What Can Change the Nature of a Man? - 10 Years of Planescape: Torment

Attractive, isn't he?Ten years and a few days ago, a game you probably never heard of called Planescape: Torment came out for the PC. Overlooked by many, Torment is more of a cult classic than a runaway success. Maybe it had something to do with the boxart which features the protagonist's rather ugly face. Perhaps it was the game's very strange themes and odd way of approaching the Western RPG genre. Those who did play it, however, remember it to this day as one of the best RPGs not only of 1999, but of all time.

What made Torment so memorable? At first, the gameplay does not seem very revolutionary. The game runs on a modified version of Bioware's Infinity Engine, a modified version that makes the interface more annoying for casting spells. The interesting part of the game is how it changes the way you approach everything. When rolling your character, rather than using wisdom, charisma, or intelligence as a dump stat; you want to max those as quickly as you can. Battle is nowhere near the focus of this game and there is only one mandatory boss battle. Talking your way out of fights is very common and a lot more fun.

The reason it is more fun to talk your way out of these fights is because of the games very strong writing and well established characters and world. The plot's rather weird though, it stars The Nameless One, an immortal being who, when killed, just hops up again a few minutes later. He has no idea why this is, and as you progress you soon discover that until this latest incarnation, death lead to a complete loss of his memories. You soon become familiar with many of your previous incarnations through talking to townspeople, finding objects and writing, and regaining memories. Some incarnations were insane, some were important figures, some horrible thieves, others were noble protectors, and some tried to figure out what made them what they are.

Regaining memories is a very important part of the story and gameplay and is done through conversations, looking at objects, or even observing people--assuming your wisdom is high enough. These memories can give you fantastic new abilities and information about where to go next or where to find supplies that you may need later. The conversations can have over 20 dialog options at a time and even more if a certain stat level has been achieved or information found. It is slightly overwhelming at first, but it eases you into it and gives you amazing amount of control over what to say and do. Unlike other games, your decisions in conversations actually matter, and while you have the standard good/evil/neutral replies you have so much in between and you actually have to watch what you say at times. There is no grand saving the world quest to go about, it's just the story of The Nameless One trying to figure out why he is who he is.

In case you can

He is not alone in this quest; there are seven very well developed party members you can pick up. Some of them openly acknowledge knowing and even working with some of the past incarnations of The Nameless One, some prefer to keep it a secret, and some he's just meeting for the first time. All of the characters have interesting backgrounds and quests, and actually develop as people as the story goes on. You can talk to them at any time and they will interject into regular conversations when appropriate as well. While not all of the lines are voice-acted, the ones that are are quite impressive.

Characters is the always funny Morte, a wise-cracking floating skull whose equip slot is teeth with which he can bite enemies. He has a special ability called the "Litany of Curses" and as you wander around the game, some of your actions can cause other people to be quite angry at you. After a woman yelled and swore out poor Nameless One, Morte jumped in saying that he'd have to remember that one, making his "Litany of Curses" skill more powerful. The other characters include a celibate succubus, a living suit of armor utterly devoted to the law, a man who is permanently on fire, and I can't describe the others without spoiling the wonderful story.
[caption id="attachment_3905" align="aligncenter" width="580" caption="The scenic and cheerfully named \"Smoldering Corpse Bar\""][/caption]

As the plot progresses you can do some rather odd things, such as parlor tricks with your immortality, people paying for the privilege to kill The Nameless One to see if it's actually true, and even enter into philosophical debates in one area. You also have a lot of sidequests that reveal more about the world and The Nameless One's past selves; one of whom deliberately erased as many clues and hints left by other incarnations as possible due to his insane paranoia. The plot is unveiled very well with good boss battles and even better long conversations taking the place of boss battles. Particularly memorable is your conversation with Ravel Puzzlewell, which I will avoid spoiling.

One of the more unique aspects of Torment is your equipment. There is a total of one sword in the entire game, and only about two pieces of armor. Instead you rely on magic, clubs(one of which is the severed arm of a previous incarnation, The Nameless One's body regenerates itself even before death), and daggers to deal damage. You also have such equip slots as three tattoo slots, two ring slots, an eyeball slot, and a bracelet slot, plus a few others. Yes, an eyeball slot, there aren't many of these laying around obviously, but yes, The Nameless One rips his eyeball out and sticks another one in there on the odd occasion you find a better one.

Torment is all sunshine and happiness with rainbows everywhere.

Torment is a hard game to explain, but I hope this article has piqued your interest. Soon, I will begin a series of articles taking a more in-depth look at the game and all of the things it does. These will contain a lot of spoilers obviously, so I recommend you go buy the game or "acquire" it at any rate. It's something you need to try and it still holds up to this day. The new and interesting things this game does have yet to be rivaled and you need to experience it. It isn't too bad on Ebay, and there are plenty of "other" ways to acquire it so just do yourself a favor and try it out. I've beaten it at least five times and each time I manage to find a new sidequest or more information about the plot. It is my favorite game of all time, and I consider it one of the, if not the, greatest game ever made.

Don't believe me? Here are what some other people have said about it, and these are just the ones I found when looking for images.

1. Well written, even longer article at Today's Games


2. Gamasutra has extolled its virtues in both an article about the platinum age of RPGs and a list of quantum leaps forward in RPGs as well as mentioning it very often when storytelling, writing, and characterization is talked about.


3. 
   Game Career Guide wrote a really good look at conversation systems in games that featured Torment.


4. 
   Eurogamer did a retrospective a few months back.
   
   


5. Gamespot featured it on it's list of greatest games ever.

Comments

[DecayOfSouls]

Excellent article about a masterful game. Keep them coming!

[Applewood Johnson]

Applewood Johnson's the best game ever! Heyooooo!

[Prattle 03: No Pain, No Game |]

[...] Planescape: Torment [...]

[passenger]

Until this day, from time to time I hear question in my mind: "What can change the nature of a man?"
There isn't any piece of art that I could compare with Planescape: Torment - and, I'm sure, it'll never be.

[Haborym]

I wish they still made games even 1/1,000,000 as intelligent as this.