I'll be interested to hear these, I've played through several of the titles, both from hosted games and choiceofgames, albeit these days I'd probably prefer them on pc/online to Iphone, but don't really have the cash to change or start a new collection, indeed I've not bought any since their unified ap, which probably tells you how long it's been since I played. I also tend to alternate characters I play in gender, though still tend to play straight or by rather than actually gay.
Games I've played include:
Choice of the dragon:
Silly fun, I've played through three times following different paths, more an extended demo for the system than a game, especially the way you can pretty much act like a fool, make all the wrong choices and not get a game over.
Some of the writing made me smile though.
choice of broadsides:
Again not bad, though the machismo was a bit enforced, also I was less keen on the romance options by boasting about yourself, but maybe that's because I slightly got the boasting wrong, actually even though it’s grown up than choice of the dragon, I’ve never brought myself to trying again and perhaps getting the romance and boasting right, though I did enjoy some of the piratical bits garrr!
choice of zombies:
Actually I really quite liked this one, not as good as zombie exodus, but I loved the different paths, achievements and endings, albeit characterisation was less strong over all, which was a shame when set against the hosted title zombie exodus which is really strong on character and interaction.
Choice of the star captain:
Good humour and some interesting stat choices, though this one really suffered from the problem that many Cog games do when you choose something given one choice and suddenly find you've made the arsehole choice by mistake, or where the author interprets the interplay of different character stats differently to the way you do.
didn't even finish this one, albeit I probably should get back to it.
hero's rise: for someone who really doesn't like super heroes, this one was surprisingly good.
I especially liked the almost rpg like need to keep a watch on stats, and the really different choices involved, also the way it felt like a total mess but still worked out.
to the city of the clouds:
Okay seriously not good here. ~Not much choice and a down right anti climactic climax. I even didn't bother going back to make the choice to get the best ending since after getting the second best ending I didn't really fancy doing it again. Definitely obviously an early creation, but not one with at least the silly redeeming fun of dragons to recommend it.
Affairs of the court, choice of romance:
One with a really interesting world, politics and magic system, played on a recommendation from sebby.
Unfortunately, it suffered from the fact that I played it just when getting together with MRS. Dark in 2016, so, after carefully putting together a political schemer character (a female one this time), suddenly got the option to throw in everything to marry the love of her life, I went for it, offending her entire family and basically ending the game early into the bargain .
This meant I got what to me was the good ending, but the one which pretty much stopped only %20 in.
In this case though I won't say it was the fault of the game, so much as me wanting art to imitate what I hoped would happen with life, which actually it did very shortly after, though nobody ended up getting too offended in that case.
Heroes rise: the hero project:
Again another one I need to replay, I particularly didn't like how it didn't quite import over from the first heroes rise properly, so the game started with me causing more of a disaster than I actually caused.
Also, this one went into reality tv and far less on hero missions, which is very much less my thing, particularly since my "be nice to team mates" choices seemed to get me very shafted, which wasn't good for a so called hero game, though again this one I probably need to retry.
Mecha ace:
Okay, this has to rank as one of the most truly depressing and wonderful experiences I've had in a gamebook. Writing is fantastic, from mech battles to the very state of the war, and I loved the other characters.
The only problem, the path I went down basically made the game uncompletable, killed my characters' love interest and best friend, and ended with a final battle that there was no way for me to win, since having a super awesome pilot suddenly lose his pilotting with no compensation was bad!
Again, one I really need to replay, because yee gods it was a good experience! albeit I haven't brought my self to given both how badly the original run went, and how emotionally invested I was in the characters and story.
Yeti’s Parole Officer:
Random scifi fun with lots of achievements to earn. The author did strike me as trying a bit too hard in some places, and most was more smile worthy than laugh out loud funny, but hay, it was pleasant (especially her obsession with fish and chips), albeit not really pleasant enough to make me want to go back and earn all those achievements. Still worth a play if you want something light and fluffy and don’t’ expect too much.
Creatures Such as We:
A rather lovely scifi landscapes and a portrait of life on the moon, however a game that tried to be a bit too philosophical for its own good. I admit though, since in rl I'm more likely to have the sort of conversations this game asks about the nature of art and interaction, seeing them in a game didn't really interest me as much as it perhaps should've done.
Also suffers a bit too much from the author trying to ask questions, but not really coming down on any one side, which is admirable in a debate, but less so in a game that you want to see have some closure for its characters.
I did like the game within a game though, albeit I wished it had more actual consequence rather than leaving the consequence up to the reader.
Choice of Robots:
Again, this one I ran into the problem of the choices not following the stats exactly, albeit hi praise for this one suggests I should give it another try, and I admit though I tried a couple of paths, from super villain genius down, I didn't quite get any definite endings.
