Gamebooks (Choose Your Own Adventure Style)

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

¿Jugamos a una Aventura?:  El Elfo de las Nieves Part 4


Although the king may be a wizard, I'll have to help him.  Turn to Scene 21, the CANONICAL ENDING.


"You stretch out your hand holding the magical sphere and point it at the sorcerer, while he's tied up in a magical duel with the king.  A new blue ray shoots out of your sphere, although weaker than before.  However, in spite of that, it's much more powerful than the king and his brother's rays.  You manage to combine your ray with Rai's father's, making the sorcerer flinch.


The sorcerer screams in rage upon seeing that he's starting to lose, but he can't do anything.  Then the jewel in his scepter breaks into a thousand pieces and your ray hits him again and launches him backwards, freezing his body.  'Thank you', says the king, looking at you.  He looks very tired and you are too from having used the sphere.  It must have spent your energy too.


You all approach the sorcerer, who remains frozen, while his soldiers flee from the castle in a hurry.  'You've beaten me', says Vestian to his brother, 'You've fought very well.  You're stronger than I thought, although you've had help.  I imagine that now you'll send me to a distant land whence I can never return".


The king points at him with his hand and thaws him out.  'No.  I don't want to banish you.'  'You'll let me go?  Are you going to pardon me for what I've done?', asks the sorcerer, astonished.  'Of course, you're my brother, my family.'  Vestian is so emotional, it's hard for him to speak.  'I was wrong about you.  You're not weak.  You're strong and brave.  You're a great king.  I was wrong. . .'


'We all make mistakes', says the king, smiling and placing a hand on his shoulder.  'The important thing is that we learn from our mistakes to avoid repeating them.'  'That's true.'  'Well, Rai, who is this brave person who accompanied you and has a magical object that powerful?', asks his mother.  Everyone's eyes are focused on you.  'He helped me and protected me since we met.  And he defeated the siren of the woods.  The crystal ball was hers.'


'Wow!', shouts the king.  'You've managed to do what none of my soldiers could.'  Everyone begins to applaud you and you feel a bit of embarrassment, although you're happy.  'And now I imagine you want to go home, right?', asks the king.  'I won't see you again', says Rai with sadness, taking your hand.


'Of course you could!', shouts his mother.  'The crystal ball is theirs.  With its power you could come to visit him once in a while, but don't tell anyone about his world.'  'I'll do it', you respond, keeping the magical object in your pocket.


The king extends his hand and you appear in your city's park.  You go home happily, knowing you've done something good.  You've gained many friends, and with the desire to visit Rai again.  Perhaps you could visit him in springtime, to see a countryside that isn't always frozen.  END".


The epilogue text has this to say:  "Without a doubt, it's the best end of the story."  ¿Jugamos a una Aventura? books feel like "Ultimate Ending lite", and by following the clues, I found EL MEJOR FINAL.


Results So Far


0 Good Endings

0 Deaths

0 Bad Non-Death Endings

0 Neutral Endings

0 Inconclusive Endings

1 EL MEJOR FINAL

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

¿Jugamos a una Aventura?:  El Elfo de las Nieves Alternate Endings Part 1


What happens when I'm a spectator in the final battle between the king and Vestian instead of a participant?  Turn to Scene 16.


"You watch without doing anything about it as the magical duel between the two powerful beings continues, without giving victory to anyone.  The king's crown and the jewel in the sorcerer's scepter shine with even more intensity.  Suddenly, the light produced by the collision of their magical rays becomes so intense that you are all blinded for a few moments.


When you recover your sight, the king and the sorcerer are no more, and in their place is a black circle on the floor, as if something had burned.  Everyone silently stays in place and looks at the hole.  'No!', shouts one of the king's soldiers.  The pig-soldiers and the salamander leave as fast as possible, while the king's soldiers scream and cry in sadness.


'The king has disappeared.  Now we'll never see him again.'  For the next few hours, you stay silent, watching what is occurring.  Everyone is sad about the disappearance of their king, despite having managed to rescue the boy, who is well and approaches you when he sees you.  'He tried to help me', he says to his mother, who is with him.  'Your father will never return?', she asks.  The boy confirms this, with tears in his eyes.


'The sorcerer won't return, either', you say.  'That may be the case, but without my father, I don't know how we'll defend ourselves against the snow orcs if they decide to attack, now that we don't have the power of the crown.'  He cries for a little while longer, while you try to cheer him up.  Then his mother approaches you and points at you with her hand.


