"A few years old, but still one of the best RPGs to date, if not THE best in some aspects, especially when compared to BG"

I first bought Torment soon after its release a few years back, played, loved it, and shelved it. Having misplaced my copy of the game for some time, I found a barebones version of the game (no instruction manual, game scrunched into two CDs, coupled with some frustrating RPG called Soulbringer), and bought it for 10 bucks. Having this great game available for next to nothing prompted me to write this brief review. I also wanted to write this to rebut certain other reviews that find Baldur's Gate to be a better game.

While everyone is entitled to their own opinion, I'm surprised that anyone could place BG above Torment. As an RPG, there is little comparison. Torment's storyline is rich and incredibly detailed. The characters are all interesting in their own right (something BG has yet to accomplish, in my opinion), with the possible exception of Nordom, who is more of a BG-style party member (i.e. little, if any bearing on the storyline, and not much personality of his own to speak of, but still better than most of the BG extras). Annah, Dak'kon, and Morte were truly memorable characters. Fall-from-Grace was a good character, but not as strong as the aforementioned three. The voice acting was wonderful, especially Sheena Easton's Annah and (I forget his name, but he plays Skinner on the X-Files) Dak'kon. A lot of BG voice acting is cheesy and irritating, particularly Sendai and Abazigal from BGII:TOB. Fun fight, lousy villain monologues.

I won't go into detail on the story or the game mechanics, as many reviews have already covered these areas, except to say this: BGII has a much more intricate battle system with more options, and some great boss battle music to boot, but there's also something to be said for Torment's fluid battles and big, flashy magic effects. There are some glitches with Enoll Eva's Duplication and full-screen spells, like Celestial Host and Bladestorm, but most of the fun of this game is in experiencing the story and making decisions that guide your character down the paths of Law, Neutrality, Chaos, Good, and Evil.

One issue that many people seem to have with Torment is its lack of freedom in some areas. I think that the game gives the player quite a bit of freedom in how you want to build your character, how you resolve conflicts and dilemmas, and what kind of character you want to role-play. Lying to people makes you more chaotic, upholding laws and keeping promises makes you more lawful, helping people without asking for compensation makes you more good, and causing harm to innocents and lusting for power makes you more evil. The way your ability scores affect your dialogue options is very neat, and allows for numerous outcomes for different kinds of characters role-playing the same conversation. Alignment is also important when determining how your party members react to you and what items you can use. Lawful Good is one of the most desirable alignments in the game from a purely statistical standpoint, as it allows you to use artifacts like the Tears of Salieu-Dei (spelling?) and Celestial Fire, but it's difficult to maintain such a demanding and strict alignment. Lying and bluffing people can be very productive and a lot of fun, but it's not something that lawful good characters go around doing.
Unlike BG, where most of your experience comes from slaughtering hordes of beasties, Torment rewards you for having high ability scores, exploring various dialogue options, and finding different ways to resolve quests, which I find much more satisfying. On the downside, powerleveling on your own is a tad difficult, but the UnderSigil area works ok for that purpose. It's not really necessary to powerlevel in this game, but the option is there if you feel so inclined.
Going back to the issue of freedom for a moment, I have to agree that games like BG allow you more freeom in character creation, which skills you use, and how you form your party. However, BG's story also suffers because of this. It doesn't matter if you're a female human true neutral druid or a lawful evil elven fighter/mage - you can still play the game pretty much the same way, and the story line is built loosely so that it can accomodate whatever character you choose to play. I thought some aspects of the BG story were interesting, but it just didn't feel as ''together'' as the Torment story. Little touches like Yves' stories, the Sensory Stones, and the corpses in the Mortuary, most of which are entirely optional, make the world of Torment much more vivid and lifelike. Unlike in BG, I actually cared and thought about the kinds of things I was saying and how I was resolving quests, because I knew that my actions could have a profound affect on my options later in the game, and I didn't want to mess things up. It's pretty hard to mess things up in BG - unless you've turned the entire world hostile against you, you're pretty much ok.
I enjoy BG for a number of reasons, including the epic battle music (the music in Torment is excellent for ambience, but it doesn't stir the blood like choral ensemble), the complex battle system, and ability to make any sort of character you like. However, in the areas that count the most, in my opinion, a more fulfilling, enjoyable RPG than Torment has yet to be made. If you haven't played it yet, pick yourself up a copy today.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 03/23/02, Updated 03/23/02