The Last Monster Master:
Okay, like mecha ace this one actually suffers from being written a bit too well.
What I mean is, your a monster trainer taking care of monsters and training them for different jobs, however the descriptions of the creatures got me so worried, I found myself almost afraid to choose things in case my poor monsters got hurt .
It's odd, this, mecha ace and fate haven from hosted games have been some of the few times I've been so invested in an interactive story, that I actively am afraid of losing out, something which didn't bother me in the more actiony games like choice of zombies or heroes rise.
it's both a good and bad thing, though I probably ought to just harden my heart and try again, like mecha ace this one really was good at getting me to care.
Champion of the Gods:
Okay, random fantasy fun with a destined hero, lots of gods and creature smiting in a griek myths inspired world.
only problem? the author just couldn't write convincing characters at all.
Everyone spoke in this faux epic sort of dialect which made the hole thing feel absolutely stilted, and meant I just didn't care about the characters' relationships at all
I mean who actually ever would sy:
"Oh mother, I will miss your gentle care upon my journey"
Again, a shame, since the worlds, the magic and a lot of the mythic tasks and lore are interesting enough for a fantasy world, and there are achievements to earn, I just never felt the need to go back because of the terrible, terrible dialogue.
Pendragon Rising@
This one I loved the world, since historical King Arthur is always interesting and the premise court my attention.
The problem? The author just plane couldn't be consistant with choices, or so it seemed to me.
Even if choose for example to engage in physical combat, you'll suddenly find yourself engaging in a war of words and losing, and if you choose to make an enemy into a friend, you suddenly offend him and have to duel him.
the idea was good, the writing interesting, I particularly liked the contrast between rational roman christianity and "the straight path", and the magic of the druids, but again, the inconsistency meant I never finished this one.
And just for the record here are the hosted games I've tried:
Land of Three Classes:
Really terribly writtenn, and choices that are so damn obvious it's ridiculous, I mean your pretty much asked if you want to be a warrior thief or mage in every scene, and each choice you make increases that class.
If it were an rpg dungeon crawl it might be fun, albeit it'd need better mechanics, but as a gamebook, no way!
Zombie exodus:
Okay this is epic! albeit I hope the game has since been updated, since I kept getting to unwinnnable situations.
Still, really great characterisation, I mean who'd assume the guy with the immunity to the plague was such an arse?
Also suffers slightly from interactive fiction syndrome, given you need to perform some of the right actions on the right thing, and I never worked those out, but really despite never getting a definite ending (other than those where you die), I can highly recommend this one, indeed it makes choice of zombies look a little sick.
Fatehaven:
Wow, this was amazing! I do wish the author would write dialogue a little more like narrative and less like a script, because it sometimes was hard to tell who was speaking, but for just a plane good D&D fantasy story told very well, with characters you care about this one hit the spot.
It’s odd, so much in here is cliché, from the mysterious mage in the woods, the evil inquisitorial church, the gang of thieves, but it was just plane well put together, and in the end that really mattered!
Only miner thing, I do wish there was a way at the start to become different element types.
Apex Patrol@
Rowlocking good scifi adventure, with propper stats for your ship, crew and captain, feels like taking part in a 1950's B movie, and all the better for it, I mean at the end of the game I literally got to punt the villain into a collapsing star!
the relationships and characters worked for what they are, but really this one all about the combat and big explosions and “she canna take it cappan she donna have the power!” sort of situations, and those it does very well indeed.
The Shadow Horror:
Creepy haunted house time.
I particularly liked in this one how it takes the simple premise of your car breaking down and you getting inside a house, then changes things as night falls, even down to changing all the locations.
it feels in some ways more like an interactive fiction game than a gamebook, given you have to do lots of examining of objects to get through, but luckily the author put in ways to win, or at least get an ending without need to try doing everything to everything, too much, plus there's even a walkthru and commentary as prizes for finishing the game.
Definitely an example of how to do haunted house games well, and take all the old horror cliches and make them work.
Samurai of Hyuga:
Only played the first of these, but yee gods it was good!
Awesome characters, a great story, and my god a hell of a cliffhanger! I particularly liked how real the people in your team are, and how the didn't punish you for following your choices of traits.
Wow, just talking about this one makes me want to play the series, especially it’s apparently on the 4th volume now, and if they’re the quality of the first, they should be awesome!
Okay, this turned into a bit more of a ramble than I thought, but there’s what I’ve played so far and a few thoughts at least, I’ll be interested to see what you think Bookrage, particularly to those games we have in common.
With our dreaming and singing, Ceaseless and sorrowless we! The glory about us clinging Of the glorious futures we see,
Our souls with high music ringing; O men! It must ever be
That we dwell in our dreaming and singing, A little apart from ye. (Arthur O'Shaughnessy 1873.)