A strong light surrounds you, and when it disappears, you realize you're in the park in your city.  You go home happy to have returned, but at the same time sad for your new friends, but the important thing is that you've come home.  END".


That was a depressing conclusion.  My failure to act probably kills both Vestian and the king, and now the snow elf kingdom will probably be invaded and conquered by "snow orcs", whatever they are.  Ironic considering the villain's motivation in the first place was that he thought the king was too weak to defend the country.



Results So Far


0 Good Endings

0 Deaths

1 Bad Non-Death Endings

0 Neutral Endings

0 Inconclusive Endings

1 EL MEJOR FINAL





 

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

¿Jugamos a una Aventura?:  El Elfo de las Nieves Alternate Endings Part 2


Trying to win a magical duel against Vestian with only my sphere ends poorly in CHOICE #8.  This starts in Scene 41.


"From inside the sphere, a potent blue ray launches toward your adversary.  However, the jewel of the scepter emits a red ray.  The two rays find each other and collide.  For a moment, it seems their strengths are equal, but you immediately see how your ray begins to retreat, dragged by that of the sorcerer".  I am defeated, and Vestian swipes my sphere.  "I told you so', he says at the same time he takes the sphere from your frozen hand.  Now thanks to you I have much more power.  Open the door!"


This is an order to the pig-soldiers, who oblige.  But this means the king's soldiers enter the plaza.  Vestian has his pig-soldiers and salamander around him.  Rai's parents can't win because Vestian holds him hostage.  "I was going to exchange his freedom for your powerful crown, brother, but now it doesn't matter.  I have more power than you".


A ray from the sphere combines with one from the jewel.  The king tries to fire one from his crown and one from his hand.  I can only watch because I'm frozen.  "A terrible cold is extending through your insides".  I pass out from the cold and wake up in a cell.  Turn to Scene 13.


"You spend a lot of time there, without any company, wondering what will become of you and whether you'll go home.  Perhaps they'll leave you here forever, and surely your parents must be very worried by now.  Finally you hear footsteps and in front of you pass 4 pig-soldiers with Vestian the sorcerer and a blue woman, together with your friend Rai.


To your surprise the sorcerer, the woman, and your friend are locked in the cell next to yours, and at that moment, you realize that that must not have been the sorcerer but the king, who has renounced his powerful crown to recover his son.  More time passes and then the sorcerer appears, with a magical scepter and a crowned head.


'In a few days I'll free you all, dear brother, and you all will have to leave this country', he says in a good mood, 'but now the important thing is to begin the war against the snow ogres.'


'Don't do it!', shouts the king, 'You'll bring suffering to us all.  Wars are never good.'  'If we don't attack, they'll surely attack us.'  At that moment, the sorcerer sees you.  'I didn't remember you', he says, as if he's looking at an ant, 'Return to your world.  We don't want you here.'


Immediately afterwards, he points his scepter at you and the red jewel begins to shine.  An instant later, you're in the park in your city.  You begin to cry with relief and run to your house.


The adventure you have experienced has ended well for you, although you know that it has not for your friend and his people, now that a terrible war is about to begin in a distant land.  As for you, from here on out you decide to live another way, enjoying and being thankful for all you have.  END".


Vestian isn't half as villainous as the average CYOA antagonist, because he sends you home when he has no use for you instead of killing you.  And every fantasy race can live in Rai's world, as long as they have the "snow" qualification.  Are there going to be "snow dwarves", "snow leprechauns", and "snow goblins" too?


Do the "snow ogres" have magic?  Vestian should defeat them easily with the scepter, sphere, and salamander combo.


Results So Far


0 Good Endings

0 Deaths

2 Bad Non-Death Endings

0 Neutral Endings

0 Inconclusive Endings

1 EL MEJOR FINAL

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

¿Jugamos a una Aventura?:  El Elfo de las Nieves Alternate Endings Part 3
 
 
Surrendering to the pig-soldiers in CHOICE #7 makes one of them grab the sphere and drop it once he feels it burning him.  The sphere is shattered, but nothing seems to happen to anyone because of that.  The pig-soldiers take us to the tower, and Rai says "My uncle finally did it".  He explains that Vestian is his father's twin.  So we have both the Evil Uncle and the Evil Twin cliches.  Turn from Scene 47 to Scene 11.
 
