Torment Beamdog's Planescape: Torment Enhanced Edition

[Gunnar]

I for one welcome our EE overlords.

Same here. Although I wouldn't really call them overlords as that gives a negative, tyrannical connotation. They are just your friendly neighborhood Enhancers.

They're a big, fatty corpuscle of Decline.

 

[Black Angel]

If a company as big (and shady) as Bethesda would still list these companies despite of their status, I don't see why Beamdog wouldn't.

 

[Fairfax]

This is a fairly random aside, but it strikes me as really weird that we wind up knowing so much about the writers and even the composer and voice actors behind PS:T and so little about the artists. The game's visuals are fantastic and there's no way the game would've made nearly the same impression without them, but I have literally no idea who did the concepts or the execution, and when I look it up on Mobygames, the name Tim Donley means nothing. It's kind of sad that the industry maintains such a blindspot.

Most publishers and studios have always tried to prevent developers from becoming well known. Celebrity devs do offer some perks, which is why some were embraced by their studios, but they also have more leverage when negotiating and more influence over fans. Sid Meier is an example of how a publisher/studio can benefit from it, and the Kojima situation showed why most would rather avoid it.

Artists are more complicated. Their contributions are far more objective and evident, and their portfolios will speak for themselves. Unlike game designers, they can easily move from the games industry to film, television, advertising and so on. A programmer has even more options in that regard, but artistic talent is harder to come by, and the best programmers aren't working on games anyway. It's sad that artists don't get as much recognition, but I think the indie scene has been changing that a bit. Olly Moss is the most popular member of Firewatch's team, for example.

 

[Doctor Sbaitso]

Can't beat good 2D art. Battle Bros. Is a great indie example, but there aren't many others to be frank. Mostly, indie artists have brought us the pixel graphics parade.

 

[Tom Selleck]

hahaha i hate myself i am a true faggot of the decline

 

[Tigranes]

Yes you are

 

[Ismaul]

To anyone missing the point, the www.planescape.com webpage had as title (if you looked at the top of your browser/tab) : PLAN ESCAPE (with the space) instead of Planescape.

It means either Beamdog never understood what Planescape was, or were making loosy joke on people who never understood.
The meaning of the campaign setting never was to escape from planes, but to offer a panorama of planes, so to avoid confusion, TSR made the Lady of Pain's head between PLANE and SCAPE in every Planescape's product.

But here in 2017, we still have people thinking of PLAN-ESCAPE or PLANET-ESCAPE or some kind of bad shit.
Planescape released first in 1994.
Seriously.

The Planes are my home, I wear them like a Cape.

I'm a new type of Ape, a Planesc Ape.

 

[Junmarko]

Yeah, what an outrage that the developer behind Baldur's Gate 1 & 2, Bioware, was omitted in Baldur's Gate Enhanced by Trent Oster, founder of Beamdog. Co-founder of Bioware, Trent Oster, must be furious.

And now they insult Black Isle studios, developer of Planescape: Torment, by not giving credit to them. Who is this Chris Avellone guy leading the re-release of Planescape Enhanced? "ex-Black Isle employee and Lead Designer on Plansc..."

 

[TheHeroOfTime]

Let's be honest: He's prettiest in the image than in the game itself.

 

[oldmanpaco]

Yeah, what an outrage that developer of Baldur's Gate 1 & 2, Bioware, was omitted in Baldur's Gate Enhanced by Trent Oster co-founder of Beamdog.
Co-founder of Bioware, Trent Oster, must be furious. And now they insult Black Isle studios, developer of Planescape Torment, by not giving credit to them. Who is this Chris Avellone guy leading the re-release of Planescape Enhanced "ex-Black Isle employee and lead designer on Plansc...."

The problem of course is that you don't really know if they are irritated or not. These guys have to earn a paycheck. If there is one thing that is evident in the video game industry it is that you do not burn bridges. The money is too scarce to piss people off by complaining about shit that will not effect your current or future prospects.

 

[Stokowski]

Planescape Torment

PlanEscape Torment Enhanced Edition

 

[TheHeroOfTime]

Planescape Torment

PlanEscape Torment Enhanced Edition

I fixed that comparison for you.

 

[TheHeroOfTime]

Btw, now that we're talking about PS:T, Can someone update the avatar list selection with artworks and animated sprites from the game instead of uploading new avatars like Undertale's shitty avatard ones? Thanks.

 

[Sykar]

For people asking what PST:EE offers over the original game + mods, see this section of the FAQ for more in-depth answers. As stated before, it mostly comes down to technical tweaks and quality of life improvements. These may be less important to tech savvy people, but there are others who do appreciate it. For me personally, the biggest improvement would be this:

Smooth Fog of War - In the original game, panning over an area covered by the Fog of War would produce an unpleasant flicker effect

The flickering fog of war effect made it very hard for me to replay BG1, PST and IWD2 ever since I got my first non-CRT monitor. Not sure if this bothers other people at all, but my eyes couldn't take the strain.

Sweet fucking hell, installing mods is now "tech savvy"?

There's more than $20 worth of changes, IMO. Zooming in, highlight interactble objects button, changing text size, 4K and widescreen support and so on are more than enough reason for me to buy it. The new generation of players will also appreciate it when they don't have to scour the bowels of the internet to figure out how to mod the original version and why their game keeps crashing when they mess up some obscure mod setting. Been there, done that. So I'll pay $20 for a nice convenient version that also supports devs who are looking to breathe new life into classic CRPGs.

