"An Aural And Visual Assaut To The Senses!!!"

I remember dying. Not how, when or why, but the cold fact alone: dying. I look around, there are dead bodies lying around. But they certainly don't seem to remember much. Come to think of it, the dead are not suppose to remember dying. Death is the ultimate, finale fate. How come, then, that I breath? How come I feel cold, and afraid, and disoriented? And what comes next? Death is supposed to be the end, no one trains you on “what to do” while you're at it. Maybe I should just lay still, maybe…

“Come on chief, get up, hurry!” It's an annoying voice, which startles me. More so, the fact that it comes from a floating, whirling skull doesn't help. “What?” and my own voice seems rasp, and strange to me. “What are you waiting for? get UP! we hafta get outta here!” again, the floating skull urges me to do something the dead are not supposed to do.

I comply, if for nothing else, because it makes as much sense as any other action. The dead, you know, are definitely not supposed to get up. “Boy, they sure tore you up good this time, you look even uglier than before” says the skull. They? this time? Before? Inside of me, ignorance and darkness are no longer fueling fear. There is another sentiment, a not so new one that grows within: rage.

It is right there, right then, in that dark, foul and creepy place, that I make a decision. I will do another thing that the dead are not supposed to: I will fight to remember my life.

Thus starts your adventure in one of the –if not THE- greatest computer role-playing games out there. You wake up, seemingly from death, and find yourself an ugly, rather hulking and apparently human creature with no memories of your past life –or lives- and more importantly, no recollection of your own name. You will be throughout the game known as “the nameless one”, for that is a parabola of your lost: in loosing your name, you've lost everything you are, what you've done and the people you've hated and loved. In loosing your name, you have ceased to be whole.

This premise alone should be enough to show you that this is a game that does not thread lightly; it's pretty thoughtful, sometimes even heavy with philosophical (existential and moral) issues. Furthermore, this premise sets the tone for what other quests and encounters will be during the game.

In keeping with such a choice, this game will NOT present you with some great good vs. evil struggle. It is not as simple as black and white. Rather, your quest is yours and yours alone, and therefore utterly selfish, if justified, and it will carry you trough a well though and well written –sometimes magnificently so- plot that can lead you and those who choose to follow you to final understanding, or destruction. You are not a knight in shinning armor reflection of goodness either. Brace yourself for the ride, because remembering your life does not mean you are going to like what you find.

Welcome to Planescape: Torment


OH, DRAGON, WHERE ART THOU?

An interesting thing happens with computer RPG's. While they are supposed to rely on imagination as their biggest asset, they repeatedly tend to build upon “accepted” rules and norms. Therefore, most people will think of elves and dwarves, mages and knights, princesses, dungeons, and dragons when they hear the term “role playing game”. This applies to the very games that Torment creators (Interplay) have done before.

Planescape: Torment starts by defying some of those conceptions, and dares to change the settings radically by placing you in another universe altogether, that of the “planes”, of Sigil, the city of many doors, in which some can lead to a room, and others to another plane of existence…if you have the proper key.

Sigil is by nature a chaotic place, with many and very different creatures, races and beliefs. It even has it's own slang, and early in the game you may feel confused by the use of terms and lingo you're totally unfamiliar with. This is a nice touch, for it shows care in the design, and further improves the sense of being in a different world, while at the same time keeping in touch with the story: after all, you do NOT remember things.

The architecture, as well, reflects the strangeness and sometimes just plain alien world. Being populates by denizens of different planes, the cities blend different stiles and colors, in the end giving an overall impression of gothic, dark and foreboding mood.

So no, there are no elves or dwarves, and the dragons are all inside of you. This doesn't mean, of course, that you won't have lots of “hostile” encounters. It just means that there will be a lot of different monsters and enemies to face. Combat is still a very important part of the game, but –and this is a first for me in any game- you can actually avoid combat to achieve your goals by means of outsmarting or outtalking your foes, and still gain tons of experience points.

Magic, although similar to that used in other computer RPG's, is represented in totally new ways, and it'll take you sometime to get used –even comfortable- with some of the items you use. After all, rat-tails and tattoos are hardly in the good mage spell book you are used to, but in Torment they'll have to do. Another example: you cannot, repeat, cannot wear any armor: tattoos, earrings, and even eyes (yes, you take out one of yours and put another one in) do that. Plus, your character has a nifty, little thing that makes him different from anyone else: you are immortal, or rather, CAN get yourself killed, only to wake up again sometime later. This is pretty important, and I will further explain it later on.

