Chara is revived.

The revival of Asriel, Chara, and Gaster are the undisputed holy grails in terms of happiest endings that the UT community dreams of and creates endless fan works to explore the possibilities. Toby knows this well.

Using a speech pattern attributed to Gaster, Toby teased the release of Deltarune Chapter 1

“I LOOK FORWARD TO CREATING A NEW FUTURE WITH YOU.” stands out quite a bit to me as the prospect of a “happier outcome” is already tied to Gaster and Sans, now a “new future” is connected.

And when Deltarune released, and fans had a chance to play it, they found:

1) All the monsters are free and living on the surface.

2) Asriel is alive and well and living his best life.

3) A voice with the same speech pattern as Gaster (based on Japanese text) brought you to this world and attempted to give your own vessel before…

4)…a voice with the same speech pattern as Chara (also based on Japanese text) discarded it.

Right off the bat Toby seems to have given fans what they wanted, a perfect future ending. But as you continue to play, you begin to realize that this may not be the world you dreamed of.

First, while all the monsters are living on the surface, they aren’t the same people from Undertale, for example: Undyne has never met Alphys, and the amalgamates that went to live with their families at the end of Undertale are deceased in this world. And while Asriel is alive, it’s not THE Asriel we were so determined to save in Undertale.

Gaster’s presence permeates Deltarune so thoroughly it would take awhile to point out every example, but it seems clear that he’s present in some form.

And Chara? You only need to see the ending cutscene of chapter 1 to know that they are around in a similar fashion as when they possess Frisk in the True Pacifist after a Genocide ending.

But their presence is also present in subtle ways. For example, if you attempt to play the piano in the hospital in Hometown and then speak to the receptionist, she comments that Kris’ playing isn’t the same as usual (Likely due to our control), but it seems that Chara may be good at piano. Interestingly, on the cover artwork for the official Undertale Piano Collection 2 book, Frisk can be seen holding a knife playing a key on a piano in the judgement hall filled with bones.

So for better or worse, what appears to be the original Chara and Gaster from Undertale are present in Deltarune, in some meta form or another. And maybe that’s the key: “Meta-characters”. After all, you yourself as a player are a “Meta-character”. You can ask the inhabitants of this new world questions that only someone with knowledge of a True Pacifist route would have, such as being able to ask Undyne about Alphys. Asking her this only makes sense if you yourself completed a True Pacifist route before playing Deltarune.

Ralsei, the lonely prince.

Toby being the trickster dog he is, he didn’t just give us 1 Asriel and call it a day, no he gave us 2.

Ralsei is quite clearly meant to be a version of Asriel because not only do they have similar or identical dialogues, but he was also was meant to look more like him before Toby decided to give him his Black Mage look.

There are even strong parallels obviously meant to create an emotional response and connect Ralsei to the feelings people had for Asriel in Undertale by giving the players the option to hug him.

Ralsei is quite the mystery on his own. And while he’s most certainly sweet and lovable, there’s undeniably some disconcerting things about him such as:

-Why does he know Kris and Susie’s names?

-Who did he learn the prophecy from? “Foretold by time and space” isn’t a good answer (or is it?).

-What did he say to Kris when the player SOUL wasn’t present in the prison?

-When he’s KO’d in battle, what does he become? Apparently he can still eat to regain HP when in this shrunken form.

Ralsei seemed to be under the impression that violence wasn’t needed in this world, but upon nearly being defeated by the King after mistakenly healing him, Ralsei says “This isn’t a world where kindness always wins, is it?”

The way he says this seems to imply he knows of other worlds and that they have different rules. Perhaps he comes from a world where someone being kind to everyone they met had great results?

There are definitely things that Ralsei is not telling us, whether this means he’s up to no good will remain to be seen, however, I would like to take this opportunity to make a prediction based on the previous understanding that the original Chara and Gaster are present in this new world in meta forms, and assert that Undertale Asriel, the final piece of the perfect ending puzzle is present in Deltarune in his own meta-character form of Ralsei. Perhaps the form he shrinks into when KO’d is one we know well...

There is that unused Flowey face...

Add glasses and a hat and...

but that’s just a game theory!

And I can't help but wonder about the dark heart on Ralsei's chest and this merchandise in the Deltarune section of fangamer that specifically features a quote from Undertale about the prophecy of Delta Rune (that turns out to be about Asriel in the TP ending, and Chara in the Genocide ending) "There is a prophecy. The Angel... The One Who Has Seen The Surface... They will return. And the underground will go empty."

