Player Comments on Lasso of Time

I really enjoyed Lasso of Time! If the 4 giant stories weren’t there, I’m sure that this story, along with the Laconia Incident, would easily take first place in the contest.

From start to finish, this was a masterful use of the CYS editor, to tell an interesting if offbeat story about a girl in the Wild West slowly starting to go mad over being trapped in a time loop.

I’ve always enjoyed time loop movies, from Groundhog Day to Edge of Tomorrow. Somehow, each new time loop movie manages to do something new and interesting with the genre that always keeps my interest. Despite “living the same day over and over” being a staple to the point where the audience, along with the protagonist, also starts to get tired of the same events happening over and over, seeing the main character slowly descend into madness is a huge stylistic treat of this style of movie.

The first paragraph does a wonderful job of setting the tired and jaded mood that the protagonist is feeling as she’s forced to relive the same scenario of meeting her fiancé, Freddy.

I like how Orange starts from the middle. Many time loop stories start from the very beginning, then show us the transition, and the fallout from the timeloop. But Orange jumps right into the timeloop, likely because she knows her audience is familiar with the trope and doesn’t need to be handheld throughout the story.

I love the characterization of Georgiana. Her strong narrative voice and inner cynicism shine throughout the story. I think Orange put a lot of thought into designing her character, because for the situation she’s in, her reactions/mood towards everything feel quite realistic. The character really resonated with me, and I felt her frustration and boredom with everything around her. Orange did a great job of capturing her ennui, and I loved the way she stirs up drama in an effort to make the thousandth time through the same loop more interesting. We get small glimpses of the kindhearted innocent naive girl that Georgiana was before all of this, and it was interesting to see how living 100 years changed her outlook on things. Things that would rattle her, like committing murder or homosexuality don’t faze her in the slightest, and I loved that ageless quality she has.

She also starts to feel suicidal and feel like life is meaningless, with a few of the main endings even ending in Georgie killing herself. I thought that was dark but true to the character, since she had effectively been driven mad by being forced to relive the same month thousands and thousands of times again. I feel like many time loop stories don’t touch on this aspect, and instead close with the main character’s life going back to normal, so I thought this was a particularly good, if morbid, bit of characterization.

The word choice/method of depicting the setting also helps to contribute to the overall feel that Orange is trying to convey. From the way she describes the train “lazily” arriving into the station, to the manner in which she characterizes the overall town/inhabitants, it is clear that Orange has a really good handle on

There’s definitely something entertaining about breaking social norms and social conventions by saying and doing the most outlandish things. I love the prudish niceties that Orange sets up in this small Western town, everyone around her feels so uniform and proper, performing their roles in society and filling their niche, that the contrast of Georgie’s behavior shines. We saw this before in “Re-election Campaign”, and I love this element of Orange’s stories. There’s something interesting about playing a character who acts/pretends to conform to societal standards, which slowly leads to a buildup of a massive fallout as they break the societal norms in one fell swoop. I haven’t seen many authors tackle stories like these, and somehow, this element of comedy reminds me of Oscar Wilde’s works, particularly those that lampoon and poke fun at Victorian standards. Particularly, there was this Oscar Wilde There is an element of social satire that is a delight to play through. There’s also an element of subverting gender expectations. Somehow, I feel like Orange is sort of hinting at the absurdity of outdated gender norms in this work, particularly with the contrast of Georgie’s actions with how everyone perceives her outward image.

The structure of the CYOA allowed for some really wide branching. Although Lasso of Time is a size 6 story, the branching was wide rather deep, so it was easy to play through one set of choices and then come back after the loop and still be interested for more. Although we were only playin through a few days, with the rest of the month being time-skipped to keep the storytelling short and snappy, the story still manages to be captivating because of how the story changes so dramatically each time.

There is also an element of cohesiveness and foreshadowing that ties all the branches together, so at the end once we reach all 4 endings and know the full story, all the branches come together quite nicely. This is a story that benefits from multiple read throughs. I also think Orange did a phenomenal job utilizing the restrictive links to give the readers a sense of completion, as for novice CYOA readers, they may find themselves getting lost in the maze of the different branches so it helps for them to track the stories they’ve already read. And it helps funnel them to the true end quickly.

I thought the mechanism behind the time loop was well thought out and I could understand and appreciate Hale’s motives, so in that manner, he was a fantastic villain. In some of the other branches leading up to the true end, we see Hale acting suspiciously and fiddling with a pocket watch, so all those little clues and bits of foreshadowing build up to the ultimate reveal quite nicely, proving that this wasn’t a twist merely thrown in for shock value, but rather an appropriate culmination of the story beats.

