Gamebooks (Choose Your Own Adventure Style)

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Choose Your Own Adventure Journey Under the Sea Alternate Endings Part 20


There's still at least one branch to go in the "extinct volcano Atlantis ruled by a king who may or may not be evil" timeline, so let's return to CHOICE #26 and rush to the Seeker.  The Atlantis greeter submarine is pursuing me, and I use "full emergency ascent power" on the Seeker.  Chances are there's no such feature:  it's probably what my character is thinking as they pull the joystick all the way back.  I refrain from using my laser cannon as my character seems to be a pacifist.  But perhaps I should have blasted them:  "You are suspended in the water in a helpless position.  An unknown force has disabled you".


CHOICE #32 is whether to ditch the Seeker and swim for it on Page 62, or wait on the Seeker and hope the Maray intervenes on Page 64.  The unknown force disables more than just vehicles. . .


"There is one way out.  You decide to leave the Seeker and try to reach the surface on your own.  You enter the airlock chamber which gives you access to the ocean.  With a quick push off, you leave the Seeker and swim toward the surface.  A small, yellow life rat is part of your escape equipment.  The surface of the sea is calm, but the Maray is nowhere in sight.


For two days and nights you drift in the life raft under hot sun and sharp starlight.  At last a search helicopter spots you.  Finally you are safe.  The exploration of Atlantis will have to depend on a new diver.  Your eyesight has been damaged by the strange force that immobilized the Seeker.  Your career as an underwater adventurer is over.  THE END".


What do you mean I can't do a Bird Box Challenge for Journey Under the Sea?  Since my character is permanently worse off than they were before the quest, it's a Bad Non-Death Ending.


Results So Far


11 Good Endings

2 Deaths

5 Bad Non-Death Endings

4 Neutral Endings

0 Inconclusive Endings

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Choose Your Own Adventure Journey Under the Sea Alternate Endings Part 21


There's no picture for the ending where my eyes are fried, but Montgomery and Sundaravej make up for it with an image of a blue whale ramming into the Seeker on Pages 64-65!  Apparently the "unknown force" has irritated the whale after CHOICE #32 and now the Seeker is totaled.  CHOICE #33 is has three options:  return to the "damaged eyesight" ending on Page 62, ride the whale on Page 83, or the funniest decision, "If you don't know what to do, turn to Page 86".


"You admit that you just don't know what to do.  The whale is scary looking and you don't have any escape plans.  So you wait and watch and listen.  After what seems like a long time, but is probably just a few minutes, the mysterious submarine returns, attaches a cable to the Seeker, and pulls you up to the surface.  The submarine vanishes under the waves, leaving you to wait for the Maray.  THE END".


Not only do I not know what to do, I also don't know if I survive this ending or not.  Notice how it never says that the Maray arrives, or shows a picture to indicate this.  We have our first Inconclusive Ending!


Results So Far


11 Good Endings

2 Deaths

5 Bad Non-Death Endings

4 Neutral Endings

1 Inconclusive Endings

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Choose Your Own Adventure Journey Under the Sea Alternate Endings Part 22


Riding the whale in CHOICE #33 is a happier ending than the other two, but is still Neutral since the player character hasn't accomplished anything on the quest.  In Journey Under the Sea, you're seeking out this adventure.  If I were reviewing a book like The Worst Day of Your Life or a Capstone Press "Can You Survive. . ." story, a Neutral Ending in another story would be a Good Ending there.


Strange how my vision isn't affected in the other CHOICE #33 paths despite the "unknown force" being present.


"People ride dolphins, and you have met scuba divers who reported they held onto the flukes of whales for short rides.  It sounds crazy, but this may be your only way of escape.  You leave the Seeker, swim to the whale, and grab its fluke.  With a smooth powerful movement, the giant mammal begins to swim to the surface.  You have trouble holding on.  The whale breaks the surface and lies there filling its lungs with air.  You quietly swim away.


You drift for two or three days, dozing and waking.  You stay warm in your insulated dive suit; its special air packs keep you afloat.  You are hungry and thirsty but unharmed by the time the search helicopter spots you bobbing in the waves.  THE END".


I appreciate the drawing of the blue whale rising to the surface. 


Results So Far


11 Good Endings

2 Deaths

5 Bad Non-Death Endings

5 Neutral Endings

1 Inconclusive Endings

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Choose Your Own Adventure Journey Under the Sea Alternate Endings Part 23


This must be the most unfair ending in the book.  CHOICE #25 offers no warning as to what will happen when you ignore the submarine.  The description on Page 18 says that "beautiful fish" swim around the submarine, and that there's algae everywhere except for the hatch, and that's it.

Perhaps I should apologize for saying the illustration on Page 8 is irrelevant, because the sailing ship is actually a spoiler for this conclusion.  No drawing for this ending.


