The Last Stand of Cole Mercer

I still don't know much about the Wild West, but I definitely enjoyed this storygame. Okay, there were a lot of ways to die...actually, I think there was only one ending where everyone ended up living...but I actually feel that was fairly realistic. After all, Cole ended the original storygame getting shot in the chest...and him being affected by his wound while attempting to keep his branch of the Mercer Gang safe and alive made a lot of sense. Of course, I'm not sure why no one thought to at least try to check the wound, and bandage it again, when they tried fleeing and Cole ended up bleeding out...but then again, it kind of seemed like Cole was the only one with much of a brain cell out of that particular branch of the Mercer Gang.

In spite of this not being a genre I normally read, I did actually find myself quite drawn into this storygame and I kept on reading, wanting to find a way for all of the characters to survive...even though, after a few paths, I was getting really tired of Gat spitting every time he was addressed or had an opinion. Sorry, but the repetitiveness of his 'contributions' actually made things more boring than they could have been.

I really did like the reference to the Summer Reading Competition, although I had to read the page twice to realise exactly what I was 'seeing'. It was a nice visual for what is actually going on in the competition, especially now that it's reaching its end. And the whole scene actually added in a nice bit of tension-relieving, considering up until that point, I was trying to find a way to save this branch of the Mercer Gang.

I was a bit disappointed that some of the choices weren't really choices at all. For instance, Cole comes up with the idea of them hiding out in the attic and the basement and fighting back against the law...and yet, for some reason, this is the only time when everyone else refuses to follow his orders? It sort of felt like there was no point in having that be a choice if the others were just going to commit mutiny anyway.

I did like the fact that, even if I chose for Cole to stay hidden and effectively abandon his friends, he clearly felt guilty and was negatively impacted by doing so. The stakes in this storygame certainly felt higher than they were in the original Mercer Gang storygame, especially considering there were so many possible ways for this storygame to end badly. But I persevered, and eventually found the ending where everyone survives.

I guess that, if you enjoyed the original Mercer Gang, you'd probably enjoy this storygame that does expand upon the original plot and characters. I personally did manage to enjoy it, in spite of not finding the original Mercer Gang storygame all that engaging.

If you haven't read this storygame, I would recommend giving it a try. I found it quite an enjoyable, engaging read, in spite of the aforementioned issues I had.

I’ll be the first to admit… Mercer Gang was not a life changing story for me. Clearly it has a place on the site as a cult classic, adored by trillions of fans - but I am not one of them. Even though NeonCatYT seems like a genuine person, that doesn’t change the fact that the admin-ally acclaimed Mercer Gang was an okay story with horrendous grammar. BUT. All this was placed in doubt by one immutable truth.

I like Ogre.

And I like Ogre’s stories.

So despite my negative bias towards Mercer Gang, I attempted to go into this with a fully fair bias.
Oh boy was I not disappointed.

--Spoilers Past this Point--

Plot:
“Welcome back to the land of the living.” It’s such a cliche line, but such a powerful one as well. Used in a way like this, it invokes a feeling of familiarity and new beginnings.
I did notice a contradiction on the first page. It tells us that Cole wondered if ‘it was only a day ago,’ but later he asks for how long it’s been.
The story we are presented with is simple, the sheriff is coming to get us - what do we do? In fact, the final sentence of the first page is exactly that. It’s part of what makes this story intriguing, you wonder how Ogre will expand on this simple premise. Although the branching quickly fell into a pattern (two routes expand, one route ends) I found the premise to be well expanded on.
The plot isn’t overly emotional, nor is it heavy or with many meaningful messages. But it is a good story.

Characters:
Jim and Cole are both immediately characterized well. Jim’s way of speaking fits very well with the setting (and provides that he’s not got much to show in the brains department), and Cole is immediately shown to only worry about the Gang.
Jim is shown later to be just the most absolute fucking dumbass I’ve ever seen. But it works, so all is forgiven.

Grammar:
I must say, this entire time, I thought I was reading a proofread Mercer Gang. Ogre seems to have nailed the style of NeonCat whilst eradicating the spelling and punctuation mistakes made so frequently in the original.
The style of speaking, while very, very, very wrong in terms of grammar, fits. I felt I needed to bring this up just in case.

Enjoyment:
As stated in ‘Special Notes,’ (and about 50% of the remainder of my review) I found this game to be quite an enjoyable sit down. Please do read that for more details!

Special Notes:
It reminds me of those old CYOA books that were less than a hundred pages, with the random choices and pitfalls with any wrong move. It’s at this point where I notice something. I often find myself feeling a sort of nostalgia while reading the older, more established site members’ stories. Endmaster, Ogre, etc. Not to say these stories are basic, more that they feel like a rainy autumn with a cup of hot chocolate by the campfire, with a relative telling you stories. It seems to allow me to be more predisposed to enjoy these storygames, and I’ll be taking that into account in the future, and in this rating as well. I’ve decided to name this strange mental association ‘The Comfort Effect.’

