Planescape: Torment

The Good
I hate RPGs. I find them incredibly annoying. Yet I loved Planescape: Torment. The story was amazing, the atmosphere was amazing, the world was amazing, and there wasn't any of that tedious turn-based fighting that makes RPGs so painful. What a game.

The Bad
Well, I still like games that have all dialogue recorded, instead of having to read text.

The Bottom Line
Atmospheric RPG without any of the bits that make RPGs annoying.

The Good
The second of the Black Isle D&D games. Planescape: Torment, took the high road and instead of setting the game in the wildly popular Forgotten Realms, choose to set it in The Planes. This is easily the best of the five Black Isle games. And unfortunately sold the least copies. Even the abysmal Diablo sold more copies, about ten times more. This is a shame.

In Planescape: Torment, you are cast as The Nameless One. A warrior whom has lived countless lives and can not die. You awaken in The Mortuary, where you meet Morte, whom is a talking skull. (The Mortuary clearly inspired the first area in Baldur’s Gate.) Once you escape you end up in The Hive. From here you try to put the pieces of your fractured life back together. At this point you will have many unanswered questions. Who are you? Can Morte be trusted? And who is that strange woman at The Mortuary?

The plot is very well written, and will keep you guessing. As well as keeping you glued to you monitor. The setting is so unique, it has to be seen to be believed. There are tons of plot twists to keep things interesting.

There are up to five others that can join in your quest. From a pool of eight. The range from a half-demon, half-human thief. To a human mage that is on fire! Your party members may not get along either. As they will threaten each other, and not work well together.

The game controls very similarly to Baldur’s Gate. One thing that you will probably notice right away is how much more of the screen is devoted to the game, unlike Baldur’s Gate pathetic 1/3 crap. The characters are also much larger on screen. And therefore much more detailed. The quest is a long one about 40 hours, with plenty of side quests for all those completers out there.

The battle system, is simple. Like other AD&D games it is turn based in real time. You can pause the game while you make your decisions. Then you either attack, defend, use skills, use magic, or try to flee. Oddly though you can kill your allies in battle why?

Menus are also handled like other such games. Yet in Planescape, it seems to be done better. And when you look at the biography of someone you get this nice art of them. And it is not just PCS that you can view but NPCS and monsters as well.

The Graphics are much better than those fond in Baldur’s Gate. Or even BG II! The strange looking environments look cool. And the alien design makes you feel as if you are in a strange land. PCS and NPCS have huge very detailed sprites. You can even see facial features unlike many of these games. As well as make out the Nameless One’s tattoos. Spell effects are huge and impressive. Particularly more powerful ones like, Call The Lightning, and Power Word: Kill. Different weapons and armor show on you allies.

The Music and Sound department is solid. The voice acting is superb. And feature many well known actors, including Dan Castellaneta, the voice of Homer and many others in “The Simpsons”. The sound effects are loud and sound great. Music is scarce but excels as well. The battle music is one of my favorites.

The Bad
This game is challenging. The hardest of these games. This would not be so bad if it were not for the way it spikes in difficulty. It is not so bad at first but towards the end it gets hectic.

You can screw up your game if you are not careful. And may not be able to finish it. I hate it more than anything when, games pull this shit.

This game was outsold by the crap ass Diablo. Why?

The Bottom Line
Overall fans of Black Isle’s AD&D games and fans of RPGS owe it to themselves to play this game, even if they have to get the version that comes with the horrible Soul Bringer.

The Good
The story. If you want to play an RPG with some intelligence and plot, with just the right amount of fighting, this is the one. A very deep and involving plot (with a LOT of reading), very nicely rendered spell effects, and an excellent interface, all make this one of the best CRPG's around.

The Bad
I don't know if it was just me, but I did not get to a high enough level to even make use of some of my most powerful spells. I finished the game just fine without them, but it would have been fun to try them.

The Bottom Line
This is a top-down (3/4 view) CRPG that takes place in a dark fantasy world derived from the AD&D setting of Sigil, a sort of hub of the universe which has portals that can transport you to various "planes". You play "The Nameless One", who is trying to find out who he is and why he cannot die. His possible companions include Morte, the floating skull, Dakkon, the expert swordsman, and Annah, the sharp tongued, tail wagging, half human/half demon. This is very much an interactive novel with the emphasis on plot development with some fighting/spell casting to spice it up. This is not a bright, cheery game, but there is enough humor interspersed throughout to make this a very enjoyable experience. This is highly recommended.