I completed this game a few weeks ago, and frankly, if I have to pick one of my most favorite single player CRPG, there's a huge chance that I'd pick this one.
When I first heard about the game, an immortal character with a floating skull as his companion in some city in the middle of worlds, I didn't know what to think about it. In fact, I hadn't even heard much about it aside from that. However, when I bought a RPG Pack to get Fallout 2, Planescape Torment was included as well. After playing a few rounds of Fallout 2, I decided to give PS:T a whirl as well... and in the end, it has got to be one of my most luckiest product I ever bought.
First off, I love the setting. Sigil, it's unlike anything I had seen before, the atmosphere had a different sense to it. At some point, it becomes a usual sight to see a demon from hell walk by who's minding his own business as just a backdrop. The most unheard-off things become a reality. Hell, you'll only be vaguely surprised when someone asks for you to collect his head. And the various planes that you discover at later points are all interesting as well.
I would also say that the game features got to be one of the most finely crafted storylines I've ever played. It starts out so simple... the main character, the Nameless One, wakes up at the mortuary with a floating skull, Morte, next to him, without his memory. A simple start, and thus a simple story, you say? Well, you just might be terribly wrong about that. As you move out of the Mortuary and into Sigil itself, and even on to other planes, the storyline begins to branch out in many ways. Throughout the game, each time whenever I thought that I had finally figured things out, a new plot twist was thrown into the mix, and I wasn't sure what to think any more(the little scene at the end of the first plane that you visit, comes to mind). And that's a trend that the game kept on having, up to the very end where there was still one big surprise in store for me. Quite a few philosophical touches in there as well. And the ending... good lord, it's good. Maybe not too long, but incredible, to the point, and just... beautiful.
The characters that you meet up throughout the adventure are just wild, and bloody diverse, which could be expected from the setting. And the various characters that you'll end up having in your party are quite different from your standard party as well. A Succubus who gave up sex, a floating skull, a man who's continually on fire to name but a few. Yet each character is also worked out in their own way, have bloody vibrant personalities, and each share some sort of background story as well, often tied in with the Nameless One(the main character).
Finally, what surprised me the most is that the lack of combat in this game. As an estimate, I would say that about 90-95% of the game is spent talking and working things out, while 5-10% is spent on actual combat, and even then, a lot can be avoided. Yes, you will get into quite a few scrapes, but most XP that you will get is done by finding out more things about the Nameless One. I can say that the Wisdom statistic can be the most important in this game. The more wisdom you have, the more that the Nameless One can remember, and the more of the storyline that you can unlock.
Replayability galore as well. There is, apparantly, no way that you can unlock the entire storyline on your first play. There are apparantly also quite a few changes on wether you play a good or evil character. Finally, there are NPCs that you might've missed on your first playthrough. Hell, I missed a character named Dak'kon on my first runthrough and missed a lot of content because of that.
I'm going a bit more story-specific here. If you haven't finished Planescape: Torment, don't even think of reading this paragraph, I mean it. I went through this game spoiler-free, and good lord, it was an enjoyable experience.
- Good lord, it took me a long time to figure out how to get to Ravel's maze. Literally took me months until I finally found it. Once I finally found the portal, the one thing that I had been missing, I pretty much completed the game in 1-2 days.
- I missed Dak'kon on my first playthrough, and only recently recruited him. Is he really as closely tied to the storyline? From what I can remember, wasn't he part of the Nameless One's party who managed to get to the Negative Plane?
- Was I the only one who was really surprised when they met up with Ravel? She was the exact opposite of how I had expected her...
- At the Pillar of Skulls, I lost about 30 permanent HP to that damn thing. I just couldn't put Morte in there, that's just too cruel(and I want to reserve that for when I move through the game as an evil NO). The only thing I could offer was the location of the devil who was tricked. What else could I have given to him?
