Planescape: Torment

1001 Video Games

Planetscape: Torment appears in the book 1001 Video Games You Must Play Before You Die by General Editor Tony Mott.

Add-ons

For both St. Patrick's Day and Easter of 2000 the developers released a pair of character add-ons: Leprechaun Annah and Eastern Egg Morte. These change all the graphics and animations for said characters and, in Morte's case, add new sound samples that were left in the cutting room.

Cover

So who is the guy that appears in the box covers and ads as the Nameless One? Game director Guido Henkel himself (with some heavy makeup and after some digital post-production of course).

Cut content

One feature that didn't make it into the game from the vision document was the ability to change the character's smell.

Cutscenes

In the initial concept for the game the title screen menu was to have an additional tab for viewing the cinematics. Though it was removed for reasons unknown it still made its way into some manuals which state the title screen should have a "Visions" tab for movies.

Development

The creator of the Planescape campaign universe and former TSR creative guru himself Zeb Cook, contributed to the creation of the game along Colin McComb, (who took the Planescape banner at TSR when Cook left), and Guido Henkel, designer of the Realms of Arkania series.

Language

Morte If one is to believe a certain motion-picture-like print ad that ran in late 1998 (you know, the ones that go "so and so present a so and so production starring...") you'll find that Morte's last name is "Rictusgrin".

Music

The music that plays in the Civic Festhall is from the 2nd movement of Vivaldi's concerto for two oboes in D minor.

Novel

There is a novel based on the game written by regular Planescape suplement writters Ray Vallese and Val Vallese. The novel was later included for free with copies of Planescape: Torment when bought from the Interplay Store. A soundtrack CD is also available.

Trailer

There is a promotional trailer for the game featured on earlier Interplay titles like Baldur's Gate (NOT the one featured in the game's page and which includes gameplay shots), that includes completely unseen CGI footage that doesn't appear in any of the game's cutscenes. The trailer shows, among other things: the Lady of Pain floating around, Nordom in the Modron Cube, the Iron Golem roaming a forest, the Nameless One at his tomb, Hargrimm casting a spell, Ignus being consumed (probably his origin?) and several other creatures plus many POV sequences which show places and scenery (you know, the ones that get triggered when you first travel to some location). Rumor has it that this is actually a mix of sequences made solely for promotional purposes and stuff that was cut out of the game for space considerations. In any event, save for a part of the shadow world intro, this is all unseen stuff.

Awards

• Computer Gaming World
  • March 2000 (Issue #188) – Role-Playing Game of the Year
  • March 2000 (Issue #188) – Best Character of the Year (for Morte)
  • March 2000 (Issue #188) – Best Art Direction of the Year (for Morte)
  • October 2004 (Issue #243) – Introduced into the Hall of Fame
• GameSpy
  • 2001 – #45 Top Game of All Time
• PC Powerplay (Germany)
  • Issue 06/2005 - #2 Likeable Secondary Character (for Morte)
  • Issue 11/2005 - #3 Game Which Absolutely Needs A Sequel
  • Issue 12/2006 - #8 Hype Disappointment (the number of sales was disappointing in relation the quality of the game)

Information also contributed by Adam Baratz and SDfish