VERSUS: The Elite Trials

(Side note: I've only done one playthrough of this, so some of the things I've talked about could be different with a different path, but the book should still be interesting on its first read.) To be quite honest the first Versus book never really caught my attention, but the first book was much shorter and it had lots of world building going on, especially with its political and religious choices. So I figured maybe it needed a first book to get it standing and that the second book would pop, like the Heroes Rise series that I happen to adore. I was also hoping that the second book would cut back on the political, social, and religious commentary, as they detracted away from the story rather than add to it. I was INCREDIBLY disappointed to find this book would take that commentary and crank it up to 5000. Which is sad, because there is bits where the story manages to hold me in, such as during the first trial where we are introduced to some new bright characters who were all very entertaining, and the bits where you actually sit down and talk about Dhanthik are also very interesting. However the story comes to an absolute stop the moment it decides political commentary is a absolute MUST and it happens so often that it very easily shoves me out of the story and it just makes me roll my eyes and groan loudly. I understand this is what the game wants to try to do but halting the story entirely to ask about your beliefs every few pages is not fun or thought provoking. The entire 'Make your own planet' subplot was entirely unnecessary, painful, and almost borderline offensive with some of its jabs at religion. I could not bring myself to care about this planet because I felt uncomfortable by the painfully OBVIOUS social commentary it was trying to pull, and halting the story just so you can choose a tax plan and education system is ridiculous. Not to mention the final 'shocker' moment the subplot has was ridiculous. However, that is my opinion, and I can maybe see how some people may be interested, but overall it took me out of the story completely and it honestly didn't serve any purpose in the story that you would care about. If you're expecting a bunch of kick ass trials where your character goes out and takes names, you're not going to get it from this book. There are bits where you do fight but it is overshadowed by walls and walls of exposition. On a further note, there's not much character development either, there are certain parts that pay special attention to certain characters, but it left a lot to be desired. It makes me mad because character and story development could easily replace the unnecessary political debates, it's honestly hard to really sit and care for these characters save for a few that do get to show their character. Not to mention the ending just pads out for pages and pages and it really doesn't feel like much care was put into it as the story switched to telling me the results rather than showing me the outcomes of my choices. Overall it was kinda jarring and almost boring. I may have forgotten some details because of this. Maybe I'm not smart enough for this, maybe I just don't 'get it'. But when I play a sci fi series like this, choosing tax plans and deciding if presidential elections are a good thing isn't what I have in mind. This book WANTS to be deep. It DESPERATELY wants you to think and make connections to this book and real life, but they cram it so far into your face that it just becomes annoying. It becomes blatantly obvious that this book is making commentary on the current state of America and so it makes hard to get back into the book's world. (Side note: Why are you just making commentary on America? Isn't this a vast galaxy that features multiple cultures?) I'm sad. I WANT to like this book series, I WANT to feel the need to replay it so I can get more endings and features like with the Heroes Rise series, but I just can't bring myself to do it. I had to force myself to finish this. I can only hope the Author improves from this, though I know he can because he can write good book series. So in my opinion? Unless you're REALLY into political debates with a side of occasional sci-fi plot stuffs. Skip it.

Just a disclaimer at the start that I didn't like the first part to this series since it failed with its focus because the first game felt more like a setup; a base to build to this one. Also this is a choice-of-games game, so it will have many of the problems that the other games have - alas many of your choices seemingly won't matter. So, do you need to have to played the first game? You don't need to actually since the story of the first game is summarized in the beginning which makes you realize not much at all has happened in the first one. It still helps to have read the first one since you need to pick up on the vocabulary that was introduced back then. The sequel does offer a glossary but it doesn't explain every word. Going through the first one was still more of an exercise of pain since it used its bloated vocabulary a little bit too liberally. The last thing actually got changed in this game. Vocabulary for certain things (like the name for a race or such) are used a lot less and only when it actually needs to be talked about. I still don't understand why the word "♥♥♥♥" is censored since this is not a game for kids. Far from it in fact. It's not for kids not because this game is gory (there is actually at least one gory scene which is also described in a detailed way) or that it has sex scenes. It's because this game is hard to understand in some chapters. It opens up lots of questions about difficult topics and there are a lot of abstract topics which are also talked about in sentences that a teenager would just skim over. So, how is the story? You are basically a human space alien that is able to temporarily copy other people's abilites and dive into their memories by touching them. You hunted a monster that threatened to kill your kind but both of you get teleported to another planet. You then need to appease to people in politics. The problem that this game still has is that it tries to be more than it needs to be. This game builds the expectation that you are going to use your awesome powers, fight people and get into romancing. All of these things rather take a back seat. In fact there is a rather large sub-plot where you build your own planet. It is well written and would serve well as its own short game - I actually did like the experience it provided. The experience just feels empty if it isn't being built upon later on. You cannot visit the planet you've created and that sub-plot is just dropped and could've easily been cut. This is what the game is: a collection of sub-plots that only have remotely something to do with your main goal: Find out the identity of the champion of the player character's home planet and kill the monster that threatened to kill your people. The writing itself is actually pretty good, but the not so subtle commentaries about society are things that also didn't really need to be there. The preachiness is something common to this particular author (Zachary Sergi) which again was worse in the first game. It has become better in this sequel but it's still a bit annoying when it does pop up. An example is capitalism vs. communism which just mentions things you will already know. That one at least only pops up once unlike the commentary about religion/customs. As much as I am criticizing this game, I still liked it after I finished the one path that I did. It did not fulfill the expectations that I had. In fact I was left rather cold on the romance department, since the pay-off was just 2 short paragraphs. I still liked the experience it provided with intrigue and the divine beings that appeared in this game. So ... do I recommend this game? If you're new to this series and your expecation is to romance people, or have thrilling fights in text form, no. There are better options for that if you didn't already check the other choice-of-games games. I recommend this game to people who have already read the first part since this actually does something with all the world building the author has done in the first part. I also recommend this to people who want to read something different which you have to spend some time with to think about. Other than that I still recommend a good choose-your-own-adventure book over this game if you are looking for interactivity in text form.

