Why Planescape Torment is not a great game (In Depth)

[Trip]

Jesus dude, the problem illustrates itself. You criticize something you do not understand.

Yeah, could you be a bit more specific? Your grammar and textual cohesion leave something to be desired, now that I reread your OP. Not trolling you, they do.

 

[Cthulhu_is_love]

suspect I am in the same boat as you. Long time RPG - came onto the codex to find out about stuff that has mostly gone missing in the mainstream for far too long. Getting a bit disillusioned of the quality of todays game - so many of getting high scores but being trash.

Since I joined here I have started going through a number of games from my past and mostly agreed with the codex on Fallout 1 and 2. On Arx Fatalis and on Risen. On Lords of Xulima. Planescape is one of the games I bought but have not played much or enjoyed when I did.

Just for the future, could you please quote instead of copy paste?

So it looks less wall-of-texty.

 

[Prime Junta]

Planescape: Torment's mechanics only have one really horridly unfair feature. The stats. Pick the wrong stats and you're locked out of highly significant parts of the story ..

Sure, badly chosen attributes can screw your character alright at start. There's a lot of free attribute points waiting for you everywhere though. Tatoos, weapons, items, specialisation bonuses at levels 7 and 12, side-quest granted bonuses.. Plenty. My last attempt ended like this, almost all the stats raised nicely except one:

Yep, which is why IMO PS:T would've been just as good if you had only the items and level-up stat points, and started out with a fixed stat distribution. Especially as you have those tats you can swap in and out, f.ex. when switching between classes.

Normally in D&D you know how to distribute your stats based on the class you're playing. If you go into PS:T blind, there's just no way to know that WIS and CHA really are important, while you can safely dump DEX and CON no matter what you're doing. That's just an unnecessary curveball. The game isn't any more challenging with sub-optimal stats; it's just less enjoyable because you miss out on things and never even know it.

But that is really the only beef I have with PS:T's systems -- and I can't think of any game that doesn't have similarly boneheaded quirks, most of them much worse.

The main point is still the same: if you play PS:T like it was Baldur's Gate or Icewind Dale, you're gonna hate it. If you pay attention to detail and listen to what the game is telling you... there's nothing out there quite like it. And yes, the RPG features do contribute greatly. Without them it would've been a decent adventure game; with them, it's something uniquely awesome.

 

[DraQ]

Perhaps I am just a bit too bright

You are not.

 

[prodigydancer]

For the love of all that is holy, please move this shit to retardoland and ban the TC.

 

[ArchAngel]

I wonder if this braindead OP even managed to get Dakkon to unlock his items all the way...
I loved that Wish scroll at the end

 

[A_Leftist_Pig?]

I feel like I have to defend PS: T. If you're tarded enough to create a completely unbalanced character before the game starts because of your pre-conceived ideas of what you think you'll manage to achieve then you're not really a roleplayer. You're just a rouge player.

 

[A_Leftist_Pig?]

I wonder if this braindead OP even managed to get Dakkon to unlock his items all the way...
I loved that Wish scroll at the end

Managed, lol. No, I *managed* to complete the game before he had enough experience to do so.
Besides, he died. Everyone died in the end. Except Morty. whom I resurrected.

First to fall was the Succubus. With the loss of her resurrection spell the next to fall was Morty. Later on the mercykiller perished in a valiant attempt to save some citizens.
Then Dakkon was backstabbed by a nasty cafe patron when she called the guards upon a little taunting.

Last was the firemage, whom I just grew tired of and disposed off of myself.

I'm sure you would have re-loaded like a pussy the second your first companion died.

 

[A_Leftist_Pig?]

Perhaps I am just a bit too bright

You are not.

Any more poo jokes snob?
I hope you're a coprophagoue since that's all you'll get back from me in return.

 

[ArchAngel]

I wonder if this braindead OP even managed to get Dakkon to unlock his items all the way...
I loved that Wish scroll at the end

Managed, lol. No, I *managed* to complete the game before he had enough experience to do so.
Besides, he died. Everyone died in the end. Except Morty. whom I resurrected.

First to fall was the Succubus. With the loss of her resurrection spell the next to fall was Morty. Later on the mercykiller perished in a valiant attempt to save some citizens.
Then Dakkon was backstabbed by a nasty cafe patron when she called the guards upon a little taunting.

Last was the firemage, whom I just grew tired off and disposed off myself.

I'm sure you would have re-loaded like a pussy the second your first companion died.

WTF? Are you playing a roleplaying game or Ironman Xcom?
You are even more idiotic than I thought.

 

[MasPingon]

I've noticed there are more and more retards on Codex with no real counterbalance. Once they were driven out by other users, who gladly spend their time explaining to newfags why they are retarded, now no one gives a damn. It's sad. Count of retards in this thread is terrifying.

 

[A_Leftist_Pig?]

I wonder if this braindead OP even managed to get Dakkon to unlock his items all the way...
I loved that Wish scroll at the end

Managed, lol. No, I *managed* to complete the game before he had enough experience to do so.
Besides, he died. Everyone died in the end. Except Morty. whom I resurrected.

First to fall was the Succubus. With the loss of her resurrection spell the next to fall was Morty. Later on the mercykiller perished in a valiant attempt to save some citizens.
Then Dakkon was backstabbed by a nasty cafe patron when she called the guards upon a little taunting.

Last was the firemage, whom I just grew tired off and disposed off myself.

I'm sure you would have re-loaded like a pussy the second your first companion died.

WTF? Are you playing a roleplaying game or Ironman Xcom?
You are even more idiotic than I thought.

