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Baldur's Gate started an RPG revolution. Sure, it was foreshadowed by Fallout, but the latter's post-apocalyptic, Wasteland-esque setting wouldn't draw the same sort of attention as a new AD&D-based RPG. Interplay hyped it up, and BioWare didn't disappoint; the interface, the story, and the (mostly) faithful adherence to the AD&D second-edition rules made for one of the best-looking and best-playing RPGs to come down the river in years. The popularity of BG was a kind of electronic epiphany to software companies, who began to push a revival of the role-playing game.

As it turned out, it wasn't BioWare, but Black Isle that produced the next step in this revolution. It's not merely a new game in a series, but rather a new stage in the evolution of computer RPGs. In a certain sense, Planescape: Torment takes the possibilities opened up by BG to one of their logical conclusions--it's a tighter, more story-driven, and ultimately more personal role-playing experience than those hitherto available.

What does that mean, exactly? Well, for starters, you don't design a party at the beginning. Your character creation process consists of modifying your character's six basic stats with a number of character points. Alignment, gender, and class are predetermined because they are part of the story. You also don't name your character--he has a name, but you (and he) don't know what it is, so he's just called "The Nameless One." One of the best aspects of roleplaying P:T-style is that your actions determine your alignment. You begin the game as a True Neutral individual, and the moral decisions you make and your interactions with other characters alter your alignment. Thus, you decide whether TNO is good or evil, lawful or chaotic, based upon your actions, not some radio button you select at the start. I played first as a fighter, who was neutral good at the end of the game; I'm currently playing as a chaotic evil mage.

The stats screen in Torment

A word about the setting is in order. P:T, as the name implies, takes place in the AD&D setting of Planescape, a world where belief can alter reality and things are generally pretty weird. You start the game in the city of Sigil, which is not really a city and not really a plane unto itself, but it contains all manner of inter- and intraplanar gates. Sigil is a sort of crossroads of the multiverse where all manner of races intermingle in a neutral setting; everything in the City of Doors takes place under the watchful albeit unseen eye of the Lady of Pain, who isn't really a god but you'd have a hard time telling the difference. The Planescape multiverse also has its own lingo, which you will pick up fairly quickly from the contextual clues in conversations with other entities. The art in the game is very good and frequently very dreary, which is only apropos. Everything about this game screams that it's not for kids, and it isn't. It's a grim and grimy setting, and if you don't like it, then you won't appreciate P:T. I, for one, felt that this was a refreshing change of pace.

Now that I've prattled on about the story, what is it? Well, TNO (that's you) is immortal, but he's also an amnesiac. Your main objective is to unravel the mystery of who you are and that's about as much as Black Isle tells you before you begin. You've been a powerful mage, fighter, and thief in various past incarnations, and you'll "remember" some of these abilities as you go through the game. You'll travel the planes with a motley crew, starting with a disembodied, floating skull (with eyeballs) called Morte. You and your party members all have tainted pasts, but more than that I won't say for now. Suffice it to say that you will be intrigued by and drawn into the story; it's surprisingly complex and well-written.

The graphics are very nice. Backgrounds are hand-painted, and the game is presented through an isometric, three-quarters perspective. Characters are bigger than in BG, and there's more detail. Unfortunately, you can't change screen resolutions (it's set at 640 x 480 by the game), but that's a minor issue.

How about the voices? Well, most of the voice acting is provided by famous talent such as Mitch Pileggi, Sheena Easton, and John de Lancie. Except for the occasional scripted interaction among party members, you hear verbal commentary in the same places as BG: when someone is dying, dead, bored, or told to perform some action. I have one minor complaint about the voices: Trias sounds like Q; all of the other well-known talent at least sound different from their best known roles, but John de Lancie just sounds like he's doing Q again. I'm probably nit-picking here, but it did bug me a little.

Okay, what's wrong with Torment? Well, there are a few problems. . . . First, it was released a tad too soon. The QT boys at Black Isle didn't finish squashing all the bugs, including the now-infamous slowdown bug. BI released a patch that ostensibly corrected this and several other issues, but my Torment still slows down after an indeterminate period of time. Second, the manual is more than a little skimpy. Now, Black Isle states that this is intentional, because you are uncovering background information as you proceed through the game. This is malarkey. There is no spell list, and the background on Sigil and other places is minimal. Now, fresh from BG and its 160-page manual, I was more than a little disappointed by the mere 48 pages of documentation here.

The unfortunate user interface is there on the left

Then we have the "improved" user interface. I've read dozens of reviews of this game, and most of them say the same thing about the new interface: it's the best thing since reversible underwear and USB ports. They're wrong. The circle menu is tedious and occasionally downright frustrating to use. Give me the old BG interface any day over that mess; I don't care if it takes up one-quarter of the screen. One big difference that's actually helpful to the player is the ability to switch screens during combat without unpausing the game; despite concerns that this would unbalance combat in BG, it really only unbalances things here if you're only marginally outclassed in a battle. Otherwise, you're still up the creek.

Those are about the only bad things about P:T. If you like role-playing games, go get it. The sound is good, the graphics are good, and the story is terrific. The characters are three-dimensional (figuratively speaking, of course) and very interesting. In short, although it has some problems, Torment is a rock-solid RPG that you shouldn't miss.

WARNING: If you haven't finished the game or the novel based (loosely) on it, skip the next paragraph. It contains some spoilers. Enough said.

I just finished the novel by Ray and Valerie Vallese based on Torment. It was quite different from the game, which was good in some ways and bad in others. Of course, with a character as flexible and unique as TNO, it's unsurprising that the authors would choose to tell a somewhat different tale than the game. What is surprising is the nature of some of the changes. TNO gets a name in the book, although it's not his true name (Dak'kon picks it). Dak'kon and Annah are very different, although I felt the Annah of the novel was more fully realized than the Annah of the game. Almost all of the characters that appear in the novel are different is some way, be it subtle or no, from their game counterparts. The Nameless One is really crippled by the loss of his mortality in the book, in a way that the TNO of the game doesn't seem to be. The book also answers one question that always bugged me--why did TNO suddenly start retaining his memories? The end is, of course, inevitable, but it's also much clearer than the end of the game. I'm not the only one who found himself scratching his head and saying, "er, what exactly just happened?" after viewing the final movie. It may simply be the nature of the different media, but the book did seem much more coherent at the end.

Well, that's it. . . what are you still staring at your computer screen for? Go to your software store and pick up Torment. You'll be glad you did.

Those mean old shadows are about to kill you!


Planescape: Torment, Planescape, Sigil, The Nameless One, etc. are property of their respective copyright holders, and no infringement of any kind is intended. You may now resume your regularly-scheduled programming.

Last updated on 3-27-00
© 2000 Brian R. Warren