How do I approach this. I liked The Elite Trials. I loved The Lost Ones, and Elite Trials expanded on the world I already enjoyed. The characters are interesting, the writing is solid, the plot handles itself well, and the author is capable of pulling some interesting twists, though at times it was slightly stretching my willing suspension of disbelief. But only slightly. The game itself feels… Shorter, but that might be because some parts of it are locked away depending on the choices made in the prequel. Still, there are only two plotlines through the entire game, the MemoryTravel and the Trial, and the trial takes the back seat. I honestly expected more. BUT - I like what I got, and I don’t feel like I overpaid for it. The replayability value is quite high - The game teases many secrets, and I know I’ll be playing it again in the future to try and uncover them. You will find some very negative reviews concerning the… Preachy nature of the game. They’re not wrong. Zachary (the author), seems to feel very strongly about social issues, something that was fairly obvious in the first book, with the inclusion of a transgender character. Elite trials is less about the trials themselves, and more about… Politics. There is a segment that concerns society building – and the game comments on the decisions you make and the potential impact they might have. If you find yourself displeased with the hypothetical results, you don’t get to argue. I have yet to experience the full range of possibilities here, so I can’t yet judge how fair it is – but it’s entirely possible your vision and the authors vision differ. So take the result with a grain of salt, and don’t take it personal. As the great Ilya Bryzagalov once said: [i]“It’s only game. Why you have to be mad?”[/i] That’s more or less the gist of it. I’ve found myself drawn into Zachary’s style of writing, and I find his social commentary both fair and interesting, and not all that intruding. I love the characters, and can’t wait to see more of them in the future. If you liked the first book, then book two is money well spent.

In general, if you enjoyed VERSUS: The Lost Ones, you are bound to enjoy this one even further. The continuation develops on itself quite neatly and the author's gain in experience is shown in the game's more intricate nature - gameplay and story wise. That being said, VERSUS: The Elite Trails is an amazing story, still one of the best from the Choice of Games platform, and it explores the universe imagined by Zachary Sergi quite well, deepening on its lore and creating new relationships with new characters. However, it can be lackluster, depending on what you are looking for. Following the trend on most Choice of Games titles (as opposed to some of the greatest Hosted Games titles), this game still attempts, and expands on, putting players in labeled boxes, trying to fit them on criterias instead of allowing their personality to flow. Taking further steps in the Mastery and Growth concepts utilized in the first book, you now have more stat variants and more goals to focus on, which, while they give you plenty of [i]replayability[/i], they also complicate your freedom of choice, since if you want to actually succeed and thrive in the game's world and score systems, you need to follow a role, an idea, a specific path which the author believes most closely matches with a personality type. Instead of giving you choices with consequences, the game gives you specific paths to follow, and while it allows you to diverge on those paths at any point in time, it also doesn't let you thrive if you do so. Most times, those paths are not even clear enough to the player, as even your choice of food may affect your stats, your character's personality and power, and this may generate apprehension as the player must wonder whether his choice falls in lign with whatever path he was forced to choose or not, or even fight against his intuition and desire to choose an option he [i]feels[/i] is right for his character, but the game disagrees. It is disappointing to see a CoG game at this stage still being so limited in this matter, especially taking into account how experient Zachary is, having released more than 5 books in the platform already. Combat, while we are still on the matter of gameplay, is short, predefined, and generally speaking, weak. If you like to engage on combat as much as possible, you'll not only be disappointed with the lack of variety, you'll also be disappointed by how weak your character seems, being so near of ever-powerful beings. Though that might just be the circunstances you find yourself at in this story. As to the story itself, without bringing any margin for spoilers to the table, it expands on the VERSUS universe, ties some loose ends, creates more loose ends, the main story unfurls wonderfully and continuously, and leaves you wanting more. Exactly what you'd expect from one of Zachary's games. If I have any critiques about the game's story, they are those: First, if you are a heterosexual male, your romance options fall short. As in, they fall into an abyss. The game seems to give a lot more attention, detail and focus to homosexual, agendered and non-binary players and characters. If you are a heterosexual player, your options pale in comparison, giving the sensation that they were rushed and undeveloped. To keep it short, romance is not a strong suit in this VERSUS book, as it where in the Heroes Rise original trilogy. Secondly, this game - as in others written by Zachary - tries and introduces his imagination of societal concepts to the reader, and these new concepts are often well introduced, being part of the game's world and provoking emotional responses within the player through events. In this game, the author attempts to do the same with even more concepts in a much grander scale, and the experience may cause the player to feel disconnected by how abstract the descriptions are, how unconnected to the main story they seem, and especially, by how the emotional responses are provoked (more like forced) into the player's character, instead of the human reading the story. Breaking the main story to introduce politics many times over actually detracts from the experience. Finally, the game leaves a lot more room for the development of the story. So much so that I can't really feel it will be over in the next book in the series... Hopefully that's an indication that more than one will come, and that we will have plenty more of the planet Versus to explore. Ultimately, VERSUS: The Elite Trials feels like an experiment. First and foremost, the continuation to the story presented in book one, but an experiment into something new nonetheless. Some features worked well, others, not as much, and we can only hope that the next title will have thoroughly learned with its predecessor so we'll all have an even grander experience in the next to come. If you are already a fan of Zachary's games, or the Choice of Games platform, this is one of the gems worth taking. If you are looking for a feature not commonly found in a CoG title, or which goes against what I described in this review, then you are probably better off looking for a Hosted Games title instead.