"You cruise through the grotto past the wreck of the submarine.  There is another shipwreck.  And then another.  They too, are covered with algae, and they also appear undamaged.  Maybe people from Atlantis capture ships in the Bermuda Triangle and bring them here.  There is a three-masted schooner of the type used in the early 1800s.  Its rigging is festooned with algae, and fish swim lazily around its mast.


Your curiosity captures you and you put on your diving suit, leaving the Seeker.  Suddenly a thirteen-foot long deadly POIsonous sea snake strikes from behind the forward cabin and bites you in the soft flesh between the fingers of your right hand.  There is no antidote to the deadly poison.  The neurotoxin spreads like a wave up your forearm on its way to your cerebral cortex.  Your life has been short and sweet.  Farewell brave one!  THE END".


Where's Cedric the Owl when you need him?


Results So Far


11 Good Endings

3 Deaths

5 Bad Non-Death Endings

5 Neutral Endings

1 Inconclusive Endings

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Choose Your Own Adventure Journey Under the Sea Alternate Endings Part 24


To proceed with Alternate Endings, we'll go back to the point before I used the laser light in CHOICE #24.  That uses too much electricity anyway.  There's a metal hatch made of an unknown material, and the mechanical arm on the Seeker is useless against it.  I turn on an "electronic pulse generator", which according to the next CHOICE is an awkward way of saying "radio". 


CHOICE #34 is whether to try an "explosive charge" on Page 24, or to keep sending radio signals through the hatch on Page 27.  The former option is misleading because you're just shooting the laser over and over instead of placing a bomb or launching a torpedo.


"The only way to get beyond the door is to blast it away, or so you believe.  The Seeker's laser cannon is powerful and you position the Seeker to fire.  Pushing the fire button, you send a powerful beam at the hatch.  Nothing happens.  Then you advance the cannon control to full emergency force.  Again you push the button and the beam dissolves the hatch instantly. 


A flood of seawater rushes into the giant hole, carrying you with it into an air-filled cavern beyond.  The water fills the cavern with speed and explosive force.  You see several people scurrying towards escape hatches.  IT IS TOO LATE!  You did the wrong thing.  There is no turning back.  THE END".


Bad Non-Death Ending is the best category for this, since I just destroyed Atlantis.


Results So Far


11 Good Endings

3 Deaths

6 Bad Non-Death Endings

5 Neutral Endings

1 Inconclusive Endings

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Choose Your Own Adventure Journey Under the Sea Alternate Endings Part 25


Let's not flood Atlantis in CHOICE #34.  After sending enough radio signals, I get a reply in English saying that if I enter, I "may never return to the world above".  CHOICE #35 is either to enter Atlantis on Page 42, or turn back on Page 43.  The "retreat" option is NOT a Neutral Ending like you might expect.  The player character notices there are roads underwater, and then is dumped into CHOICE #16 with the giant squid.  The option that I hadn't taken in CHOICE #1, which is exploring the ledge, also returns to the CHOICE #16 squid.  All those dotted lines on the map on the back cover leading to the top right must be indicators of the Giant Squid Timeline.


In this new Atlantis, humans have gills on their necks, as shown by the drawing of two men and one woman on Page 42.  They have a zoo filled with land animals in what looks like a glass cage with enough air for them to survive.  "So, my young friend', the leader of the group says, 'you may have the gill slit operation and live like one of us, or you can refuse and join the other animals in the zoo". 


CHOICE #36 is to either receive the gill operation on Page 57, or become a zoo exhibit on Page 58.


"No, I refuse to have this insane operation.  I don't want to become a fish!'  The Atlanteans try to convince you that life with them will be happy, useful, and long.  Yet you still refuse.  Sadly they give up their arguments and spray you with a special mist that immediately knocks you out.


Several hours later you gain your senses only to find that you are in an underwater air tank where you breathe naturally.  Your closest neighbor is a horse who looks at you with sorrow and understanding.  The Atlanteans have built a small apartment very much like the ones in the world above the sea.  People come by and look at you and talk with you.


Maybe you have made a real mistake.  They no longer want you to join them in their world and way of life.  You refused their offer and now you are a prisoner in a zoo.  THE END".


Sundaravej the illustrator understood how to draw a horse with a look of "sorrow and understanding"!  Maybe the horse is a transformed human from another CYOA book, You Are a Shark?  Can't say the reader wasn't warned about this ending!



Results So Far


11 Good Endings

3 Deaths

7 Bad Non-Death Endings

5 Neutral Endings

1 Inconclusive Endings

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Choose Your Own Adventure Journey Under the Sea Alternate Endings Part 26


One last ending before I take a break for a little while.  The gill operation in CHOICE #36 almost makes me want to create a new category called Bittersweet Ending, but that would make these silly arbitrary categories too complicated.


"A large white light shines down as you lie on the operating table.  You become unconscious.  Pleasant thoughts, sounds, and pictures occupy your mind.  When you awake, you feel no pain or any real change.  But now you can breathe underwater and join the Atlanteans in their world.


