Game News Planescape: Torment: Enhanced Edition Released

[Infinitron]

Tags: Beamdog; Planescape: Torment

With little fanfare since its announcement other than a couple of Twitch streams, Beamdog's Planescape: Torment: Enhanced Edition has been released. For the Codex, what began as an outrage soon turned into boredom as it became clear that the game was pretty much a straight rerelease. With no new content and all new features toggleable, there's nothing truly offensive about it, except perhaps its $20 price tag. It's up to every person to decide what they're willing to pay for a game they already have. For me, that'll be when it's 75% off. I don't have much else to add, so here's Beamdog's release announcement:

The day is finally here! The Beamdog team is proud to release Planescape: Torment: Enhanced Edition.

The journey from PS:T to PST:EE has been an interesting one. From acquiring the license, to deciphering the source code, and working through the unique solutions put in place by the original team, the journey has been filled with valuable lessons, some of which we may bring to our other Infinity Engine Enhanced Edition titles.

We’d like to thank the original Black Isle team for bringing Planescape: Torment into this world. We’re all fans of the original and having the chance to bring games like this to both a new generation of players and back to fans who were there at the beginning is why many of us are here at Beamdog. A special thanks goes out to original Black Isle team members Eric Campanella, Kenneth Lee, and Tim Donley for taking the time to answer questions and point us in the right direction.

Everyone at Wizards of the Coast have been amazing throughout the development and release of Planescape: Torment: Enhanced Edition. They're as excited as we are to see more Dungeons & Dragons fans experience Sigil and the phenomenal Planescape setting for the first time or revisit to the planes to relive one of the greatest stories ever told.

Chris Avellone, as always, has been a joy to work with. Chris, you’re a master of your craft and we cannot thank you enough for the opportunity to bring one of your best works from 1999 to 2017. We loved your work as Lead Designer on PS:T and to have you reprise that role on Planescape: Torment: Enhanced Edition has helped us stay true to the spirit of the original game.

To Qwinn for giving us permission to incorporate your work into Planescape: Torment: Enhanced Edition, you are a pathfinder. We’re excited to see what you and other modders do with PST:EE and all of our other Infinity Engine titles.

To the Beamdog community, we hope you love Planescape: Torment: Enhanced Edition as much as we do. Have fun! Oh, and if you see someone with a PST:EE Beta Tester badge on the forums, give them a high five! They’ve put an incredible amount of work in and their names in the credits are well-deserved.

We would also like to thank our family and friends, all of whom have supported us through this incredible experience. You help us stay grounded and push us to be better. Our success is yours.

Planescape: Torment: Enhanced Edition is available now on Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS, and Android. Head over to www.planescape.com today to purchase your copy from Beamdog, Steam, GoG, Mac App Store, iOS App Store, and Google Play.

See you on the planes, cutters.
​

What next for Beamdog, I wonder? The original Planescape: Torment is no longer available for purchase on GOG (although it is included with the Enhanced Edition as an extra). That leaves Icewind Dale 2 as the last survivor of the original Infinity Engine releases. But enhancing IWD2 seems like it would be a lot of work for little payoff, so I suspect it may remain the odd man out for years to come.

 

[vivec]

Well, I hope they make IWD2 EE. I hate beamdog for what they did with SJWspear and the other EE's are meh, but I really want to play IWD 2 without trash mobs. It has beautiful music and great art. Just get rid of the bazillion goblin, orcs etc and make that game playable. IF they make the encounters with Bosses as is I would totally appreciate it.

 

[vivec]

Infinitron , why do you always rate my posts with Fabulously optimistic?

 

[Shilandra]

I feel like, regardless of what one might feel about beamdog themselves, if they insist on re-releasing the old games this is a good thing.

No changes, quests, or companions added except some proof-reading by Chris and all new options able to be toggled on or off is welcome, and a path I think they should take with any other games they set their eyes on giving an enhanced edition.

Maybe this could encourage them to continue on that minimal changes path. Enticing more people to play the old classics simply through broadened accessibility rather than haphazard attempts at updating or adding content isn't all that bad imo. Especially if it leads people to playing the older games as well.

 

[luj1]

Literally every EE was a cash grab

 

[oldmanpaco]

 

[Gunnar]

Fuck

 

[Drowed]

No unfinished business, so:

 

[aratuk]

Glorious!

 

[laclongquan]

Still, is it so hard to make some new poster image for that game? Sure, not touching the insides of that game is a GOOD thing. but that doesnt mean you can not do something to make it sell better.

The fact that gamewallpapers.com can only make 1 extra image for Numenera and none for Torment just say it all about the games' marketing effort in graphic fanservice~

 

[Goral]

Making news about these parasites is a major decline.

aratuk
I don't see how you can read on a display as small as this.

 

[Lady_Error]

Those Beamdog modders should take the Planescape license and butcher together create a new game. It'd be almost certainly shit, but you never know. Put them all on drugs for a month to come up with the proper ideas.

 

[aratuk]

aratuk
I don't see how you can read on a display as small as this.

Reading isn't as much of a problem as manipulating the interface. (And the font size is adjustable.) It was ported with tablets in mind, I'm sure, but as it wasn't too many extra steps to add phone compatibility, they went ahead and did it. On iOS apps can be restricted as iPad-only, and I don't have an iPad, so I can't buy, for instance, Jeff Vogel's iPad ports of the Avernum series.