 
The tower is so tall that we ascend in a hand-crank (manivela) wooden elevator instead of the stairs.  A room inside is "full of strange objects, flasks with odd things, and boots."  Vestian awaits us at the back of the room.  As a display of power, he instantly lights many candles at once with his scepter.  He explains his motivation in this timeline:  "I don't want to do him harm.  But I only want to get what is mine.  I should be king of Salemnia instead of him".  When told that the oldest son/child ("hijo" can mean both) is the rightful monarch, he says "But I am much wiser and more powerful than he.  I should be king, and now I'll be able to do it.  In exchange for your liberty, he'll give me the gold crown, and with that and my scepter my power will be enormous".
 
 
Why do I only learn the name of the kingdom in a suboptimal branch?  Anyway, Vestian declares his intention to declare war on the snow ogres, and I get CHOICE #10.  The options are presented this way.
 
 
A.  "I run toward the door that goes to the stairs.  With a bit of luck I'll manage to escape.  Besides, Rai's uncle doesn't care about me.  Surely he won't do anything".
 
 
B.  "Better to stay where I am.  It's clear he's not interested in me.  Surely he'll set me free".
 
 
C.  "It seems that with his magical scepter, he can control me.  I take it from him while he isn't looking, and I'm very close to him".
 
 
 
Trying to run out of the tower results in Scene 12, then 13 and the same Bad Non-Death Ending that occurs when the player attacks Vestian with the sphere.  Maybe he'll fare worse in the snow ogre war because he doesn't have the sphere in this timeline.  I fail to escape because the salamander knocks me down.
 
 
Staying put is another path to the Scene 13 ending, though there is a Scene 14 first where it turns out the door is locked and the elevator is at the bottom, so I can't escape while Vestian is absent.
 
 
Trying to take the scepter in Scene 15 does succeed.  The salamander shows me its teeth and flaps its wings.  Vestian says "You don't have any idea of the power of that scepter.  It's unbreakable and could destroy you.  Return it to me right now".
 
 
CHOICE #11 is to demand our freedom from Vestian, break the scepter on the floor, or agree to give it back in order to be sent home.  Breaking the scepter is Scene 51, the final page in the book.
 
 
Vestian is telling the truth about the wand.
 
 
"You have doubts for a few moments.  You don't want to give it to him, but what option do you have?  You look at the scepter.  The red gem on its end continues to shine, although you don't know what that means.  Afterwards you look at the sorcerer.  It's clear that it's very important for him.  He needs it, and for all you know, it must have great power.  It's now clear what you're going to do.  You lift the scepter in an instant and strike it with all your strength against the floor.
 
 
However, it doesn't break, as the sorcerer warned you.  Instead of that, the jewel on the end emits a red ray that reaches Rai and makes him disappear.  'What have you done?!', shouts the sorcerer in rage, as he springs (abalanzarse) on you.  You try to raise the scepter to point it at him, but he rips it out of your hand first.  'You're an idiot!', he shouts.
 
 
'Now that Rai isn't here, you can't take your brother's throne', you say, smiling.  The sorcerer denies with the head, at the same time he covers his eyes with his hands.  'You don't understand.  You've sent Rai to another world.  We won't be able to find him.'  'He could return.  He has powers.'  Then you realize that the fierce and furious sorcerer has begun to cry.
 
 
'There is not enough power to return from where you sent him, and now no one knows here he is.'  You begin to feel terrible and also want to cry.  'He can't come back?'  For a few minutes you stay there, without moving, thinking about what the sorcerer just told you, until the noise of footsteps beyond the door makes you turn around.
 
 
A dozen soldiers, all with blue hair and skin, burst into the room, but you are there alone.  The sorcerer and the salamander have disappeared.  'Where's Rai?' asks a woman who arrives shortly afterwards and moves beside you, looking at you.  'What have you done with my son?'
 
 
You try to say something, but you don't know how to answer her.  Before you can respond, some soldiers take you, tie your hands to your back, and carry you down the dower.  Below, in the castle plaza, there are more than 30 soldiers, along with a man who is exactly identical to the sorcerer, except for the crown on his head.  The king observes you with a severe look.  'Who are you?  Speak!', he exclaims together with a few friends.  At last you decide to tell him what happened.
 
 
Once you finish the story, the king bursts into tears.  'How did it occur to you to break the scepter?', asks the queen, also crying.  You feel horrible about what happened, but you can't do anything.  Then the king points at you with a finger and the gold crown that he wears on his head begins to shine with a blinding light.  When you recover your vision you see you're in the park in your city, exactly where you disappeared with Rai.  It's now late, and nobody is there, so you run home.
 