Conclusion:
I had a lot of fun while playing this, and at the end of the day, that’s what this site is about. It’s a hobbyist site with more talented writers than I could count, and this story is proof of that. With the original Mercer Gang receiving its 32nd(?) republishing, and the publishing of Mercer Gang Returns, I have high hopes. Thank you for the story, Ogre. 8/8.

With a heavy heart I say; that was the end of this branch of the Mercer Gang.
(Mercer Gang!)

The day I made a CYS account, I stumbled upon quite a special little story that set the scene for the rest of my time on this site. I was lassoed into its world, found myself attached to its delightful cast, and moved to the point of incoherent sobbing and wailing so loud that my downstairs neighbor called the police to my apartment to make sure I wasn’t actively hurting myself.

That story was, of course, Mercer Gang.

Days turned to weeks as I awaited the highly-anticipated sequel, Mercer Gang Returns. Will Klay and the Mercers stay one step ahead of the law? Most importantly, will Cole survive his grave injuries? As weeks faded into months, I began to lose hope that I would ever find the answers to these burning questions.

Here came the first (but hopefully not the last) Mercer Gang fan spinoff, “The Last Stand of Cole Mercer.” One can only dream to match the literary standards that NeonCatYT set in their critically acclaimed CYS debut, but Mercer Gang content is Mercer Gang content, and I must oblige this young writer “Ogre11” in their attempt.

This fanfic switches the perspective of the Mercer Gang narrative to Cole Mercer, a prominent character in the original work that was (SPOILER) shot in the chest at the end of the story. As most of the gang embarks with Klay to chase a gold train in Colorado, some members stay behind with Cole as he recovers and plans his next move. As the law circles in on this branch of the Mercer Gang, Cole, the de-facto leader of the branch, must make crucial and at times dangerous decisions to ensure the gang members’ survival.

** CHARACTERS **
I expect a prospective Mercer Gang fanfic writer to have a powerful grasp on their source content. Thankfully, such is the case here. There aren’t any distasteful representations of the original characters, nor are there any cringeworthy self-inserts that taint the immaculate Mercer Gang universe. Tom nods and shrugs. Jim smiles and looks around. Gat spits on the ground.

Cole’s core character is true to the original work, and I think that the prose here works in the author’s favor to add some spice to the protagonist that even the original could take notes from.

** WRITING **
Now like I said before, we’re not expecting OG Mercer Gang levels of quality here, but surprisingly there is a great amount of effort in this story. I think the dialogue is the strongest suit — conversation flows and ebbs fluidly between characters, there’s some realistic-sounding filler sprinkled in, and it works so well for characterization. Ogre tried to encapsulate the essence of the speaking character with each tag of dialogue, slipping in their dialects and unique manners of speech. It makes the story feel all the more lively.

Unlike the original dark and gritty Western drama, there’s a more humorous flavor in this sequel. There were a few bits that made me laugh out loud (Cole saying “if’n we’s too smart ta think like thems, we needs one o’ thems to help us know what they’s thinking so we kin think like they think we’s thinkin’” honestly got me). There are some good-faith jabs at NeonCatYT’s magnum opus (like the ever-so-subtle exaggerations of the existing characters) that are quite funny. And hey, there’s even a fart or two thrown in. Something for the whole family!

Outside of speech and humor, the writing itself is direct and easy to follow. This is an action-packed piece, so most paragraphs are punchy and concise, which fits the theme.

This story takes place all in Cole and company’s temporary hideout and the areas surrounding it, in contrast to the original’s wider scope. Your goal is made clear from the very beginning — guide your branch of the gang out from in between a rock and a hard place as lawmen seek to deliver justice. There are many ways to fail in your attempt, but there are a few methods of success, some more heroic and some more cowardly. For the scope of the story, I think that there is an appropriate amount of branching with the available decisionmaking opportunities. In a sense, you are trying to “win.”

I think I did get the “true” ending the first time around, and as a Mercer Gang fan, I do wish this ending had more meat on its bones. I would have loved to see the author’s rendition of possibly reuniting with Klay and the other Mercers.

SPAG was excellent here. Some very minor spelling accidents (“started” when “stared” was necessary, etc.) but nothing noticeable or fundamentally wrong. You will be far too engrossed in the Mercer Gang universe to care anyway.

** RATING **
This may very well be one of the best, most true-to-source fan fictions I’ve ever had the pleasure of reading on this site. It’s also NeonCat approved so more points to you. I am so tempted to give it an 8/8 for that reason alone…

But 8/8s are reserved for the REAL Mercer Gang.

7/8.

