Planescape: Torment

[PizzaSHARK]

PS:T is Black Isle Studios game, not Bioware's.

It's an Infinity Engine game, meaning it's similar in many respects to both Baldur's Gate and Icewind Dale. I do think Torment was largely Black Isle, but remember that Bioware was involved in every IE game to a certain extent.

[Voidgazer]

It's an Infinity Engine game, meaning it's similar in many respects to both Baldur's Gate and Icewind Dale. I do think Torment was largely Black Isle, but remember that Bioware was involved in every IE game to a certain extent.

Lots of games use UE3 now, but it doesn't mean they're similar.

It's true that these IE games are all fantasy adventures based on D&D products, but you have to acknowledge, PS:T isn't really that "similar in many respects" to the rest of IE games.

[Cairhiin]

It's more that DAO was billed as the spiritual successor to Bioware's Infinity Engine games... of which Planescape Torment was one.

I agree with you there. DA:O can't come anywhere close to the old Infinity Engine games (by the way Planescape is a Black Isle Studios game, and I don't think BioWare had anything to do with it - though I'm not certain) but on its own DA:O wasn't a bad game. Planescape: Torment blows it out of the water however, and obviously so do Baldur's Gate I and II.

[PizzaSHARK]

Lots of games use UE3 now, but it doesn't mean they're similar.

It's true that these IE games are all fantasy adventures based on D&D products, but you have to acknowledge, PS:T isn't really that "similar in many respects" to the rest of IE games.

It really is. The emphasis is on character development and story over gameplay, but it's still isometric, you still fully control a party of NPCs, dialogue proceeds the same way, and while it's very loose with the AD&D background, combat proceeds very similarly as well.

[Shinzai]

Conversely to some of the previous comments, I would definitely suggest that DA:O on pc was the absolute closest we've come to a spiritual successor of Baldur's Gate 1/2.

Planescape: Torment is definitely a game all of its own in style and substance, though it shares almost everything design-wise with the BG/IWD games. Due to the location that the game is set in, it's a verrrry offbeat version of standard D&D, but still shares most of its hallmarks. There's a lot of entertaining stuff in there if you're already aware of D&D's universe and the various races it entails.

[Wilian]

Planescape Torment is pinnacle of RPG storytelling and one of the very few games that integrates it extremely well to the actual gameworld instead of having two separate "game modes"(Mass Effect 3, entirely separated 3rd person shooter set pieces and adventure game like dialogue scenes). Only Fallout 1&2 probably goes above it in integrating storytelling/actual game integration but actual storywise PS:T mops floors with everything.

(With integration I mean things like having multiple pathed solutions in almoust every encounter/quest/NPC stuff)

[PizzaSHARK]

Conversely to some of the previous comments, I would definitely suggest that DA:O on pc was the absolute closest we've come to a spiritual successor of Baldur's Gate 1/2.

Planescape: Torment is definitely a game all of its own in style and substance, though it shares almost everything design-wise with the BG/IWD games. Due to the location that the game is set in, it's a verrrry offbeat version of standard D&D, but still shares most of its hallmarks. There's a lot of entertaining stuff in there if you're already aware of D&D's universe and the various races it entails.

Meeting planewalkers in BG2 when helping or hindering Raealis Shai (or however her damn name is spelled) is a little more entertaining if you're familiar with the Planescape setting. I still don't know how a campaign setting that interesting and unique failed while the Forgotten Realms LOTR clone one remained successful.

[PizzaSHARK]

I liked Planescape: Torment, but also find it to be pretty overrated. It was pretty unique for its time and it has a great story. I definitely recommend playing it. Personally I find Baldur's Gate II to be the better game though.

I agree. While Planescape has fantastic character development and plot progression, the actual gameplay is so fucking awful that it actually knocks it down a peg. Baldur's Gate II, on the other hand, had good (not fantastic, but certainly good) character development, arguably an equally interesting plot in a less interesting setting, and MUCH better actual gameplay.

[Shinzai]

http://colinmccomb.com/?p=157

Potential for a sequel.

[PizzaSHARK]

http://colinmccomb.com/?p=157

Potential for a sequel.

There's no need for a sequel.

[Voidgazer]

Sequel is obviously a wrong term here. I think they mean a spiritual successor. But yeah, I don't see how (and why) they would do either anyway. Though I wouldn't mind having another planar adventure game (just not based on the fucking 4E). Too bad rights to the actual Planescape belong to WotC (notice, that they only acquired rights to Torment), and they would really want to have strong influence on the devs.

[Buu]

I played it only because I got it for free with a computer that I bought about 11 years ago. It really wasn't that great.

More prone to beat stuff than reading, huh?

I'm on the opposite side. I think the solutions that don't involve fighting being often with a better reward than using violence is awesome. I hate how all the other games reward brutality more than reasoning.