 
You've managed to return to your home, but it seems Rai will never go back to his.  END".
 
 
Vestian is an honest villain.  Failing to heed his warning about the scepter banished Rai to some other world.  Probably that of 22 Minutos:  Tibicenas.
 
 
Results So Far
 
 
0 Good Endings
 
0 Deaths
 
3 Bad Non-Death Endings
 
0 Neutral Endings
 
0 Inconclusive Endings
 
1 EL MEJOR FINAL

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

¿Jugamos a una Aventura?:  El Elfo de las Nieves Alternate Endings Part 4


Returning the scepter to Vestian in CHOICE #11 results in another ending, but one that's not drastically different from some other paths.


EDIT:  This is Scene 17.


"You slowly drop the scepter on the floor, while your hands are shaking due to how nervous you are.  Meanwhile, you desire with all your heart that the sorcerer will do nothing bad to you, now that he seems furious.


To your relief, his face relaxes.  He makes a hand gesture and the salamander leaps onto you, knocking you to the ground and showing you its large teeth.  Drops of its saliva are falling onto you.  'You've done well to return it to me', says the sorcerer, bending down to pick up his scepter, 'In return, I'm going to return you to your world, just as I promised.  Here, you're nothing more than a nuisance.'


The salamander moves away from you, and the sorcerer points at you with his scepter.  He's murmuring words you can't hear.  The precious red stone at the end begins to shine, blinding you.  Soon, you're in the park in your city.  You let out a shout of relief and run to your house.


While you are going in that direction, you think about Rai, his parents, and everything about that strange and magical world.  You haven't been much help, and now perhaps Rai's father is no longer king.  Maybe the sorcerer reigns now, and will start a war with the snow ogres.  But that doesn't matter much to you.  The important thing is that you've gone home, and you decide that from now on you're going to make yourself enjoy your marvelous life.  END".


This may be a Neutral Ending, since we don't know if the battle between Vestian and the king will go the same way if they don't directly shoot beams at each other.


Results So Far
 
 
0 Good Endings
 
0 Deaths
 
3 Bad Non-Death Endings
 
1 Neutral Endings
 
0 Inconclusive Endings
 
1 EL MEJOR FINAL

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

¿Jugamos a una Aventura?:  El Elfo de las Nieves Alternate Endings Part 5


It is possible to have a Good Ending without EL MEJOR FINAL in El Elfo de las Nieves.  It occurs if the player refuses to either hand over or try to break Vestian's scepter in CHOICE #11. 


EDIT:  This ending comes from Scenes 48-49.  Only 49 will be quoted in bold.


Vestian doesn't dare to approach me while I'm holding his scepter, but he does try to bluff me with "Don't dare to defy me.  You can't win".  I run down the stairs, but run into the salamander.  Rai tells me not to make eye contact because the salamander could hypnotize me.  It jumps on me when it realizes its gaze has failed.  Just as it's about to crash into me, I make the salamander disappear by shooting a red ray out of the scepter. 


The king teleported his soldiers into the tower, and are now pointing spears at Vestian.  Without his scepter, he can't do much.  Vestian teleports away.


"As soon as the sorcerer disappears, all the pig-soldiers in the castle flee.  The king takes Rai and hugs him while crying tears of joy.  Not much later, his mother arrives and hugs him too.  Rai introduces you to his parents and the king stretches out his hand to you.  'Many thanks for what you have done for my son.  We'll never forget you.'  You give the scepter to Rai's father and looks at it with interest for a few moments.


'Without this wand, my brother has lost some of his power, although he'll return to try to take the crown away from me.  I wish he weren't like that, but I can't do anything to make him change', the king says sadly.  'Why don't you stay with us?', asks Rai.  'I would like to very much, but I have to return to my house.'


'It's true', says the queen.  'No one should make their parents wait.  I'm sure they love you very much and they must be worried about you.'  'That's right.'  'However, in spite of the distance, once in a while you could see Rai in your dreams.  Would you like that?', says the king.  'Of course'.


Then the king points at you with his hand, and his crown begins to shine.  'That's it.  Now you could be in contact via dreams.'  'That's great!', you shout.  Rai hugs you.  'Goodbye', you say sadly.  'We'll see each other in our dreams', he says, smiling.


A light envelops you, making you see nothing.  When you recover your sight, you see you're in the park in your city.  You run home, while you decide if you'll tell them about the extraordinary adventure you've experienced or not.  After all, they wouldn't believe you.  Besides, at night you'll be able to see and talk to Rai in your dreams.  END".