Spoiler-free review

Excessive incompetence from characters is probably something I find most consistently annoying in stories. Which is why it’s all the more perplexing that while The Last Stand of Cole Mercer is full of stupid people doing stupid things I never really felt annoyed as they continued their grudge match with logic while slipping on every banana peel possible. In fact I’d go as far as saying that I had fun reading what is essentially a short meme fanfic to an even shorter meme game.

As it is a fanfic you might wonder if that makes reading the original Mercer Gang a necessity. I did, but honestly I don’t think it’s a hard requirement as everything you need to know is contained rather well in the opening or can be inferred from the setting. Using the perspective of Cole, a higher ranked member of a notorious Mercer Gang we’re thrust into what feels like what could be the final act of his story. Between a gunshot wound and the law slowly closing in on this branch of the Mercer Gang Cole has to navigate his way out of this particular predicament. It’s a fun premise that skips a lot of ultimately unnecessary buildup and gets right to the meat and potatoes.

And there is plenty of meat to the story. We get plenty of branches to explore, and while the individual endings don’t differ much from each other in their final destination, the path taken to reach that destination provides plenty of entertainment. Most of that amusement can be attributed to the characters, who are most certainly simple in the less flattering sense of the word, but their almost cartoony simplicity makes it easy to sit back and watch the hilarity unfold. And without a doubt this storygame is first and foremost a comedy, whether intentionally or not, with plenty of absurd exchanges, running gags (seriously, how much spit does one guy have), and even some not so subtle references.

Even so there is a surprising amount of care put into writing what in the end is just a 16,000 word long meme. Those simple characters are all distinct and developed enough for the sake of the story. Them being simpletons is actually a feature in this case as it fits into both the general setting and the specific story being told. The entire thing feels very aware of itself at all times while at the same time maintaining a certain level of focus on immersion through a specific approach to narration and period-correct-ish dialogue. In this aspect the game feels much fuller than the original, but that should be given considering it’s four times as long.

Funny enough I don’t have much to say about it in terms of negatives, which is admittedly not what I expected going into it after reading the original. At least not much that isn’t subjective like the fact all but one ending lead to the same result, or how predictable the story felt after being about halfway through completing it fully. Even those aren’t that big of an issue, but personally I felt like at that length the story could go in a few more varied directions.

Nonetheless The Last Stand of Cole Mercer is definitely worth reading for those who loved the original story, and even those who didn’t, but are in the mood for a somewhat non-serious story of less than competent outlaws will find some entertainment in it. It managed to both do justice to the meme of Mercer Gang, as well as tell a more developed story in between the jokes. Whether it will reach the same cult status as Mercer Gang did or not I cannot possibly know, but I can certainly recommend it for what it is.

Final Score: 6/8

It is always a pleasure to read Ogre’s stories and as I quite enjoyed Mercer Gang (which reminded me of my own western stories) I was looking forward to this sequel. The cover art and layout are great and the accents of the characters are well-portrayed in the dialogue, even though I fear Jim will never fulfil any ambitions he might nurture of becoming a grammarian. It’s great to know Jim didn’t even volunteer to help me, he’s off the Christmas card list now. With the posse I decided to take the approach that when we darn sure need to git gone we git gone while the gittin is good but that didn’t end so well so I changed tack and decided to hunker down.

Naturally quite a lot of the branches end quickly and violently and I needed to backtrack quite a lot to find a way not to get filled with more lead than a church roof on a pencil factory. The more I read the story the more I appreciated the atmosphere that the dialogue helped create (and couldn’t help thinking that perhaps I shouldn’t have written Jesse James with a British accent in an earlier story…). Ogre’s dialogue reminded me a little of the Mississippian accents Mark Twain gave his characters in Huckleberry Finn.

The Front Closet did not lead to Narnia but to a much more wonderful, magical place and I think the best thing Cole and Co could have done was gone in and joined it but hey ho, those trains aren’t going to rob themselves (though, as it turned out, they didn’t end up being robbed by us either). I was all good with losing Jim and by being hide and seek champion of the West I got the live coward ending, which I’m also all good with cause it’s every man for himself when the bullets start flying (as Billy the Kid once said, “I wasn’t the leader of any gang, I was for Billy all the time”).

I really enjoyed this story and it shows the strengths of having a story with multiple characters working as a team, each with their own personalities (and potentially skills) developed to a lesser or greater degree. I really commend Ogre for his ability to produce so many great stories with genuinely interesting and well-plotted branches CYOA fashion, something I struggle with. He invoked a very classical western / boys adventure atmosphere through his narrative and especially his dialogue. Minor SPAG errors aside (though I blame Jim for those) this is the kind of story where the only complaint you can make is to wish it were longer because I could sit and read these western adventure stories all day. I’ll happily give this an 8/8, though as an outlaw I’d have preferred more gunfights, robberies and general mayhem. 😊

I will be doing mercer gang 2 soon

I like Ogre

I love this story so much really awesome

Mercer Gang?

MERCER GANG!!!!!