Of course, throughout your quest you'll hardly be alone, so your life is not the only one you get to worry about. A number of NPC's (or non player characters) will probably –and depending on your actions- choose to follow you, and in them resides one of the single most powerful and brilliant features of this game: the dept of interaction with them, and their personal stories and attitudes. These people –or skulls, or cubes, or succubi, or, huh, things- have stories of their own, had a life before they met you, had feelings and needs that droved them, and that actually show during the game.

As with real life, you don't really have to immediately trust them. Betrayal is one of the few words every creature of every plane seems to understand. As with real life, only with the progression of the adventure and your time with the NPC's will you be getting to know them, dialogue trees will change and expand as events occur, and you will pretty much feel you are actually developing a relationship with them, as opposed to the “hi, wanna follow me around for-no-particular-reason-whatsoever” theme of most other RPG's. In this game, I found I really cared for my party, and they were much more than cannon fodder. Friend or foe alike, they convey emotions, and respond in kind to what you decide to give.

Sadly, this dept in characterization does not extend to all characters in the game (aha! You did think I wasn't going to point out anything bad, didn't you?) and some of the people you decide –or are made- to talk to are rather hollow, and totally uninteresting once you finish your business with them.


PLAYED ANY GOOD BOOKS LATELY?

As for the story telling, this is something I have mixed feelings about, and I purposely left it until the end of my summary. There is a LOT of text in this game. No, forget that. There is a Humungous, huge, unnatural amount of text in this game. If you talk to someone, you get to read about. If you check something out, you get to read about it. If you take a step, you get to read about it.

I liked this, but since the whole point of a review is to help others make a decision, I have to keep people's different tastes in mind when I do it. And so I warn you: lots of text! The real problem is, sometimes there is really no point to it.

Imagine this: a movie, or at least a good one, is able to convey emotions out of you, the viewer, by sheer force of powerful and intense visuals. The opening minutes of “saving private Ryan” needed no dialogue at all, the images told –and did it well- a tale of war and even personal tragedy.

Then, a real great movie is able to used those visuals AND add great dialogues, and both elements work in perfect harmony, complementing each other.

I feel the people behind Torment tried, and failed, to do that. Not a miserable failure, mind you, but a failure at last. I figure that in a game, where the level of interactivity is higher than in a movie –you don't get to only watch- it's gotta be that much more difficult to do. And so, some parts of the game are plagued by unnecessary text, which can be annoying and at worst, boring.

Ah! But I did not start praising this game only to cold water it at the end. There is another part to the storytelling of Planescape: Torment. In those points of the game in which the writers achieved to make dialogue, text and graphics to really blend together, they did a brilliant work of it, and sometimes the text alone is enough to get you as excited as in the most difficult fight for your life.

Furthermore, the story is original, the characters are well done –especially the main “villain”, I believe- and if you're able to keep with it, the plot will be totally satisfying by the end of it all.

As I said, I left this part of the summary for the last, and I did it with purpose: some gamers, sadly, are put off by the perspective of reading a lot in a game. If I manage to interest you in it –and then hit you with the reading part- then maybe (big maybe) you'll not care about it as much, and decide to give it a try.

Now, let's get into some particulars, shall we?
Planescape: Torment uses a variation of the Dungeons and Dragons role playing rules. This means that you basically create your character and decide what you are going to do with it, choosing from a variety of “classes” or specialties: fighter (pure warrior), mage, or thief (such a demeaning word, don't you think?). In order to better prepare your character, you get to use “stat points” in a number of categories: Strength (better for warriors), constitution (how many Hit points of life you get and gain), dexterity (or how difficult to hit you are, as well as finding traps, moving in shadows, picking pockets etc), intelligence (will affect how much dialogue options you have, and access to more spells, and a better chance to regain memories), charisma (not that useful from what I gather) and wisdom (which mostly affects how many experience points you get, and spells).


But you do NOT have to decide what “profession” you are going to play with prior to starting the game. This is yet another nice touch: you can start the game, play around, and THEN decide if you want to be a bad ass, commando like, destroy everything in his path warrior, an agile and stealthy uh, thief, or mage. And there is more: you don't have to decide if you are going to be “good” or “chaotic” or “neutral” at the start of the game. Torment will do that for you, considering your actions during the game, it will decide how you are playing, and thus make the adjusts needed: some people would rather not talk to you, and some weapons you will not be able to use.