A single choice changed the entire games fate. For that I am both increasingly jubilant and also greatly sorroful. If only I had taken more thought into the words I read and the meanings they showed I could have been greater than what my character became. Medizin Thomil, nothing but a child. Perhaps an aged child, but still a child who acts out of his naive fantasies, and thus, never getting anywhere in politics or realationships. This is very true to me. And so, I am sad there is not a 3rd book.

I loved it. I just wish the romances were fleshed out a little more. Perhaps that's not the main goal of the story (seeing its high direction toward ethical and political conundrums), but if the romance portion is available, I'd like more! :)

I wanna like the game and its definitely not the worst choice game I have played. The story and world are both very interesting. The political power struggle and relationship managing can be fun. But my two major gripes that make me hate this game are The confusing stat and chart system the game has and The romance system I love the chartacters in this game and would want to replay it so many times to do all the extensive romance paths it seems to have. However I am beyond pissed with how it is executed. In the first game the lost one you meet quite a few of the RO's (romance options) and thats good but you dont really get a chance to talk to any of them on a deep level (except for breeze and maybe venuma but I havent tried to romance her on my first run. So not getting to know them sucks and you get to base your relationships on looks alone basically because in The Elite Trials you get to chat with each of the other RO's at the beginning and see their looks and outer personalities and thats it. THEN THE GAME ASKS YOU TO CHOOSE WHICH ROMANCE PATH YOU WANT TO FOLLOW THE REST OF THE GAME. this drives me crazy for a number of reasons 1) you dont really get to know half the RO's past a first meeting and you have to choose then and there and 2) you dont even technically get to choose because if you had a slight romantic relationship with breeze (and or lady venuma) then you literally dont even get a choice the game is like "you have already chosen". The ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ hell i chose, i had a romantic scene with one character and that was the only chance I ever had. i wanted to choose oli but since the first game never actually gave me a chance to be with him then I got no choice. SInce I got 0 chance to evolve a relationship with the new RO's the game forced me to choose breeze. This is just dumb, i love the fact the game has so so many RO's but how it handles it really really is a huge disappointment The big problem stats and stuff is there are so so many and they just arent explained well enough or I am too dumb or missing something. I like the game its got fun elements and a good story and lots and lots of choices and stuff but it has just managed to screw up something so majorly for me. The game at least to me seems like a step in the right direction for COG games because of how expansive it at least appears but it was just poorly executed

Not light reading by any means but very interesting. I espacially loved the planet creation part of the game it was just so different to anything I've seen in a CoG game before. If you're looking for something light-hearted and fun probably not for you but if you're up for some deep story I would very much recommend

The game definitely requires you play the first, and if you like that, this is a very dedicated and expected sequel in the same vein with continuations of most of the themes and threads from that. I saw some people disappointed the game didn't make a sudden turn in its contents and themes which seems a bit strange considering how it laid itself out in the first, but I suppose that's something to beware if you expect something else going in when playing this game. Love it to death, a romp of meta-scifi goodness quashed in a lot of morality issues.

[Spolier!] The world/planet creation was just simply amaizing, waiting forward for thrid book!