- What are you some of the plot twists that stayed with you? The ones that stand out for me are when the true nature of the shadows was unveiled. Knowing that just someone dies whenever the Nameless One died... that was sheer 'jaw-open' material. Or when Ravel still lived and was visited by the Transcendent One. Really put a spin on things. And naturally, when the true nature of the Transcendent One was revealed. That really made the storyline complete for me. At first, I expected that the game would turn into a 'hero-loses-memory-hero-finds-out-that-he-did-bad-things-hero-goes-angsty-hero-kills-bad-guy'-story. When the Transcent One was introduced, I thought that confirmed it. When he revealed that he was the player's mortality(my character didn't have the wisdom to figure it out himself), it really made things complete. The fact that my character had actually been chasing that which had been trying to hold him off for so long just put a grin on my face as well when I realised it.
- The meeting with the three other Nameless One's was nice as well. Very nice to finally meet the previous personalities that had been through the same torment as the main character had.
- Argh, bloody hell, what was it painful to see all the characters die at the castle of regrets. And Ignus betrayal hurt, in a way, as well. Yes, he had said it numerous times, but I didn't actually expect to see him do it. He had been my favorite mage throughout the game as it is, saving the party at various points as well. (resurrecting Morte had me laughing out loud tho', that was brilliant)
- Overall, I found the Castle of Regrets a fun final setting. Really liked how you only were capable of playing the Nameless One at the end, it really brought the plot back into the hands of one where everything started with. The initial room was a challenge, my character was unable to handle the shadows so had to run from them. Having to do it, while coupled with short scenes where the party members who had been with the Nameless One made it a very painful experience. (especially Anna's... that one was almost heart-breaking)
- I still can't get over the fact over how damn perfect the ending is. That shot of where the Nameless One is looking at the Blood War in action really got to me, gave me bloody goosebumps. I found the Blood War a very fascinating subject and kept on asking about it to anyone I'd meet to see what I could find out about it. To see it featured at the end was magnificent. And to finally see the Nameless One grab a weapon, look at it, then move off to fight in a war where he will, finally, die while he leaves his journal behind... well, I can't imagine a better ending. Pretty much from the start, things looked bleak and PS:T could not end on a happy note, it couldn't. And yet, knowing that he will die(Come on, it IS the Blood War. I don't care how powerful the Nameless One is at that point, it's war that you just can't survive in for long) made the ending better.
- What can change the nature of a man?
I like how this question is never really answered... is it?
Well, I've ranted enough, I reckon. In summary :
"Planescape: Torment rocks."
When I first heard about the game, an immortal character with a floating skull as his companion in some city in the middle of worlds, I didn't know what to think about it. In fact, I hadn't even heard much about it aside from that. However, when I bought a RPG Pack to get Fallout 2, Planescape Torment was included as well. After playing a few rounds of Fallout 2, I decided to give PS:T a whirl as well... and in the end, it has got to be one of my most luckiest product I ever bought.
First off, I love the setting. Sigil, it's unlike anything I had seen before, the atmosphere had a different sense to it. At some point, it becomes a usual sight to see a demon from hell walk by who's minding his own business as just a backdrop. The most unheard-off things become a reality. Hell, you'll only be vaguely surprised when someone asks for you to collect his head. And the various planes that you discover at later points are all interesting as well.
I would also say that the game features got to be one of the most finely crafted storylines I've ever played. It starts out so simple... the main character, the Nameless One, wakes up at the mortuary with a floating skull, Morte, next to him, without his memory. A simple start, and thus a simple story, you say? Well, you just might be terribly wrong about that. As you move out of the Mortuary and into Sigil itself, and even on to other planes, the storyline begins to branch out in many ways. Throughout the game, each time whenever I thought that I had finally figured things out, a new plot twist was thrown into the mix, and I wasn't sure what to think any more(the little scene at the end of the first plane that you visit, comes to mind). And that's a trend that the game kept on having, up to the very end where there was still one big surprise in store for me. Quite a few philosophical touches in there as well. And the ending... good lord, it's good. Maybe not too long, but incredible, to the point, and just... beautiful.
The characters that you meet up throughout the adventure are just wild, and bloody diverse, which could be expected from the setting. And the various characters that you'll end up having in your party are quite different from your standard party as well. A Succubus who gave up sex, a floating skull, a man who's continually on fire to name but a few. Yet each character is also worked out in their own way, have bloody vibrant personalities, and each share some sort of background story as well, often tied in with the Nameless One(the main character).
