What was the general reaction to PS:T when it was released?

[Calis]

I was #1 fanboy(in my mind) on the PS:T forums from the day they opened to release day, then forums crazy then shut down. I'm sure you can guess how I felt about PS:T.

Same as Flabby, only I arrived somewhat later on the IPlay forums. I got interested in the game because I really liked the Planescape setting, even though I've made awfully little use of my pile of Planescape books (in part because I'm crap as a DM). I bought it on release and didn't get much sleep until I had finished it, but that was in part because of anticipation (you can't spend a bunch of time pre-release on a forum, make a fansite for a game, and then *not* play it to death).

Oh, and Interplay still owes me a Torment t-shirt.

 

[Lumpy]

By the way, what was the general reaction to Baldur's Gate when it was released?
And fuck, I just hate how that GiN moron reviewer claims that PST is like some sort of Baldur's Gate wannabe for fans to waste time with.

 

[Volourn]

It's true.

 

[Lumpy]

 

[TalesfromtheCrypt]

It's true.

Why do you lie?

 

[zenslinger]

PS:T was my first IE game. I found it very confusing at first. I didn't really understand where I could walk and where I couldn't. I didn't get the whole "This is a wall and there's nothing over here" way rooms were displayed, so spent a lot of time in the Crypt hanging around in corners, terrified thinking every zombie was going to attack me (even though they weren't hostile). I didn't understand how you could interact with the environment and that bit where you repair the wall in the Avenue of Fucked Angles took me a very, very long time.

Other than that, the game really spoiled me. I thought every game was going to keep me up all night playing it. PS:T did that for me twice; BG2 once. Never again since.

 

[bozia2012]

Back to the best review evar...

So when I put the arm in my character's weapon slot, I was surprised to see the picture of a giant spiked club appear in this hands as the character portrait. In fact any weapon that did blunt-type damage ended up looking like that club, which by the way in its current configuration with all the spikes would actually do piercing damage under AD&D rules..

He doesn't get it that's a 2D game... Is that review even from 1999? Yeah, sure BG had more weapon models (still not much) but character grafix were done a bit different (featuring clipping problems). Looking at a PS:T character it's obvious it's a one-piece "sprite" a la Diablo 1. What the fuck he expected?! Oblivion has maybe 10 armor sets (with several uniques), they even didn't try to make more just using different textures (compare it to DS2 or TQ, even M&B is better at that department)... And unusable horses...
MAAAN, GET THE FUCK OUT!!!

EDIT: 1999 not 1998

 

[Antagonist]

I haven't bothered to read this review but he actually does have a point in this quote. It may seem like nitpicking to some but it is a flaw in the game's presentation albeit a minor and as a player I don't really care about technical details why the arm I just found looks like a big club with nails attached to it. It's up to the reader to make up his mind if such details might decrease his enjoyment of the game or if it's just unimportant in the context of the rest of the game but I'd rather have reviewers mention such details than not.

 

[JoKa]

please read the whole review, antagonist - that quote takes up about one fifth of the review...that's a bit much for 'mentioning a detail', is it not?

 

[Romanian_Dude2005]

I played it in Nov 2006, It's basicly the best game since Sid Meyer's Civilization, I tried to convince some of my friends to play it, but I only managed to get 2 people hooked on it so far. One of the was so inspired by the game, that he now wants to write a book using the name Ignus (the name, not the in-game character) for the protagonist. It's amazing what a game can do to a 16 year old

 

[Tekar]

The game got a score of 94% in a magazine I read. That plus it was an RPG and I liked BG made me buy it, and I never regretted it. I stopped reading the magazine when developpers stopped making good games and I swore never to read the magazine again when I read they gave Oblivion a 92%.

 

[Lumpy]

Yeah, sure it's a flaw, but that review was basically "Yeah, it has good characters, great graphics and sound, nice story, but OMFG 1 SPRITE PER WEAPON TYPE!!!"
His only complaints were that above and that it takes place in Planescape, which is supposedly a sucky setting. He was also saying that if the devs wanted a horror setting, they should've used Ravenloft. Well, maybe they didn't because they didn't want a horror setting?