For several weeks you explore the world under the sea as you never have seen it before.  Without the heavy oxygen equipment on your back, you feel a marvelous sense of energy and you glide through a world of beauty.  Your two guides have become very good friends and they take you on adventures in the deep, exploring the ocean bottom and getting to know the fish and other sea creatures.  It is a very exciting life indeed.  You like it, but you regret that you will never again know the world above the sea".


The player becomes a reverse Ariel.  What effects do pressure, salinity and other factors have on Atlanteans to limit their exploration?  The narration never tells.  Perhaps with the regrets you're supposed to imagine your real life?  The protagonist has no backstory so far other than having been on a previous deep sea dive, so there's not much for them to go back to.


Results So Far


12 Good Endings

3 Deaths

7 Bad Non-Death Endings

5 Neutral Endings

1 Inconclusive Endings

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Choose Your Own Adventure Journey Under the Sea Alternate Endings Part 27


The next branch begins when I make the platform quickly rise to the surface to escape the giant squid in CHOICE #17, knowing I'll get the bends.  Once I'm too dizzy to stay on the platform, I see a dolphin swimming at me.  Since it's not a future dolphin with a snarling expression, I should be safe.  CHOICE #37 is either to accept the dolphin's help on Page 34, or reject it on Page 36.


"The dolphin might help and might not.  You decide to chance it alone.  So, up you go, swimming towards the surface.  The dolphin follows for some time, and then swims off.  You rest for a while about 300 feet below the surface before your final ascent. 


A huge ugly fish swims towards you.  Its bulging eyes fasten on you.  It is a Mola Mola, and spans more than sixteen feet in width.  It's a fish that does not bother to bite its victims.  It swallows them whole.  It looks as though you are its next meal.  THE END".


The dolphin still wants to help until it realizes my character is too stupid to take a hint.  Well, if you try to swim when the text implies you're barely conscious, you deserve this original Death.  Or as unlucky as Amadeo I of Spain:  Mola Mola supposedly don't attack humans.  The illustration shows a giant sunfish with an open mouth swimming towards a person in a diving suit from behind.


Results So Far


12 Good Endings

4 Deaths

7 Bad Non-Death Endings

5 Neutral Endings

1 Inconclusive Endings

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Choose Your Own Adventure Journey Under the Sea Alternate Endings Part 28


"The dolphin looks at you, and you even imagine that he is smiling at you".  The first ascent has no Maray nearby, but the dolphin hears its engine and takes me to the ship in 20 minutes.  CHOICE #38 is whether to quit on Page 49, or dive again on Page 50.


"A helicopter is sent to pick you up and return you to an air base for a flight back to the United States.  Newspaper reports indicate that the search for Atlantis has been given up.  Several months later, however, a group of scientists get in touch with you.  They believe that Atlantis can be found.  They put together another expedition and want you to join it.  You are tempted.  Adventure into the unknown is what you like.  THE END".


Neutral Endings usually don't set up another story.  There is a sequel to Journey Under the Sea called Return to Atlantis, but the premise for that is that you found Atlantis the first time and couldn't prove it to the world.  The illustration shows a helicopter with "H-21" written on the tail landing on a helipad.


Results So Far


12 Good Endings

4 Deaths

7 Bad Non-Death Endings

6 Neutral Endings

1 Inconclusive Endings

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Choose Your Own Adventure Journey Under the Sea Alternate Endings Part 29


Both CHOICE #38 and CHOICE #2 have an option that ends up on Page 8 and CHOICE #24 (the one with the laser light).  In CHOICE #2, simply go to the grotto on the port side.  In CHOICE #38, dive again after the dolphin rescues you.  CHOICE #24 therefore may be involved in the time loop, which I'll discuss when I find it.


But for now, let's swim out of the Giant Squid and into the Great White Shark in CHOICE #16!  "It begins to circle towards you and you know that you are its target".  CHOICE #22 presents two decisions, neither of them good.  One is to use a "special propulsion device" that will take me to the surface on Page 20. . .at the risk of the bends and the shark being fast enough to eat me anyway.  The other path is to wait and hope the shark swims away on Page 22.  Most of my audience probably wants to know how R.A. Montgomery will plagiarize Jaws, so I'll wait in this ending.


"You wait for the shark to go away.  No luck!  Other sharks are coming to join the hunt.  They circle you, coming closer and faster each time.  It is too late.  There is no escape!  The largest shark, jaws gaping, strikes!!!  THE END".


Al tiburón que madruga, Dios le ayuda.  Or in English, "Early shark gets the generic Choose Your Own Adventure person".  The illustration shows three sharks looking toward the right.


Results So Far


12 Good Endings

5 Deaths

7 Bad Non-Death Endings

6 Neutral Endings

1 Inconclusive Endings