However, I bought this game fully knowing it would be fiddly and annoying to play on my phone, and I'm happy with my purchase. I imagine a lot of people are going to buy it for the first time, expecting something analogous to the full PC experience on their phones, and be very whiny in the reviews they leave for the developer.

 

[Lady_Error]

The future of gaming:

 

[aratuk]

The future of gaming:

It was more remarkable when someone ported Doom to the black-and-white iPod with click wheel.
How I learned to stop worrying and love the bomb.

 

[Aenra]

The future of gaming

I came to leave a pile of steaming excrement as a token of my appreciation for this enhanced edition, but since you mentioned this..

Something i only realized after coming here, is what younger fucking disgusting i hate them kids are missing.
Used to be a 'a game' was something special. It had a direct connection to some of the books right behind you on that old bookshelf, it required reading; just like said same books. It entailed your having done your homework (yeah mom.. honest!), ie you'd worked for the experience, it meant being late in the evening, dark because of the screens back then (and the equivalent mood due to that of course. I think to most of us night=magical). And a wonder-coaster due to the novelty of the whole thing. While unwanted, the experience also taught you something, as you had to possess some knowledge to play the damn things.

Today they just buy a ready-made shity gamebox that weighs nothing and play them on the bus, in the coffee shop, the diner, at school. Anywhere. Just another gizmo.

Not only did they never capture the magic of it all, they also lose in the enjoyment factor. Too easy, too accessible, too.. common. No sense of having done or earned something before they can get down to it.

Anyway

 

[RationalLunatic]

Aenra

 

[Drog Black Tooth]

Does it include any of Qwinn's or other modder's fixes?

 

[vivec]

Gaming is serious guize. Don't mess with it.

 

[DramaticPopcorn]

Well, I hope they make IWD2 EE. I hate beamdog for what they did with SJWspear and the other EE's are meh, but I really want to play IWD 2 without trash mobs. It has beautiful music and great art. Just get rid of the bazillion goblin, orcs etc and make that game playable. IF they make the encounters with Bosses as is I would totally appreciate it.

All EEs Beamdog makes have little to no changes to original content, only some stuff of questionable quality added and engine tweaked somewhat.
You hope they make significant changes to original content for that one game that you would want them to remake.

What's with that fucking leap of logic there matey?

 

[vivec]

Well, I hope they make IWD2 EE. I hate beamdog for what they did with SJWspear and the other EE's are meh, but I really want to play IWD 2 without trash mobs. It has beautiful music and great art. Just get rid of the bazillion goblin, orcs etc and make that game playable. IF they make the encounters with Bosses as is I would totally appreciate it.

All EEs Beamdog makes have little to no changes to original content, only some stuff of questionable quality added and engine tweaked somewhat.
You hope they make significant changes to original content for that one game that you would want them to remake.

What's with that fucking leap of logic there matey?

Hope != logic?

 

[Delbaeth]

So, now the best selling game on GOG is NWN.

Thus, Planescape: Torment will be in the darkness again for every newcomer who would like to try best selling classics first. All hopes for the new generation are lost. Again.

Well played.

 

[Drowed]

Well, I hope they make IWD2 EE. I hate beamdog for what they did with SJWspear and the other EE's are meh, but I really want to play IWD 2 without trash mobs. It has beautiful music and great art. Just get rid of the bazillion goblin, orcs etc and make that game playable. IF they make the encounters with Bosses as is I would totally appreciate it.

All EEs Beamdog makes have little to no changes to original content, only some stuff of questionable quality added and engine tweaked somewhat.
You hope they make significant changes to original content for that one game that you would want them to remake.

What's with that fucking leap of logic there matey?

Hope != logic?

At this level of hope, you should call it delusion.

 

[Tom Baker's Arse]

The future of gaming

I came to leave a pile of steaming excrement as a token of my appreciation for this enhanced edition, but since you mentioned this..

Something i only realized after coming here, is what younger fucking disgusting i hate them kids are missing.
Used to be a 'a game' was something special. It had a direct connection to some of the books right behind you on that old bookshelf, it required reading; just like said same books. It entailed your having done your homework (yeah mom.. honest!), ie you'd worked for the experience, it meant being late in the evening, dark because of the screens back then (and the equivalent mood due to that of course. I think to most of us night=magical). And a wonder-coaster due to the novelty of the whole thing. While unwanted, the experience also taught you something, as you had to possess some knowledge to play the damn things.

Today they just buy a ready-made shity gamebox that weighs nothing and play them on the bus, in the coffee shop, the diner, at school. Anywhere. Just another gizmo.

Not only did they never capture the magic of it all, they also lose in the enjoyment factor. Too easy, too accessible, too.. common. No sense of having done or earned something before they can get down to it.

Anyway

Aenra :

 

[vivec]

Well, I hope they make IWD2 EE. I hate beamdog for what they did with SJWspear and the other EE's are meh, but I really want to play IWD 2 without trash mobs. It has beautiful music and great art. Just get rid of the bazillion goblin, orcs etc and make that game playable. IF they make the encounters with Bosses as is I would totally appreciate it.

All EEs Beamdog makes have little to no changes to original content, only some stuff of questionable quality added and engine tweaked somewhat.
You hope they make significant changes to original content for that one game that you would want them to remake.

What's with that fucking leap of logic there matey?

Hope != logic?

At this level of hope, you should call it delusion.

Did you even read my post? Or is your prejudice clouding your judgement, youngling? I *know* they are terrible and IWD2 is the *only* IE game left now. So they will probably get their hands on it. I was just hoping that they do this one thing, which I *can* guess they won't.