 

[Atrokkus]

The box art is fine. In fact, I like it. Besides, by the time i got it, i knew what Planescape was and that was enough for me.

 

[onemananadhisdroid]

Bought it. Installed it. Played it. Finished it. Sold it.

WAIT. Not because I didn't like it, but because.. you know, same old story. I was young and needed the money. Anyway, I'm glad that I got another copy last year as a gift. I didn't hang around often on the BIS boards, so I can't really comment on what was going on there. I did win a PS:T shirt and some PS:T posters on a contest held by Germon fansite, though that was relatively crowded back in its day. Sigh...

 

[Calis]

I did win a PS:T shirt and some PS:T posters on a contest held by Germon fansite, though that was relatively crowded back in its day. Sigh...

I think I know the site (the only really big one was done by the two guys who also did the German translation), Trumpfass was at one point kind enough to send me some of the goodies from the German special edition as well.

 

[Texas Red]

So can anyone comment on the official PS:T forums?

 

[Quigs]

The original teaser trailers for diablo 2 had nothing to do with the game, but were the first glimpses of what the game might be like.

Then the trailer for PS:T came out, with a near identical sequence. I just figured it was a diablo clone.

 

[Fez]

Yeah, you're not the only one who thought that. I heard a few people were not expecting much before the release. The marketing for the game was appalling.

 

[SanguinePenguin]

I didn't have the internet in those days, I found out about Fallout from a free video sent by a gaming magazine in the mail that was basically a 30 minute commercial for Jet Force Gemini on the N64. One of the mini trailers preceding was of Fallout and the other of some tycoon game.

PS:T I got because of the box artwork which I originally saw in the back of the novelization of Baldur's Gate. I still remember how godawful and shitty that book was. One scene in particular, while walking through the spider forest, a spider(surprise!) lands in Jaheira's bosom and in a manly act of heroics, Abdel (the Bhaalspawn), rips off her bodice and proceeds to lust after her tits, forgetting the spider, and forgetting that her husband is 10 feet away and that Xan was melted by an ochre jelly 5 minutes ago.... Somewhat, hilarious, the book predicted the relative ease in which Jaheira is ready to take a spin on the maypole mere days after her husband's death it seemed in BG2.

 

[Fez]

Classy. Unfortunately that quality of writing seems to be present in media more often than we'd like.

 

[onemananadhisdroid]

^ Especially in video games (and cheap penny dreadfuls).

I think I know the site (the only really big one was done by the two guys who also did the German translation), Trumpfass was at one point kind enough to send me some of the goodies from the German special edition as well.

That's it!

 

[Admiral Rimjob POOBUM]

I didn't have the internet in those days, I found out about Fallout from a free video sent by a gaming magazine in the mail that was basically a 30 minute commercial for Jet Force Gemini on the N64. One of the mini trailers preceding was of Fallout and the other of some tycoon game.

PS:T I got because of the box artwork which I originally saw in the back of the novelization of Baldur's Gate. I still remember how godawful and shitty that book was. One scene in particular, while walking through the spider forest, a spider(surprise!) lands in Jaheira's bosom and in a manly act of heroics, Abdel (the Bhaalspawn), rips off her bodice and proceeds to lust after her tits, forgetting the spider, and forgetting that her husband is 10 feet away and that Xan was melted by an ochre jelly 5 minutes ago.... Somewhat, hilarious, the book predicted the relative ease in which Jaheira is ready to take a spin on the maypole mere days after her husband's death it seemed in BG2.

I heard the PS:T novelization was even worse.

 

[Calis]

I heard the PS:T novelization was even worse.

I'm not sure how it compares to the BG novel, but it was pretty horrible.

 

[Admiral Rimjob POOBUM]

I heard the PS:T novelization was even worse.

I'm not sure how it compares to the BG novel, but it was pretty horrible.

Of the "so bad it's good" or "depressingly bad" variety?

 

[Calis]

That would be answer b).