Tale of Two Cranes
Hosted Games · 2024 · Text-Based, RPG, Choices Matter, Singleplayer, Choose Your Own Adventure
PC
Mixed57% · 21
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About Tale of Two Cranes
Fulfill your epic destiny in mythic ancient China! Lead armies, wield magic, and put an emperor on the throne - or become the emperor yourself!
Tale of Two Cranes is a 750,000-word interactive epic historical fantasy novel by Michelle Balaban and Stephanie Balaban. It’s entirely text based, without graphics or sound effects, and fueled by the vast, unstoppable power of your imagination.
The mighty Qin dynasty has fallen. As the land breaks into warring states, everyone must choose their side in the growing civil war.
Within this epic turmoil, you have been chosen to fulfill a grand but mysterious destiny. You are a Yǒngshì warrior, bonded with a heavenly spirit that grants you magical powers, and trained since childhood in the arts of battle. Your spirit is greater than any Yǒngshì has ever been: you are the mortal link to the Red-Crowned Crane, a mystical patron unique among all of the heavens…or so you thought. As war rises around you, you discover that there is a rival: Chan Ming, bonded to the Other Crane, is the only person who could ever match your power - or he might even exceed it.
Your mystical power can sway the course of the war and determine who will be the next emperor. Whose faction will you choose: Liu Bang, a charismatic lord beloved by the people; or Xiang Yu, a veteran of war respected by the military? Can you navigate the politics of the Imperial court, or will you gather your power in seclusion at your country estate? When China’s enemies encroach from the northern steppes, can you negotiate with them to call a truce - or even win them over as allies? Will you prove your loyalty to the new Emperor, or will you betray your allies at every turn? Uncover conspiracies of spies, trace the source of rebellions and mutinies, blackmail an Empress, marry into the Imperial family to become the power behind the throne - or even become the Emperor yourself!
And through it all, cross paths and swords with your rival, the Other Crane. Will you defeat him in an epic battle for the ages, or will you join him and create the most powerful mystical partnership the realm has ever known?
Your destiny calls, and a new dynasty awaits!
Tale of Two Cranes is a 750,000-word interactive epic historical fantasy novel by Michelle Balaban and Stephanie Balaban. It’s entirely text based, without graphics or sound effects, and fueled by the vast, unstoppable power of your imagination.
The mighty Qin dynasty has fallen. As the land breaks into warring states, everyone must choose their side in the growing civil war.
Within this epic turmoil, you have been chosen to fulfill a grand but mysterious destiny. You are a Yǒngshì warrior, bonded with a heavenly spirit that grants you magical powers, and trained since childhood in the arts of battle. Your spirit is greater than any Yǒngshì has ever been: you are the mortal link to the Red-Crowned Crane, a mystical patron unique among all of the heavens…or so you thought. As war rises around you, you discover that there is a rival: Chan Ming, bonded to the Other Crane, is the only person who could ever match your power - or he might even exceed it.
Your mystical power can sway the course of the war and determine who will be the next emperor. Whose faction will you choose: Liu Bang, a charismatic lord beloved by the people; or Xiang Yu, a veteran of war respected by the military? Can you navigate the politics of the Imperial court, or will you gather your power in seclusion at your country estate? When China’s enemies encroach from the northern steppes, can you negotiate with them to call a truce - or even win them over as allies? Will you prove your loyalty to the new Emperor, or will you betray your allies at every turn? Uncover conspiracies of spies, trace the source of rebellions and mutinies, blackmail an Empress, marry into the Imperial family to become the power behind the throne - or even become the Emperor yourself!
And through it all, cross paths and swords with your rival, the Other Crane. Will you defeat him in an epic battle for the ages, or will you join him and create the most powerful mystical partnership the realm has ever known?
- Play as male, female, or nonbinary; gay, straight, bi or asexual.
- Find romance amongst your six closest allies or opt for an arranged marriage.
- Choose from four magical classes: mystic, militant, sage or strategist.
- Unravel the mystery of your mystical link to the Crane and discover the truth behind your unique connection to a fellow warrior.
- Fight epic battles across a landscape inspired by the Warring States period of ancient China.
- Build your personal power, customizing your estate to create a place specializing in military training, agriculture, spiritual enlightenment, scholarship, commerce, and more!
- Master the Imperial court to propel yourself into the administration, nobility, or even to become ruler of all China!
Your destiny calls, and a new dynasty awaits!
What Steam players say
Recent verbatim reviews from Steam — separate from playze.io community reviews below.
First, the positives: The writing is good, the epilogue is lengthy, and it's an interesting setting. The bad: Many choices are presented that lead to bad outcomes not because of a skill check failure but because the choice itself was misleading. E.g. when choosing how to prosecute a war, if you select the option that is basically to exercise caution and surgical strikes, the *actual* choice and way it is perceived is cowardice. The story is much more on rails than most CoG stories. It leans far more into "game" than "story." The ROs are bland and you have too few interactions with them. I lost count of how many situations are lose-lose no matter what you do. Going back and altering save files to maximize skills, alter personality traits, and increase relationship scores - in many situations, none of this will alter key outcomes. This is forgivable with situations like when a particular lord is killed while you are away, but I can't ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ stand it when it's something like failing to persuade someone or getting your ass kicked in single combat. Why even present the reader with the the illusion of choice, the illusion that you have any control? Anytime interactive fiction title…7 found this helpful
Despite the wonderful and indept writing i am not happy with this game. Why? Because every Chapter you are send out to accomplish something, get no choice in it, have to cater to the court even when your character woudlnt want to, making a loyal charater the only thing that can be played resonably and then! The game throws a massiv curveball, everything changes, your efforts are negated regardles of stats and then comes a three year timeskip. This is great in a story when it happens ones or twice but here it happens ever single chapter. Your just left exausted and often confused at the change of fortune. It kind of takes the joy away.5 found this helpful
Meh ! Did almost finish it. But all are generic and predictable. Everything ! In the end the story leave everything behind and continue by itself not caring about who read it. To respect the extensive work on it i had to stop it on the last fight then reload the chap, confirm what other choice was before the stop reading again. Yeah, the generic story and dialogue ruin it. The good part was the development of the character minus the time skip. If you buy it, don't hope much.1 found this helpful
Boring no war, just talking.
Took me two years I guess to finally play it all the way through. Attention to chinese history? Myth? Culture? is nicely done; but otherwise this is pretty much close to trash. Narrative strands left untied, random charecters constantly introduced for no real reason or matter. Don't play is the best advice, though not as bad as many titles, this is low.
love it
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