Very interesting discussion but I do take some minor issue with the comments about the box cover art.
Baldur's Gate is one of the worst box covers ever made, I initially had no clue what the game was about or that it was even DnD. So compared to that cover the Torment cover is pure genius. Unfortunately, the Torment cover is not that great either. It made me think that instead of a standard party based game you would have a single player game, so I totally ignored the game until it was 10 bucks and then picked it up. I also don't remember it saying anything about DnD on the cover at all on the original in those cardboard sleeves.
What is this game? Who made it? What's it about? You have to read the fine print to even figure out who developed and published it, let alone that it is a DnD game. And WTF is a forgotten realm? Awful!
This one at least caught my eye, though it suffered the same problems. If it even said DnD on the cover at all it was microscopic. Plus like BG there is no action of any kind so it does not really even tell you this is some kind of RPG in any way. And a double on the WTF is a planescape? I initially had zero idea this was a DnD game. Looking closer it did not look like a game where you make a party so I cooled on it considerably right away, which turned out to be correct and for my taste a big strike against it. BG series was already a disappointment not being turnbased, if anything the gameplay in this one was even more dilatory.
Now this here is a good game box cover! What is it? DnD RPG! Plus a cool sounding name that does not sound like a game that involves wearing a gimp mask like Torment does., or totally random and meaningless like Baldur's Gate seems. It has an air of mystery and the the game is actually about the thing in the title. You can even see who made the game right away, like every other game box ever except for ones made by BIS for some reason. SSI, wow I know what that is. I've played like a hundred of their games, I should get this one too.
I also have to take a little issue with the whole Henkel and Torment thing that keeps coming up. It just sounds like basically one guy taking credit for the entire production and the guy he doesn't like did nothing at all except wreck the game by being a glory hog and sticking himself on the cover. I doubt that is the case and not what Henkel claims in his Matt Chat interview where he says he was sort of forced into it. Regardless, the cover is a masterpiece compared to those stupid BG covers, which are absolutely the worst RPG covers ever. M&M 7, now that was a great cover! And to answer the one guy, yes back in the 80s and 90s people shopped in stores and covers were important. Back then you competed not just against other RPGs but against the huge myriad of great games from many genres, so if you could not make it clear what your game is and why it's supposed to be cool then it will get ignored. RPGs like Gold Box series, M&M series, Ultima series, and even the later Wizardries all had absolutely amazing box art back then and they needed it to stand out.
At this point we can be kind of sure that McComb didn't do jack for Torment because he seems to be completely horrible once you actually hear him talk. Avellone no doubt did a lot on Torment, but let's face it Torment is head and shoulers...and waist, and knees above anything else he was ever involved in. Henkel OTOH was on a bunch of other great games so I would think he must be able to take some credit. He also does not try to take undue credit with it and just claims it was a team effort yet does not badmouth Avellone any. So another version I could imagine being true after hearing about the 'culture' at BIS and Obsidian is that Henkel came in, was a bit bossy and made Avellone hate him, tried to force the slackers to actually do some work, complained about nepotism and stupidity of useless individuals like Feargus, and thereby got railroaded out for actually working hard and doing his job correctly. Then Avellone game undue credit to some of the useless members like McComb just because they are friends and now the lie is kind of exposed since the proof is in the pudding as far as McComb goes. So Avellone complains about a lot of the neoptism and stuff but also is a bit of a perpetuator himself.
And ultimately, even if he did the whole project on his own which even he does not claim, what has he done lately? I don't doubt the guy's work ethic and on a personal level he seems like a cool guy, but where is the post-Torment awesomeness that the awesome guy who made torment was supposed to bring? I just don't see it. NWN 2 was a turgid dong, and MOTB was just mediocre. Nothing else is even worth talking about, I don't think any of it qualifies as an RPG except in the bizarro universe where games like Fallout 3 are RPGs.
