Interview Planescape: Torment interview at RPG Watch

[Texas Red]

By the way, Chris is a writer *and* an artists(it was mentioned that he scetches)?

 

[Hümmelgümpf]

Pretty talanted guy, isn't he?

 

[Brother None]

Have you seen the Torment Vision Statement (1997)? It's not linked to in the article.
For whom was it written? There's quite an amount of swearing in it.

That was supposed to be linked to on the second part

Dhruin can be so sloppy on security. Ah well.

The Vision statement was written internally to sell the idea to the higher-ups, it was the Last Rites piece MCA used to get Fargo and Feargus to go with the idea.

I enjoyed doing this interview with McComb and MCA, happy y'all enjoyed reading it.

 

[Monolith]

Great interview. A pity he's so ignorant to PS:T success though. Sure, it didn't sell very well, but he created a true classic. It doesn't look as great as NWN 2 or Kotor 2 in his portfolio but he created something that will be remembered for ages - and he created at least 50% of the content all by himself. Nobody will give a shit about NWN 2 or Kotor in 10 or 20 years. But I'm sure there will be Torment fans visiting him in that stinking old people's house he'll be living in in 50 years just to get their PS:T copy signed. Sure, he'll be an old fuck by then and the only shit he will give will be the one in his pants but goddamn, that is not what matters. Well, let's so what that Alien RPG will be like. I hope it won't be NWN 2's Ork caves all over again...

 

[Azarkon]

Well, to be fair, inspiration is hard to come by. Many a writer will tell you of the frenzied, feverish nights when ideas seem to pour out in torrents, and of the dry, melancholy days when they do not. It's the latter that characterizes most of a person's life, and that's why writers and poets have often described a higher creative power - a muse, so to speak, that gives and witholds at her whim. You can't create a masterpiece simply by willing to do so.

Given the nearly-obsessive level of work MCA put into PST, I'm tempted to think that PST truly was his moment of inspiration when everything simply clicked together and greatness was born. KOTOR 2 might have been another one of these instances (albeit lesser) had it not been so rushed, but I hardly think that he was as inspired in NWN 2 or, by some accounts, even FO 2. We can only hope that the future holds better opportunities. I reckon it'd not likely be MoTB, which comes off as a bit forced (esp. since players seem to be demanding a "good" romance, which MCA said he dislikes), but Aliens? Maybe...

 

[POOPERSCOOPER]

am thinking that it would be appropriate that the God of this place were amused with and slightly repulsed by his worshipers.

HA! Good Fun!

I really hope you die soon Gromnir. PLANE TICKETS BITCH!

 

[Texas Red]

Great interview. A pity he's so ignorant to PS:T success though. Sure, it didn't sell very well, but he created a true classic. It doesn't look as great as NWN 2 or Kotor 2 in his portfolio but he created something that will be remembered for ages - and he created at least 50% of the content all by himself. Nobody will give a shit about NWN 2 or Kotor in 10 or 20 years. But I'm sure there will be Torment fans visiting him in that stinking old people's house he'll be living in in 50 years just to get their PS:T copy signed. Sure, he'll be an old fuck by then and the only shit he will give will be the one in his pants but goddamn, that is not what matters. Well, let's so what that Alien RPG will be like. I hope it won't be NWN 2's Ork caves all over again...

I laughed through this post.

 

[Sarvis]

I doubt it would hold up well if it was novellized.

<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Planescape-Torment-Ray-Vallese/dp/0786915277/ref=sr_1_2/103-7822581-2439857?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1185817418&sr=1-2">It WAS novelized</a>.

I liked the book better.

 

[Hory]

I doubt it would hold up well if it was novellized.

<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Planescape-Torment-Ray-Vallese/dp/0786915277/ref=sr_1_2/103-7822581-2439857?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1185817418&sr=1-2">It WAS novelized</a>.

I liked the book better.

Yeah, but from what I understand, most of the text is just pasted from the game.

Try the Pages of Pain. It was published before Torment but it has a lot of similar ideas (including the hero with amnesia).

 

[Koby]

why is it so damned hard for folks to admit that ps:t were a financial failure? Gromnir has met maybe 2-3 interplay/black isle/obsidian folks who had the stones to admit that ps:t were a failure and that fo were hardly the kinda success that keeps developers in business. am not sure if its ego or the belief that perception = reality that prevents these folks from being honest.

