Planescape: Torment: Enhanced Edition

Although the combat isn't the greatest, this game is one of the best ever written. it explores incredibly deep themes in a coherent manner and there's a lot of really cool things. It's well worth your time.

Old, but worthy. If you're a reader.

One of the best, perhaps THE BEST adventure games ever.

One of my favorite games. The Enhanced Edition is ok.

peak RTwP CRPG
i wish these characters existed in BG1+2 EE. i need a BG party with Morte, Ignus, Vhailor, TNO, Nordom and FFGrace so bad

Still one of the greatest games ever made

BRA

One of the best games ever made, if not the best. It's story and themes are leagues above any other game made before or after.

"In knowing your name, your true name, you know that you have gained back perhaps the most important part of yourself. In knowing your name, you know yourself, and you know, now, there is very little you cannot do."
Perhaps one of the best written games of all time.

I must have played this game hundreds of times and always loved it ,a classic of its time, i recommend it if you like playing 26 year old rpgs and see passed the crappy combat which i actually didn't really mind all that much. i like it.

Out of all the games I've ever played, if I had the chance to forget any one of them, just for the purpose of replaying and reliving the experience, I would choose this one.

The best review that I could give is this: this game does not waste your time, and you'll be glad you pumped your brakes, put it in turtle mode, and scoured through the text that lays in such verbosity within this world.

You will see that the game developers poured their heart into every conversation, should you decide to buy it

It's a classic Isometric RPG a - la Baldur's Gate I and II, Icewind Dale, or Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magic Obscura--- but this story is much more captivating in that it keeps you on the edge of your chair saying, "Who is the Nameless One, and where the hell am I?"

What an adventure....i just finished my playthrough as a mage and i have to say: this is one of the best written games ever.

wow what a great game, an oldie but a goodie, this was my first time playing it and its a solid game

Would I recommend it? hell yes

One of the best narrative RPGs out there. Get it if you like plenty of reading and dialogue and minimal amount of combat.

Easily one of the best games of all time. It didn't age wonderfully, but when it was released it was phenomenal and the storytelling is excellent.

Probably can be called a godfather of modern crpgs, with super fasinating setting and plot. Sadly by today's standard the gameplay is a bit dated - combat is a bit clunky and teadious, and sometimes it feels more like reading a book by the amount of exposition you are given. Nevertheless, it's worth to experience at least part of it.

this game fucking slaps

An elderly man was sitting alone on a dark path, right? He wasn't certain of which direction to go, and he'd forgotten both where he was traveling to and who he was. He'd sat down for a moment to rest his weary legs, and suddenly looked up to see an elderly woman before him. She grinned toothlessly and with a cackle, spoke: 'Now your third wish. What will it be?'

'Third wish?' The man was baffled. 'How can it be a third wish if I haven't had a first and second wish?'

'You've had two wishes already,' the hag said, 'but your second wish was for me to return everything to the way it was before you had made your first wish. That's why you remember nothing; because everything is the way it was before you made any wishes.' She cackled at the poor berk. 'So it is that you have one wish left.'

'All right,' said the man, 'I don't believe this, but there's no harm in wishing. I wish to know who I am.'

'Funny,' said the old woman as she granted his wish and disappeared forever. 'That was your first wish.'

Planescape: Torment: Enhanced Edition was an exceptional experience then and still is an exceptional experience even by today's standards. With there being plenty of strategical setups and strategical setups and interchangeable character classes (for the Nameless One), players have a multitude of tools at their disposal to understand and overcome all challenges, from puzzles to combat situations, appropriately and satisfyingly. What consumers will be most interested to know about the product is its in-depth storytelling through dialogue and object descriptions, which tend to be expansive yet enamoring due to how the plot revolves around a scarred, amnesiac that slowly recovers his memory of self and the world around him. To say the least, this video game is refreshing in that it allows one to get a comprehensive understanding of the lore and game mechanics comfortably to the point where they can confidently face any trial within it with little to no error per se.

Not a big fan of the setting but despite that this is such a rich story that I have to keep playing.
The game is very easy to follow along and most of the battles aren't very hard either. Enemies are generally your level or lower unless you are simply attacking everything and everyone.

I highly recommend playing this with the mods for higher resolution video and textures.

The game is a classic for a reason.

The Good, Bad, and things that I'd like to have seen.