It's also the Deltarune game logo

Because the merchandise is called Darkheart, it made me immediately think of the dark heart on Ralsei's chest, and having an Undertale quote about Asriel/Chara makes it all the more mysterious...

Regardless, in just the first chapter of Deltarune, the elements of the “happier outcome” connected to Sans’ machine are present. But how do they all connect? Well, let’s look at the other characters in Deltarune, starting with:

Lancer

Oh Baby Santa Claus, how we love you so. It’s hard to overlook how similar Lancer is to Sans. They’re both hilarious in their own way, both ride bikes, have similar color-schemes, both have a love for tomato-based products, and both have some scientific/engineering affinity (Sans and his workshop, Lancer and his “Lancer Industries”).

But that’s not all, the door to Sans’ room is identical to the warp doors found in the Dark World that Lancer hails from, and Sans’ warp ability also makes the same sound effect as these doors as well.

Lancer is a member of the FUN gang (remember the FUN value?), that, as far as we know currently, has 3 other members besides himself: Kris, Ralsei, and Susie (with the possibility of Noelle and others in the future).

Speaking of Susie, her name (or a version of it) popped up in Undertale prior to Deltarune’s release when the game was released on the Switch. By speaking to the Gaster Follower “Clamgirl”, you can learn of a girl named “Suzy”, that you will meet her soon, and that “in life’s grand scheme, she might be why you came here in the first place...”

Upon receiving this dialogue, checking the drawers in Sans workshop will reveal a card with a drawing of 3 people smiling and the words “don’t forget”.

“Don’t Forget” is the vocal theme of Deltarune sung by Laura Shigihara, and the melody from the ending verse,“Don’t forget, I’m with you in the dark.”, is leitmotifed throughout the entire Deltarune chapter 1 OST. The connections between Sans, the FUN gang, Gaster, and by extension Undertale and Deltarune are quite apparent. Perhaps the actions of the FUN gang in the Deltarune world will have an affect on the FUN value in Undertale.

Based on all the evidence we have now, I am going to make a bold prediction:

Lancer is literally a younger Sans.

That’s right, Toby Fox made Baby Sans before Disney and Sega made Baby Yoda and Baby Sonic.

Deltarune’s Dark World is the past from the perspective of Sans and Gaster (or a recreation of it). How Lancer becomes Sans will likely be a very large part of Deltarune’s narrative, and once he becomes Sans, he will exist as a separate meta entity that can traverse different worlds, even if versions of himself already exist in some form there (similar to Ralsei and Asriel).

We’ve seen that if characters are exposed to elements that make it clear they live in a video game world, whether this be Determination for humans and Flowey, a time-space accident for Gaster, or a strange man whispering to Jevil, these characters become something wholly different, more powerful, and begin to become more similar to players with the ability to SAVE, RESET, or use abilities that seem beyond the scope of the game (e.g. Photoshop Flowey, Jevil’s ability to speak, etc). Undertale and Deltarune are video games about video games.

So if it is to be believed that Gaster is Sans’ father, and that Lancer is a younger Sans, then it stands to logical reason that whoever Lancer’s father is, that they must be Gaster.

No, not the King, there is another. A “Lesser-dad”.

Yes, Rouxls Kaard.

“GOD DAMNIT”

Rouxls Kaard, or “Rules Card”, or if you rearrange his name “A Dark Soul Rx”, wait, Rx as in prescription? As in a doctor? Dark Soul as in Mr. Darkness Gaster himself? Too much of a stretch? Maybe. Although you can’t deny they have similar appearances.

If Rouxls Kaard is Gaster, and therefore the father of Sans and Papyrus, then he’s undeniably similar to one of his sons. Rouxls Kaard seems to be quite passionate about puzzles, (despite not having a natural predilection to them). I could see Papyrus gaining an affinity for puzzles by being raised by such an individual, they both have quite flamboyant personalities. And let’s not forget that there are also hints that Rouxls Kaard may be inclined to creating scientific devices such as the “Control Crowne” he uses to control K.Round.

Hmm, controlling other people… sounds familiar to what we the player are doing to Kris… and who was it that was initially going to give us control of a vessel before we lost said control to Chara’s intervention? Control seems to play a big part in Deltarune doesn’t it?

Also, isn’t his manner of speech is reminiscent of a silly ye olde knight. Wait, wasn’t there a Knight causing trouble in the Dark World? Hm.

So something is going to turn Lancer and Rouxls Kaard into Sans and Gaster, respectively.

Now remember the CORE that Gaster built? This one?