The epilogue text says "But it could still end better. . ."  The dream communication was not present in EL MEJOR FINAL, but that's because the player character has the orb and can meet Rai in person.  Vestian probably doesn't stand a chance against the king now that Rai's father has both the scepter and the crown.


El Elfo de las Nieves is similar to La Extraña Niebla Roja, except the villain has more characterization here than just "generic evil wizard" like the warlock king.  The two books are so close El Elfo de las Nieves sometimes feels like a revision rather than a different story.


Results So Far
 
 
1 Good Endings
 
0 Deaths
 
3 Bad Non-Death Endings
 
1 Neutral Endings
 
0 Inconclusive Endings
 
1 EL MEJOR FINAL

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

¿Jugamos a una Aventura?:  El Elfo de las Nieves Alternate Endings Part 6


No new endings come from jumping out the window of the siren's house in CHOICE #5 or #6.  In Scene 43, the salamander appears and knocks down the protagonist.  Rai stares at the monster's eyes and falls asleep.  Both of us are taken to a castle "quite similar to those you've sometimes seen in books and movies".  This goes to CHOICE #10 in the tower.


Trying to run out the front door of the siren's house in CHOICE #4 fails.  The siren says "But it's night.  It's very dark outside and very dangerous animals come out at these hours to hunt and feed.  You don't want to be dinner for some hungry animal, do you?"  When her friendly old lady act doesn't work, she transforms into her true form.  She says that with Rai's power, she won't need to hide because she can confront the king or the sorcerer directly.  Rai however, manages to teleport us out of the cabin.  I guess this isn't the kind of book where there are Deaths.  Rai passes out from exhaustion and we're now easy prey for the salamander.  I fall asleep from its hypnotic stare.  All this happens in Scenes 37-38 and 6.


Rai and I are locked in a cell.  A guard with keys on his waist is busy counting coins.  CHOICE #12 is to either do nothing or ask Rai to teleport me out of the cell and risk fighting the guards.  Doing nothing means both of us are brought to the tower for CHOICE #10 after a short Scene 40.  


Teleporting out of the cell works, because this kind of prison is designed for humans without magic even though it's in a snow elf kingdom?  The flash doesn't escape the guard's notice.  CHOICE #13 in Scene 7 is how to escape:  climb a tree, hide in a carriage pulled by a blue donkey, or walk toward the main door of the castle.


The narration says you are inexperienced when it comes to climbing trees before CHOICE #13, so it isn't surprising that the tree option is another way to CHOICE #10.  In Scene 10, a branch breaks, the hero falls to the ground, and the player has to limp away.  Pig-soldiers catch the player and it's back to prison.


Hiding in the donkey carriage moves to Scene 20 when the animal notices me.  I walk around in the cold in the woods until the king and his soldiers find me.  He's furious that I left Rai behind, and wants me to deal with the salamander because "it hardly recognizes those of your race and won't attack you".  By the standards of every other path in the book, the salamander is competent at tracking down humans!  The king warps me into the castle plaza with his crown.


CHOICE #14 in Scene 9 is whether to go to the main tower where Rai might be, open the door of the wall as the king ordered, or hide in a small house nearby.  The salamander is near me, but appears to be resting.


Rushing to the tower creates another ending in Scene 24.


"The ascent is slow, since the tower is very tall and the machine rises slowly, moved by the cranks that the soldiers are turning.  Finally you reach the top, a wide and poorly lit room filled with flasks and potions.  'Who are you?', asks the angry voice of a corpulent figure who's seated at a table.  As soon as you approach them, you see someone who's identical to the king.  In his hand he holds a kind of rod whose point has a red jewel that shines as if it were fire.


The soldiers let you go and you stay in front of him, without knowing what to do, and being incapable of escaping him.  The sorcerer stares at you and that makes you queasy.  'So you've come with my brother and his soldiers, eh?', he says a few moments later.  You look at him with surprise, speechless.  'I can read your thoughts.  There's nothing you can hide from me.  Did you know?  I could destroy you', he adds, pointing at you with the rod.


You feel your legs beginning to shake and you want to cry.  'However, thanks to you I know my brother is outside, waiting.  The time has arrived to make the deal:  his crown for his son.  Regarding you, you're not useful to me anymore.  So I'm going to do you a big favor, although you don't deserve it, and I'm going to send you home.'


