Non-threaded

Forums » The Parlor Room » Read Thread

Questions about a storygame? Thoughts on Eternal? Any other IF you're playing out there?

Through the Passages of Madness

2 years ago
Commended by mizal on 1/14/2022 12:14:16 PM

Hello, Axxius here! I decided one of my New Years resolutions would be to more socially active so I guess this is my way of doing that... Anyways, There are a lot of amazing storygames on this site that many people have given fantastic reviews on that I myself have personally enjoyed. I considered however what kind of journey I would go on if I reviewed the lowest rated storygames on the site. A dangerous undertaking to my sanity potentially but I hope to find some amusing gems among the poop as I do so. I'll continually update my progress here and try to review at least one storygame per day just to see how deep this rabbit hole goes. Or I'll get bored eventually and stop reviewing them so we'll see how far I get. :D

Through the Passages of Madness

2 years ago

You're lucky you're doing this nowadays. You probably would have gone mad for realsies pre-2016 when stories in the 1-2 rated region were still hanging around.

Through the Passages of Madness

2 years ago
What Endmaster said, but please keep a journal updated for us on your dwindling sanity anyway.

I will say it is possible to do these days, but a very thankless and tedious task.

If you come across any truly awful lingering remnant of the time before readers had standards, let us know if you think it should be considered for unpublishing. We used to have dedicated threads for these purges, but they became less necessary over time.

Through the Passages of Madness

2 years ago

And I see you've already found the lowest on the site: Gay and Depressed.

That one was the only exemption from the great purge for a variety of reasons.

Through the Passages of Madness

2 years ago

Yes, indeed I did. I found the deaths to be rather amusing as well as the lack of character depth from the main character, her brother, Wyatt the drug dealer, Aria the girlfriend, and the criminals that kill you. The lack of stories rated below a two and snippets I've heard in other threads of unfavorable story themes I won't go into here, indicates to me that the quality of writing had vastly improved or at least the standards have been raised high enough to force people to adapt. I think for the purposes of this thread I'm going to review 2 storygames per day to save myself time and limit myself to reviewing only stories rated below a 4 since those are the among the lowest rated which was my goal anyhow.

Through the Passages of Madness

2 years ago

Yikes. I have 2 stories rated below a 4.

Through the Passages of Madness

2 years ago
Puzzle Land is arguably deserving of a higher rating than a lot of what's in the puzzle section, just there's no way easy to correct that without a lot of people playing puzzle games. And in modern times we just happen to hate those when there's not an entertaining narrative attached.

Now that they've all been relocated to their new reservation though, maybe more fans of that kind of thing will accumulate in time.

Through the Passages of Madness

2 years ago

Day 1: The descent begins.

I've read and reviewed the two lowest stories as of right now. I don't have much left to say about gay and depressed. It's a funny example of bad storytelling that wasn't honestly that bad. You might even say it's so bad some might consider it good but also, bad. (2.1/8)

So after reading that amusing first one I was immediately ambushed by the second. The only thing the second story has going for it was the tick tock aspect which was probably unimaginative as well since this story was a fan fiction. Tick Tock goes the clock was uninspired and I would have lost brain cells had it been any longer. The only reason I'm not recommending it be deleted is because of its short length, so it's just not worth the trouble. (2/8)

Through the Passages of Madness

2 years ago
Just to avoid any confusion, we generally don't delete delete even the worst stories, they just get unpublished and are then allowed to fester for eternity out of public eye in the author's profile. No one is losing all the hard work they did on their masterpiece at eleven years old, it'll still be waiting for them in a state of pitiful undeath and with accusing eyes when they return, no matter how much time has passed.

Real deletions only happen when a new story that is low effort and terrible gets taken down, usually with a comment on it about why, and the author just determinedly spams the publish button until we get sick of it and put it out of its misery. (Or because it's porn, or Warrior Cats. Or Warrior Cats porn.)

Through the Passages of Madness

2 years ago

If your story game is low rated that doesn't mean it is automatically terrible it could be a forgotten gem that deserves more love than it got. Anyways back to the reviews.

Day 2: I'm bored already but boredom is a crime.