It turns geothermal energy into magical electricity via an unknown means with one of the byproducts being ozone, which is corrosive and could potentially make someone very melty. This is what it looks like on the inside.

Lots of blues of varying hues with white accents. Kinda reminds me of Rouxls Kaard and the other “card” people’s color schemes.

What a coincidence! Oh and apparently the layout of the CORE can be re-arranged or something:

"I work at the CORE. The inside is a maze made of swappable parts... That means we can shuffle the layout at will." - Hotland NPC

Almost sounds like a sliding puzzle…

Finally, Gaster is referred to as “The man who speaks in hands”, likely due to his Wing Dings font that contains a lot of hand symbols, however, it isn’t a stretch to also apply that epithet to Rouxls Kaard, after all, the Rules Card speaks in hands as well. Hands of cards.

Susie

Can’t forget Susie. Unfortunately, there’s not much we can say about how her role in all this will play yet. If we are to believe that the “Suzy” that Clamgirl references is Susie, then it’s clear that she’ll be key, perhaps as a catalyst for all the big changes some characters will need to undergo...

I will say that I think it’s interesting that toby specifically has a character in Hometown comment that humans are made of blood (and implying the monsters are not),

and Susie says:

“Everybody bleeds, right?”

From our understanding of monsters in Undertale, monsters don’t bleed, they turn to dust. But, maybe Darkners can bleed. If we believe Sans is a Darkner, it may explain this:

It could be ketchup. It could be a Darkner thing. Lancer does mention blood casually. But if only humans and Darkners bleed, then why would a monster like Susie say “everybody bleeds”?

So what is Deltarune you ask? I think it’s:

1) A story about Sans, Papyrus, and Gaster’s past and future. We get to experience their past in the Dark World, and speak with their future selves in the Light World. But these future versions of Sans and Papyrus may not be as far into the future as the Sans and Papyrus we meet in Undertale. Remember, Sans had an Ice-E’s crossword in Undertale? Ice-E’s-P’E’zza is a restaurant in Hometown. Papyrus may also be younger than he was in Undertale because Sans, an adult who runs a grocery store, thinks a teen like Kris should hang with his little brother, and it would be “weird” if he were there with them.

2) A story about post-Undertale Asriel, Chara, and Gaster. Asriel/Flowey maintains his new form as Ralsei thanks to the power of the Dark Fountain. He now lives in what is/was Sans’ childhood home. Whether he knows this or remembers the events of Undertale is unknown, but it is my belief that he holds a deep connection to the Asriel we all wished to save. Chara resides within Kris in a similar manner as they did at the ending of a UT True Pacifist Ending after surrendering the red SOUL to them in a Genocide ending. Does this mean that Kris’s body or “vessel” is Frisk? This seems to be heavily implied by Kris’ outfit taking on the same color scheme as Frisk’s UT shirt while in the Dark World.

3) A coming of age story for a bunch of teens. Kris, Susie, Ralsei, Noelle, Lancer, and all the friends that may join on their adventures are still people regardless of what grand meta narrative is at play involving the nature of their reality. They still need to go to school, fall in love, and worry about growing up and going to university. Noelle will undoubtedly play a large role with Toby’s tease of her as “Lost Girl”, and considering how attached most of the community has already gotten to these characters, it hurts my heart to think about what may befall them as they try their best to live their lives. Does this mean Deltarune’s world is doomed? I hope not... but those save file screens sure are creepypasta...

“IT WAS AS IF IT WAS NEVER THERE AT ALL.”

4) A story about video games and the control (or lack thereof) we have over them. It’s quite clear that we, the player controlling the red soul, is able to influence this new world based on knowledge from Undertale that should have no barring. For example, we can name “Onionsan” who has forgot their own name. One of the options is “Onion”, but why? Is it because we know their name is Onionsan in Undertale? How do we even know if that is actually what this version of them is really named?

Deltarune is so close to the perfect Undertale ending we wanted, but it’s just a little bit wrong. Would it hurt to force Undyne and Alphys to meet and fall in love? To get Toriel and Asgore back together? To make Bratty and Catty friends? If you were given the option in game to do it, would you do it? What if it made their lives worse…? I believe that the fact we are able to influence inhabitants of Deltarune with our Undertale knowledge may have some unforeseen consequences, and perhaps, be what begins this whole situation in the first place. (Paradoxes are the best time travel stories!)

Toby Fox said that Deltarune was the game he originally wanted to make, but whether it was too ambitious or time consuming, his idea evolved into Undertale. Now that he’s creating the game he always wanted to, I believe that he will connect everything we know about them together and resolve the mysteries, after all, Gaster has been waiting for this chance.

