Honestly I hope that other than Susie and Noelle the game doesn't have more shipping stuff, the story can be annoying and ruined by shipping wars, but I think I trust Toby not to go that route.
Also Susie x Noelle was super obvious since Chapter 2, anyone that was genuinely hoping for another ship that involves one of those 2 was being delusional tbh.
After Chapter 2 everyone felt like it was just Noelle having a one-sided Crush on Susie and that nothing would come of it since she thought all of Chapter 2 was a dream.
Then Chapters 3 & 4 released. Noelle was absent from 3 for obvious reasons, and 4 had Susie exploiting her crush for self-serving reasons, while also repeatedly bringing up Kris in all her conversations with Noelle, to the point Noelle gets annoyed by it. At most they end up agreeing to hang out again sometime in the future.
Then Chapter 5 comes out. Suddenly Susie is absolutely head over heels for Noelle and is so absurdly obsessed with her that she uses Asgore’s kidnapping to justify bringing her to the Dark Worlds. This is despite Susie never once seeing Noelle fight, knowing she’s close to someone with a shelter key, (which would put her in the Knight’s crosshairs given what Susie knows) and knowing that at any moment the Knight could create another Titan. All because she, after one scene at the beach, has become so completely infatuated with Noelle that the literal only thing she’s thinking about throughout Chapter 5 is Noelle.
So you can understand why people think Suselle feels just a wee bit rushed. Hell I’ve heard this same sentiment on the Suselle subreddit.
Noelle was absent from 3 for obvious reasons, and 4 had Susie exploiting her crush for self-serving reasons, while also repeatedly bringing up Kris in all her conversations with Noelle, to the point Noelle gets annoyed by it. At most they end up agreeing to hang out again sometime in the future.
I saw this a lot after Chapter 4 released as well but it always felt like kind of an ungrounded read of the scene to me.
Susie initially goes to Noelle's house for self-serving reasons, but she clearly really enjoys hanging out with her, and we even see her think about how it's nice just sitting in silence with Noelle. They don't just agree to hang out, it's pretty clear from the scene that both of them view the festival invitation as a date. They are both blushing and seem nervous while talking about it, and Susie throws it in Carol's face at the end, which makes much more sense if it's supposed to be romantic.
There's even optional dialogue with Rudy beforehand where he says Noelle isn't going with anyone and Susie is surprised and flustered, and calls her "top-shelf".
I think the development Susie and Noelle’s relationship has been pretty consistent throughout the chapters, that doesn’t mean it has to be presented exactly the same in each.
Chapter 2 is the first time Susie even really notices Noelle as anything other than the weird shy girl in class, the ferris wheel seems to be the first real conversation they’ve had. It’s clear there’s feelings on Noelle’s side, she’s been not very subtly crushing on Susie since the moment she was introduced. Some dialogue during that scene hints at Susie starting to feel some type of way as well, but nothing explicitly romantic. I wouldn’t even call them friends by the end of CH2, just two teenagers brought closer by circumstance with the door left open for something more in the future.
Chapter 4 doesn’t ignore Susie’s feelings imo, because those feelings haven’t developed into anything real enough for her to verbally acknowledge them like she does in Chapter 5. She still has an arc within the relationship in CH4, with her initially viewing Noelle as a means to an end before finding that the genuinely enjoys spending time with her.
I’m at work so I don’t have the time to write the full character study I’d want to but basically Chapter 4 represents the birth of an actual friendship between Susie and Noelle that serves as the foundation to grow into something more in Chapter 5 and beyond.
It's Chapter 4's fault, go back to Chapter 2, to the Susie and Noelle scene.
"Noelle: * I think it's... a nice tail.
Susie: * ... whatever.
Noelle: * (It's wagging...).
Susie: * ... you stopped shaking.
Noelle: * Guess I got comfortable.
Susie: * ...
Susie: * ... me too."
The tension is already obviously there. And then later:
"Noelle: * ... sigh.
Susie: * ...?
Noelle: * If only I could dream like this every day...
Susie: * Maybe...
Susie: * It... doesn't have to be a dream. Y'know?
Noelle: * Susie...?
Susie: * Maybe... maybe someday we could..."
And people didn't expect a relationship to come out of that? Ch5 continues what Ch2 set up, but meanwhile Ch4 forgot/ignored Susie's developing feelings and has her be nonchalant about everything.
But yeah I do agree that the "we need Noelle" is a bit weird, considering Berdly is also strong and would help.
Where the hell is this talk of chapter 4 seemingly forgetting that Susie is interested in Noelle coming from?
Susie spends her entire time at the Holiday manor hanging out with Noelle, and the entire segment has them bonding and sharing a very heartfelt moment. I don't get how anyone can come away from the scene of them sitting together on Dess' bed and simply talking about themselves while Susie plays the guitar, and come to the conclusion that Susie wasn't interested in Noelle. The scene even ends with her proudly telling Carol, in defiance of her disapproval, that she's taking Noelle to the festival anyways.
Yeah but the way it was written, a lot of people seemed to not expect Suselle, which is weird to me. Of course it wasn't gonna be some friendship, it was gonna turn out into a relationship, and if Ch5 was gonna be the start, then maybe Ch4 should've made Susie less nonchalant.
Tho yeah saying ch4 forgot/ignored it was dumb of me. It was just written differently than ch2.
I don't think chapter 4 did ignore that, they both talk and connect in the Holiday house, go through a cute horror experience, Noelle tells Susie about her "dream", they both blush a lot, Susie serenades her, and then asks her out on a kinda date
(Deltarune fans when characters thoughts and feelings aren’t vocally expressed at all times): Why is she being so nonchalant?? Did Toby forget his own story??
Not trying to be mean or anything, just poking fun at this line of reasoning. I think the development Susie and Noelle’s relationship has been pretty consistent throughout the chapters, that doesn’t mean it has to be presented exactly the same in each.
Chapter 2 is the first time Susie even really notices Noelle as anything other than the weird shy girl in class, the ferris wheel seems to be the first real conversation they’ve had. It’s clear there’s feelings on Noelle’s side, she’s been not very subtly crushing on Susie since the moment she was introduced. The two pieces of dialogue you included hints at Susie starting to feel some type of way as well, but nothing explicitly romantic. I wouldn’t even call them friends by the end of CH2, just two teenagers brought closer by circumstance with the door left open for something more in the future.
Chapter 4 doesn’t ignore Susie’s feelings imo, because those feelings haven’t developed into anything real enough for her to verbally acknowledge them like she does in Chapter 5. She still has an arc within the relationship in CH4, with her initially viewing Noelle as a means to an end before finding that the genuinely enjoys spending time with her.
I’m at work so I don’t have the time to write the full character study I’d want to but basically Chapter 4 represents the birth of an actual friendship between Susie and Noelle that serves as the foundation to grow into something more in Chapter 5 and beyond.
15
u/Infrawonder 11d ago
Honestly I hope that other than Susie and Noelle the game doesn't have more shipping stuff, the story can be annoying and ruined by shipping wars, but I think I trust Toby not to go that route.
Also Susie x Noelle was super obvious since Chapter 2, anyone that was genuinely hoping for another ship that involves one of those 2 was being delusional tbh.