So I went through and rated/commented on the next two lowest-rated storygames on the site and here's a brief summary of my thoughts. I thought why I left you was going to be like the first one I read gay and depressed but this one made me sad and I didn't like that. Stories are allowed to be sad but in this context, it was just not for me.  Also, it didn't have a lot of branching either which was another point against it. I don't really have much else to say since all the other points I could make have already been made by other authors on the site. (3/8)

Evento de Valentine's day. This was a Harry Potter fan fiction written in Spanish and that's about all you need to know about this story.  I, unfortunately, didn't get the full ending because the items didn't seem to work no matter which page I tried them on.  You're just a student wandering around the school and you bump into Hagrid and that's kinda it the story just abruptly ends. I don't really like Harry Potter but I'm sure there are other people who do this just wasn't for me because it was hard to follow and seemed more like a children's story. (3/8)

Through the Passages of Madness

2 years ago

I think the "Why I left you" author had an ongoing conversation with Briar/Avery briely before she just disappeared. Didn't even realize it was a lesbian relationship until Briar told me that the author was female.

However, my comment was too funny to change at that point, so I just left it.

Through the Passages of Madness

2 years ago

Oh yeah, I remember that. For some reason I went full blown serious Briar on her and flat out told her that she was a terrible friend who made really shitty life choices... Not quite sure where that came from. My response to a game like that would usually be, "Lol".

Looking back though, the logic was particularly fucking stupid. I believe the game went something along the lines of:

Your girlfriend is a cunt. She tells you that she wants you to cut all your friends out of your life and spend all your time with her. You want to break up with her but she says that if you leave, she'll kill herself. What do you do?

A: Run for the fucking hills

B: Stay and be miserable for the rest of your life

From what I remember it essentially gives you the exact same choice three times. If you leave your girlfriend the first two times then she kills herself and you are a terrible person because your girlfriend committed suicide because of you. But, for some reason, if you break up with her the third time then it's the right thing to do and she doesn't kill herself... Because... ?

Through the Passages of Madness

2 years ago

Day 3: There's gotta be something good in this wasteland.

Alright, another review of 2 stories here we go.

The Death of Michael Walker was the first one I read among these that actually had some good potential. It was a classic mystery that just needed to have some more aspects added in like the gathering of evidence and clues as well as a buildup to the murder itself.  Maybe some more background on our investigator giving them a distinctly unique personality would be helpful. It was nice to read something well written. (3.5/8) 

Mutt's Purpose was about as entertaining as watching real dogs mate. By that mean you want to look away immediately because it's gross. Anyways the writing was underdeveloped since the dog goes insane and dies if it doesn't fulfill its purpose almost like the author couldn't think of an alternate path so we're railroaded into this forced happiness with another dog and mate and get a wolfpack. 

The other alternative is oh you find people and have a happy family. Honestly,  when the option road=people popped up I thought the dog was going to get run over on the next page but nope, the family picks up off the road even though it could have rabies. Anyhow, I liked the mystery more maybe I'm biased since I like mystery stories better but dog stories can have a convincing narrative too but this one was just poorly written even if the grammar was good. (3/8)

 

 

Through the Passages of Madness

2 years ago

Day 4: Revenge of the Fan Fiction.

Another day, another two stories. Let's do this.

     So The Maze Runner was probably the better of the two fan-fiction I read because it didn't have a silly narrative in my opinion. That being said neither of them managed to impress me all that much. What I enjoy when reading fan-fiction is when someone borrows from the source material but then takes it and makes it their own by adapting it to their unique writing style or focusing on a different aspect of the universe they are drawing from. The Maze Runner essentially copied the first book which is fine I suppose but is not going to get you a very high rating given its un-originality and lack of choices. (3/8) 

     The Star Wars fan fiction the Unwritten Jedi also had potential but it was low-rated for other reasons. The main one if I hazarded a guess was the pure silliness of it. A few choices later I all of a sudden am a Jedi or Sith? You gotta give time for a character to develop and grow their beliefs you can't solve a moral dilemma in a couple of pages of text. Other than that it was fine but needed more length just like the other story did. I'm finding that many of the low-rated stores on the site don't have much length to them which makes sense if you want to explore more in a CYOA style game which none of the stories I have reviewed so far have managed to do. (2.5/8)

Through the Passages of Madness

2 years ago
I have to take issue with part of your review.

There's no way anyone would bat an eye at "Gabri Joo' in a universe that wants you to accept that Jar Jar Binks, Kit Fisto, and Dooku (and many more like them) are all acceptable names to give your children.