I'm pretty sure most rational people understand, no matter how much they deny it, that a game like PS:T wont ever be a financial success, in the sense that it will be a high profit, mass consumed product.

From your own quote -

I think everyone wanted Torment to sell very well

This part should tell you, if you read it right, that he and "everyone" else understand that PS:T is not a good mass consumed product, and intending it for the wide public will and did result in a financial failure, and by saying a financial failure I mean it didn’t even reach 'cover all expenses' point' in a business acceptable time frame (at least to the best of my knowledge).

It is just the nature of things, PS:T is just too artsy for its own good (speaking from a financial PoV), and artists that make art that is just too artsy to be mass consumed, usually defend their art, and their legitimacy to produce such art, even if it is under the pretense of a product that is supposed to be a financial success.

I interpreted the part you quoted as some kind of self condolence more then anything else - read: he is not laying to you, he is laying to himself, and he knows it, but he is doing it anyway. It's an emotional thingy.

 

[Calis]

Yeah, but from what I understand, most of the text is just pasted from the game.

You're thinking of the fan-made one by Rhys Hess (replace planescape-torment.net with torment.sorcerers.net once that works again if you click the "plain text" link - the guy who had the domain disappeared and I failed at obtaining it at the time). The official one is fairly craptastic from what I remember. Pages of Pain isn't bad though.

 

[tardtastic]

I've now arrived at the Lower Wards and the game is significantly more interesting. fyi

 

[Texas Red]

I've now arrived at the Lower Wards and the game is significantly more interesting. fyi

Side note: Clerk's Ward owns even more ass. I really like the difference between the rich and the poor in PS:T.

 

[Araanor]

I enjoyed every bit of reading in Torment, but I can see MCAs apprehension with the masses of text, it isn't a very "gamish" or interactive way to go at it. Well, as long as he doesn't mean replacing this with cutscenes and Bioware-storytelling, that'd be striving for new lows. I'd like to say Torment is a lot better than KOTOR2, but the comparison is a little unfair given the difference in development time.

BTW, if we need romances, I'd love to see more of the, er, tormented sort. Hatemances, was it. The sappy stuff is so clichéed.

Man, I just love PS:T. When McComb was listing the areas he worked on, my first reaction was: wow, those were incredible areas. This guy must be totally badass! And then I realized that I would feel the same way about pretty much any area or character in Torment. What a great game.

Curst. Horrible. Killed at minimum one of my replays.

 

[Monolith]

Well, to be fair, inspiration is hard to come by. Many a writer will tell you of the frenzied, feverish nights when ideas seem to pour out in torrents, and of the dry, melancholy days when they do not. It's the latter that characterizes most of a person's life, and that's why writers and poets have often described a higher creative power - a muse, so to speak, that gives and witholds at her whim. You can't create a masterpiece simply by willing to do so.

The problem I see is that he doesn't regard it as such a masterpiece - or *his* masterpiece. Just look at what he said PS:T lacked. This can give you an impression of how PS:T would look like if he did it today. More accessable setting with elves, dwarves, halflings and other midgets which means nothing but "more generic, less unique" and yeah, less text and more game which, looking at the games he's making today, probably means more ork caves.

 

[DarkUnderlord]

I think the Codex should have a patron deity and I propose Avellone as our god. All hail Chris!

:codexdevil:

Smiley! Hmm... Conversion to .gif didn't go so well but it's not too bad.

 

[Azarkon]

The problem I see is that he doesn't regard it as such a masterpiece - or *his* masterpiece. Just look at what he said PS:T lacked. This can give you an impression of how PS:T would look like if he did it today. More accessable setting with elves, dwarves, halflings and other midgets which means nothing but "more generic, less unique" and yeah, less text and more game which, looking at the games he's making today, probably means more ork caves.

Well, I prefer to think that Chris is just a modest fellow

Seriously, though, I think people would like MCA alot less if he pontificated at every opportunity how great of a game PST was after stating that he did most of the work on it. It'd sound conceited, particularly since the game didn't actually do all that well on the sales front, and might hurt his career down the line.

 

[Wursel]

Smiley! Hmm... Conversion to .gif didn't go so well but it's not too bad.

Why would you convert it to .gif?