The Good:
Graphics amazing for the time it was made, and still hold up strong.
Its quick, and just as fun as I recall it was from the 90's.
The Story is top notch, and very deep when all the elements come together.
Playing as a fighter is easy, playing as a wizard slower, but rewarding.
Romance options that don't feel like they are forced.
friendships where you care about the twists that happen to your allies.
Everyone has a torment, and its super good.
Coin/loot excellent, same for lore too.
It's
The Bad:
Resting... Sucks now. You used to at least be able to rest, now not so much.
Unless your at an Inn, or someone lets you rest. This is bad for spell recovery.
Sometimes the game puts to many enemies at once.
Having to back track, or redo the same tree of conversation to get a new path forward.... a little tiring.
Some bugs still in the game that can make you have to reload a save. Nothing major but meh.

I would have liked them to leave the resting system alone.
A new game plus would have been fun, and for what it is 20 bucks is a bit much.
You can however; get it on sale, and its worth it 9.8/ 10.
Retro none Woke goodness, from a time when games were fun.

grand classic, great writing

Excellent story and characters in a uniquely memorable setting. Combat is sub-par but not the focus of the game.

It's a good game.

I don’t think it's any surprise given the game’s reputation, but the writing is the real star here. Despite the sheer quantity and quality of the writing, it does a surprisingly great job of speaking with a consistent voice. I’m not very familiar with D&D and the lore of its campaign settings so I can’t speak as to how much of this is just explanations of existing content versus the writers’ own additions, but I can say that P:T did a great job of conveying its setting and the forces behind it. There’s a huge amount of detail and lore embedded within the game even as you only experience a small slice of the actual universe with Sigil, the game’s main hub, essentially acting as the center of the universe where just about every faction, species, and plane is represented to some extent. Just in terms of invoking the soul of a place, PT has some of the best writing I've ever seen in a game.

The character writing is similarly strong. There are only a few recruitable party members, but they’re each given a great deal of attention through their backgrounds and distinctive personalities that I think the game made the right call by keeping its main cast small. Each party member has a very particular relationship with the Nameless One, your character, that serves to both flesh out your own history and provide a lens into the rest of the world. They each speak with a distinctive tone in the text and have great voice acting too. Those outside the main party are also very well-written, Ravel in particular being an absolute standout, but even many of the unimportant characters you’ll only speak to once will have a clear set of ideas and beliefs they want to convey to you.

Ultimately, PT’s writing succeeds because nothing feels wasteful. The game puts a huge focus on fleshing out its world both in the sense of literal descriptions of how it's structured and governed but also the beliefs underlying it all. How do people think of and cope with the universe, how do they feel about other people and groups trying to do the same, and how do your own experiences both personally and in-game shape your interactions with them? And these questions not only flesh out the world as you play but even end up as a part of the main narrative with your attempts to learn about and decide your feelings on it all becoming a driving force behind your progress throughout the story.

Planescape Torment is the 2nd best written game I have ever played, only losing out to Disco Elysium. But unlike Disco Elysium, there’s a lot more to this game than just reading. And that's where it fucks up.

The gameplay is…. not good. The best thing I can say about it is that you can circumvent most of it by either running away from any enemies or letting your party members do most of the heavy lifting. Even if you do engage directly, the combat is easy most of the time and only becomes an unavoidable issue during a few mandatory fights near the end.

The combat itself is a weird mix. It's very complex, largely owing to D&D dice rolls and other checks, such that you would need to spend a great deal of time to understand it. I played as a mage and it wasn’t uncommon for a spell to take up a whole screen of text describing how many D6s it rolls and what rolls enemies need to resist it and all sorts of other stuff. But at the same time, everything is actually being handled behind the scenes and it all happens so quickly that you don’t need to worry about any of the complexity behind the system. Just use a few spells or swing at the enemy with a melee weapon and it will all resolve before long. If an enemy is too strong, just run away and don’t bother with them. The combat isn’t fun nor is understanding it necessary to progress so it doesn’t really add anything to the game. But it still exists, its mere presence dragging down much of the experience whenever you move from talking and reading sections to the running and fighting sections.

Unfortunately, not everything can be circumvented. Enemies take up physical space so when you’re in a narrow corridor or there are large groups of them, it may be impossible to run past them without some very awkward movement. Even getting past regular enemies, there are a handful of encounters you can’t meaningfully avoid. Ravel and Trias are both required boss fights and end up being a gigantic pain to deal with, especially if you’ve avoided combat and thus lack the needed gear or levels to stand a chance against them. Neither of them were enjoyable and I had to resort to a mix of reloading the fight over and over plus some cheese strategies to eventually beat them both. If you just removed the combat from Planescape Torment and replaced it with literally nothing the game would be a full point higher.