Through the Passages of Madness

2 years ago

I'm recruiting you to review Doctor Who Fanfiction!... After you've had a break from the fanfiction you've just read. I think you'll find it's not quite as low-rated as some of the other things you're reading, but by god it deserves to be rated much lower than it is. I don't know how it maintains an almost-4 when there are zero branching paths. Frankly, I don't know how it's still published. But it's been rated 8 203 times, no doubt by randos who happen to be fans enough of Doctor Who that they're just taking whatever they can get, and we need people of reasonable point-counts out there shooting this thing down. More importantly, we need this thing destroyed before it gets to nigh-featureworthy numbers and starts competing with real stories based solely on the fact that nobody reads or maintains fan fiction.

Through the Passages of Madness

2 years ago

That's mainly the prequels' fault for all the goofy names, romance, and dialogue. "I don't like sand." That's really all I have to say in regard to that so back to the reviews!

Day 5? I'm not really counting but I think this is right.

I decided to go out of order briefly to review another Doctor Who Fanfiction which was appropriately named Doctor Who Fanfiction as requested. Honestly, this one wasn't as bad as Tick-Tock goes the clock or whatever it was named since I had a generally better sense of what was happening but the story suffered from a lot of the mistakes that will get you a low rating on this site. The length was short which is kind of a plus in this instance but anyhow there was zero branching. Another negative of the story was the loops back to the previous page if you died until you got the official ending which is another pitfall. Just make it an actual ending. It also failed to inform me of the world of Doctor Who since I haven't watched the show. If I can't read fan fiction without understanding what's going on I won't be as interested in reading it. (2/8)

I also reviewed a DND supplement bizarrely titled The Orb of Detroit. I don't understand why this story is on the site if it isn't even intended to be a story but a DND session if the DM wasn't present. It was filled with railroading and strange links like fine DM you win which I found amusing but it was frustrating enough that I messed up my comment at the end. It suffered as most low-rated story games do from a lack of branching as well as an improper ending that looped back to the previous page. It certainly had imagination even if the ideas themselves were rather goofy at least you tried to make it interesting. Still didn't help with the overall rating though. (2/8)

Through the Passages of Madness

2 years ago

Yeah, that one is probably about due to go.

Through the Passages of Madness

2 years ago

Day 6: *Windows Xp shutdown noises

Oh boy two more reviews already golly day!

I can't even remember the stupid titles for the games they were that boring so I had to go look them up again. What do you wish to remember was random as all get out and family impact on relationship conflict was boring as heck. Yes those were the actual titles.

What do you wish to remember was a train wreck when it came to plot. A lot of what happened was random on the main path and I sorta lost interest near the end. The grandpa path was silly since he spoke in all caps the whole time and it didn't add much to the story overall and neither did the kid path.
 

Another annoying thing I forgot to mention in my comment was the death pages had no links! And the pacing was off with the story like oh all of sudden girlfriend and you are abducted by lizard aliens with little to no explanation and the stupid story ends on a cliffhanger with no apparent sequel! This game just had no plot structure and couldn't decide what kind of story it wanted to be.

 

Family impact on relationship conflict was a research paper disguised as a CYOA game and thought the writing quality was fine it was terribly boring and not a fun read even if the concept and the research topic had potential. I haven't got much else to say about it since the only thing wrong was the lack of interest I received it with.

Through the Passages of Madness

2 years ago
These comments are nice. I'm going to run and go write a low rated game for you to review, just wait right here.

Through the Passages of Madness

2 years ago

Day 7: I don't have a creative title for this one.

So next two reviews done. Here's a general summary of them. The Animal is the most confusing story I've read this far. It would have made more sense if it was an Alice in wonderland pulp detective story but no it was one dimensional and a short boring mystery that was easy to solve. It lacked branching and plot depth. (2/8)

Blood and Time had an interesting story but I was lost in the details since I've never played dragon age before and the story didn't properly introduce the world and characters in an understanding way. Also there was a lack of branching which has been the recurring theme with a lot of these stories. If there had been better attention to detail and a longer narrative this story would probably have a higher rating. (3/8)

I think it's going to be a while before I reach some of the higher low rated ones so I might decide to go out of order occasionally so I don't get burned out on the especially low rated stories.