The jewel begins to shine fiercely, blinding you, and when you recover your sight you see that you're in the park in your city again.  You run home, feeling relief and joy.  You don't know what will happen to the king, the sorcerer, and the boy, but no that's none of your concern.  END".


Another Neutral Ending where Vestian sends the player home, and the fate of Salemnia is uncertain.  Might as well not have bothered to go on the adventure.


Results So Far
 
 
1 Good Endings
 
0 Deaths
 
3 Bad Non-Death Endings
 
2 Neutral Endings
 
0 Inconclusive Endings
 
1 EL MEJOR FINAL

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

¿Jugamos a una Aventura?:  El Elfo de las Nieves Alternate Endings Part 7


Hiding in the house in CHOICE #14 and Scene 25 fails because there are pig-soldiers wielding swords waiting for the player.  This results in the Scene 24 ending. 


Obeying the king and opening the wall door gives some false hope in Scene 26 that the battle might end well, then you realize that it leads to the Scene 16 ending where Vestian and the king destroy each other in the duel.


Walking to the main door of the castle is another CHOICE #10 path after a brief Scene 39.  The pig-soldiers catch the player and they are forced to yield.


Trying to act natural with the siren in CHOICE #4 has the same effect as running out the door, and is a path to CHOICE #12.  Scene 22 involves pretending you don't like soup, or aren't hungry.  "You're very smart.  Did you know?  If you had eaten it you'd fall asleep and would never wake up".


Walking around the forest in CHOICE #3 and Scene 33 instead of going to the siren's house means it's too cold and dark to continue for much longer.  CHOICE #15 after that is to ask Rai to teleport, or continue walking and look for a house.


Trying to walk makes me run into the Salamander of Railroading that forces the player into CHOICE #12 after it knocks us down in Scene 34.  Teleporting sends Rai and the hero to CHOICE #4 and the siren's house.  Hiding behind the tree in CHOICE #2 and Scene 5 causes, you guessed it, another Scene 6 and CHOICE #12 encounter with the salamander.


Approaching Rai cautiously in CHOICE #1 creates CHOICE #16 where I can either try to help the elf in Scene 4, or refuse in Scene 2.  Upon teleporting to Salemnia, the hero and the elf are separated.  CHOICE #17 is whether to stay put, run away from the growls, or try to help the screaming person.  Staying still hides the player behind bushes and eventually goes to Scenes 19, 8-9 and CHOICE #14.  Instead of Rai enabling you to communicate in Spanish in Salemnia, this time the king's crown does it.


Running away from the growls creates this Scene 30 ending.


"Without thinking too much, you run away in the direction opposite of the boy's screams and the growls of the strange animal.  You'd like to help, but if the beast hears you it could endanger your life.  The most important thing is to be safe.  So you run and run through the woods, brushing aside branches and avoiding bushes and roots, as well as snowdrifts.  Immediately the growls and screams stop.  After a while you begin to walk slowly.  Now your objective is to look for someone who can tell you where you are and how you can go home.


You walk and walk without knowing where you're going and you become increasingly tired, hungry, and cold.  You begin to worry.  What will happen if night falls and you don't find anyone to help you?  You could die of the cold.  In spite of your exhaustion, you decide to walk more quickly.  You have to find help while the sun is up.  However, you don't find anyone.  There are only trees and more trees and some small animal that runs away frightened when it sees you.


Once the sun hides itself the temperature quickly drops.  You look with astonishment when you notice that, besides the stars, there are two moons.  You understand you're not in your world, but in a different one.  That means you can't return to your home no matter how far you walk.  You continue walking but the cold is entering your body.  A moment arrives when you can't stop shivering and you can't feel your legs.


You sit for a moment next to a tree to rest, and you concentrate on keeping yourself from falling asleep, now that you know that if you sleep it's possible that you'll never wake up again.  In spite of that, you notice how your eyes are getting heavier.  Your whole body wants to rest.  At that moment someone shakes you and you wake up.  In front of you there are three people with blue skin and hair; two men and a woman.  They're dressed with a kind of armor, as if they were soldiers, and they carry spears in their hands.


They force you to get up and walk and you begin to follow them, although you almost don't have the strength for that.  One of them talks to you, but you don't understand a word and you deny with the head.  You don't delay in reaching a place where there are tents, and they bring you in front of a blue man who has a thick white beard and a golden crown, but then you faint.