And this is made worse by how the good and bad parts are distributed within the game. The first half is excellent, heavy on dialogue with little necessary combat (and what few fights are hard to avoid are quite easy) and show off the various sides of Sigil and how they all connect. But once you enter Ravel’s Maze, everything starts going to shit. There are still a handful of great conversations, but the rest of the game falters. Combat becomes much harder and avoiding it becomes tedious, there are no more sidequests, no new factions, the story becomes extremely linear, and the areas you’re sent to feel disconnected from one another as if the game was getting worried that Sigil was too boring and you really needed to see all the other cool planes before the game ended. Luckily the very final area was another great one and provided a fantastic resolution so the last half wasn't a total wash, but it is unfortunate that Planescape Torment had that rough gap from the 50% mark to the 90% mark that killed much of the flow.

As a whole, Planescape Torment is still a fantastic game. It's the only game I’ve played that comes close to Disco Elysium for the quality of its writing and, had different design decisions been made, it could have entered the sacred hall of 10/10s. But some very rough combat and a weak 2nd half hurt the experience to the point where I can’t just overlook it.

really makes you think

Going into this game having never played it before and having no nostalgia, I was worried it might feel too dated and I had heard the combat was dreadful but after hearing so much praise decided to give it a go.

It was an absolute fantastic experience. Combat is fine, it's not great but it's straightforward enough and does not take up that much of the game. Everything else though is just absolutely fantastic.

It was a bit of a slow start. It didn't pull me in straight from the start but did intrigue me enough to want to know what was going on. As I started to explore and talk to NPCs, starting doing quests, getting companions etc it all just started to come together. I found myself wanting to speak to everyone because the conversations and writing was just so good. The world building was absolutely superb and I found myself eager to keep finding out about this world and my character.

Also really loved that it had 9 different alignments. While none of that was new and it's using an already established system, it was really refreshing to have so many different ways you could take your character rather than just good or bad. I also liked that somethings like joining certain factions are alignment based.

I also love that you can pickpocket to farm money. I just love any game that has this.

One thing I often hate with a lot of RPGs is how useless non-combat traits can feel. Like so many games taking charisma and similar things ends up making combat less fun as you're not as strong as you could be for very little reward like a few extra bits of dialogue but in this game actually going a non-combat route (although not all combat is skippable) is super rewarding. Like sticking a ton of points into charisma and wisdom even if you're a warrior will still make for an amazing playthrough.

One thing that also sets this game apart is that it's set in an already established world with a ton of lore. What's nice about this is a few things in game I was curious about and before I knew it I was just going down this rabbit hole of lore. Like you come across a lot of a certain religious sect, a lot of games it's just maybe they're right or maybe they're wrong but I found myself outside of the game reading Planescape books and actually finding out about the after life and which religions actually got it right and wrong.

Overall it's just an amazing journey to the end held up by incredible writing and an incredible story in a world that you just come to love.

This game is a masterpiece that everyone who has uttered the words "I like RPG's" needs to play at least once. This is arguably the greatest single player storyline of any game written both past and present. it's the only video game I would put up there as equals to classic novels. You owe it to yourself to know and live this story.

Transcendentally great game, solid edition, you must at least try this if you think of yourself as someone who likes RPGs

Planescape: Torment is a classic narrative experience that still holds up today. The characters are memorable, and while the combat is weak, it's mostly optional if you play smart. If you love deep storytelling, you'll enjoy this—but be ready to do a lot of reading!

It really is as good of a story as everyone said.

What can change the nature of a man?

That's the kind of thing this game forces you to think about and consider. As someone who's not that deep into philosophy, especially metaphysical topics (materialist ftw) this game and the Planescape setting in general is very interesting to me. In a world where our beliefs can't actually shape our surroundings, it is fun to explore entire towns and planes of existence that can be. Want to remove yourself from the fabric of existence? Just believe it enough. Want your entire town to be a bastion of good? Spread goodness in your town, let your people follow suit, and it will be. Want to make a faction that has such strong beliefs in the idea of a God that is more powerful and beyond comprehension than the Gods of D&D? Not only is that possible, but there's even CLERICS for it! That's where Planescape Torment shines, seeing the effects that beliefs can have physically on the world around you and their consequences.