In conclusion, I really loved this story! “Lasso of Time” functions as a great mystery story and a wonderful time loop tale. I felt like the clues were sprinkled int throughout the story and the mystery was really intriguing. I also feel like there is a high degree of player control as we are taken through a delightful series of twists and turns. It was truly charming to play this game, and overall, I give it a ⅞. Well done Orange!

*Some spoilers*

Due to my choices, I only looped once before ultimately landing on the “good ending.” The story for that play through was very quick and uneventful. Georgiana runs away from her potential marriage to Freddy, her sister, Daisy Mae, does not die like she did in the one loop, and she has a great life with Timothy Hale. Plus, the bonus of her time loop being broken. There was little to no details about our characters and the setting of this story game, which made for a very bland storygame. More details would have helped spice up the story, as well as added length to create a true 6/8 play length, whereas my first play through would be more of a 2/8 length. I just don’t think the overall picture was painted, which was a major killer for me and ultimately led to my initial low rating of a 3/8.

My second play through, I deliberately made different choices to hopefully get a new ending. I chose to run away and catch a train without the help of a random male bystander, where I ultimately chose to try to be a hero when my train car was robbed and I ended up with a bullet to the head. Death and a loop later, I ended up once again, denying Freddy’s proposal and then contemplating suicide. With a successful suicide (or two) and three more loops later, I finally reached an ending where we find out that Timothy Hale has been the one keeping Georgiana stuck in this time loop and why. Finally, the true ending! The only explanation given as to why was became he loved her- which ultimately, did not answer anything at all. Many questions arose, and the true ending did not give any answers. How did Timothy Hale acquire the magical, time changing pocket watch? Why does said pocket watch possess the power to manipulate time? All things that could have been elaborated on but unfortunately were not.

With a play length of 6/8, I expected it to be longer for all the choices, and not just keep making readers loop back over and over again. By the time I had reached the second loop on my second play through, I personally felt the overwhelming annoyance that Georgiana felt of repeating the same month repeatedly. I also was hoping that by the storygame description, that the storygame itself would be more, well...descriptive. There was little to no details about our characters and the setting of this story game, which made for a very bland storygame, no matter how many times you play through it. I also feel like the time period was blurred a bit. The language the characters used to speak made for more of a “wild, wild west” setting, but the reference to the movie line spoken by William Wallace in “Braveheart” threw us forward in time given that the line used was strictly a movie line and not one of any factual or historical merit. More details would have helped spice up the story, as well as added length to create a true 6/8 play length overall. A few grammar mistakes here and there, “Well that only apples to-” being one, but nothing too extreme or distracting. Overall, just a very bland storygame. The concept was good, but I don’t personally feel like it was elaborated on enough to make it worth wild. After the second play through was taken into consideration, I settled on a 5/8 rating, because like the rating says, it’s “not the best, certainly not the worst.”

Well...I think I reached all four of the endings. I definitely know I reached four of them. But I really couldn't say which one was the true ending, so maybe I did miss it in the end?

Groundhog Day style stories aren't necessarily uncommon, but the idea of someone living through the same thirty days over and over again is interesting enough to be more of a unique twist on the old cliche.

I liked the fact that the storygame begins so far into the cycle. I could really feel the exhaustion and the numbness that seemed to just permeate every part of Georgiana as the loop just seemed to go on and on. By the time I reached the fourth ending (not counting the many loop endings I reached), I was feeling at least a bit of what Georgiana had to be thinking, experiencing the same thirty days over and over again.

At first, I tried to play the game as a normal person and learn what I could that way, but after the multiple playthroughs...the repetitiveness of the same day being repeated over and over again...I didn't really care so much anymore. I found myself not caring about Georgiana's sister, or about Hale...and I felt a bit sorry for Freddy to begin with, but sadly, by the time I reached the fourth ending, he was irritating me almost as much as he had to be Georgiana.

I don't think I found the true ending, or even who was responsible for the loop...although there was at least one ending where it felt like maybe Hale was behind it, given he was fiddling with a watch right at one of the endings where Georgiana was being hanged. But if there was any full explanation, I must have missed it.

I was a bit disappointed that there was no ending where Georgiana could live happily with Clyde, although the more I explored of the running away plotline, the less I liked Clyde and his fellows, especially after one of them killed the boy Georgiana met on the train.

