Review Planescape: Torment - More Fanboy Love

[Jason]

Tags: Black Isle Studios; Planescape: Torment

Richard Nolan penned an <a href="http://www.jolt.co.uk/article/22951/an-ode-to-the-torment/" target="blank">article</a> expressing the many reasons he adores <b>Planescape: Torment</b>.
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<blockquote>Uniqueness and extremely well thought out personality depth define all seven of the player characters who can join The Nameless One's party, every one has a deep and rich history tangled within incarnations of The Nameless One's past. These stories are integrated throughout the game, but not least of all in that PS:T allowed you, unlike previous Black Isle games, to hold conversations with your party characters whenever you desire. These turned out to be very well conceived and often in-depth conversations which, if the right options were chosen throughout the conversation sequence, could massively affect your game - causing the character in question to experience stat gains, generate unique items, leave the party (permanently), or even attack the player.</blockquote>
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Spotted at: <A HREF="http://www.bluesnews.com/">Blue's News</A>

 

[Pastel]

PS:T is dead. Quite obviously, long live PS:T.

 

[MetalCraze]

PS:T is alive. BIS is dead.

 

[Volourn]

I disagree with the premise that ALL 7 of the npcs were good. 2 were awesome (best ever), 3 were okay to good, and 2 flat out sucked.

 

[Redeye]

I disagree with the premise that ALL 7 of the npcs were good. 2 were awesome (best ever), 3 were okay to good, and 2 flat out sucked.

I liked the Vulcan Samurai guy and Mr. Burns

The furry thief, no.

The cleric succubus was ok to good, if lamely ironic.

Vhailor was useful but dull.

Morte was a bit of a juvenile gag but also I liked him a lot anyway.

Nordrom was ok, but mostly just useful. I did like having him for on screen appearance.


I'd pay double-plus for a sequel.

 

[Wyrmlord]

I disagree with the premise that ALL 7 of the npcs were good. 2 were awesome (best ever), 3 were okay to good, and 2 flat out sucked.

Exactly the same here.

I don't know which ones you are thinking of, but...

Ignus and Vhailor are two of the greatest NPCs ever.

Dak'kon, Nordom, and Morte were OK.

Annah and Fall From Grace completely suck.

 

[Dark Matter]

I disagree with the premise that ALL 7 of the npcs were good. 2 were awesome (best ever), 3 were okay to good, and 2 flat out sucked.

Just out of curiosity, which ones were awesome/okay/sucky?

 

[Dark Matter]

My preference of PST companions (from best to worst):
1. Morte - Entertaining and interesting. Usually, the comic relief companions in other games don't have much to offer aside from their humor, but Morte also had a great backstory. Plus he's just an all around nice and likable guy. Probably my favorite companion in any game.
2. Dakkon - Another awesome character with lots of good backstory.
3. Nordom - Funny/cute, but not much else.
4. Fall From Grace - Can't think of anything in particular that makes her stand out, but I enjoyed talking to her.
5. Vhailor - Kinda cool, but pretty one-dimensional.
6. Annah - Ranges from annoying to just meh.
7. Ignus - Unusual and unique, but incredibly annoying to talk to.

 

[Volourn]

"Exactly the same here.

I don't know which ones you are thinking of, but...

Ignus and Vhailor are two of the greatest NPCs ever.

Dak'kon, Nordom, and Morte were OK.

Annah and Fall From Grace completely suck."

WOW! We have almost entirely different taste when it comes to PST companions.


"Just out of curiosity, which ones were awesome/okay/sucky?"

K.

Awesome: Fall From Grace, and Dak'kon

Okay: Morte, Annah, and Vhailor

Sucky: Ignus, and Nordrom.

 

[Forest Dweller]

Awesome: Fall From Grace, and Dak'kon

Okay: Morte, Annah, and Vhailor

Sucky: Ignus, and Nordrom.

Hmm I feel the same. Except, I never got Ignus and Nordrom.

Also, why don't you ever quote properly?

 

[Volourn]

I do quote properly. I use quotations quite fine thank you very much.

 

[Annonchinil]

I really like Morte, especially after you visit the pillar.

 

[ixg]

They were all good. Trust me

 

[Drog Black Tooth]

What I didn't like about the PS:T companions is that most of them looked like they were straight out of a comic book. LOL A FLOATING SKULL, LOL A SUCCUBUS, LOL A BURNING MAN, etc. They just felt too gimmicky.

Having said that, I suppose Dak'kon was most tolerable, and Annah was outright annoying.

 

[Jaime Lannister]

In before PS:T was an adventure game

 

[Carlos' Bitch1]

Planescape was an adventure game.

Damn.

 

[DarkUnderlord]

In after PS:T was an adventure game

 

[Wyrmlord]

What I didn't like about the PS:T companions is that most of them looked like they were straight out of a comic book. LOL A FLOATING SKULL, LOL A SUCCUBUS, LOL A BURNING MAN, etc. They just felt too gimmicky.

Having said that, I suppose Dak'kon was most tolerable, and Annah was outright annoying.

Of course they look like they are out of a comic book.

Isn't that ultimately what PS:T more or less resembles? It is a D&D fantasy game. What is Torment other than "The Adventures Of The Immortal Man - And His Band Of Extraordinary Denizens Of The Planes"? True to itself, it is still a cheesy fantasy story.