Through the Passages of Madness

2 years ago

Day 8: That feeling when you've hit the snooze button as many times as you can before you know you have to get up and go to work even though your bed is much warmer than the freezing cold air in your room.

You know the drill.

Friend zone was boring because it lacked character development and length/branching. There was also the fact that you have a bunch of blinking signs that say your relationship with Daniel is unhealthy and you need to bail. Honestly even though this game is about escaping the friend zone I looked for the endings that you escaped Daniel and his stupid crush on Mary your best friend he was smooching on. 
 

Tikal warrior could have been an interesting story had it been longer and not soured like reading a history textbook. Not a lot of people do history in the Mayans so this was a missed opportunity and the story definitely could have been longer. Other than that both stories were grammatically fine they just lacked interesting plot engagement, character development, length/branching, among other things that would have gotten a higher rating.

 

Anyways that's all I got for now, so see you until next time.

Through the Passages of Madness

2 years ago

Everyone take bets on which day Axxius finally goes completely insane.

Through the Passages of Madness

2 years ago

When Avery tried something similar, she made it through 135 stories, but I suppose the worst ones to read would be both bad and long. Not sure how many stories would fit that description though.

Through the Passages of Madness

2 years ago

Through the Passages of Madness

2 years ago

I'm not reading whatever that thing is until I finish the storygames rated below a four. Anime fan fiction is so cringy but at least it's not as bad as Harry Potter fan fiction.

Day 9: After reading some good fiction my mind is prepared to dive back into the pit of despair.

The only saving grace that these stories have is they are thankfully short sparing my mind the whiplash that reading something as repetitive as Beware/Escape the Grue or whatever it was called was. The story played out more like a game with you avoiding the Grue with no apparent escape since I couldn't find an ending where I didn't get eaten.

Also, it was just kind of random and short which isn't going to give it a particularly high rating. Also, this was fan fiction and I have never heard of a Grue before so I dunno what this is based on. This story just confused me. (2/8)

Die Untoten Kapitel 1 was a story written in German that I found interesting that could have expanded more but it started on a good concept. The zombie virus outbreak with you escaping was an interesting concept that just wasn't fleshed out enough to make it into an actual story and the foreign language it was written in also contributed to a low rating but I felt it was fine. (4/8)

 

Through the Passages of Madness

2 years ago

Day 10: I can't believe I'm only 20 stories in. Man, I have a ways to go.

So both of these stories were relatively short once again though I enjoyed one more than the other because it had items and a ten-year-old wrote it therefore I'm impressed they thought of that.

 

Raceia could have had more to the plot than there was about why the treasure was there and your character's motivations to get it but none of this was present. Therefore, the story felt more like a puzzle than actual fantasy. Also, there was pretty much only one good ending which was finding the treasure obviously and the others ended with somewhat amusing deaths though most of them were a variation of falling to your death. Other than that it was pretty entertaining though I wish it had been longer since it was genuinely interesting and I hope the author makes a sequel. :D (4/8)

 

Bounty Hunter was just kinda boring. I mean the description and the plot weren't there. The Ulga's were never explained. Your character is never fleshed out. It just had a few choices and then poof it was the end. Sure there were two branching paths but my only reward at the end is my boss pays me. Ok? Anything else? I found myself disappointed that a perfectly good idea for an adventure game such as this was wasted. Though I guess I shouldn't have been too surprised. (2.9/8)

 

Honestly, these stories are starting to get better. If they continue to steadily increase in quality I think I should manage to keep my wits about me. Though I guess I shouldn't be too confident I don't know what other stories lie ahead that could be equally as terrible as some of the ones I've read.

 

Through the Passages of Madness

2 years ago

If you guys haven't already, go rate Axxius' historical story. It's not even long and only needs two more to at least rank on the list.

https://chooseyourstory.com/story/the-christmas-crossing

Through the Passages of Madness

2 years ago
Only one comment on it so far too, that's a little sad. I really need to try and get to these contest stories in appreciation of the tiny handful of entrants who bothered to show up.

Through the Passages of Madness

2 years ago

Aha! You fools! You fell for my master plan and now I no longer have to review these terrible storygames. Shameless self promotion for the win!

But since I'm such a glutton for punishment I'm going to continue on with my quest to give each of these stories their due diligence even if the effort the authors put into them is minimal. It shall help me learn how not to write a low quality story as I continue down the path of mettle. 
 

