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Model for CRPGs and epic gaming

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 7 / 8
Date: May 28, 2003
Author: Amazon User

Years after its release, Planescape: Torment is still the model for computer role playing games. While the Infinity Engine is now dated and the resolution in this game is poor by today's standards, the presentation - setting, mood, colors, effects - is outstanding and should serve as a model for game design.

Torment is based on AD&D rules and an overlooked AD&D campaign setting, Planescape. Torment is true to its pen-and-paper roots, automating the cumbersome rules and allowing enjoyable, structured gameplay and character development. The game is designed in the spirit of the Fallout series, Black Isle Studios' first smash-hit CRPG line, which means lots of reading and lots of interactive dialogue choices which monopolize a lot of game time. The game uses a modified version of the Infinity Engine used in Bioware's "Baldur's Gate" series, also part of the family of AD&D-based CRPGs.

The game puts you in the role of the Nameless One, a perfect character for customization and self-discovery, which are what make this game so attractive. The story has several elements of the standard myth, but your character is strangely post-modern and existential. You will encounter a wide variety of settings, styles, and characters as you travel around Sigil, the city at the center of the universe, and the worlds to which it is connected. You will have an enormouse amount of freedom to act and explore, which may sometimes have you exploring for hours off the main track of the storyline. Because of this, Planescape: Torment may take over 100 hours to complete just for the first time. However, with sufficient focus I am certain it could be done in half that time.

Replay value is high, because you can play the game with a different personality, play style, and different companions. The game may seem to have dated graphics, but the sound is still top-notch, and the game programming is robust. Load times may be hard to stomach, but it should be easier if you follow online instructions to move the entire game from CD to hard drive or virtual CD.

Be careful, though, this game will cause you to want to talk about its philosophical ramifications to friends who will be absolutely lost after you get absorbed into the world of Planescape. The game is best played in really big blocks of time (8+ hours) followed by reflection about how great the game is. I'm serious about that.

By all means, purchase a copy of this game and play it. Play it like you mean it, and absorb everything the game has to offer in sound, mood, setting, and storyline. Game designers take note: this game is what we should be making now, with today's audio and video capabilities. Planescape: Torment has the best story of any game made to date, and it totally dominates the gameplay experience. Thinking about this game gives me hope for the future of RPGs as interactive novels and world-as-playground games that tease the mind and excite the imagination. This is the game that sets the bar for an entire genre.

SUPER NICE GAME!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 7 / 8
Date: April 11, 2006
Author: Amazon User

I loved this game!
I played it about 4 years ago. Black Isle strikes again
with a fantastic game ...

You can only play one character (the nameless one) but he is
super cool. He NEVER dies! lol ... well he can but then he gets back up again and ready to fight again. So, you can't actually get killed for good in this game.

You can join up with several NPC's, one being a floating skull
named, Morte. He is very cool to have around and is very powerful in high levels. There is even a somewhat romance for
the main character ... she's got a tail (laughs) and she is very neat to have around.

The graphics are superb, the storyline is one of the best I've seen and the combat system I just loved. Very easy to use controls and has dungeon crawl galore.

It's been awhile since I actually played it, but if I remember right, you can play 3 different classes. A fighter, a thief or a mage. The fighter class is by far the best one to go with.

You basically start out in a dungeon, lying on a hospital table, and then are greeted by Morte who will help you get started with how the game works, your fighting, journal, etc. He will then join up with you and help you escape the place. There is much to do right from the beginning, trying to escape. I don't wanna give away too much, because it is a very awesome storyline.
I will add however, as the story unfolds your character finds out more about himself. Why is is there and what lies ahead for him. It's hard to explain, but I am sure you will love it.

Give it a try, you will not regret it.

Also has a nice modding community on sorcerers.net.

BUY AND PLAY THIS GAME!

Ciao.