Finally, what surprised me the most is that the lack of combat in this game. As an estimate, I would say that about 90-95% of the game is spent talking and working things out, while 5-10% is spent on actual combat, and even then, a lot can be avoided. Yes, you will get into quite a few scrapes, but most XP that you will get is done by finding out more things about the Nameless One. I can say that the Wisdom statistic can be the most important in this game. The more wisdom you have, the more that the Nameless One can remember, and the more of the storyline that you can unlock.
Replayability galore as well. There is, apparantly, no way that you can unlock the entire storyline on your first play. There are apparantly also quite a few changes on wether you play a good or evil character. Finally, there are NPCs that you might've missed on your first playthrough. Hell, I missed a character named Dak'kon on my first runthrough and missed a lot of content because of that.
I'm going a bit more story-specific here. If you haven't finished Planescape: Torment, don't even think of reading this paragraph, I mean it. I went through this game spoiler-free, and good lord, it was an enjoyable experience.
- Good lord, it took me a long time to figure out how to get to Ravel's maze. Literally took me months until I finally found it. Once I finally found the portal, the one thing that I had been missing, I pretty much completed the game in 1-2 days.
- I missed Dak'kon on my first playthrough, and only recently recruited him. Is he really as closely tied to the storyline? From what I can remember, wasn't he part of the Nameless One's party who managed to get to the Negative Plane?
- Was I the only one who was really surprised when they met up with Ravel? She was the exact opposite of how I had expected her...
- At the Pillar of Skulls, I lost about 30 permanent HP to that damn thing. I just couldn't put Morte in there, that's just too cruel(and I want to reserve that for when I move through the game as an evil NO). The only thing I could offer was the location of the devil who was tricked. What else could I have given to him?
- What are you some of the plot twists that stayed with you? The ones that stand out for me are when the true nature of the shadows was unveiled. Knowing that just someone dies whenever the Nameless One died... that was sheer 'jaw-open' material. Or when Ravel still lived and was visited by the Transcendent One. Really put a spin on things. And naturally, when the true nature of the Transcendent One was revealed. That really made the storyline complete for me. At first, I expected that the game would turn into a 'hero-loses-memory-hero-finds-out-that-he-did-bad-things-hero-goes-angsty-hero-kills-bad-guy'-story. When the Transcent One was introduced, I thought that confirmed it. When he revealed that he was the player's mortality(my character didn't have the wisdom to figure it out himself), it really made things complete. The fact that my character had actually been chasing that which had been trying to hold him off for so long just put a grin on my face as well when I realised it.
- The meeting with the three other Nameless One's was nice as well. Very nice to finally meet the previous personalities that had been through the same torment as the main character had.
- Argh, bloody hell, what was it painful to see all the characters die at the castle of regrets. And Ignus betrayal hurt, in a way, as well. Yes, he had said it numerous times, but I didn't actually expect to see him do it. He had been my favorite mage throughout the game as it is, saving the party at various points as well. (resurrecting Morte had me laughing out loud tho', that was brilliant)
- Overall, I found the Castle of Regrets a fun final setting. Really liked how you only were capable of playing the Nameless One at the end, it really brought the plot back into the hands of one where everything started with. The initial room was a challenge, my character was unable to handle the shadows so had to run from them. Having to do it, while coupled with short scenes where the party members who had been with the Nameless One made it a very painful experience. (especially Anna's... that one was almost heart-breaking)
- I still can't get over the fact over how damn perfect the ending is. That shot of where the Nameless One is looking at the Blood War in action really got to me, gave me bloody goosebumps. I found the Blood War a very fascinating subject and kept on asking about it to anyone I'd meet to see what I could find out about it. To see it featured at the end was magnificent. And to finally see the Nameless One grab a weapon, look at it, then move off to fight in a war where he will, finally, die while he leaves his journal behind... well, I can't imagine a better ending. Pretty much from the start, things looked bleak and PS:T could not end on a happy note, it couldn't. And yet, knowing that he will die(Come on, it IS the Blood War. I don't care how powerful the Nameless One is at that point, it's war that you just can't survive in for long) made the ending better.
- What can change the nature of a man?
I like how this question is never really answered... is it?Well, I've ranted enough, I reckon. In summary :
"Planescape: Torment rocks."
The answer is maybe.