I do wish I could have found the true ending of this storygame, but I did really enjoy reading this through. While it did get a bit repetitive after a while, I liked being able to learn more of the characters and their history as the storygame went on...and it was also a lot of fun to be able to do things like start biting people. I didn't like the paths that had Georgiana murdering her family, but I could understand how she could reach a point where she simply didn't care anymore...especially knowing they would come back to life when the loop started again.

Anyway, this was a great piece of writing and an enjoyable read, with enough involved to keep me exploring each of the different plotlines there were. I definitely recommend this!

Lasso of Time was on my reading list for a hot minute, and the Review Club assignment paired with a free evening was enough motivation to finally check it out. I am *very* happy that I did.

I absolutely adored this story. Georgiana is such a powerful, funny, and relatable narrator, and I just couldn't help but enjoy going crazy alongside her in this absolutely batshit time prison she's stuck in. Shit, I'd also be biting people and committing arson and running away with rich sugar daddies if I were in her shoes. Yeah, it gets maddening over time since it feels like your choices just keep circling around repetitively, but that's the point. How do you think Georgiana feels when she's 19 going on 1,020??? Regardless, the author handles this system in a way that doesn't feel draining or annoying, which is what I was most worried about coming into the story.

Though the length is a 6/8, it feels much, much longer when you're looping between the same (or similar) pages that are manipulated by a generous amount of variables keeping the system in place. I think the time loop mechanics were extremely well done - the story "crosses off" scenarios you've already explored, adds more options back into the choice list when other scenarios are visited, and manipulates the text on pages you've already visited to show a completely different outcome based on your previous selection of scenarios.

The introductory page (which also acts as a sort of "hub" for choices since this is where the loop begins) is phenomenally written and immediately engrossed me into everything Lasso of Time had to offer. It was a fantastic storytelling decision to start us in the middle of the action, after Georgie has already pieced together this time loop thing and gone through it a few hundred or thousand times, rather than start it from the very beginning and flounder around for a while. By picking us off at this point in Georgie's plight, we're able to grasp the gravity of the situation so much better and feel so much more on Georgie's behalf. She's not panicked anymore, nor is she even the same person she was before she entered the time loop; she is SICK OF EVERYTHING. She's sick of this marriage proposal, she's sick of Freddy, she's sick of Tim Hale, she's sick of Daisy Mae, this town, their social laws and customs, EVERYTHING. No longer does she care about the social cues she was raised to adhere to, nor does she even particularly find her lover Freddy all that charming anymore. Now that she's seen it all a thousand or so times, she's utterly disillusioned by and numb to everything.

So what's her nihilistic solution to this monthly reset on her life? Just fuck around. Entertain herself. Stir the pot. Kiss Hale in front of Freddy right as he's about to propose. Frame Freddy and her brother as homosexual lovers. Run away with an outlaw band. What meaning does life have if it can't progress past a certain point?

The worldbuilding is excellent - I really love the prim and proper small town most of the action takes place in, what with its ultra-strict social dynamics and implicit laws, and the way that explicit gender roles dominate the culture. I recall in one path, Freddy and Georgiana elope immediately after the proposal and go back to Freddy's family, where Georgie tells them the news. Because it's Georgie saying it, the whole family is furious, with Freddy's father even calling her a jezebel and a seductress; but when Freddy announces it was HIS idea after all, they immediately cool down (to Georgie's displeasure, because remember, she WANTS these crazy conflicts to happen). The time loop is a prison in and of itself, sure, but it feels like this sort of environment that Georgie is in was also suffocating for her in a different way.

Timothy Hale was a great antagonist as well. While he doesn't want to hurt Georgie or bring any harm to her, his seed of conflict with Georgie is that he is depriving her of her ability to choose her own path. He's a creepy fella that is worried too much about his own fantasies to let Georgie live out her reality the way she wants to.

Also... Clyde. FUCK, those Clyde paths were so brutal. GEORGIE X CLYDE TRUTHERS RISE UP. *ahem* Anyways. As you can tell, it's not just Georgie that takes the show; I really love the way the author handles all of the characters. Each person has such a distinct voice and moral compass that sticks with them across all of the different paths and possibilities. Seeing them react to Georgie's different choices across each loop feels like I'm collecting pieces to their puzzles as characters, and it's so satisfying to glean more about this cast the more I play through.

The writing is extremely well done and is really, really funny. I mean there were multiple times I laughed out loud. Lasso of Time handles its action in a very exaggerated, almost cartoonish kind of way, which makes the tone feel very whimsical and unserious (pretty much how Georgie is feeling at this point). The bits go from dry quips to hilarious examples of situational irony to flat-out slapstick humor. Nothing ever feels like it falls flat or like it's losing my interest at all. It's just such a well-told story.

