Forums » Reading Corner » Read Thread

So, obviously we've all read a CYOA book at some point or another, otherwise none of use would be here. So, I'm here to ask a question: what's your favorite CYOA book/COG game/storygame on this site/some other thing that's related to CYOA?

For me, my favorite book is The Cave of Time. It was the first one I read (it was my dad's old copy, which was falling apart and missing a few pages) and I fell in love, even if I couldn't get a decent chunk of the endings. Even after reading a number of them, it still hasn't been topped. As for a COG game, my newest favorite is Community College Hero (if you like their Heroes Rise series, you'll love this one). And, the obvious winner for story on this site is Ground (MOTHAFUCKIN') Zero.

So yeah, those are my favorites. What are your's?

Never read a CYOA book.

Best storygame? Probably The Other World.

Favorite CoG? Mm. Choice of The Deathless, hands down. Affairs of the court was decent and Choice of the Dragon amused me, but I liked Deathless better as a world and concept. The characters were pretty cool, too, really. 

Favorite game here? I'm a little too split on that. I can probably give favorites for each category, though.

CYOA book... it's been ages, but the one I remember best had you as a spaceship captain. I just really liked the sci-fi ones as a kid, even though the horror I read is what inspired me to make my own.

I've said this a couple times before, but my absolute favorite, as far as classic CYOAs go is the Fabled Lands series. It's basically an open world, each book covers a different region and your character can travel between them at will. I'm not aware of any similar series, but if anyone here knows of one please let me know.

Most of the FL series can be gotten for free, here: http://flapp.sourceforge.net/. (the authors are aware of this and cool with it, just fyi) For a long time that was the only way to play and in some ways superior to the impossible-to-get-ahold-of books since it tracked money and inventory and all that for you. The Fabled Lands series has started to be reprinted now and is available on Amazon though, which is awesome. I hope they continue it, and get around to releasing more than just the first one on the Kindle.

I remember being able to download the first two Fabled Land books (Double pack) for my iPad, but apparently they never made any more of them for it. But what I did get to play I enjoyed. Probably the closest thing to a Elder Scrolls “sandbox” style RPG in book format.

I can’t say I really have a favorite CYOA book, so much as I had series I preferred.

The main two I played that used dice and stats were the Fighting Fantasy books and the Lone Wolf series.

The Lone Wolf series I sort of abandoned around book 8 though. I ended up encountering some major book errors and it messed up the entire adventure. I tried going back to the series years later when I discovered Project Aon. I think I got slightly further (Book 9 or 10) and then I abandoned it again. It’s a good series, but for some reason I lose interest at a certain point.

I was more into the FF series anyway. Unfortunately they only ever made 21 FF books (And the 4 part Sorcery! series) originally here in the US.  For a long time I looked for 22, but eventually gave up thinking they were done with the series.

Little did I know years later while browsing on the internet that they had made 59 of the damn things! (All those adventures missed!)

Though I’ve gone back and replayed some of these on my iPad, but I sort of feel like the “Gamebook Adventures” series by Tinman games does the FF style a lot better nowadays. If you’re not familiar with them, I highly recommend checking them out (They’re also the company that republished some of the original FF books)

http://gamebookadventures.com/

The lesser known Golden Dragon Fantasy books would probably be up there too if they had made more of them. Just six books, but I think they were one of the better FF competitors at the time.

I had some other series too, but those would be the top 3.

Be an Interplanetary Spy books were probably my favorite “pure choice” series. These were fully illustrated and you had to solve puzzles and you got a choice of which solution was correct. If you chose wrong you nearly always got a gruesome death.

Oddly, never was really into the original Choose Your Own Adventure books. Though I noticed that the reissues have really toned down some of the original content and death scenes, because I know some of those could get really grim dark.

See for yourself here:

http://youchosewrong.tumblr.com/archive

The fucked up death scenes were the best part :(

Anything by Steve Jackson. Could never get my hands on the Socery series, but luckily I downloaded the inkle appstore versions of Sorcery 1, and 2. I'm currently saving up itunes money for "The Seven Serpants" (3).

As for my favourite COG game, I'd say "Diabolical" was the most entertaining for me. Absolutely loved every bit of that story.

I've had more fun with some of the hosted CoG games than the official ones. Sabres of Infinity and the sequel, Guns of Infinity are far and away my favorites so far. I am very much in love with the more realistic, historical...ish take on a fantasy setting, and all the strategy involved in the battles.

(for those of you too lazy to click)