PlaneScape: Torment - Sweet, Beautiful Torment

[StewShearerOld]

PlaneScape: Torment - Sweet, Beautiful Torment

Considered by many to be one of the best RPGs ever made, PlaneScape: Torment delivers a surreal, almost insanely deep experience filled with questions and ideas that few other games would dare to broach upon.

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[Barbas]

(Snip).

The title says 'PlaneScape: Torment - Swe' (Insert roflcopter joke here).

OT: I've heard a lot of people saying that this game reduced them to tears. I can't believe it's been sitting unplayed in my GOG library for nearly a year. I gotta get round to it...

 

[Silence]

As someone who played this late, I can agree with this review 100%.
Well, I did cheat a little on the last part because fuck the combat, but for everything else: It's pretty much the best story (maybe narrative would be a better word) I have yet experienced in a videogame.

Well, if you play it, mod the resolution first. Do yourself the favor. Otherwise, just get in on the ride.

Edit: Oh, and prepare to read. A lot.

 

[Clive Howlitzer]

I remember the first time I played Torment, I was drawn in but bored of it at the same time. I put it down three times before finally sitting down and letting it absorb me. In a way, I almost wish I hadn't because I've been at least partially disappointed in every RPG since because none of them could come anywhere near Torment. Even a few of gamings "Golden Childs" of RPGs just pale in comparison.

 

[craddoke]

It's hard to explain to someone who hasn't played it how far beyond every other CRPG Planescape really is -- and not just the paint-by-numbers games; even the other classics like Fallout and Baldur's Gate suffer by comparison.

You know what can change the nature of a man? This game.

 

[Uratoh]

I'll agree...this game's combat is somewhat of a burden, but at the same time doesn't actually drag it under. Sometimes you just have to enjoy the absolute absurdity of it, too...


When you can send a signal to the plane of Law to fire their gigantic death cannon through a magical portal at targets you designate...you just kind of start to understand how crazy things can get.

 

[demented]

Yes, PS:T is something you have to experience for yourself. I love CRPGs like Baldur's Gate and DA:O, but nothing has come close to what this game achieved. It is, simply put, a masterpiece

I have come across nothing else like it and the only other game out there that means as much to me is Shenmue.

 

[Anachronism]

Well, I did cheat a little on the last part because fuck the combat.

More specifically: fuck Curst Prison. That dungeon was so atrocious that I almost gave up on the game, and it tainted a lot of what came after until I was able to calm down and look at it rationally.

Still, as much as that part of the game sucks - and the quality does drop markedly once you leave Sigil - Planescape is still one of the best RPGs ever made. As per the review, it has perhaps the best story in gaming and actually uses the fact that it is a game to tell a story that you couldn't tell in any other medium. It's a role-playing game whose story is fundamentally about role-playing games, and that's a lot of what makes it so engaging.

 

[StewShearerOld]

(Snip).

The title says 'PlaneScape: Torment - Swe' (Insert roflcopter joke here).

OT: I've heard a lot of people saying that this game reduced them to tears. I can't believe it's been sitting unplayed in my GOG library for nearly a year. I gotta get round to it...

Oddness... I'll just blame it on our back end as it wasn't like that last night.

Regardless, thanks for pointing this out and it's fixed!

 

[Random Gamer]

As others said, it's definitely the best story I've ever seen in a video game.

One day, I may find a better one, but I don't know when it'll happen. Odds are that I'll have to wait quite a long time.

 

[Imre Csete]

They don't write games like this these days. Screw this cinematic voiced characters fad in the AAA industry. I've played it ages ago, but I can still remember the dialogue at some of the most awesome moments in the game by heart. Especially TTO's booming monologues.

 

[MiracleOfSound]

Absolutely adored this game, such a beautiful, sad, thoughtful world full of memorable characters and profound themes. Agree with the guy who said it's (by quite a margin) the best story in gaming.

 

[GrimSerious]

That game which truly delivers on it's hype, if you give it enough time to do so.
The payoff might be too far out of reach for many gamers not familiar with older, slower games. Can't blame them.

 

[ohnoitsabear]

More specifically: fuck Curst Prison. That dungeon was so atrocious that I almost gave up on the game, and it tainted a lot of what came after until I was able to calm down and look at it rationally.

That part of the game is one of the big reasons that I stopped playing for over six months. The only reason I got through it was by continuously sending the Nameless One on a suicide mission to kill one or two guys at a time.

But damn, is that game good. Easily the best writing in any game I have ever played. I can't think of a single thing that comes even close.

I'm also super stoked for Tides of Numenara. If that one is even half as good as Planescape, it will be incredible. Too bad it's still a long ways out.

 

[Spushkin]

Not only is the game all sorts of awesome, but the HD mod let's it shine like never before. It's just insanely beautiful at high resolutions.

 

[Blitsie]

I was quite young when I first played it and think its about time I give it another go, especially with a some Uni philosophy experience behind me now. Bet it will be quite different for me now XD

Absolutely can't wait for Tides of Numenara though, gosh I'm loving this return to good old times with Divinity Original Sin and Wasteland 2 and such.

 

[Imperioratorex Caprae]

Was an absolutely beautiful game set in my honest to God favorite D&D campaign setting. I was and still am a huge fan of Planescape's 'verse and this game captured the majesty of Sigil. Actually it gave me a better sense of the City of Doors than the books did, and inspired many campaigns. I'll admit I took some plot mechanics and other pieces from Torment for my own games but nothing direct, just some inspired by sections.
I think I've spent years on that game since it came out and still keep finding little things I didn't notice (or even run across) while playing through the first time. For its time, the game world felt alive.

EDIT: Also modern players should definitely use this guide to play Torment on modern PCs. Definitely worth it.
http://thunderpeel2001.blogspot.com/2009/01/planescape-torment-fully-modded.html

 

[briankoontz]

It's a one-of-a-kind game, made more so by the lack of a sequel. It's beautiful with high artistic vision and succeeded in realizing much of that vision. The love the developers had for the world and it's characters could hardly be more different than the assembly-line garbage the AAA industry typically puts out these days.

Games with great narratives are so rare that every one of them has a strong following. Several games with great narratives came out around the same time - Baldur's Gate 2, Deus Ex, and Anachronox at least three, which led me to the erroneous belief that making a game with a great narrative isn't actually all that difficult. The subsequent years proved me extremely wrong, much to my sadness.

 

[Signa]

The problem with recommending a game like PS:T today to today's gamers is no one expects to read as much as it makes you. Anyone picking up the game should be aware that they are playing a novel, and not some precursor to Mass Effect. That difference alone could kill someone's experience with the game if their expectations are in the wrong place.

 

[Signa]

Games with great narratives are so rare that every one of them has a strong following. Several games with great narratives came out around the same time - Baldur's Gate 2, Deus Ex, and Anachronox at least three, which led me to the erroneous belief that making a game with a great narrative isn't actually all that difficult. The subsequent years proved me extremely wrong, much to my sadness.

1997-2002 were the golden years of gaming. I miss them greatly.

I read an article once that blamed the death of that era on Microsoft with the Xbox. I really don't know how true that really is, but it did show how many games that had been made for the PC switched development for the new console. The classic games that trickled out after the Xbox announcement and release were mostly in development before the announcement took place. Deus Ex 2 certainly gives credence to that theory.