#4


Here’s the other promised WRPG, another one that I got into thanks to my wife. I’ve yet to encounter a game that pulls off this kind of unique setting, while at the same time telling a really profound story.

PLANESCAPE: TORMENT




The game begins in a mortuary. You wake up with no memory and no name, with only a floating, disembodied skull speaking like a gangster keeping you company. Everything’s really dirty, ugly, smelly and in general just… deathy. Deady? Death-esque? Deathinitely.


Pretty.. skully, if you ask me. Alright, I'm gonna shut up now.

So once again we are back to AD&D. We don’t get to create our character this time, but that’s okay, because the gameplay and battle system takes a back seat in Torment. In fact, I think there’s a total of four obligatory battles in this game. You can even talk your way out of most boss battles, provided you have high enough charisma. On that note, I would even recommend forgoing adding any stat points to the physical stats, instead focusing on wisdom, charisma, and intelligence, since the better developed those are, the more memories your character gets to get back, and the amount of story that you get to experience is much bigger.
Planescape: Torment takes place in the city of Sigil mostly, the City of Doors, situated between the many planes of the D&D multiverse, where anything can act as a gate as long as you have the proper key, not to mention the city itself changes its shape. This concept is pretty amazing, if you ask me, and is implemented really well – while Sigil will remain your hub area, you get to visit a number of different settings to discover what exactly your previous incarnation has done.


Without spoilering too much, this game offers one of the most ambitious stories in video games. What starts of as a simple amnesiac plot turns into a profound tale of mortality, morality, sacrifice and acceptance of one’s fate. The ending I received left me wondering for weeks. The game introduces some interesting philosophies (which you can associate yourself with in-game), which is fitting, considering ideas come alive in Sigil (seriously, you can convince a guy he doesn’t exist and he disappears). And really nothing at all is black or white in this game. Once you start discovering your own backstory and how it all relates to your comrades and other characters you encounter, really nothing is clear-cut. About that – the characters that can join you are some of the most original characters I ever got to join my party. Of the… well “normal”, regular races you encounter in D&D there are only two humans (including yourself, who doesn’t really fit the standard definition of a human; and then there’s Ignus, who is essentially a floating, burning corpse) and one tiefling. Other than that you can get a Succubus, the floating head I mentioned, and an animated suit of armor. There’s eight characters to choose from in total, but once again your party is limited to six members, so you’ll have to miss out on two of them. Though trust me – maintaining a party of six misfits like this can be really challenging. Some are downright insane and will just plain try to kill you if you don’t say the right thing during conversation.


The music is also pretty unconventional. There’s a lot of synth and other electronic sounds, and though most areas stick to ambient noise, there’s a lot of really solid atmospheric tracks. I am not familiar with other works by Mark Morgan and Richard Band, but this soundtrack really stands out to me as a very memorable one.


Fans of deep, difficult stories will feel right at home with this one. I would recommend playing this after BG, unless you are already well-acquainted with the AD&D ruleset, as that really streamlines the experience. Planescape: Torment offers a big catharsis factor, one really similar to those of Greek tragedies (you’ll notice more of this trend in the following entries ). I really find myself speechless now. I really, really recommend this game. It’s not long. Try it and tell me: what can change the nature of a man?