Planescape: Torment

This is a highly acclaimed CRPG, one that is still one of the most recommended out there. Unlike its contemporaries like the Baldur's Gate series, the focus of this one is much more on the narrative than on the combat. And perhaps thats the reason why people still recommend this game open heartedly, whilst there are more modern and better alternatives to Baldur's gate. The uniqueness of the setting and plot gives it a timeless appeal, and in almost 20 years of gaming there is still nothing out here that i know of that ressembles the adventure Interplay has created in this game.

You start off as a man who has woken up in a mortuary who has seemingly lost his memories. Shortly after he meets Muerte, a floating skull that can be your first companion and you learn that you are immortal. From there on you set out in an adventure to find your missing memories and the reason for your immortality. The world of planescape torment is a uniquely bizarre one, close to being surrealistic at times, but still grounded in some reality. It presents itself a world that reminds me of the post apocalyptic Fallout, but instead of modern america, there is still some fantasy and magic in this setting. Its brown and ugly for the most part, but the busy markets and weird architecture do manage to give out a sense of wonder about the place. Even more interesting than that are the people of this place. I dont think there is another game out there that manages to portray people as humans as these, despite the fantastical setting. People who have hidden motives, and layers of characterization. You are never sure when people are lying to you or not, and this has a great influence on the gameplay since most quests in the game have a lot of solutions to them. Being a too gooder will inevitably get you abused by the quest givers, but being too brutal and bloodthirsty will get you into impossible to beat combat scenarios. Besides the actual quests, the dialogue and writing is sublime, and completly makes up for the somewhat crude visuals. It almost feels that this is an interactive fiction, given how descriptive it is. I spent a lot of time exhausting character dialogue lines with my companions since its so interesting or funny what they have to say. The monologues about the importance of memories are a specially central theme to this game.

It must also be referred that the tribal ambient soundtrack by Mark Morgan is great at contributing to the dark and post apocalyptic setting of the game. On its downside there are no sort of catchy jingles in here, but this isnt really the game for that.

Planescape Torment is the sort of game people love to remnisce about and discuss, but few love actually playing. Thats because no matter how incredible the dialogue, writing and choices are present in the game, the actual act of playing it is a drag. The camera for starters is far too zoomed in and cumbersome. The movement is highly unresponsive and clunky, and it can be a real hassle to get where you want to go. I would love this game to be fully remade in a more modern engine, and fix a lot of its problems when it comes to the clunky UI and movement. Besides the movement, there is also the issue with the combat. With the higher focus on writing of this game than the combat, the combat got left very basic and barely functional. There are no weapons in the game, so the outcome is decided by a lot of dice rolls and using abilities, and hoping that your companions will act in the most reasonable way possible. It offers a real time with pause combat system, but it doesnt allow you a great deal of control over your companions. Worst is how clunky it feels, and how RNG dependent. I could be swinging my sword at an enemy and fail for 5 times in a row. And unlike you that have immortality, your companions dont, and so it becomes imperative to save after each fight. I wish that the game was fully playable without combat, but that is a very core mechanic, even as a way of getting xp and money.

The actual gameplay is what makes the game a bit of a let down for me. Because as wonderful the writing is, you have to suffer through a lot of frustrating combat to get to it, and thats just not enjoyable. A perfect game for me is the marriage of great narrative with great gameplay, and planescape masters one but faulters in the latter. I have no trouble in recommending it to anyone who wants a narrative heavy game, or one of values narrative above anything else. But i cant look at it as one of the greatest of all time when it is so flawed as a game.

You have a talking floating skull that ogles female zombies and fights enemies by talking shit.

5/5 ezpz

I'm a speedrunner (#3 in the world), so I've played this game countless times. I've done two "serious" playthroughs, though. This game has the best story in any game I've played, and the best sidequests too. This game is essential if you like DnD games, or really just RPGs in general. It's just as good as everyone says it is.

Okay so I know this game is considered by many to be the greatest game of all time and that it has one of the deepest most complex stories and characters and hell its the highest rated PC exclusive on this site, so when this came to PS4, I decided to pick it up, I think I got it on Ebay for like 30 bucks. Well I played it back in February and March earlier this year, hell it was the last game I remember playing before the lock down stuff started. It actually felt like an improvement from Baldur's Gate, which was another Isometric RPG I played last year. Planescape feels a bit more basic and the combat isn't quite as difficult.

Planescape is mostly based around the story and characters, gameplay sort of takes a backseat and has little variety. You get to play either a mage, warrior, or thief, although the game is so unfairly balanced towards being a mage that I don't see why anyone would want to play as another class and make the game harder for themselves. Throughout the game you meet different companions who join you for various reasons and divulge in their philosophy. The World of Planescape is actually very complex and there are many layers, it explores. Everything has lore behind it and many characters have multiple dialogue paths you can explore. The intro of the game gives you a lot of side quests and I don't think it was until 5 or so hours I moved out of the main hub and actually got on with the main quest.

There are various factions you can join too and these factions influence your alignment, and since this is based on D&D you have your typical Lawful Good, Chaotic Evil, Etc. But the characters in this all have a story and you pretty much play the stories out and each mission you do you find out more about your characters past and what got him to where he is now. Most of the characters end up having had a connection to you in your previous life.

I mean in terms of story and lore Planescape is great, it has some of the most interesting characters I've seen in games and it has a very unique World. But I felt the gameplay was just bland, it was mostly just click the enemies and then kill them, it didn't require much strategy and at times the game would jump difficulty and get a bit frustrating. I also feel like the game just get a big confusing at times, there are so many side quests and things to explore that its easy to get lost or not know where to go. Without a guide I feel I would have missed out on at least 50% of the content in this game, and that includes optional companions that join your party. I know some people like this, but I feel there needs to be some things that guide the players to the side quests and side content.

Planescape is a game I feel could be remastered with modern gameplay elements and more refined mechanics and benefit greatly. I mean if they keep the same exact story, characters, and locations and only improve the graphics and gameplay then I feel this may be the best story driven game, but I feel this game shows its age a bit in terms of the gameplay and progression, and as much as I love the story, characters, lore, World, I just couldn't enjoy it as much as I probably would have had I played this back in 99. It probably doesn't help too that I played this on a PS4 with a controller and with some bugs and issues. I know people can get crucified over criticizing a game like this, but that's just how I felt playing through this, maybe in a few years I can give this another go and see if that changes, but right now I just don't have a desire to go back to this anytime soon.