From here on out all your memories are vague.  You remember that someone brought you inside one of the camping tents.  Later you saw a very bright light and the next thing you remember is being in a hospital.  Your parents, at your side, smile relieved to see you awake.  You don't have any idea of what happened, but at leas now you're at home again.  END".


I'd probably count this "pass out from the cold" conclusion as a Neutral Ending, because it's another one where you don't go on the adventure.


Results So Far
 
 
1 Good Endings
 
0 Deaths
 
3 Bad Non-Death Endings
 
3 Neutral Endings
 
0 Inconclusive Endings
 
1 EL MEJOR FINAL

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

¿Jugamos a una Aventura?:  El Elfo de las Nieves Finale


When I go to help Rai in CHOICE #17 and Scene 27, the salamander is close by.  My options for CHOICE #18 are to attack it with either a thick branch or a sharp rock.  The branch breaks and knocks out the salamander.  It seems to disappear, probably because Vestian is summoning it.  Scene 29 is another way to CHOICE #3, and Rai introduces himself and the name of his kingdom.  The sharp rock isn't enough to pierce the salamander's skin, and the player moves to Scenes 28, 8-9, and CHOICE #14.


The only place left to go is to stay put and not interact with Rai at all in either CHOICE #1 or CHOICE #16.  This creates Scene 2.


"You decide that the best hing to do is to stay together with your friends.  After all, nobody is approaching him, so why should you risk your life?  The blue boy is still seated on the ground.  Above the murmurs of the people you can clearly hear the typical siren of a police car.  The Martian, as some call him, looks in all directions and is frightened.  You realize that he's afraid of the siren that's increasing in volume.


'Be calm.  It's a police car.  They're coming to help you', you shout, although he doesn't hear you, now that you're too far away and he continues to concentrate on the siren.  'Don't say that.  Maybey they're coming to lock him up and perform experiments on him', says your friend beside you.


'Poor kid!  You don't see that he's a little boy?', replies your best female friend.  'Is that so?  And if he's only a little boy, why is no one going to help him?', he responds.  And both continue to argue.  A few seconds later, the police car appears behind you, with the siren at maximum volume.


At that moment, something happens.  The boy begins to shine.  At first the light is soft, but it soon increases in intensity and envelops him and everyone around him.  Although you are far away, you all take a few steps backwards, just in case.  Then two police officers arrive.  'What's happening here?', asks one of them.  Before anyone can respond, the flash disappears.


When everything goes back to normal, you realize the boy isn't there.  If you had approached him, you surely would have been enveloped in the light and disappeared with him, so you're happy to have been far from him.  'I've recorded everything!', exclaims someone excitedly.  For a few moments, everyone stays quite, watching, but when it seems that nothing more will happen, you all go away.


'What a strange thing!', says one of your friends.  'That man was right.  I'm sure it was a Martian', says another.  'Let's go home.  We'll have to tell our parents about this', says your best female friend.


So, you all leave and everyone goes home.  This strange experience has been short, but you'll never forget it.  However, for several days you can't avoid thinking about what would have happened if you had helped the poor blue boy, although you'll never know.  END".


Do the anonymous kids at the beginning become rich and famous for uploading their cell phone recordings to YouTube?  Or does everyone think it's only a creepypasta or something?  We'll never know.


The phrase "best female friend" is a translation of "tu mejor amiga".  The gender is specified in Spanish, so I rendered it in English even though it sounds odd.


And so a mediocre Spanish CYOA ends.  What will be the next book?  Perhaps Space and Beyond from the RA Montgomery box set.  There are some weird endings in that book. . .


(Island of Giants is another possibility for a Blair Polly farewell, since that's the only You Say Which Way he wrote that I haven't already covered.  Aventura Espacial (Space Adventure) is the final ¿Jugamos a una Aventura?.)


Final Results
 
 
1 Good Endings
 
0 Deaths
 
3 Bad Non-Death Endings
 
4 Neutral Endings
 
0 Inconclusive Endings
 
1 EL MEJOR FINAL

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Choose Your Own Adventure:  Space and Beyond Part 1


"In short, avoid like bubonic plague carrying squirrels."  -breity, Gamebooks.org


"There sure are a lot of members saying this book stinks, but the truth is every single one of them is right. This isn't a Choose Your Own Adventure book, it's a rambling mess of confusing words that never comes close to having a story and often doesn't even make a lick of sense. This book fails in every possible way. Avoid at all costs."  -Fireguard, Gamebooks.org


