Subm. Planescape Torment

Dragula

Stormtrooper oTO
Orderite
Planescape Torment, 1999
Developer: Black Isle Studios
Publisher: Interplay Entertainment
Availble on: PC
Where to buy?: GOG

Ravel: "What can change the nature of a man?"

Imagine having the worst hang over ever with no recollection of what you did the night before. You wake up in a morgue next to a talking skull, this is where you think that the acid you took still have not left your system, but no, it is real. Now you have to find out what happened, why you have scars all over your body and why you cannot die. The game takes place in a Dungeon & Dragons setting, in a city called Sigil ruled by the Lady of Pain who is just as charming as her name gives you reason to believe. Sigil is a rough place, especially in the lower wards. Life is harsh and most of it is ruled by thugs, however, you are not the hero here to clean it up. You can do good deeds, yes, but your ultimate goal is something completely different.

Planescape Torment kicks you off by introducing the world in a most direct manner, you have died but woken up in a morgue, you are the Nameless One as you cannot remember what your name is. Planescape Torment is as much a visual novel as it is an RPG. You will read a lot of text, and I do mean a lot, it's saving grace is however, that it is one of the finest scripts ever written in a game. It will make you reflect upon your own life, the choices you make and your mortality. Even if Planescape Torment is based off a Dungeon & Dragon setting that already have some very interesting aspects on its own, the writing of MCA makes it an even more interesting place with all its quirks and lack of dwarfs and elves.

I will not hide the fact that I place Planescape Torment above Fallout, Planescape Torment is, to this date on of the best games I have ever played and I do pick it up every once in a while just to reread the story. Throughout your journey you will meet some colourful characters besides the talking skull. The psychopathic mage whose desire for power set himself on fire, the sentient armour that is basically Judge Dredd with a big axe and Nordom, the best character ever. Nordom is a modron gone rogue and modrons are sentient geometric shapes that live in a strict hierarchy.

Nordom: ”I think, therefore I am, I think.”

The mechanics in this game are not that good, to be honest. The combat is tedious and boring and some stats are really useless because it will make you miss out on a large portion of the game. Going mage is the most viable option since it will allow you to see the most of the written dialogue that is in the game. All of this is however redeemed by the amazing the writing, the unforgiving choices you have to make in the game and the journey that can eventually end in a way of different manners.

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Fuck yeah! Nice job Dragula! Been waiting for someone to do this game.
 
Pictures would be nifty. I always had a lingering curiosity about this title ever since I saw the (kinda crappy) trailer for it in my Fallout 2 installation/setup. Back then, I had much simpler tastes, and just seeing what looked to be a medieval "thing" (when that's all it took to sell me on the wonder that was Hexen- and thank God for that!) piqued my fancy. But I never got around to obtaining the actual game, so I'd love to be able to sneak a peak and figure out what it was that captivated so many, and potentially what I so sorely missed out on. =)
 
A review I read says
"PS:T's engine is Infinity engine. but this engine is focused only on real time D&D. this engine is lacking of many things: such as simulating living world, various skill to provide multiple solution. and that's the worst problem of PST. While PST is focused on story, they used an engine which is lacking of adventure features.
the only thing you can do outside of combat is just choosing dialogue options and this make player bystander of story not real player of story.

The hero, "Nameless one" is not avatar of player himself.
He has his own history, patterns of behavior and attitude.
So while in dialogue, player just choose one of possibility of the hero and that choice is limited by the hero's stat.
so, the only choices player can determind is just raising stats.

Someone can set forth a counterargument like " you can choose good or evil".
but this choice between good and evil is pointless since choosing good is always better choice: choosing good provides more experience and exploit of behind story."

He also criticised PTS' story too but I'm just too lazy to translate.
 
A review I read says
"PS:T's engine is Infinity engine. but this engine is focused only on real time D&D. this engine is lacking of many things: such as simulating living world, various skill to provide multiple solution. and that's the worst problem of PST. While PST is focused on story, they used an engine which is lacking of adventure features.
the only thing you can do outside of combat is just choosing dialogue options and this make player bystander of story not real player of story.

The hero, "Nameless one" is not avatar of player himself.
He has his own history, patterns of behavior and attitude.
So while in dialogue, player just choose one of possibility of the hero and that choice is limited by the hero's stat.
so, the only choices player can determind is just raising stats.

Someone can set forth a counterargument like " you can choose good or evil".
but this choice between good and evil is pointless since choosing good is always better choice: choosing good provides more experience and exploit of behind story."

He also criticised PTS' story too but I'm just too lazy to translate.

Thank you for sharing that crappy review in broken English for us all to enjoy.
 
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