You really a are a dumbfuck. Most of the stuff they do is readily available with mods and they even said they use some of the mods like Quinns fixpack for bugfixing. Most of the stuff they do is essentially installing the mods for you which you could install yourself in less than 20 minutes for free if you are not a brain dead retard.
Oh, wait....

Yeah, what an outrage that developer of Baldur's Gate 1 & 2, Bioware, was omitted in Baldur's Gate Enhanced by Trent Oster, founder of Beamdog.
Co-founder of Bioware, Trent Oster, must be furious.

And now they insult Black Isle studios, developer of Planescape: Torment, by not giving credit to them. Who is this Chris Avellone guy leading the re-release of Planescape Enhanced? "ex-Black Isle employee and Lead Designer on Plansc..."

Yeah I am sure he did all the hard work by himself. Like creating the tile sets, doing the sprites, animations, etc.

Finding a way to convince people to pay again for something they already have. Marketing 101.

It is like snake oil selling salesmen going to Alaska to sell fridges to the Inuit...

 

[Goral]

Julius Borisov has answered with some bullshit PR talk why they won't credit Black Isle: http://steamcommunity.com/app/46630...47030858/?tscn=1490814082#c135512931349368796

There're legal reasons why the store pages on Steam and on GoG.com only list Beamdog. We can't disclose more information on this front.

As I've mentioned here Bethesda somehow didn't have such problems. aVENGER puts on a brave face but he knows he works in a pathetic, parasitic company. What's annoying me the most is that Chris Avellone is taking part in this scam. Truly shameful display, going from a CCO to this.

 

[Sykar]

Julius Borisov has answered with some bullshit PR talk why they won't credit Black Isle: http://steamcommunity.com/app/46630...47030858/?tscn=1490814082#c135512931349368796

There're legal reasons why the store pages on Steam and on GoG.com only list Beamdog. We can't disclose more information on this front.

As I've mentioned here Bethesda somehow didn't have such problems. aVENGER puts on a brave face but he knows he works in a pathetic, parasitic company. What's annoying me the most is that Chris Avellone is taking part in this scam. Truly shameful display, going from a CCO to this.

Guess he felt that it was inevitable that Parasitedog will cash in on PST so he thought why not siphon some into my own pockets?

 

[Goral]

Guess he felt that it was inevitable that Parasitedog will cash in on PST

Without his blessing anything they would "create" or change would make most gamers furious and I'm not sure if Beamdog would be willing to deal with that.

 

[MRY]

all those IE mods out there should be considered masterpieces too

I actually do think that the fix mods for PST, Arcanum, V:TM:B, and KOTOR2 should be considered, if not masterpieces, at least monumental achievements of some sort.

 

[Deleted Member 16721]

You really a are a dumbfuck. Most of the stuff they do is readily available with mods and they even said they use some of the mods like Quinns fixpack for bugfixing. Most of the stuff they do is essentially installing the mods for you which you could install yourself in less than 20 minutes for free if you are not a brain dead retard.
Oh, wait...

I personally have no problem installing mods, but I'm not ignorant to the problems modding a game can cause and the potential headaches of doing it. The average gamer does not want to mess with mods just to get basic things like widescreen support and convenience features in the game.

 

[Neanderthal]

So this cashgrab by Beamdog int really right enhanced is it? I mean not like massive overhauls that you got from CDPR for Witchers, which thinkin about it were free to previous owners o game instead o costin substantially more. Guess theres a sucker born every minute, ere anyone wanna buy some old rope?

 

[Sykar]

You really a are a dumbfuck. Most of the stuff they do is readily available with mods and they even said they use some of the mods like Quinns fixpack for bugfixing. Most of the stuff they do is essentially installing the mods for you which you could install yourself in less than 20 minutes for free if you are not a brain dead retard.
Oh, wait...

I personally have no problem installing mods, but I'm not ignorant to the problems modding a game can cause and the potential headaches of doing it. The average gamer does not want to mess with mods just to get basic things like widescreen support and convenience features in the game.

Yeah reading a readme is really hard work. Pressing "I" for install even more so.

 

[Junmarko]

The problem of course is that you don't really know if they are irritated or not.

Who is they?

Black Isle & Interplay live on through key industry figures at other companies (Troika R.I.P, Obsidian and inXile) while “Bioware” makes single player MMOs now – led by great minds like "Manveer Heir"

Let’s not pretend it’s some great shame "Bioware" isn't proudly listed next to the title of two games made under the name, 19 years ago. It's not like the people at Bioware since then, have given a fuck about staying true to any kind of legacy anyway.

Dragon Age: Inquisition is just Siege of Dragonspear with 40mil in funding. Ironic that a Black Isle veteren, has had to intervene to make sure this doesn't go down any more weird roads.

 

[existential_vacuum]

Oh, fluent, stop delivering, it's getting old.

 

[Gunnar]

Oh, fluent, stop delivering, it's getting old.

He's like a dog that you just can't stop from eating shit.

 

[Junmarko]

Who is this Chris Avellone guy leading the re-release of Planescape Enhanced? "ex-Black Isle employee and Lead Designer on Plansc..."

Yeah I am sure he did all the hard work by himself. Like creating the tile sets, doing the sprites, animations, etc.

Everyone keeps saying this is disrespectful to Black Isle, then when you point out a key figure from Black Isle is actually involved, it's suddenly disrespectful because the entire art division isn't there too.

Will you just keep going?