Day 11: I don't think I've gone insane yet though if I were insane would I know it?


So two more storygames down for the count. We had the Dog Life story which was pretty much all about cute dogs which is the main thing it had going for it. If it had cute pictures to accompany the dogs then I would have been more gracious but since it's not very long and the plot is pretty one dimensional I was disappointed. 
 

Also the whole dog perspective is just kind of done a lot so if it had been a more interesting story with branching then just dogs being dogs it would have gotten a higher rating. (3/8)

 

Epic adventure of Epicness by cumminma was just random and dumb but slightly amusing now that I reflect on it. Honestly the title and username just sound like someone whose overcompensating for the lameness of their story and other things. I just didn't find a lot of the things in the story to be funny which I think was the authors attempts since the plot is vague and the branching is limited. 
 

In fact a lot of things were limited such as the choices and plot details and that's the main thing that drug down this games rating along with trying too hard to be funny. Other than that it was fine it was just rather boring to read through and rating probably would have been lower if it wasn't short. (3/8)

Through the Passages of Madness

2 years ago

Day 12: I actually enjoyed both stories for once.

Now don't get me wrong they weren't knock it our of the park storygames by any stretch of the imagination but the writing was good and both authors put a fair amount of effort into it. The main thing that was lacking from both of them was length and branching.

 

Flight of the boobook owl's author did some research on the owl itself before they wrote this which I thought was cool and deserved a higher rating as a result. I'm afraid the story can be a little dull at times since you are just trying to survive as an owl and the choices aren't really hinted at. I do appreciate the effort the author put into this and I liked the story overall as a whole. (4/8)

 

Insane asylum 2 had better dialogue than the first one I reviewed but it lacked different endings. I felt like the limitation of choices I had hammered my overall experience even though I licked the concept and the characters. It mainly just needed some work on offering more choices and provinding more character development I felt like the ending was rushed and I wanted to enjoy more escaping the asylum antics. (3/8)

Through the Passages of Madness

2 years ago

Day 13: So it snowed today here in the south so naturally  of course some idiots started driving snowmobiles down the highway and ran a Toyota Prius off the road while I was driving today. I couldn't decide who was dumber for driving in the slick snow on the highway but it was pretty funny to watch.

Anyways onto the reviews.

The Life story number one: preschool was a nice little game about a kid going to preschool and I liked the writing and story. It just needed more branching and length. I feel like a broken record every time I say that but it's like the main thing that will get most of these authors a higher rating on the site. That and good quality writing but the quality of Thai story was surprisingly good and I feel it deserves to be rated higher.

 

The other story I reviewed on the other hand does not deserve to be rated where it is and should be rated lower for me having to read it. The have nothing left to say after reading the matching chapter one because I don't want to give this story any more recognition than it deserves so I'll let my comment on it just speak for itself.

 

Ok first off I know you don’t own shadowhunters or whatever cringe fan fiction this is based on. Second I hope to god you don’t own me that’s illegal like this story should be. 

I’ve never watched the shadowhunters show and was not properly introduced to this random ending. I did not like the brevity of it nor did I like the change of character POV from your character to jace in such a short span. 

That might work in an actual novel but this a freaking short storygame and it looks badly done. Also a lot of your dialogue was just describing what was happening don’t show me tell me what’s happening from the character’s perspective! This is ridiculous! 

Also why am I invested in your nickname? Just say you is it that hard?!? Don’t put your nickname for the freaking character you play as. Who is jace? Why should I care that he banged you then left and now your character is sad? 

What is the main threat? There is no conflict, no heroes journey, and no nothing. Just some cringe romances that haven’t had time to properly develop. If you have a romance fan fiction go submit it somewhere else! 

Don’t try to sell me on the idea that this is an actual story. It needs work and there are some many gaps in logic and I have to look up crap from the show to find out why I should care about this terrible fan fiction. 

Why is this rated above a 3? I have no love for this terrible, terrible story with little branching plot and no general coherency included born out of some cringe tumblr post. 1/8 send it forth into the flaming abyss.

 

 

Through the Passages of Madness

2 years ago
"I couldn't decide who was dumber for driving in the slick snow on the highway"
kek

Through the Passages of Madness

2 years ago
Redneck Retards on Snowmobiles would be a much more interesting basis for a storygame than anything you've suffered through so far. If things get too dire you can always abandon this masochistic quest and write it.

