A Chosen Hero

The overall writing quality is superb, but the opening page is poorly done. Since I’ve read Ebon’s featured story, The Lost Realm, I knew the opening would not be reflective of the overall piece. Still, it’s pretty bad. To be honest, if I didn’t read Ebon’s writing before I’d probably stop reading here. Luckily, it gets better. Way better.

A couple things that I must applaud Ebon for is his world building and descriptors. The CYOA writing style makes it easy to fall into bland clusterf*ck of “you” actions (you go here, you feel bad, etc.). It is not so with A Chosen Hero. Right away I’m thrust into a world of rigorous training, which shows the importance of the main character and his father. It also shows that they (more importantly, the MC) have the skillset and characteristics of a hero. Granted knowledge isn’t necessarily a heroic trait on its own, but the discipline behind it is. As for world building, I’m a fan of both natural introduction and deeper, in-depth background pages. This story has both. Yay.

The cabin in the woods story made it seem like a fairy tale. It involves a mysterious cabin, a man that no one’s heard of or seen, a princess, and the illusionary element of safety. Not to mention the poor choices made by children, but I guess that’s expected. Kids are fucking stupid. The MC isn’t, but I understand that the thrill and company of the princess could’ve outweighed common sense.

As far as introducing conflict and progressing the story, A Chosen Hero excelled. I enjoyed the sudden shift from fairy tale perfection into absolute nightmare. And can I just mention the text change while reading your father’s note is a cool element to include. Anyways, the beginning story is blissful happiness until things go very wrong, very fast. The dynamic character shift of Alessa was a ‘fun’ journey too.

Overall it’s an intriguing story done masterfully in a CYOA format. Worth reading.

I have mixed feelings about this story. You've got a good plot set in a well-developed world with plenty of exposition and a nice cast of characters. There are plenty of fantasy tropes included in the mix - a Chosen Hero, a princess, fighting against assassins, civil war - all of which are reminiscent of medieval fantasy and very enjoyable to read about.

That's where it ends, however, because there are simply so many flaws with this story. I wish this wasn't the case, but there's just so much squandered potential which prevents this from being something better.

Grammar and writing style are the top of the list. What on earth is with that first page?

Your first page needs to grab the reader's attention and hook them into the story. What is this? Three lines of bad grammar which tells us nothing? Fragmented sentences and typos? I mean...why?

The story's really not that bad at all, but that first page just gave me such a bad first impression before it even started. I actually think that the first page should be removed, if not completely rewritten. It just lowers the reader's hopes drastically. (Unless they have some really, really low standards for stories.)

Okay, after that first page (which is repeated in your story description, and isn't any better), we have the actual story. There's still tons of grammar mistakes everywhere, and it really needs to be cleaned up if you want a higher rating.

For the most part, however, it's alright. It didn't blow me away or anything, but it's okay. I liked the world you set up. It felt pretty generic, but the Holy Order was interesting and it's always nice to read about fantasy settings with a religious aspect involved.

I wasn't really impressed by the Man. I guess he's implied to be the Creator, but he's introduced as this guy who wants to meet you and the Princess in some...cabin. Alone. Some guy you've met before when you were a kid. Sure, we met God in a cabin. I get that he has some "mortal disguise" or something, but it could have been presented better.

Now, I know a few people have criticised the linearity of this story. Yes, it's linear. Yes, there's practically only one set path, and you can't even kiss someone without dooming yourself to fail. You can't refuse to rescue the princess, and every wrong choice results in death. Hell, you can even die in training.

However, I can see that you do have a lot of content, even on this fixed path, and I appreciate that there were time constraints. Maybe you had more planned for the other paths (especially if you chose the Curse, it would have been a really interesting route to see) and you just weren't able to implement it before the deadline. It would definitely improve the story however.

I have a minor complaint about the optional backgrounds - such as "New Friends", meeting Raven, etc. These are optional, right? The reader doesn't have to click on them. They're just for exposition purposes.

...except that the reader DOES have to click on them, and they have to do so in the right order, or nothing will make sense.

If I click them out of order, Raven is mentioned out of the blue and I have no idea who she is. If I click the last option too early, then my character suddenly knows what triggers the Blessing to activate, even though he shouldn't.

Why are we introducing Raven in an optional choice, even though she's an active character in the rest of the story? These are links for background and exposition. Not for introducing a new character!

Okay, the fight scenes. I thought that they were well done. A little drawn-out sometimes, but I liked reading them, and I can see that you put a lot of work and description into them.

Somehow, I didn't get the feeling that my character was a very good fighter. Maybe it's the linearity of the story, like how choosing to defend yourself will actually kill you, but it felt like he sucked. He kept on relying on his Blessing.

Wouldn't it be nice if I could win through my own strength and combat prowess alone? Through my own skill and training? Half the time I'm just relying on the almighty Blessing.

I liked the characters but they seemed rather lacking at times and received little development (aside from Alessa). I liked Ashyr for some reason and wish that he could have been expanded upon.

In the end, the story felt a little unfinished. We survive and get to see the Man, and everything ends on a cliffhanger. It's rather unsatisfying, especially for a medieval fantasy setting, but it's better than nothing.

Overall, I did enjoy the story, despite its many glaring flaws. It was the plot and setting that kept me reading, but the writing itself is sloppy and needs a lot of improvement. Having more than one path, as well as fewer deaths, would definitely boost your rating. Even if all you do is add a separate plotline for the Curse route, it would make a huge difference.

The writing was good, but there were some mistakes. However they didn't end up detracting from the experience (for me at least).

From what I found this seems to be pretty linear, but the 'non standard game overs' are still proper pages, glimpses into what if scenarios, if you will.

There was also a lot of writing, the world seems to be pretty rich and the characters seemed to be pretty unique. It didn't feel like they were just there to advance the plot.

Honestly, this is one of the better stories out there. I encourage you to give it a read, just don't expect massive branching paths.

With that said, I'm hoping for more from this author, this storygames proves they can write well, and the more they write the better it'll become.

I also rather liked some of the universe lore (this is what I'm calling it), it seemed pretty well thought out.

TL;DR
A storygame that is not very heavy on the choosing part, but is still definitely worth the read.

It was a very good story. I would recommend it to anyone.

Only one thing... I would have enjoyed a victory by choosing the curse, It just feels a bit biased to just make someone lose by choosing the curse, sometimes people want to have a complex darker protagonist. 7/8 tho.

this is a very good story

lame

its great

I like it, but it would much better if the reader and Raven survived, got married, and then had a family. Hell, if the reader wants to be with Raven, then let them, and also survive. If the reader doesn't get to be with the one they want, then the story just turns to bullshit.
No offense, EbonVasilis, but you better do a hell of a job revising the intimacy moment between the reader and Raven. And if the reader wants to be with Alessa, then you should have made it so that the story continued, and didn't just end after the reader makes through everything and talks to the Man who is quite possibly the Creator.
EbonVasilis, if you ever read this, you better revise it. Just do it, please. I figured that when I played it the first time, that I would just get to be with Raven, then you severely disappointed me by practically saying to my face, "Too bad, you and Raven get slaughtered in your sleep! Go try again!"

The story is captivating and its well-written. 10/10 would recommend, curious for a sequel!