And maybe, with a little luck and determination, we can create a new future with a happier outcome. If I’ve learned anything from Undertale, it’s that you must hold on to your hopes and dreams, because dreams are the goal of “Determination.”

#undertale #deltarune #spoilers #sans #papyrus #gaster #asriel #chara #frisk #kris #toriel #sans undertale #theory #the true nature of deltarune #noelle #fun gang #susie #toby fox

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kryptsune · 5 years

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🌼Here is my version of Horrortale THE UPDATED VERSION! I was not really happy with how I wrote it prior to this but now that I have added more world building I am so much more satisfied with the result. There is a lot more to it now than there was before world wise. A few things to mention before I start. This Horrortale is mainly a Frans or Frisk X Sans AU. It may change in the future but that is the core of it. I also want to warn people that the below content may be triggering or disturbing. This is very serial killer based so keep that in mind as you move forward.

DO NOT REPOST MY WORK WITHOUT MY PERMISSION IT IS NOT FOR YOUR USE. IF YOU LIKE MY WORK PLEASE REBLOG INSTEAD! It helps me so much! It makes such a difference.💙If you want more of these just let me know! It’s the only way I can gauge interest!

Horrortale {FXS}

Alternate “Nicknames” Info:

Sans: Blade Papyrus: Ash ( joke reference to Ash vs the Evil Dead)

Main Plot Synop: Sans timeline has yet to meet their “fallen human”. On the surface the monsters begin to do experimentation learning about the abilities that humans possess. These studies lead to even more advances for the humans and the monsters. They live and coexist perfectly but something goes wrong. The monsters were considered to be pure beings ones with pure white souls to match but humans were flawed. They did horrible things even to their own and eventually that began to create a new threat. One that was easily spread from monster to monster. A black infection that begin to eat away and hollow out ones soul called The Rot.

Sans works in the lab spending more and more time trying to help his associates with their research into human soul traits. Gaster begins to make headway on the research of the soul extracting vials of concentrated soul essence. That includes the essence from a fallen human that died of causes unknown. Their name is Chara. In Chara’s soul The Rot lies in wait festering in a sea of pure red. Like an apple rotted from the inside the hate and hopelessness of this trait resided in that lone soul and ate it alive. All that they had been was no more. Those working in the lab are the first to be infected especially their Royal Scientist Dr. W.D Gaster.

Sans pursuit to rid the others of this rot causes him to become obsessive and resort to using old vials of human soul essence in his own experiments. It begins to become successful keeping away the infection but at high doses it can have some nasty side effects. He begins to cure the monsters but his own rot can only be cured by one source, Determination. The strength of the essence is so powerful that it begins to have some interesting complications.

Kindness- Obsession

Integrity- Moral righteousness/ pride/ manipulation

Bravery- Adrenaline high constantly sweating, rapid breathing and nausea

Justice- OCD (ideologic pride)

Perseverance- Extreme fatigue/sickness/ depression as physical symptoms

Patience- Timid and intense fear/ anxiety

The Rot and the World it forms:

The rot if left “untreated” can cause some rather unfortunate changes within monster biology and the cure to such an infection is not foolproof (in fact I would argue it causes them to start cannibalizing each other). Those that are suffering from the rot begin to make their way through different stages of the infection.

Stage 1: Paranoia and weakness

Stage 2: A shift in biology- Due to the cure being human soul traits the side effect is a change in monster biological structure. They begin to lose some of their magical abilities taking on the traits that are curing them. It alters their make up at the soul level. This also causes them to take on a more physical form. That means that their bodies persist after death and even bleed.

Stage 3: Starvation/ Ravenous hunger- The infection causes a craving in the soul most likely in an effort to fill a hole of some kind. The same one that is eating away at their soul leaving a soulless husk behind. This is usually seen in the form of food but it can also be more worldly things. Money, power, all of those are fair game. They essentially become soulless.

Stage 4: Mindlessness- Almost like wild animals the monsters that make it to this stage become like wild beasts. All predators. They feast on other monsters but they usually turn their sights to monsters that have a high concentration of human soul in their bodies. That includes humans as well.

Stage 5: “Death” (amalgamates)- The typical mindless zombie. They are slow and aggressive only thinking of eating even though they are half dead already. They do not speak, they do not think. They exist. (What a horrible way to “live”).