Through the Passages of Madness

2 years ago

Day 14: Quick! Someone change the name of this thread to something funny before I go insane! Humor is the only thing keeping the voices out!

Alright two more reviews let's do it yay. I'm not happy the yay was meant to be sarcastic.

Algebra game was an algebra quiz that was rather boring but also accomplished the goal the author set out to do so there's really nothing else left for me to say about the game other than it was fine. (3/8)

 

Betrayer was ok I suppose. The whole addiction as a relationship thing has potential but naturally the author slipped into the pitfalls that most of these low rated storygames fall into which is that it lacked branching and length. If you want a compelling plot make it worth my read it's not that hard. Also if your game is going to be a metaphor don't foreshadow it on the explanation page just do it. Also the stories where it's all a dream or all a metaphor only really works if you are a skilled writer or if the story is a poem. Otherwise it can be annoying to readers if you try something like that and don't execute it well. (3/8)

 

 

Through the Passages of Madness

2 years ago
The number of people who are decentish writers but can't bring themselves to dedicate more than 4 hours total to this whole 'branching' idea once they start it is indeed regrettable.

One factor in the very old games is that they're used to be only a 90 minute wait between creating and publishing new games rather than the mandatory 48 hours there is now. Which at least means the volume of decidedly meh tier stuff has been cut down a lot, thankfully for you. Lots of noobs get bored and wander off in that time rather than inflicting their 2000 word maximum effort on us.

Through the Passages of Madness

2 years ago

Day 15: I think I'm going to take a little break. No I haven't gone insane. I merely want to focus on some other things for a few days before hopping back on the dumpster wagon

Anyways on to the reviews.

So the first one Crazy Kidnapper, just seemed like a horribly botched PSA for kids to hey use common sense! Don't eat raw eggs and don't make faces at creepy guys with bad dental hygiene. Once again not a lot of length or freaking branching and both of these stories were attempting humor and backfired. You can't make kidnapping a funny concept. Just accept it. This story only had two good endings where you survive otherwise you die. This one at least the author was receptive to reader feedback and edited it at certain points. 

 

My main issue with Crazy Kidnapper was there just wasn't much of a story it kind of felt like random chance from what each ending got me. A storygame where your choices matter I mean it's literally on the website cover is what gets a higher rating. Choices that are random outcomes like oh you died from running or eating raw eggs is not good writing I'm sorry. I certainly hope you can learn to improve upon this since it was more recent. (3/8)

 

A Man to the Slaughter was just the most random story I've read yet. Why? Why make my items useless and make me die to cows in every outcome except the one where I team up with them? It ruins the experience because from the first page we are told the cows are the enemies since they wield a bunch of axes and start murdering and eating people. Why? Just freaking make sense. It's not hard. 

 

The problem with this story is it's not fun and the author's lack effort was obvious in parts. The stupid kill yourself options should not have been there. If I want to quit your dumb game then I'll leave without your assistance. There's not much point to this game. The plot was random and there was not branching or helpful items in the slightest.

 

A lot of the stories questions are unanswered like why are cows eating people? Why does the FBI suck at killing cows? I mean I know the FBI sucks at cover-ups but come one what are a few herbivores going to do to them? This game is not funny it's infuriating and not clever in the slightest. This is the perfect example of an idea being horribly executed and the result is a goopy game that does not hold up to stuff. 

 

Like I said in my comment original does not equal good. You can have the most original creative idea ever and it can still end up being total garbage. Originality doesn't make a good story. It is the skill of the writer that makes a story good. You could write about the most unoriginal thing like a zombie outbreak and if the writer made a compelling narrative it would still be better than the cows getting revenge on humans story that this was.   (2/8)

Through the Passages of Madness

2 years ago
>>>Just freaking make sense. It's not hard.

This is the one bit of advice so many of these authors needed.

Through the Passages of Madness

2 years ago
Axxius, out of all the games you've played so far, which do you hate the most?

Through the Passages of Madness

2 years ago

Day 16? Whose even counting at this point. 
 

The matching chapter one is the worst fanfic I've read thus far, but I think a man to the slaughter and cougar crossing: imminent threat are tied for the dumbest stories I've read because they're just broken and completely random as well as unfinished in some parts. 
 