The best book you will EVER play... I feel STRONGER!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 8 / 10
Date: November 07, 2003
Author: Amazon User

there is little i can say about this game that all previous accolades have not touched upon. i just recently dug this gem out of my closet and installed it for the first time since 2000, and though i don't have a lot of free time to play it, the time spent is time well invested! even for 640x480 graphics, the detail is amazing (why was there never a hi-res patch?) and looks a lot better than other CRPGs of its time. this is one of few games that, in modern times, i can play and not even care if it's 3d accelerated. and for those who have problems with load times, etc., there is a way to copy the game files to your hard drive for faster access. look it up on the web.

torment's story is a cut above any i have seen in a game. only tom hall's masterpiece "Anachronox" even comes close in terms of quality dialogue. you can get more experience from talking than fighting, many times, IF you know what to say. there were many times that i wish i had saved before talking to some random person, because of other dialog options i wanted to try. in order to play torment to its fullest, you'd literally have to save thousands of times, just to be able to say everything possible to everyone. but if you had the time, it'd be worth every second. you have characters who join your party who don't always get along, and sometimes of you say or do the wrong thing, they will turn against you! but Morte steals the show, of course. i think the defining moment the first time i ever played this game was the time i was standing around in the streets, and he literally wandered away on his own to go talk to a hooker! that's when i KNEW i was on to something special. not to mention the irony that a little floating skull is the best fighter in the whole game (just take note of how seldom you'll ever heal him. he's untouchable!)

i could go on and on and on, but amazon only affords me 1000 words. the Nameless One is such a special character. you start out liking the fellow, because hey, he's the main guy, and he has no memory and i guess there are some pity points involved, but as you play deeper, you (and him as well) discover that in past lives he wasn't always the good guy. in fact, he was sometimes more evil than anyone else you meet in this game! but in a way, this game is his chance at pennance. it's like you (the player) walked in at the one reincarnation in which this guy is most determined to set ALL things right in his existence. even though the characters aren't aware of you guiding them, you still feel like you're down there in Sigil right alongside them. you CARE about this game. there are few higher honors a game can receive. and the ending is so powerful, you hate it deeply but know it's the way it had to be. tough but fair. and such is the deep meaning and philosophy of this game. i envision this game as a 10-episode movie series. it would be an epic to challenge even Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings in depth and scope. but unless i ever become insanely rich, i guess it won't happen. well, at least we have this game.

i only wish i knew the Nameless One's true name. even when he discovers it, he does not speak it. i suppose it's better that way. by the time he does learn his name, it's the LEAST important thing on his agenda. during the adventure he learns who he is, and what he is and has been, and that truly defines him, not his name. and you can't but help wondering why his companions stick with him the way they do, considering he has wronged them all in previous lives. maybe their compassion goes far deeper than mine, for they know that though it is the same man, he does not remember what he has done to them. this game is deeper than the ocean, deeper than outer space. there may never be anything else like this.

what can change the nature of a man? Planescape: Torment can, and will.

One of the greates games ever made

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 8 / 11
Date: February 19, 2000
Author: Amazon User

This game is a must-have for all fans of RPGs and especially of the game is not short. Unlike other disappointing games, Torment keeps providing twists that keep the story moving and interesting, and it does not end too quickly, which is the main flaw in most RPGs. It is definitely something to be seriously considered when looking at RPGs.

Underrated

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 5 / 5
Date: November 27, 2001
Author: Amazon User

Planescape:Torment is one of the most underrated games I know. I have not found another to surpass it in terms of character interaction, imagination, and pure quirky humor. Any roleplay fan who hasn't played it yet should rectify that error as soon as possible.

The Greatest of all RPGs

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 5 / 5
Date: August 28, 2002
Author: Amazon User

Despite nearly a complete lack of publicity at the time of its release and generally poor sales, Planescape: Torment is as close to the absolute paradigm for a game as I can think of. The graphics, though dated, and indeed the entire game itself display a artistic character, darkness and maturity that Black Isle has yet to duplicate. The characters are each unique, interesting and suprisingly believable - even the immortal Nameless One, whose quest to find his mortality - to find death - is both grand in scope, masterful in the telling and ironically, easy to relate to, in some way. Torment has it all - themes of love, life, loss and the bonds between people that transcend everything... even death itself. A better story was never told in any game I've seen in my lifetime.

Fun Adventures

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 5 / 5
Date: December 16, 2002
Author: Amazon User

Planscape Torment is a very good game. It combines real life with imortality and fairy tales. You start out in a mortuary not knowing anything and slowly come up to the point where you learn everything. You have to roam around trying to find infomation about where your mortality is. But at the same time you have to complete quests. I'm not sure what happens at the end but I think it's something good.

Hits On All Cylinders

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 5 / 5
Date: September 06, 2005
Author: Amazon User

Planescape is what a top down rpg should be.

