Empyrean

TLDR; bad choice and stat design, skip it. The author has an ideal path and if you can guess what it is you'll have a great story, if you go off the rails the author punishes you up to and including not giving you an ending, the story just ends. If I could get a refund I would. Dont know how this passed COGs quality control. 2/10

One of my favorite Choice of Games so far! Storyline was very detailed, but didn't end up convoluted. Characters were appealing, and the romance I saw (Strephon's) had some really interesting character development (looking forward to seeing what happens in the others when I replay too!). Some stats could have been made a little more obvious (vigor was one of my highest and I never figured out what caused it or what it helped lol) but others were pretty self-intuitive and it was typically easy to figure out which choices advanced or worked off of them. Clarification also would have been helpful in-game for what would be lost if certain locations were attacked, like choosing to protect the Old Palace vs. other locations (there may have been details on them in the tabs of the stats page, but I'd have liked to see it included in the game's storytelling itself). Honestly though, my few complaints hardly matter when pitted against the good qualities. I'm definitely going to be replaying this in the future, and will cross my fingers for another game set in Empyrean's universe!

Having played over a dozen CoG CYOA games I feel well-versed in the format they use as well as what to expect from a CoG adventure, so when I say this was probably the worst of the bunch, I’d like to think I know what I’m talking about. While playing Empyrean I felt like I was missing a chapter or two of character motivation and development, not truly understanding why MU would throw everything in with a bunch of rebels when I specifically clicked the “I don’t trust these guys” option. Perhaps if there was more of an incentive or reasoning behind the decisions made by MU I would agree with there not being options to be neutral or pick another side, but without this most decisions felt arbitrary. As much as I want to enjoy this, it just feels unfinished.

This one is hard for me to call. On one hand I love CYOA games and CoG and this is obviously one of those. But on the other hand I've never been quiet as frustrated with one of these games either. My first play through was very frustrating. It seemed I failed every thing I attempted, without quiet managing to kill myself while doing so. After Hobbling to the end, and truely not happy with the ending I got, I of course immediately started another play through, checking my stats with every choice / action I made. This helped some in figuring out what happened after the fact with my choices, allowing me to figure out what the best choice to take in a given situation was based on the stats I was sometimes un wittingly gaining / loosing but seriously removed any enjoyment from the game play. And sometimes things still didnt make sense. Sometimes a choice would increase a stat, other times it would check a stat. All in All I think this game needs some serious feed back between players and maker to iron out wrinkles in the game mechanics so that they make more sense and allow a player to have a better idea of what their choices will earn them, or require of them to be succesful. That said, the story itself is very interesting. I really enjoyed the world setting and most of the characters. I really wish I could have explored some things / places more! Especially the world of Deep Tech. I definetly feel there is room in this world for more adventures, exploring, and just mingling. So I'm going to give this one a thumbs up in hopes of encouraging the author to revisit the game mechanics some, and maybe consider a DLC or another game in the same world setting that will let me further explore this fascinating place.

The stat system in this one is terrible.

I really wanted to love this game. The setting, the characters, I wanted it to be great, and it was at first. Then came the choices. The stats are too overly complicated to relate to the choices given to you and it's hard to figure out exactly what each choice will come out to be. Not that I'm against being surprised, but when you're trying to decide if a game changing choice is going to use your "reflex" or "finesse" skill then it becomes too stressful for this genre of game. The writing, oh god, the writing. It was superb, easy to follow the narrative, and it was really immersive. Until about half way through the game. The author wanted to make the plot more complex and add new characters and mechanics, but ultimately it ended up being a quagmire of different words that felt important, but was hard to relate to other parts of the story. This includes the characters too. Each character felt unique and special in their own way, but when you got into the nitty gritty of the story in the later chapters, they lost their luster and unless you were focusing on one or two specific characters, you simply could not keep track of them and many were left in the background as you went through your branch of the story. Long story short, pick this up if it's on sale, otherwise, go play Choice of Robots. Choice of the Deathless is even easier to follow than this one, and Deathless is just one huge time jumping flashback.

So far, so good! Really love the story, the characters, everything really!

I was recommended to play this game and I have to say this is among the best of text-based genre. The story is breathtaking and engaging with satisfying romance. The saga is wonderous and believable enhanced by brilliant writing. Although there are several flaws that are hard to ignore (spoiler alert). One is the main villain. He's just so stereotyped like other villains in superhero movies. Since he is your father, I had expected more interactions with him and more depth to his character, like turning him around by high persuasion skill or appealing to his fatherly love for you, but no, he's just a stereotyped ambitious short-sighted villain. It was a huge disappointment to me. Second is I felt that some characters are just inserted into the story to "add flavors" to romance arcs, but they are just so unlikable with no redeeming qualities, like a rich man's son who literally shoots you then tries to steal your aero and the manipulative female fatale who sabotages and murders to overtake your nation. Even though they did spice up the story quite a bit, I can't help but feel they should be replaced with more interesting and less stereotyped characters.

Not as fun as Choice by Gaslight, and I'd get it on sale, but it gets marks for having the best beginning I've ever seen.