Monsters begin to eat and kill each other thinning the once thriving monster world. Just like in UT they used to have an overcrowding problem but now with this new situation that is quickly changing. Asgore locks himself away trying to keep the infection at bay and away from those he cares about. It is unclear if the King is dead or not. All they know is that the entire Underground is in ruin.

It would appear that having quantities of these traits can hold off deeper stages of the infection. That is why they begin to formulate ways to lure humans into the mountain, songs, whispers, anything that can be used. The barrier is different in this version as it only requires the power of a human soul and a monster soul to cross it. This means that some monsters have the ability to slip past the barrier to drag humans back for “dinner time”. The human cities have not forgotten about the monster threat and they keep up defenses to keep them out. A zombie apocalypse if you will. That means that some monsters (again not all they have to be strong enough) can cross the barrier and bring back food.

The barrier was also not created originally as a punishment for monsters losing the war but rather containment. It was cruel nonetheless and eventually the humans began to distance themselves from the monsters leaving them stuck in a barrier that provided no room to grow and little food or resources. Eventually as The Rot began to infest the Underground humans quarantined it off leaving them even more hopeless than ever before.

Humans do not “seem” to be affected by The Rot but their world has been significantly altered by the disease. It makes it difficult to live when all your meals are outside of your cities security and large open spaces are easy targets such as farms. In the end the war and caused an even larger problem, the destruction of their world. It is nothing but an apocalyptic wasteland in most parts due to attacks. Food is scarce both in the Underground as well as on the surface. Just as monsters have become hunters of their own

The Effects of DETERMINATION:

Sans begins to see more and more the inner works and the fabric of the world he lives in. It begins to make him think he is going crazy. It has to be due to sleepless nights, heightened stress, and hopelessness that seems to continue to fester in his own soul. In addition to being able to manipulate and see the fabric of his world he also has “visions”. Almost a form of astral projection. His consciousness is able to see through the eyes of his respective timeline counterparts. He is able to see everything they do in multiple timelines. It is a form of timeline hopping or reset. They are all on the same frequency.

He begins to see their happiness and their pains. The good and the evil. At first he thinks they are dreams but as it happens more frequently the more he realizes the nature of it. He sees how happy they are and there is one constant variable for their happiness (the bad timelines begin to heighten his apathy). That constant is Frisk. He continues to help the other monsters and almost all of them are “cured” though the other side of The Rot has yet to rear its ugly head. He however becomes a recluse burying himself in his supposed delusions and madness. He continues to take more and more DT slowly turning his eyes red. It is like the ring of an oak tree. The longer that he uses it the more rings he gets the larger his eye becomes (giving him that classic Horror look). At first they are like the rings of a tree effectively replacing his rot with a new DT addiction. It also begins to cause his face to slowly melt.

Meanwhile the other main boss monsters that have been treated have a similar affliction where the soul traits they were taken have embedded into their souls. It begins to give them a new power. A power rivaling that of a human soul. The power of the 7. The variable that can be used to slip past the barrier. Sans though is becoming slowly obsessed with this Frisk. He sees her not as a variable anymore but rather someone that will make him happy.

Sans madness continues to increase even his associate Dr. Alphys is trying to get him some semblance of help but by this time he is too far gone. He needs an intervention. An explosion happens in the lab. The vials and his research are now gone. All of it has gone up in flames and unfortunately the damage to his soul has already been done. He ends up in solitary confinement sinking further into his obsession.

News reaches him that a human has fallen down from the opposite entrance of the Underground. He goes to meet them only to realize that they look nothing like the human he is obsessed with. He begins to harvest human soul essence hiding his face behind a mask at first since nearly the whole front portion of his face is gone. It is a mask of his own face which makes his gaze even creepier knowing what, or rather what does not lay beyond it. Eventually he learns to easily control his face with his magic rearranging the dust to shift his appearance. His level of insanity shifts to obsessive confusion. He is unhappy his first human encounter is not his precious Frisk but the human does have her eyes from his perspective. His concept of what Frisk actually looks like keeps changing.

His form and control is directly tied to his emotional states. If he experiences any form of heightened emotion be it sadness or rage his composure will falter as will his appearance. If it becomes too drastic he will slowly begin to melt causing the appearance he originally had when this all began to appear. This is why he is called “The man with many faces.” He will sometimes end up completely faceless save for the bottom half where his grin would be.

Blades Madness:

Sans (aka Blade) obsession causes him to steal the various parts of humans to create his perfect human. Each one he makes he sees as an improvement. They are all mindless dolls held together with low doses of soul essence and magic. A macabre shrine to his beloved human. They reside in his shed and sometimes he talks to them but he considers them as failures. He calls them his projects and this continues over and over until his Frisk falls.