PS: Torment uses the Infinity Engine. This means it looks a lot like Baldur's Gate and Icewind Dale, so the interface should be familiar to anyone who's played those games. For those who have not, in a nutshell: you'll see the game area, and a “fog of war” surrounding you and marking those places you haven't been yet. At the bottom of the screen, a bar displays the portraits of your characters (so as to select them and see their health status), a clock and the main interface, which marks your inventory and therefore your access to saving, loading, notes and others.

Selecting your character (s) and left pointing and clicking will make them move, or talk or attack, depending on the situation. Also, right clicking in the image will produce yet another interface with fast access to spells, items in inventory, attack, use of special abilities and such.

Another screen you'll be seeing a lot is the Inventory screen, basically, it consist of a “paper doll” (a full body representation of the character) with a number of slots for items you are carrying, and others for the things you are using or wearing.

Another useful, and greatly appreciated feature: you can check out your map, and you can also MAKE NOTES on it, write your own thoughts and conclusions, which is really helpful in orienting you and helping you complete some tasks. Even more helpful is your list of “completed” and “pending” quests. That is exactly right, no more do you need to write it down, the game does it for you, and you can easily check what have you done and what is left to do.

There are other features not directly related to gameplay, but appreciated as well as caring touches. For example, you will have a “gallery” of creatures and characters you meet, with “pictures” and descriptions of them. The pictures are appreciated the most; check it out, you'll agree.

All in all, the game is pretty easy to play, meaning that there is not a steep learning curve, and in minutes every action in the game will come very easily.


CARE TO STEP OUTSIDE?

As I mentioned before, you gain a lot of experience from avoiding battles, this is actually encouraged in the game. Sometimes, though, people will just not listen to reason (yours) and the inevitable, the thing that you did not want (aha, sure) happens: you fight your why to peaceful understanding.

Combat in this game is pretty straightforward: you encounter a foe, he manifests he/she/it's dislike of your person, and then all hell breaks loose.

There is the hack and slash component: you point, and you party gleefully kicks the crap out of something, or the other way around. Ah! But there is much more, some battles you will have to carefully plan (normally, a couple of times after you've been utterly humiliated), combining the use of magic, physical progress and special abilities to achieve victory. For example, you may want to place your thief –hiding in shadows- behind that pesky mage to issue a rather unhonorable backstabbing move, and then unleashed some powerful magic, prior to running head on (a la “Brave heart”) and push his face in.

While nowhere near perfect, combat is pretty exciting, and there are a couple of nifty touches that make it even more so: for example, if you score a “critical hit” the screen shakes and your character yells it's favored battle cry (alas, is not nearly as fun when someone applies the same to you). And then, of course, are the spells.

While best discussed in graphics, spells in this case do add to the feeling in battle. Forget about the inconsequential moves and recitations of other games, in Torment every single spell has it's unique animation, from the rather dull magic missiles, passing from giant axes or hammers that appear in mid air and, well, hack or hammer people to peaces, to the truly spectacular (console like, even) end game spells. It's a blast to use, and very, very fun to watch.

Enemy AI, huh, well, let's just say enemies will not draw maps of the battlefield and try to gain the upper hand. They are pretty stupid, actually, and this detracts from the joy of giving them pain.

I CANNOT DIE, I AM UNBEATABLE!

Quit your delirious of grandeur and reflect upon the issue of immortality in this game, that is, your main character's immortality. Here's how it works: despite their overall stupid AI, some enemy managed to inflict massive amounts of damage into your already scarred hide (the lucky bastard!) and you hopelessly watch as your hit points or life-o-meter rapidly drop to none. You are, for all intents and purposes, death. But instead of going trough a new loading process, you wake up in the nearest convenient mortuary and can, after some wise healing or resting, go right back at the sucker.

This is used in other games as well –System Shock II, for example- but in Torment your death –or lack of- plays an important part in the story and in building your characters personality. And can even be useful, in some situations, to allow yourself to be killed in order to actually achieve something from it (even if it's only scaring the hell out of someone). It is nicely implemented, and works very well with the story line.

This does not mean you should not worry about dying at all. There are your companions, of course, who don't quite share the useful resurrection ability. And THEN, there are the exceptions, so let me re-state my assumptions: In Torment you cannot die… unless someone kills you AND then eats you… so while death is not that much of a concern, you will learn that there are far more unpleasant endings to your adventure.