What I mean is that no matter how seriously you take any videogame, there will always be an inherent cheesiness and corniness to them. It's a videogame, and it is meant to be cheesy and corny. Just like a comic book.

Yeah, PS:T has nice verbose confrontations, but that's also a part of the whole corniness and cheesiness. "I am that which walks with all life. My voice is a death rattle, a last breath in the throat, the whisper of a dying man." - if you think about it, that's the exact sort of writing you would see in a graphic novel or a comic book. Yeah, that's classy writing, but it takes its place among the kind of writing meant for Sunday morning cartoons.

Do TTO's speeches sound any different from what Anubis is saying here?

Videogames are a medium based on the camp factor. In videogames, we have men in oversized overcoats who wear shades even at night time (Deus Ex), machines with psionic powers and mutants roaming countrysides (STALKER), sniping down of helicopter pilots (CoD4), and underwater cities (BioShock). It's all meant to be fantastical and cheesy, that's what videogames are.

 

[Darth Roxor]

Do TTO's speeches sound any different from what Anubis is saying here?

I think they don't sound that different, just because it's Tony Jay. It sounds a lot more like the Elder God from Legacy of Kain than TTO though.

 

[JarlFrank]

They were all good. Trust me

Yes, they were.
Some were better than others, but none of them were bad. Ignus and Vhalior were one-dimensional, less deep than the others, but there was a reason for it.

 

[Darth Roxor]

Ignus and Vhalior were one-dimensional, less deep than the others, but there was a reason for it.

Vhailor is the best example of a lawful neutral character in existence.

 

[hiver]

All good.

Now we just need TOEE combat system for it and G. Ziets doing some non linear C&C for the story mod.

i know, but i just had to say it.

 

[ghostdog]

Ignus and Vhalior were one-dimensional, less deep than the others, but there was a reason for it.

Vhailor is the best example of a lawful neutral character in existence.

Exactly, all characters were well thought and each one had his own moral code. As for Ingus the fact that all he ever wanted was to burn the world did not make him a shallow character. The background of how he became a powerful magician and how he ended up a burning corpse is very interesting, as well as other small details , like the the embrace that his former lover asked him to give her.

I'm guessing some people don't like Fall from Grace and Annah mainly because there are some romantic options in the conversations, conversations that are , on the other hand, very well written. Otherwise both characters also have a believable and well structured personality.

Oh, and I'd prefer a floating skull, a burning corpse, a mechanical TV with 4 hands and a lawful good succubus cleric than any dnd party, or as a matter of fact, 99% of any other party NPC's in rpg games.

 

[Drog Black Tooth]

What I didn't like about the PS:T companions is that most of them looked like they were straight out of a comic book. LOL A FLOATING SKULL, LOL A SUCCUBUS, LOL A BURNING MAN, etc. They just felt too gimmicky.

Having said that, I suppose Dak'kon was most tolerable, and Annah was outright annoying.

Of course they look like they are out of a comic book.

Isn't that ultimately what PS:T more or less resembles? It is a D&D fantasy game. What is Torment other than "The Adventures Of The Immortal Man - And His Band Of Extraordinary Denizens Of The Planes"? True to itself, it is still a cheesy fantasy story.

What I mean is that no matter how seriously you take any videogame, there will always be an inherent cheesiness and corniness to them. It's a videogame, and it is meant to be cheesy and corny. Just like a comic book.

Yeah, PS:T has nice verbose confrontations, but that's also a part of the whole corniness and cheesiness. "I am that which walks with all life. My voice is a death rattle, a last breath in the throat, the whisper of a dying man." - if you think about it, that's the exact sort of writing you would see in a graphic novel or a comic book. Yeah, that's classy writing, but it takes its place among the kind of writing meant for Sunday morning cartoons.

Do TTO's speeches sound any different from what Anubis is saying here?

Videogames are a medium based on the camp factor. In videogames, we have men in oversized overcoats who wear shades even at night time (Deus Ex), machines with psionic powers and mutants roaming countrysides (STALKER), sniping down of helicopter pilots (CoD4), and underwater cities (BioShock). It's all meant to be fantastical and cheesy, that's what videogames are.

Duh. That's not the point I was trying to make.

I would have preffered if PS:T had relatively "normal" companions, as in a mage dude, a fighter dude, etc instead of freaks. There's no point in having such characters apart from apparent gimmicks. They could have easily made a believable pyromaniac without turning him into a living torch, but by just giving him interesting and complex dialog instead of hissing one-liners.

All in all, PS:T's companions definitely felt cheesy to me. I never felt this way about Arcanum's ones though, all of them were just your usual humans/elves/dwarves/etc, but most of them were interesting in their own way, however I admit they weren't as fleshed-out as PS:T's ones. If you don't count the final area, Arcanum had only one monster follower (Waromon, a lizard man) and the dog.

PS:T just reminds me of a case where developers decide to add as many "cool shit" to a game as possible, thus turning it into a theme park. Or a freak show.

 

[hiver]

I would have preffered if PS:T had relatively "normal" companions, as in a mage dude, a fighter dude, etc instead of freaks.

Fail.
It would be the same as having complete freaks of inter planar freak scene as companions in some ordinary game.
stupid.

a believable pyromaniac without turning him into a living torch

wtf? trolling or double fail.