It gives you a tremendous story, and if your not in an
rpg for the story you probably should be playing a
shooter. Planescape delivers the story and more. The
visuals are now a bit dated but not very much so, and the
sound quality is still excellent.

If you've been looking for an rpg with some heft to it, you
will enjoy this one alot.

And nowadays its a pretty cheap ride so why not try it?

One of the neatest stories in a game ever!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 5 / 5
Date: October 23, 2005
Author: Amazon User

The people at Black Isle made this for people that want a lot of character developement and story in their RPG's. Well, they succeeded with flying colors. You wake up on a mortuary table with no memories. As the game progresses, you explore Sigil (the city that joins the planes together)and recover your memories and realize that you have some sort of curse of immortality. On your journey to stop the cycle of dying and coming back, you meet a large assortment of very interesting NPC's that will aid you on your quest. All of which have pretty deep, well fleshed out personalities and sometimes keep the player entertained with amusing banter with one another. The game also has a lot of replay value since your choices during conversation and actions you take when interacting with people you meet impact the future choices you'll have. If you're mean, you'll get a reputation and it will precede you. The way you assign your scores also makes a big impact. The higher your wisdom, intelegence and charisma, the more dialogue you will have to choose from. A higher wisdome and intelegence also grants you speedier recovery of your memories. So, playing through as a strong fighter will be very different than playing through as a highly intelegent wizard or a smooth-talking rogue. Ultimately, probably the best RPG I've ever played.

One of the Best RPG's I've come across.

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 5 / 5
Date: February 14, 2008
Author: Amazon User

For some reason, back when this came out I had no warning. All of a sudden it appeared at the Video Game store. I must say that I typically enjoy the products Black Isle puts out and I got quite excited when I saw they had released something in the Planescape setting. I'm probably one of the few die-hard Planescape fans out there. I own all the AD&D books and supplements, as well as the Collectible Card Game. Also, my friends and I are slowly working through playing them all!

Anyway, as for games, my favorite genres are First Person Shooters and Role Playing Games. Once and I while I'll find a good game outside of those genres, but those typically stay my favorite, though there are naturally some flops as well. I am pleased to say that Planescape: Torment is not the latter. In fact this, even after these near ten years since it's release, remains as one of the top RPG's I've ever played, but that could just be my Planescape bias speaking.

For those of us out there who have gotten into playing D&D 3.5 probably won't recognize what Thaco is for, but you have to remember this is based on the Advanced Dungeons and Dragons rules. Regardless, it still doesn't really take away from the game play, if you're a fan of the new rules. As far as this compares against other RPG's, I was shocked that it comes with a pre-made character. Now you do have to choose the class, so you have options in that right. At first I was a little skeptical, but as you go into the story-line you get really into it.

The story-line is what really makes the game. Basically you don't know who you are and you interact with a world that you have to essentially rediscover because you have some sort of strange amnesia. You awaken in the mortuary of Sigil, because the Dustmen thought you were dead. In Planescape Sigil is basically the fulcrum city for access to everywhere else. You get to visit many other planes in this multiverse setting and graphically it's all very impressive. I thought this game really captured the essence and majesty that is the Planescape setting and they really put it together down to the very last detail. I imagine this was immensly difficult considering how large this setting actually is. Naturally it doesn't have EVERYTHING, but it captures the major points at the very least. You come across other characters through your adventures that decide to join you in your path as well and you eventually grow a pretty strong party to face the higher levels. So the game is partially a mystery, but there is a lot of action sequences where your character can choose to fight his way through. In this the script is also very well written, which was something else that really impressed me about this game.

This is one of the closest games I've come across that's very similar to a true D&D campaign. The negatives that some users might walk away with is that it really is only a single player game, so you can't join forces over the net like you can in games like Diablo. Also you're limited to being the Nameless One and once his story line is over, it's pretty much done. However, the ability to play in different classes throughout the game sort of makes up for this factor. It was honestly a small negative for me because I tend to play through games only once then start a new and totally different game. There are only a few games that I will play multiple times over and over.

In the end this is an absolutely enthralling story. I logged a lot of hours playing this game and it easily kept me occupied for a few months. I don't play games all day for long periods of time, rather I tend to play for a few hours each day, so it takes me a long time to complete epic games of this magnitude. If you are a die-hard Planescape fan, like me, then this is absolutely a must buy and if you're also quite the connoisseur of RPG's, then this is definitely a game to look into.

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