He is overjoyed that he has his precious with him now. Papyrus checks on his brother yet he knows he needs help. After all these years he has seen his brothers decline Ash tries to help him. Frisk’s entry into the Underground is by complete accident, though she is not the savior that the rest are known to be. She is a soul of kindness causing her eyes to be a bright jade. Even Sans though overjoyed that Frisk has “returned” to him; he feels as though she is not perfect yet. He takes her and makes her perfect by removing one of her eyes to be a beautiful blue. He even cuts the back section of her hair to satisfy him.

She feels no pain when this happens. Her kind soul wants to help him and slowly she begins to pull the old Sans back every once and awhile. Her soul, just like Charas, is filled with something as well. It turns out that though it looks like Frisk’s soul is one of kindness it is actually a pure white soul of hope. This has the ability to cure The Rot. They are glimpses but it is progress. He has to stop his killing ways and he does after Frisk is with him.

She feels no pain when this happens. Her kind soul wants to help him and slowly she begins to pull the old Sans back every once and awhile. They are glimpses but it is progress. He has to stop his killing ways and he does after Frisk is with him.

#sans #sans x frisk #frans #horrortale #horror tale au #undertale #undertale au #au sans variation #horror #horrortale au #pychological horror #horror boy #Blade #friskys multiverse #world building #WTU #lore building

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edgarwseidel · 6 years

Text

The 10 Best Petroleum Engineering Schools (USA 2018)

This article covering the best petroleum engineering schools in the USA is one of the most important on our website. If you’re a regular visitor, you’ll know that we provide some high level, technical assistance to oil and gas professionals. We now want to expand our offerings to help those who are interested in a fruitful oil and gas career, regardless of age and experience level.

We recently published a post entitled ‘The best Universities in Europe for an oil and gas career’ and it was the first in a series. According to our website visitor statistics, we realize that the majority of our readers aren’t European, and that the USA has the largest readership.

For the Europe focused article, we researched, and also reached out to our network. The core team here at drillers.com are British, so we got plenty of ideas, suggestions and points to add to that article.

Crowd sourced research

For an article on the USA, I (hi, Jason here!) realized that I’m not really qualified, and the chance of a mistake and/or omission was high. I have American contacts (howdy!) but not enough to count as a true sample size.  So, I asked for help from the Oilpro community who had/have a better handle on the reality in the oil industry than anywhere else that I could find online.

What I did, was research a list of what ‘the internet’ thought should be in the top 15, and then posted the list on (the now closed) Oilpro.

So, after some back and forth, some additions and deletions, I got down to a different list. After quickly checking some of the credentials of my sources, re-researched as I whittled, pruned and manicured to get the definitive list. The whole process was a lot of fun.

As far as rankings go, this matter is subjective, and we’ve placed them roughly in order, with the top 5 being arguably the best. We don’t want to get into a situation where complaints or scuffles break out, so the list is not numbered!

What we didn’t do was include the ‘top 20’ in order to gain extra internet traffic, or for affiliate/profit making reasons. This is our honest top 10, based on research and networking.

So now, without further ado… We unveil the final drillers.com list of…

The 10 top petroleum engineering schools in the US:

University of Texas at Austin – Cockrell School of Engineering

So, the Cockrell School of Engineering is right at the top of our list. Whilst this article isn’t strictly numbered in order (who could decide that?), UT at Austin came up most in our research, and networking among industry professionals.

We’d probably go so far as saying the top 5 here are the ‘top 5 in the USA’, that’s as far as we’d go in risking an angry backlash…

With in the region of 7-8000 students studying 9 undergraduate degrees, and 13 graduate programs, this is a substantial school. As we all know, economies come at scale, and the quality of resources available to students in unbeatable. This means that as long as you’re smart and dedicated enough, you can achieve more than you ever thought possible at a school like this.

Different reviews over the years tend to rank the Cockerel School of Engineering in the top 1 or 2 in the USA. The Petroleum and Geosystems Engineering department is particularly well respected, often coming first in undergraduate, and graduate programs.

University of Tulsa – McDougall School of Petroleum Engineering

The Internationally acclaimed McDougall School of Petroleum Engineering at UT was another easy decision for the top few spots on this page. This department is the largest and most important on the UT campus.

With an excellent reputation, and close industry links, 95% of graduates manage to secure employment within 6 months of leaving.

