Planescape: Torment

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Zoombie

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Wait...wasn't that a GAME, Zoombie?

Well...yes. Planescape: Torment is a vidio game. A classical Computer RPG, released in 1999. It has over 1...million...words. Thats about 4-6 NOVELS worth of text. Holy batman!

And that text is great. Well written, with an incredible plot, Torment is probebly the best book I've ever played in a long time...or was it the best game I've ever read?


Whatever. It's writing is SO good that someone took the text FROM THE GAME and with minimal editing turned it into a book. I've read the first few pages and wow. It works. Not only does it work, but it works WELL.

So get this game (You can find it on the Internet) and get the book: http://www.wischik.com/lu/senses/pst-book.html RIGHT NOW!

But DON'T get the 'official' novilization. It's terrible. I know, I read it and was sorely dissapointed. Get this 'true' novlization, right now!
 

PeeDee

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I remember that game. I think I played it for twenty minutes total.

Once we got graphical games, I gave up text games. I think the only ones I ever finished and enjoyed all the way through were the Hitchhiker game (now online) and Harlan Ellison's I have no mouth and I must scream text game. Those were good.

Otherwise, I'm sitting there going "I've gone left....I've turned on the light....I've looked at the room.....GAWD! What else is there to do!? Why am I not playing Rise of the Traid? I QUIT!"
 

PeeDee

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.....yep, definitely thinking of something else altogether. Now I wonder what...

Haven't played this one at all. Never mind me. :)
 

dclary

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How are you supposed to read it? It's all french and stuff.
 

PeeDee

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You were supposed to look at the pictures and go "Oh. Diablo. Neat!"

:)
 

DeadlyAccurate

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Here's a Hall of Fame article in English.

You were supposed to look at the pictures and go "Oh. Diablo. Neat!"

Blasphemer! Planescape is so far from Diablo they shouldn't even be spoken of in the same breath.

God, I'm gonna have to dig this game back out and play it.
 

a tree of night

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Zoombie said:
And that text is great. Well written, with an incredible plot, ...

I'm not sure about the plot. It was somewhat revolutionary for a video game, but in the scheme of things, the main plot wasn't anything original. What made the game special for me was the depth and development of the secondary characters. It's been years since I played it, but the floating skull (Morte?) was brilliant.
 

Novelust

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Secretly, I have always, always wanted to write a series around the Fallout games. I can play the second one over and over and over...
 

JimmyB27

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a tree of night said:
I'm not sure about the plot. It was somewhat revolutionary for a video game, but in the scheme of things, the main plot wasn't anything original. What made the game special for me was the depth and development of the secondary characters. It's been years since I played it, but the floating skull (Morte?) was brilliant.

I wouldn't say revolutionary, more like the poorer cousin of Baldur's Gate, which was the true revolution
 

badducky

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Baldur's Gate was a different kind of thing, entirely, because the camera pulled back and the plot was mostly side quests. What was the theme of Baldur's Gate? What was the impetus for it beyond just a really cool epic adventure?

The recurring theme of Baldur's Gate through the characters seemed to be family problems, and the various ways different characters dealt with the limitations of their worldview towards their families. However, even this was barely present in the patched together mess of subplots and adventures.

Planescape:Torment was a unified thing, and an excellent storyline. The planewalkers all struggled against their own nature internally.

Most of the subplots dealt with the conflicts of nature from the man who denied his anti-dustie bias to make some money for his wife, to the wizard whose magic is his lifeblood and an eternally destroying him.

Both series of games teach us a valuable lesson that applies to our art: Mediocre graphics, mediocre gameplay, and mediocre plot plus soulfel characters = unforgettable classic.

Cutting edge graphics, gameplay, and plot with empty, soulless drones = forgettable non-classic.

Characters are really, really important.
 

PeeDee

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Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance is STILL one of the best games ever made for the PS2. Even years and years after it's come out, the graphics are absolutely top-notch, the gameplay is no end of fun, and the water effect is still gorgeous. My wife and I played through it five or six times, and I have to say I wouldn't mind going through it again.
 

jbal

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PeeDee said:
I remember that game. I think I played it for twenty minutes total.

Once we got graphical games, I gave up text games. I think the only ones I ever finished and enjoyed all the way through were the Hitchhiker game (now online) and Harlan Ellison's I have no mouth and I must scream text game. Those were good.

Otherwise, I'm sitting there going "I've gone left....I've turned on the light....I've looked at the room.....GAWD! What else is there to do!? Why am I not playing Rise of the Traid? I QUIT!"
Are we talking about the same all text Hitchhiker game? I couldn't even get the Babel fish, which would fly from the dispenser across the room and disappear.
 

badducky

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I must confess, I still have Torment loaded on one of my compters, and I still play it.

As an addendum, the game Knights of the Old Republic 2:The Sith Lords was created by many of the same talents that brought us Torment, and alas another sad story occurred. In Torment, for no reason anyone can figure out, the game tanked commercially. In the Sith Lords, a Christmas deadline was added late in production that absolutely mauled and destroyed the end of the game.

Awful. Just awful.

Would some rich person please go to Obsidian and invest in these game desginers and writers and give them realistic deadlines and their own creative controls? Please?
 

a tree of night

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badducky said:
Would some rich person please go to Obsidian and invest in these game desginers and writers and give them realistic deadlines and their own creative controls? Please?

I'll add it to my list of things to do after I win the lottery.
 
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