THINGS TO DO IN SIGIL WHEN YOU ARE DEAD

But alas! There is a downside to Torment's gameplay, namely, the “fed ex” quests. Apparently, none of the planes are safe from no-good, lazy-sitting-in-their-buttocks bastards who do nothing in life but wait for some tormented soul to agree and do their laundry. No, seriously. Hence, you will find yourself carrying LOTS of menial tasks that have little or nothing to do with the story.

Why would Interplay inflict this to us gamers is beyond me. A couple of these quests, well, I can take. But there are a LOT of them in PS: Torment and this seriously detracts from the game. Not only are many of these “quests” (such an epic sounding word…) quite boring, they are senseless, and worst: you HAVE to do them. This is, even if they are not really related to the story, you have to comply and do all this stuff (a free lesson in humility, maybe?) in order for the story to advance. Nonsense, and it is not appreciated.
As I mentioned before, Torment uses the Infinity Engine. A LOW resolution of the Infinity engine, that is. TO me, this is not a problem at all. While you should not expect this game to tax your 3d card progress, I found the locations and background interesting and well done, albeit not spectacular.

Where the game succeeds, though, is in managing characters and spells. You see, given the low resolution, everything seems bigger and closer. And the characters shine in this. In games like Baldur's Gate and Icewind Dale, your party was formed by ambiguously looking sprites, and you would have to name them very clearly in order to discern male from female during the game. Of course, while wearing armor, there is no discernible difference whatsoever.

In Torment characters are up and close, they have details, and thus, personality. And yes, you can easily discern male from female. And it matters.

I mentioned the spells before but it's worth doing it again. Spells have their own animation, each an every one of them, and they vary in colors, size and overall effect. A meteor storm will take you to space, to watch as a huge meteor is destroyed by a powerful ray and then fall unto the unsuspecting heads of your enemies. Another spell will open a portal to a different plane, and your enemy will be sucked in, chewed, and spit out. A very low level “horror” spell will cast a spectral image of a hollowing mask, kind of like the one used in “scream” (sorry for bringing the crappy movie to bear), and yet another one…. Oh, well, you get the point.

Finally, the general feel of Torment's world is that of a dark and ugly place. There is sort of a social Darwinism at work in the planes, and the world reflects it in its look and feel. Terrain has details all around, and no one building is the same as another one. Different parts of the city of Sigil will more likely than not reflect the lower or upper status of their inhabitants.

But I am a tough critic. While the graphics are great, they are not brilliant. There is some lack of polish, I feel, and the world does not seem as alive as it should, after all, citizens of ALL the planes come to Sigil. That, and the low-resolution issue, forces me to grant PS: Torment's graphics a mere 3 points out of five.
Torment has great sound all around. The music blends with the story, it reflects what you are doing and when. IN Battle? An appropriate tune will help you adrenaline levels blow. Getting a glimpse on your life? A different music will play. Talking? Walking? Traveling the planes? Going to hell and back? The game took its time in assuring they would have the right music for it all. It's original, and it's not intrusive, meaning that it will not get in the way of the gaming experience, but rather enhance it.

Then there is the voice acting. Superb (of course, I am currently playing Deus Ex so by comparison I may be a little biased). All the important characters have their own and unique voices, and they sound like they belong. Starting with your character, the Nameless One, with his grave, rash voice. Following with a certain floating skull and the succubi, or the Thiefling. Not only the voices are well done, the inflections and tones are there.

If someone means sarcasm, you will hear sarcasm. If someone means you harm you will certainly notice it in his voice, if someone loves you, well, there you go. Voice actors even succeeded in pulling of accents, and that helps “believing” in the characters personalities and motives.

If any, my only problem with sound in Torment is that there is not enough voice acting for my licking (oh, you guessed, it is supplanted by text). I think in this game the sound achieves what it sets out to do, and does so perfectly. It deserves nothing else, then, than a perfect five as a score.


AND IT ALL COMES DOWN TO….

A great, fun computer role-playing game. Torment is not perfect, far from it. But it's different enough, fun enough, interesting and smart enough to grant a very satisfying playing experience. It's a CRPG, it's got limitations, but it's all about imagination in the end. If you want to play a somewhat anti-hero, ugly, scarred, immortal being who does not remember his name, accompanied by a talking skull, women with tails or wings in a strange setting where walls give birth and entire towns are swallowed into other planes (and yes, you get to see it and go there), if you appreciate, or at least tolerate a lot of text and “fed ex”quests, if you enjoy mature and philosophical themes, then PLANESCAPE: TORMENT is a game you will really enjoy.

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 04/04/02, Updated 04/04/02