As with many of the top European petroleum engineering schools, the postgraduate programs have a focus on innovation and technological progress. The research departments work in co-operation with multiple government and industry agencies.

One key differential at UT is that undergraduates can also get involved with, and work alongside postgraduate researchers. This fosters an atmosphere of empowerment. It also helps create a backdrop of mutual respect and understanding whatever the level of experience. These qualities are crucial when working in challenging and dangerous environments.

Colorado School of Mines

The Colorado School of Mines, also known simply as ‘mines’ benefits from many of the same situational features of all top petroleum engineering schools. Firstly, the location is close to the industry production, with many geological formations that are actively in production.

Secondly, close industry links enable collaboration, internships and information sharing. Mines has an SPE chapter, and benefits from knowledge that is pooled by the most important industry body. The SPE President spoke at the school recently, and these types of events allow immersion into the industry mindset for students.

Other special relationships include the:

American Rock Mechanics Association

American Association of Drilling Engineers

U.S. Geological Survey

National Renewable Energy Laboratory

Students are also encouraged to take part in field operations in the summer break, while being guided by postgraduates. An exchange program allows one semester swaps with the Petroleum Engineering Departments of the Mining University of Leoben, Austria. The same applies to the Technical University in Delft, Holland. (Both of which appeared on our list of the top oil and gas universities in Europe). Mines also has the exchange arrangement with the University of Adelaide in Australia.

University of Oklahoma Norman Campus

The Mewbourne School of Petroleum and Geological Engineering (MPGE) at the University of Oklahoma has appeared on most top lists over the years. Students graduating from MPGE consistently achieve employment rates of over 90% year on year.

As with most of the other entrants on our list, the Petroleum and Geological Engineering programs are among the oldest in the country. In the workforce, graduates from MPGE are very well represented because of the numbers of successful graduates each year, and the ease of which they obtain work.

This is partly down to the quality of the research departments here. MPGE have distinct departments that solve different industry problems. The departments are as follows:

Integrated Core Characterization Center (IC3) that includes a complete Amoco Rock Physics Laboratory

Integrated PoroMechanics Institute (iPMI)

Well Construction Technology Center (WCTC)

Institute for Applied Surfactant Research (IASR)

Unconventional Shale Gas Consortium (USGC)

As well as the sheer number of graduates in the workplace, MPGE alumni are numerous at high levels in companies. This also applies to the recognized industry associations such as the Society of Petroleum Engineers of which seven have served as president.

Texas A&M University: Harold Vance Department of Petroleum Engineering

From communicating with high-level industry sources, Texas A&M seemed to be in everyone’s top 10, in some cases the top 2 or 5! So, the home of the ‘Aggies’ comes in high up in our list.

The highly respected U.S. News & World Report ranks the Harold Vance department first in the USA for undergraduate, and third for graduate studies.

Why is Texas A&M so strong in the sector? It’s quite natural for a state to focus on it’s natural expertise and environmental assets. Texas is ‘oil country’ and always has been.

In a similar way to Aberdeen, Stavanger or Dubai, Texas is in the heart of an oil industry hub. When multiple leading oil and gas companies have head offices, and hundreds of smaller companies live and work in a location, there are benefits to students. The closeness between academia, and industry fosters strong relationships that lead to internships, innovation and the overall betterment of the industry. Internships that involve working in the same area as you study and live make complete sense. Once suitably impressed, a company is likely to put you at the front of the queue to achieve a job upon graduation.

The USA is the leading country in the oil and gas industry and is likely to remain so. Qualifications from one of the best petroleum engineering schools, from the leading country, is likely to maximize your career potential!

The Louisiana State University

The Louisiana State Universities Craft and Hawkins Dept of Petroleum Engineering has run a highly respected program since the 1920’s.

Like other entrants on our list, Louisiana is very much an oil state, featuring in the top four in the United States for the last half a century. The oil and gas industry has been responsible for approximately half of the states revenue during this period.

When we consider the importance of the O+G industry, the close proximity of exploration and production of hydrocarbons, it makes sense that the offered programs are cutting edge.

The fact that LSU is the flagship university in the state adds to the importance of being among the top schools in the country.

Another reason why LSU made it into our list, is because of their Petroleum Engineering Research & Technology Transfer, or PERTT, Laboratory. This is a full scale, hands-on training facility for students to understand bore hole technology. If you’re not impressed by this, you might like to know that this is the only facility of its kind in a university in North America!