My only gripe with the story (if any) is that I wish I understood a bit more about how the pocket watch worked and why Timothy Hale, of all people, had access to it if he's a dirt-poor ranch hand. This is the only bit of fantasy incorporated into this otherwise pretty realistic (albeit humorous) work of historical fiction, and I really would've loved to see some kind of elaboration - if only passing hints throughout the story rather than being directly told point-blank.

The story doesn't have any super glaring issues in the SPAG department. There are occasional spelling mistakes but nothing worth mentioning outright. I did want to mention something regarding dialogue interjections, since I saw this come up a few times:

When writing a dialogue interjection, an em dash works better than using commas because it shows that there's an interruption to a person's flow of speech to do whatever is specified. So for example:

“Sure, Miss Georgie. I’ll bring your things to your,” he gives Freddy a once over, “husband’s house.”

is probably better as:

“Sure, Miss Georgie. I’ll bring your things to your”—he gives Freddy a once over—“husband’s house.”

It also flows better visually since it more clearly illustrates a break from speaking to the reader.

Aside from that, the only error I saw was that there's a page in the train path where a paragraph is repeated twice in a row ("Getting off the train a little early" page title).

I think this story is easily a must-read in the CYS catalogue, and it is an absolute shame that it has such few finishes at the time of writing this review. It's a relatively lengthy read despite what the CYS word count will tell you (especially if you're trying to reach all four endings in one fell swoop like I did), but it's so worth it in my opinion. It is incredibly well written and it seriously a funny story. Like, for me to laugh out loud instead of exhaling deeply? That's something, man.

8/8. READ IT!

I wish there was 5 endings: bad, good, neutral, true, and Clyde. Joining up with a robber crew for a final ending would be great.

I love this! Maybe I'm just dramatic but this is one of the best stories I've read on this site. I LOVE the story and time looping has always been a fascinating topic to me. This is an absolute masterpiece!

My class thought it was curious and funny.

This was my first IF in a very long while. I loved this piece and played every option. I love the historical setting (the narration style as well) and each of the characters, and the different bits of information revealed about each character on the different pathways. What a brilliant way to work in the nature of playing an IF into the story, with the timeloop and playing with different options, and the way that when you're replaying a game you've played before, you lose sympathy for the characters and perhaps even your sanity (start biting people lol). Even when I was early in the game, I enjoyed the allusions to the fact that Georgiana had been "playing" it for so much longer than I had. Watching plot points that were introduced early on begin to make more sense over time was a treat. Though I never figured out why Hale was hiding behind the church (I'm not sure if that is something we figure out; perhaps I missed it). Thank you for all the work you put into this piece.

Sighhhh. I wish there was an ending with Clyde.

i liked the loop where gina said "it's morbin' time!" and morbed all over the train robbers

Okay, thanks to RK I got the real ending. Very nice. Now I am complete.

This as amusing, and each "ending" had enough entertainment to keep me wondering what would happen with the next version of the loop. I went through a few endings, including the normal one and the good one. I kind of figure old Georgie would have been most happy with an ending with Clyde, but alas, that kind of love is never meant to last.

Also, this title: "My first kiss went a little like this."

Lol at some point you should probably tell everyone about that.


My only real complaint here is that I can imagine someone getting frustrated being stuck in the loops, feeling a bit too much like the protagonist. So maybe at some point you should build in an exit ramp in case someone is tired of it. Although I can't imagine why they would be. Who doesn't want to commit unspeakable actions knowing it won't matter in the morning, when time is reset?

Let me doff my 1800s cap to you, Orange. This was a lot of fun.

An excellent entry! The plot twist and reveal of the true cause of the time loop caught me by surprise. The story itself is very well-written.

I guess my only complaint is that I find it a little hard to relate to Georgina. I suppose that makes sense considering what she's been put through. But I still kind of wish that I could've met her before the loops began.

Overall, it was a great story. It's rare to get a satisfying explanation to time shenanigans in such stories so this was pretty refreshing.

I couldn't find the true end, sadly enough. I'm assuming in it she figures out it was Hale behind the loop.
I really enjoyed this, I have no problems with it. 8/8.

I did not expect the twist at the end.

I really loved this story! And I love stories where the core conceit is breaking out of a time loop, and this story did in quite an original and fascinating way.

I wish I could read this again, but have no memory of doing so the first time.

Wait. No....