Now I get it. You're not so much retarded as you are a noob. lol. The sad state of affairs...
The medicine for you is Wizardry 4.

 

[Darkzone]

I agree with the OP that Planescape Torment is not a great game.

Spoiler

Because "great" is not good enough to describe the awesomeness of this game. It is one of the best games ever and only Fallout 1 / 2 and BG 1 / 2 and Ultima 4 / 5 can measure up to this level. To call this masterpiece simply a great game is an affront to PS:T. It is a divine game, and anyone who has an lower opinion about PS:T is retarded, in my opinion.

 

[hoverdog]

Why Planescape Torment is not a great game (In Derp)

fixed.

 

[A_Leftist_Pig?]

Jesus dude, the problem illustrates itself. You criticize something you do not understand.

Yeah, could you be a bit more specific? Your grammar and textual cohesion leave something to be desired, now that I reread your OP. Not trolling you, they do.

You as in a general term applied to the posters her and in particular referring to your criticism of the terminology I used. No need to be fiesty if you're unsure.
And sure, I could work on my writing if you mentioned what specific part you didn't get.

 

[ArchAngel]

I wonder if this braindead OP even managed to get Dakkon to unlock his items all the way...
I loved that Wish scroll at the end

Managed, lol. No, I *managed* to complete the game before he had enough experience to do so.
Besides, he died. Everyone died in the end. Except Morty. whom I resurrected.

First to fall was the Succubus. With the loss of her resurrection spell the next to fall was Morty. Later on the mercykiller perished in a valiant attempt to save some citizens.
Then Dakkon was backstabbed by a nasty cafe patron when she called the guards upon a little taunting.

Last was the firemage, whom I just grew tired off and disposed off myself.

I'm sure you would have re-loaded like a pussy the second your first companion died.

WTF? Are you playing a roleplaying game or Ironman Xcom?
You are even more idiotic than I thought.

Now I get it. You're not so much retarded as you are a noob. lol. The sad state of affairs...
The medicine for you is Wizardry 4.

 

[A_Leftist_Pig?]

Too much faggotry. Enough is enough, I relinquish my responsibility to reply in this thread hence forth.

 

[valcik]

The main point is still the same: if you play PS:T like it was Baldur's Gate or Icewind Dale, you're gonna hate it. If you pay attention to detail and listen to what the game is telling you... there's nothing out there quite like it.

Agreed, that's why I hold PS:T in high regard. Going through the game for second or third time with different class and stats (mage/INT) was a real blast for me, because there's a lot of new branches opening in many dialogues suddenly.

On a side note, MCA has admitted that this deep dialogue structure was inspired by first Fallout, which seems to be neglected by many people here for some reason:
http://www.pcinvasion.com/chris-avellone-interview-game-design-numenera-and-hints-about-his-future

I really enjoyed working on Fallout 2, because of the RPG mechanics that were established with Fallout 1. The whole branching quest structure where the different character archetypes could solve each quest in a different way I thought was awesome. Being able to design quests that way was good.

 

[A_Leftist_Pig?]

Yup, attention to detail in the early parts of the game is the best I've ever seen.

 

[gestalt11]

I beat the game in 10 hours of gameplay on my first playthrough never finding a single solution online except how much intelligence I need to convince my practical self to join me.

Part of the problem is that there is not enough text to explain everything and the journal collects way too little. But that is solved by running in circles around Sigil until you find the guy you were supposed to deliver the fetch quest item too.


Perhaps I am just a bit too bright or have a bit too much peace in my life so that I can actually digest some of this and shit out some actual objective criticism of it while you swallow it whole and let it get stuck in your spine.

Is this satire or a troll or a mental problem?

I went to a magnet high school where basically every single student tested at a genius IQ and the only one of my fellow students I can imagine who would say the words "Perhaps I am just a bit too bright" was the guy who carried around a copy of an xray of his liver for some reason I am still unsure of. He showed it to me once and tried to explain its significant but I was a little too focused on escaping to pay attention. His parents also made an entirely new last name for him by making a godawful silly portmanteau of their last names. Poor guy, he really wasn't a bad sort.

 

[DraQ]

poo
(...) coprophagoue

Do you have some sort of fetish you'd like to share with us?

 

[valcik]

MasPingon: Care to elaborate?

 

[A_Leftist_Pig?]

I'm inclined to ask you the same question considering you're interested in my visitations to a proctologist DraQ.

 

[A_Leftist_Pig?]

I beat the game in 10 hours of gameplay on my first playthrough never finding a single solution online except how much intelligence I need to convince my practical self to join me.

Part of the problem is that there is not enough text to explain everything and the journal collects way too little. But that is solved by running in circles around Sigil until you find the guy you were supposed to deliver the fetch quest item too.


Perhaps I am just a bit too bright or have a bit too much peace in my life so that I can actually digest some of this and shit out some actual objective criticism of it while you swallow it whole and let it get stuck in your spine.

Is this satire or a troll or a mental problem?

I went to a magnet high school where basically every single student tested at a genius IQ and the only one of my fellow students I can imagine who would say the words "Perhaps I am just a bit too bright" was the guy who carried around a copy of an xray of his liver for some reason I am still unsure of. He showed it to me once and tried to explain its significant but I was a little too focused on escaping to pay attention. His parents also made an entirely new last name for him by making a godawful silly portmanteau of their last names. Poor guy, he really wasn't a bad sort.

I'm glad I didn't go to a school where someone has to describe their educational history to make a point.

 

[DraQ]

I'm inclined to ask you the same question considering you're interested in my visitations to a proctologist DraQ.

That's simply a wise course of action given butthurt this intense.