It’s not surprising that the oil and gas industry loves to recruit LSU Petroleum Engineering graduates and postgraduates. As well as the PERTT lab, LSU invests large resources in a number of research departments. Research areas of expertise include well control & blowout prevention, enhanced recovery, and downhole water sink technology. Alumni will leave LSU armed with strategies that can help make a difference in the field.

Pennsylvania State University

Pennsylvania State is steeped in oil and gas history, in fact is was on August 27 1859 that Edwin Drake first struck oil in Titusville, Pennsylvania. This discovery in turn lead to the first super giant oil field in Bradbury.

The first official course in petroleum engineering was offered in 1907 at Penn State entitled “Prospecting and Well Drilling”. Over the last 110 years, Penn State has stayed at the top of the rankings national and international rankings, not just for oil and gas, but for engineering in general.

The technique known as waterflooding was first developed at Penn State. There’s also a solid online learning program available, something that we’ll be covering in a future article.

As with all of our featured top schools, the Penn State research facilities are state of the art and highly regarded. Facilities available to students include a multi-phase fluid flow system laboratory, and a drilling rig simulator.

Missouri University of Science & Technology (formerly Missouri-Rolla)

Missouri University of S&T was originally established in 1870 and named the Missouri School of Mines and Metallurgy (MSM) which was a name that has described the focus for most of its history.

Then in 1963 the school was known as the University of Missouri at Rolla. (Rolla being the name of the area which is famous for lead and zinc mining).

As well as mining, energy has held an equal focus. Missouri’s first operational nuclear reactor was commissioned at the school in 1961. Now in modern day, there’s a strong drive towards alternative energy, including a solar house and car project.

Oil and gas engineering has, of course, also been a focus throughout the history of the school. Many links to major oil companies have thrived for decades, with Exxon Mobil having strong links. MU also has a respected SPE chapter as well. A focus on exchanges and internships help students move towards an international oil and gas career, with available trips to the UK, Greece and Egypt.

Texas Tech University Bob L. Herd Department of Petroleum Engineering

Texas Tech University is the third Texas based petroleum engineering school in our list. Whilst hardly surprising, the accolade is well deserved and with good reason.

The faculty are all very experienced, with a minimum of 15 years each, and Texas Tech has one of the largest Petroleum Engineering departments in the USA. The recently booming Permian Basin receives more than their fair share of graduates every year.

One of the biggest attractions of studying here, is the new Terry Fuller Petroleum Engineering Research Building which was opened in 2014 and entirely donor funded. As is the case with all top schools, Texas Tech works closely with industry. The oil and gas industry invested $22.8 million, with money coming from Apache Corp, Pioneer Natural Resources, Linn Energy, Chevron, Anadarko and Oxy Petroleum. This is a classic case of voting with check books!

Take a look at the department:

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Another reason why Texas Tech appears in our top 10 is that they have the largest (on campus) test well. A Petroleum Engineering Advisory board helps students to stay up to date with industry best practices.

West Virginia University – Benjamin M. Statler College of Engineering & Mineral Resources

West Virginia University (WVU) is situated close to the mighty Marcellus Shale geological formation. The Petroleum and Natural Gas Engineering (PNGE) Department at WVU has great access to research opportunites, and industry players.

As with all of our top picks, the PNGE department boasts state of the art research facilities, with 4 distinct departments. These are the core analysis, drilling fluids, gas measurement labs and rig floor simulator.

The most frequent and famous research is probably the Marcellus Shale research department, where topics such as porosity and structure are examined, and enhanced extraction techniques are formulated.

High volumes of published technical papers, and a 100% job placement rate on graduation shows that the faculty, researchers and students all practice that they preach.

Conclusion:

So, at the time of writing, we’re fairly confident that we’ve nailed the top 10 Petroleum Engineering schools in the USA.

You might be reading this a year or two later, are these still the best colleges and universities in the USA for getting into oil and gas? Are there any missing? Should one or two be deleted, because they aren’t quite major league?  Any specific examples, reasons or facts will also be appreciated. For example, new patents and technologies created by students or professors, close ties with major companies etc.

We’re happy to keep this page updated as things change, the recent downturn has affected the numbers of new students looking to enter the industry. Salaries for Petroleum Engineering graduates have remained robust throughout good times and bad.

One other thing to consider, is that most graduates are employed by around ten major oil companies. These companies foster relationships with the best engineering schools in order to have their pick of the best and brightest. This happens in other industries too, but especially so in oil and gas. This means that you ought to set your sights high, and study hard to get into your first choice school.

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from Updates About Oil And Gas https://drillers.com/best-petroleum-engineering-schools-usa-2018/

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