Who's MCA? "Mr. Chris Avellone"? :wink:

 

[JarlFrank]

Once the player learns the truth, he can:

(“Bad” Ending) Walk away and don’t look back. The player does not have to become mortal again if he doesn‟t want to (immortality, even with amnesia, has its obvious benefits). The tone of this ending will leave something to be desired, but the player may choose it if they wish. If the player chooses this ending, the game basically begins again where it started, with the player awakening in the Mortuary without his memory and a (saddened) Morte greeting him back to life again.

(“Not Quite so Good” Ending) Perform “Last Rites,” damning yourself but saving all of existence by becoming mortal and letting death take its natural course. If the player can convince his mortality to return to him (his mortality has no desire to return to him – it doesn‟t like the player and enjoys its autonomy), the player discovers why his mortality was separated from him in the first place…to avoid the penance for a lifetime of evil.

(Best Ending) This is a game. I want to have my cake and eat it, too. The player learns why his mortality was separated from him, but rather than becoming mortal, he turns on it, killing it/trapping it and preventing it from interfering with his life anymore (i.e., killing him). He then wanders the planes as a happy immortal.

Why the hell did they cut the 2 other endings and just leave one of them? The game would have become even greater with the other two [well, the "best" ending doesn't fit to the game's general tone, though. It's just too, well... good.].
Although, the ending that is there now is the best of them all... so, yeah, maybe they just wanted to keep the greatest of them all and leave the other two.

 

[Texas Red]

Jarlfrank, I disagree. One of the parts of the game that made it great was the ending. It was well done that TNO was doomed no matter what. It didnt matter if he was a lying schemer or a lawful good paladin, he had to serve the time(or eternity).

I mean hell, how much it would suck if TNO would defeat the bad guy and live happily ever after with Annah and Grace?

 

[aries202]

Read this! Please!

It is a very fascinating tale of how Torment came to be. Very nice It also stresses that sometimes, the suits are occupied with making other games, and at these times people can make games like Torment.

 

[JarlFrank]

Jarlfrank, I disagree. One of the parts of the game that made it great was the ending. It was well done that TNO was doomed no matter what. It didnt matter if he was a lying schemer or a lawful good paladin, he had to serve the time(or eternity).

I mean hell, how much it would suck if TNO would defeat the bad guy and live happily ever after with Annah and Grace?

Yeah, that's why I think it's the best of all possible endings... also, when thinking about it for a bit, it's also the most logical and "complete" way of ending the game, and the most satisfying, in a way.

Also, it could have led to a sequel... which I would love to see [only if it was as deep as the original Torment, though, and had a different, similarly interesting theme to it.]

 

[Brother None]

The problem I see is that he doesn't regard it as such a masterpiece - or *his* masterpiece. Just look at what he said PS:T lacked. This can give you an impression of how PS:T would look like if he did it today. More accessable setting with elves, dwarves, halflings and other midgets which means nothing but "more generic, less unique" and yeah, less text and more game which, looking at the games he's making today, probably means more ork caves.

This is actually completely off. MCA talks more about his design goals for PS:T in part 2, and believe me when I say you're way off.

 

[TalesfromtheCrypt]

Jarlfrank, I disagree. One of the parts of the game that made it great was the ending. It was well done that TNO was doomed no matter what. It didnt matter if he was a lying schemer or a lawful good paladin, he had to serve the time(or eternity).

I mean hell, how much it would suck if TNO would defeat the bad guy and live happily ever after with Annah and Grace?

The "best" ending is shitty and doesn't fit the game at all. However the "bad" ending is awesome and Im sad its not in the game.

Imagine after you chose the ending you see a sequence of the game's beginning again as described in the design document, Morte starts to speak with you and then you see the credits.
That would have been truly awesome. And it wouldn't actually mean that TNO is not doomed anymore, quite the opposite. I don't think I will read those design documents because reading what could more could have been in the game always makes me kinda sad and spoils my fun of playing it. This is true for every game, but especially for masterpieces like PS:T .

Although I guess its not that bad. In the german interview posted here Guido Henkel said that the PS:T they released was pretty close to the PS:T they had envisioned, although not completly.

 

[Monolith]

This is actually completely off. MCA talks more about his design goals for PS:T in part 2, and believe me when I say you're way off.

That's good to know. Can't wait for part 2.