"The stories are all quite strange, and sometimes the endings are so stunningly abrupt as to make one wonder what went wrong, but the gestalt of the adventure somehow adds up to a book that I quite like." -KenJenningsJeopardy74, Gamebooks.org


"If Project UFO is CYOA's Showgirls, then Space and Beyond is the series' Freddy Got Fingered. To shamelessly steal a line from Roger Ebert, the day may come when Space and Beyond is seen as a milestone of neo-surrealism. The day may never come when it is seen as a good gamebook."  -Stockton, Gamebooks.org


As you can see from the quotes above, Space and Beyond is not one of the more fondly remembered CYOAs.  This is most likely due to it being a very early CYOA and thus having a high ending-to-page ratio.  44 conclusions in 132 pages doesn't leave much room for setting or character development.  It's also written by RA Montgomery, whose heroes live in a dream world that revolves around their decisions instead of being mildly affected by them.


Most of the BEWARE AND WARNING! page is the same as in the other official CYOAs I've reviewed, so I'll only quote the relevant text here.


"First you must choose the planet of your birth.  The choice YOU make will determine a major part of your future.  Try to choose wisely.  As they say in another galaxy not too far from this one, Gleeb Fogo!  Good luck!"


This CANONICAL ENDING playthrough will have a special gimmick.  I read this book out loud to the same friend that wanted me to play through Can You Survive the Titanic?  She made some decisions and got a one sentence ending.  She thought there would be some consistency among the results of CHOICEs, but then she hasn't experienced RA Montgomery writing in great detail.


The BEWARE AND WARNING backstory is immediately contradicted by the first sentence:  "You were born on a spaceship traveling between galaxies on a dangerous research mission".  My parents aren't from the same galaxy, but they are both humans.  This spaceship travels at 62 times the speed of light.  Because of this, I become an 18-year-old in 3 days and 2 hours.  And we all wondered about the implications of Renesmee from Twilight becoming 17 in 7 years.  The Space and Beyond hero has her beat.  (And fortunately there are no werewolves who imprinted on my character.)


Since I was born in space, I must select a planet for citizenship.  The CHOICE #1 options are dad's planet of Kenda in the PINTUM galaxy, or mom's world of Croyd in the OOPHOSS galaxy.    


Kenda is the size of 3 Earths, "has a history filled with trouble", and its old sun may be going out.  Croyd is farther away from the Milky Way, and the OOPHOSS galaxy has "black holes and supernova stars".  Don't all galaxies have those?  Croyd has "a dim and troubled past", but a "bright and exciting future" awaits.


My friend chose Croyd, so that's what I'll do.  She must have liked the "bright and exciting future" line, and we both laughed at how "black holes and supernova stars" wouldn't be restricted to one galaxy.  Mom gives me a "small metal object on a chain", and thinks it might help me.  Inventory items in an RA Montgomery CYOA?  Remember The Lost Jewels of Nabooti, where neither the gun nor the special telephone number were used?


A crew member named Mermah joins me because he thinks I'll need his help.  "The head of Research" tells me about the potential danger of Sunpo, a star 12 times as large as Sol, and Sunthee's high gravity.  Black holes and supernovas are also a risk.  He recommends going to the Space Academy to study before going to Croyd.  The other CHOICE #2 option is to proceed without going to school.


My friend wanted to see Croyd right away without wasting any time at Space Academy.  I enter the coordinates as numbers and tell Mermah to look at the stabilizers.  We're near a black hole, just as the head of Research expected.  On the next page, there's an illustration with a control panel full of instruments that look like the general "speedometer" type, generic-looking keys, and a lever.  Mermah looks a bit like a frog in a rotund space suit.


My character would have flunked Space Academy, because I entered 4800 as the coordinates instead of 4008.  4 digit numbers seem small for intergalactic travel anyway.  CHOICE #3 is how to deal with the black hole:  full power to the engines to try to land on it, or use "energy repulsion shields" to try to escape its gravity.  My friend was playing an impulsive character, which makes sense considering the hero is 3 days old!


"You are never heard from again.  The End".


No illustration, only an unsatisfying one sentence Death.  My friend wasn't as frustrated by this as you'd think, probably because she doesn't read CYOAs and the novelty hasn't worn off yet.


EDIT:  Forgot to put in the ending categories!


Results So Far


0 Good Endings

1 Deaths

0 Bad Non-Death Endings

0 Neutral Endings

0 Inconclusive Endings

0 Wait, This Isn't An Ending!


(This IS a Montgomery CYOA, so I had to bring back the special category from Nabooti.)