I've been reviewing low rated games behind the scenes still I just haven't updated my progress yet. I'll probably do a larger one sooner than later. It's just tedious to read, review, comment, repeat, then post my thoughts here on top of wanting to write more.

 

I've read mostly some lolrandom stories as well as some slightly cringe horror stories, but they haven't all been utterly terrible thankfully.

Through the Passages of Madness

2 years ago
@Yummyfood

I wish you well on your own journey to madness and despair. You should make a thread just like this one to chronicle it imo.

Through the Passages of Madness

one year ago

Day 17: Update, yeah it's been a while.

Hey here for a quick update! So I am still reviewing the lowest-rated storygames on the site behind the scenes. I still am intent on my goal of reviewing every storygame below a 4. I think instead of writing down my thoughts on an overly long explanation I'm going to just link the games I reviewed so if anyone wants to see my comments they can. The reason I posted an update is that I found this scripting nightmare full of broken links. The author even admits the story is unfinished so I don't know why they would publish it if it's still full of mistakes. The story Survive as a leader probably needs to be unpublished if any admin gets bored and/or motivated enough to do it. Anyway, that's about it. Until next time!

 

Through the Passages of Madness

one year ago

Threads like these have sort of replaced the "Draw my attention" threads as far as bringing certain stories to the attention of needing unpublishing.

Through the Passages of Madness

one year ago

Phoenician trade game

Well, speaking of games that need to be unpublished, I found out that all end game links were removed in the game by its author, making it impossible to ever complete it. 

Through the Passages of Madness

one year ago

That can't be right. If that was the case, nobody would be able to leave comments on it and that story for some weird reason is constantly getting a bunch of comments on it.

And the author hasn't logged in since 2015 to alter anything.

EDIT: First time I actually ever went through the game and it's annoying as shit to have constant looping.

It must have an actual ending somewhere since like I said, otherwise people wouldn't have been able to rate it or comment. But honestly between the looping and ongoing retarded comment spam on it, I'm good with unpublishing it.

Through the Passages of Madness

one year ago

Day 18: I'm only counting days I post here so though there is a time gap I'm just picking up where I left off.

Quite a few random stories that attempt humor in the low rated category with varying degrees of success.

Here are some examples I have ran across:

Dave’s Big Dickin’ it Adventure

Escape the Torture Mansion

 

 

 

Through the Passages of Madness

one year ago

Day 19: Another day, another low-rated story game.

So I found this one which was kind of boring but amusing if you are a kid I suppose.

You are a Fish

I also found this one which I felt was underrated despite its minor mistakes you're welcome to check it out yourself:

Zeta 311

     So when I initially started this adventure I thought it would be easy because I figured there was no way a story game with any significant length put into it could possibly be rated below a 4. I was wrong, and now I'm putting off reading and reviewing it until I have finished rating and reviewing all the story games rated below it. I just looked ahead and unfortunately, there are multiple long story games rated below a 4 and by that, I mean stories with 5/8 length and more. Hopefully, some of these are fun reads that just deserve more ratings but I have little hope for the ones in the fanfiction and fantasy categories.

Through the Passages of Madness

one year ago

Day 20: aw yeah we're past the teenage years.

Found some old relics that may or may not be worth checking out depending on your preference of number of pop culture references in a story or how happy of a person are you and whether you feel like exploring that.

Jump for Joy

and

Positive or negative.

Through the Passages of Madness

one year ago

Day 21: I don't have a creative title for this one.

I found some edutainment games with interesting facts that were honestly king of boring to read through. I think unless you have a very specific interest in subjects that stories like these are talking about it's hard to enjoy it too much.

Extinction of the Neanderthals  about big dumb cavemen.

The Forest Manager the title speaks for itself.

I've been trying to rate all the new games that have been published recently but I've been pretty busy lately with other things. There's quite a lot of skilled writers with potential on this site and the more I review these low rated stories the more I appreciate them.

Through the Passages of Madness

one year ago

Day 22: Revenge of the fanfiction

Hoo boy! This was long and repetitive but I finally reviewed it. Had this game been a short story more so than a fully fleshed-out version of the original I think it would've been digestible more cause yikes. It had some redeeming qualities but it needs a good bit of work. 

