Planescape: Torment (1999)

I've been playing this one for several hours now and I'm not really making any progress. I'm still in the starting town and I can't figure out how to progress. I know I need to find Pharrod, and I know where he's at, but I just keep wandering back and forth and finishing fetch quests without realizing it and I'm really trying to figure out how this game is so revered.

Any tips from folks who have beat this one?

Having literally never played a CRPG or D&D game before (unless we counting the arcade belt scroller), I picked this one up on Switch.

It's sort of my "second monitor" content at the moment, something I'll hammer out playing handheld while Twitch is on in the background or something. The Switch controls for this game are... Really good? The game's original mechanics are incredibly obtuse in my opinion, but the way Beamdog has simplified all the different interaction options and menus into a pair of rotary wheels a la Seiken Densetsu honestly rules. I had tried playing this on PC years ago and was overwhelmed trying to remember all the keybinds, and this new control scheme is incredibly welcome as a newcomer to the genre.

I haven't got far. Just sorta wandering around the first town area right now. But I like it so far. I miss when games had dialogue options with immediate and branching consequences. It's my understanding that the Planescape campaign goes for far more ethereal and metaphysical theming, and I'm all about that - definitely something underexplored in games... The same old Tolkien elves and dwarves and wizards stuff is woefully overplayed, but games still stick with it out of a sheer lack of creativity.

Anyway. I imagine this game is really long and that it's structured such that a lot of content likely won't be seen on a single play through. So I'm just gonna play through casually, lean hard on my charisma stat, and have a blast.

OK I've officially gotten farther into Planescape: Torment than I ever have. I feel honorbound to play it because the editor for my book (wexsdrift.com) literally wrote the Planescape: Torment novel when this game was released.

The world is just so cool and unique. And I died in a dungeon and it just brought me back to the entrance with full health? Weird, I did not expect that. I wonder, does that count for all dungeons? Or is the one I'm in just special? (I'm in the catacombs after talking to Pharod)

I'm now 14 hours into the game (at the Lower wards), and have gone through a sort of analytical crisis.

The thing is that, even when I am accounting for the fact that this is an old game (I compare it with other games from 1999 and earlier only), this has by far been the worst game experience I've had for years. And I feel bad about it.

Usually when it comes to celebrated games that I dislike, I can still understand why someone else would love it. Even if Minecraft is a pointless experience for me, it is comprehensible to me how someone else would consider it the greatest game of all time. This is not the case with Planescape Torment.

To be clear, I am of course not judging anyone appreciating this game. It is not my inability to enjoy this game, but my inability to grasp the critical consensus that frustrates me. I have probably spent 3 hours by now checking videos/forums/articles that describes the greatness of this game, just to try to get out of my own head and view the design decisions of this game from another person's perspective. I failed.

There are some aspects of this RPG that I do GET why people like:

•The music - I think it's just okay, but I get why someone else would love this

•The unique setting - I actually agree with this. It is nice with a fantasy setting that is not just a ripoff of Tolkien

•The detailed wordbuilding - For people who gets more immersed by detailed information on the world, this is obviously a plus

The thing that has ruined my gaming experience thus far, is none of the above. It lies in the gameplay and story. In my point of view, the gameplay is a textbook example of overall bad game design.

The combat is sluggish, and the depth that I know is there (from reading hours about the game online) feels far too complex for me to even experiment with. This comes from someone who has played many relatively complex RPGs and strategy games (Xcom, Fire Emblem, competitive Pokemon etc.). The game gives no sufficient explanation to how combat/spells/abilities/tactics work. I am not encouraged to explore (due to a high barrier of entry), but not given a recommended path either. After a while, the combat got so difficult that I turned the difficulty down to the lowest possible, just to manage to survive. Hell, I even had to actively check what initial stat distributions a youtuber gave the nameless one at the beginning of the game, just to get the by fans most recommended experience (a certain amount of wisdom, charisma and intelligence enables dialogue not available otherwise). This is just BAD design, and this situation of me having to check up things on the internet reappears...

The questlines are extremely obtuse. Short example: A girl had lost her ring, which I was to get back from some thugs. I tried to deduce their position by her instructions, but seemed to find the wrong baddies. After checking a walkthrough, I went to the described location, only to find that I did not get any ring (trying stealing / attacking / talking). I finally gave up on this quest. Most quests have been like this for me - initially trying to act by myself, but resorting to a guide just to not waste time talking with every character in the Hive just to find the one who gave me a quest 5 hours ago I've just completed. In short, I have no fun whatsoever in battling enemies or completing quests (the main bulk of the gameplay).

The story is supposed to be the strong suit of the game, but so far I have struggled just to maintain my interest to a bare minimum. This is probably not due to the underlying themes, but the way the story is told. My personal preference of video game storytelling, is when it intersects with game design (e.g. Super Metroid, Celeste), but I can understand others appreciation of more cinematic experiences such as Naughty Dog. What I do not understand, however, is how this mess of never-ending (and extremely ugly-looking) textboxes is considered to be competent storytelling. I like both reading and philosophy, so I thought this game would not be hard to get into, but the story has thrown me into a state of complete and utter indifference. It is like a visal novel but without the dramaturgical finess.

I don't want to give up on this highly ranked game (place 64 at Grouvee top 250), but playing this not only gets me frustrated, but sad. I don't like the feeling of despising every moment with something that is supposed to be a masterpiece. In the end, it leaves me with a sense of being an incomplete human being, unable to understand the critical consensus. I want to complete it, but right now I'm just feeling like I drift into the mouth of cultural madness.

Having some trouble in the Bronze Sphere quest. This is the main quest line that has you fetching things for Pharod.

My characters are level 4-5 and I have 2 fighters which I am seeing as probably being a mistake. Generally I'm getting my ass handed to me, and my magic spells are crap!

Should I go back and ... grind somewhere? Where does one even grind up a level in this game?

Still really enjoying it but man do I feel stupid getting ripped in half over and over again...

One of my plans for 2017 was to finally do another playthrough of Planescape Torment; I originally played it as a young teen and I think most of it went over my head, plus I got the worst alternate ending imaginable. It's a bit late in the year, but I've been slowly chipping away at it when I have time. Great game, worthy of the praise it receives, such a unique, imaginative setting with really intricate characters, world-building and storytelling. I doubt I'll finish it before the year's out though since it's colossal and I barely have time to play it.

It is with a sad sad fucking heart that I have to put Planescape: Torment to the side again. This is a wonderful game, literally. It is full of such creativity and dazzling imagination that it is WRETCHED that this game is nigh unplayable on modern-day machines. Beamdog, NighTdive, - SOMEBODY - needs to fly in and deal the universe a solid by making an Enhanced Edition. This is the last time that I will invest hours into Planescape: Torment until such a product is created. I have had enough of disappearing items, disappearing party members and skulls that normally talk but will not come back from the dead. I am done, and it is not right.

PLAY PLANESCAPE: TORMENT. PLAY IT AND HOPE IT DOESN'T FALL TO PIECES. PRAY TO BEAMDOG. PRAY TO NIGHTDIVE. Pray for Torment ;_;