 Life is Strange: Blood Oath

EDIT: Even though that's a core game mechanic of life is strange since the game is about time loops, I fully agree with you that in a reading format it's very annoying. 

Through the Passages of Madness

one year ago

Day 23: Cursed story games. 

It's interesting the lore you'll find on these story games just by looking at people's profiles that created or commented on the stories themselves. In this particular instance, I don't think it was a good thing. I did, however, find a passionately worded admin penalty and profile on one of the characters from the Bad Mods season after reading the sacred texts of Cystia which I had a good laugh over.

Anyway here are the cursed stories I reviewed. Personally wouldn't be sad to see either of these go.

Psychopathic Circus

Basic History/Geography Quiz

 

Through the Passages of Madness

one year ago

Day 24: The groaning caverns of madness beckon me along upward and downward. I don't even know which direction I'm going anymore I just know I have to keep going forward.

Anyways! You'd think these stories would have more branching but Nah. 

Though I will admit this first story was more amusing than the second probably because it was more game than story and it made up for the plot gaps. Rise of Vollund II. A short dungeon crawl that may or may not bore you.

This second one however is pret. You better hide... Don't let the overly dramatic title fool you, the only thing more disappointing than reading this story is that the author who wrote it somehow has more points than I do. 

Well, that's it for now until next time!

 

Through the Passages of Madness

one year ago

Day 25: Don't be Dragon me down.

Ok so I read all the dragon stories I heard were bad and reviewed them. Let me know if I missed any of them. The third one wasn't too bad all things considered.

Dragon Tale

A Dragon’s Legend

Through The Dragon Lair

Through the Passages of Madness

one year ago

*sheds tear*, I have at last found a comrade in arms. Screw dragons and shitty dragon befriending stories.

Through the Passages of Madness

one year ago

Lol Thanks, Darius.

Through the Passages of Madness

one year ago

Day 26: Ye Olde Relics found here.

So, I found a really old story probably one of the oldest on the site. To give you context this story was ranked #35 in 2001, so it shows you how much has changed if this story was ranked that high way back when. They probably had only 100 stories at most back then. I don't know for certain I'd have to consult the historical archives. Anyways here it is!

Lost Keys

This second one caught my attention because it's a fan-fiction of Orwell's 1984. I read Animal Farm by Orwell but only because I was required by my school to read it and I watched a brief synopsis of the plot so I have a vague idea of what it's about. Personally, I've been mulling over ideas of writing a Fahrenheit 451 fan-fiction since I read that story and thoroughly enjoyed it, but that's probably not in the near future.

1984: Cog In The Machine

Through the Passages of Madness

one year ago

Day 27: Struggles With Finishing

"Yikes. I have 2 stories rated below a 4." 325boy.

Well, time to review these stories. Ok, I'm going to level with you, 6 Door Puzzle, was not that bad. Sure it was a little more challenging than I anticipated, but I got through it and it's fine. However, This GAME, Welcome to Puzzle Land, This game broke me, @325boy EXPLAIN. I'm not reviewing this or progressing any further on my trek through madness until I beat this game. I refuse to quit until I finish Puzzle Land regardless of how difficult it is to navigate. I DARE anyone who sees this to even try to beat this puzzle in an hour because I am struggling. I'll update this post if I actually to beat it, but that probably won't be anytime soon because this is the most difficult puzzle game I've played on the site thus far.

 

 

Through the Passages of Madness

one year ago
I think I found a way to bypass most of the puzzles to reach an end game link. Or maybe I just abused admin powers to cheat one in, I can't remember. I gave it a pretty generous rating because it was a first game and had a truly impressive amount of effort put in, but....yeah, tons of puzzles divorced from a plot it a hard sell here.

IIRC I sent him a link to the ADRIFT text adventure maker, because with the map and all the interest in puzzles it seemed a more natural fit for what he was trying to do. 325boy is very shy though so I don't know if you'll get a response to this.

I liked his super hero story the most of everything he's done, it's still kinda rough but, just being able to finish without struggles is a good skill for anyone to have, and the actual techniques will only improve as he gets older I'm sure.

Through the Passages of Madness

one year ago

I was 12-13 years old when I wrote those 2 games and thought I was being so cool. My second game (ignore Mizal, Puzzle Land wasn't my first game) was supposed to be pretty hard, and I also messed up the scoring system. Sorry for making such a painful game, but if you can beat it, good on you!