For that alone, this game is really interesting. That's not even touching on the weird factions, the NPCs, the design of Sigil, and the tragic story of the Nameless One, which have blended together to make one of the greatest RPGS I've ever played (or read). This game is worthy of being a novel with the dialogue alone, and a damn good one at that. The only downsides are really the age and the combat, but neither are so bad to the point that it diminishes the game's quality. The real gem of this game is exploring a narrative that hasn't been replicated in gaming since, a very personal story that forces you to come to terms with your own immortality.

It's great, Morte is great, the pregnant alleyway (not joking) is great, the morally ambiguous celestials and fiends are great, the 2nd Edition lore on the Devils and Demons are great, literally everything except again the combat and maybe that slog of the Prison?

Play this game if you can see past the old engine, and have the patience to really hone in on the writing and dialogue. This game is not for the drones that like endless grinding and gameplay loops, it's a lot more special than that. Now, time to update my journal.

The pinnacle of its genre and storytelling in video games. Adapting to the mechanics of AD&D 2E today can be a bit challenging, but the game more than rewards the effort.

Гра чудова, але мені ліньки було писати огляд. Тому тримайте огляд від нейромережі, яка пише тексти в тому ж стилі, що і я:

ЩО МОЖЕ ЗМІНИТИ ПРИРОДУ ЛЮДИНИ?

Well, well, well... Ще одна гра, яка вийшла до мого народження. Як це зі мною буває, я довго скептично ставився до ігор такої давнини, поки нарешті не вирішив: "Час настав!" І ось я занурився у пригоди Безіменного. Перше, що спало на думку: "Кріс Авеллон — геній". Половина діалогів тут у стилі: "Як відкрити двері без ключа" або "Чому б Богу не створити камінь, який він не може підняти?"

Чи застаріла гра? Так, але нічого настільки ж крутого у подібному стилі/сеттингу з того часу так і не вийшло. Головний герой поводиться як випускник філософського факультету, вступаючи з кожним другим NPC у глибокі дискусії.

Відповіді на сенс життя я, звісно, не знайшов, але майже почав сумніватися в реальності своїх друзів. Діалоги персонажів Planescape: Torment написані настільки добре, що мотивації NPC виглядають набагато зрозумілішими.

Один момент запам'ятався особливо. У грі є квест, де можна не іронічно переконати смерть, що вона некомпетентна у своїй роботі. Ви коли-небудь бачили, щоб смерть звільнили за проф. непридатнісю? Я — тепер бачив.

Єдине, що мені не сподобалося, — це те, що навігація по світу не надто інтуїтивно зрозуміла. Деяких компаньйонів або дуже важко залучити до своєї партії, або гра дає їх занадто пізно.

ПЛЮСИ:

+ діалоги — кожен написаний так, що хочеться роздрукувати і перечитувати перед сном

+ атмосфера світу — це справжній Planescape, де реальність тече, як річка, а логіка вчиняє самогубство

+ персонажі — це просто скарб. Морт — це такий собі Шрек у світі філософів

+ музика — вона настільки глибока, що здається, ніби ти чуєш голоси з іншого виміру

+ сюжет — один із найкращих у іграх взалі

МІНУСИ:

- бойова система — таке враження, що її розробляли спеціально, щоб ви ненавиділи себе

- менеджмент предметів — що зберегти, що продати, що використовувати — загадка рівня "навіщо ми тут"

- графіка — якщо вам потрібна 4К, то проходьте повз

- важкість гри для новачків — без гайдів, проходження займе в 2-3 рази більше часу, і це при умови якщо його не дропнути

- місцями занадто багато тексту — це гра, а не дипломна робота

I was expecting this to be the standard dnd fantasy fare but I was surprised by the depth of the story. You take on more of a detective role rather than a fantasy adventurer. Reminds me a lot of disco elysium.

Simply a masterpiece

I dont usually play these types of CRPGS with lots of reading involved. The fact that I then finished the game means it is very good.

People shit on the combat. I think its alright. Nothing special but its not unplayable. The high level mage abilities have cool little cutscenes per attack.

Mightily interesting game. Just beat it for the first time, and checking achievement percentages tells me that not only did I play this game in an incredibly STRANGE way, I also missed about 60% of it! I didn't look up anything, and just went with my gut for the entire experience until the bitter end. Good things happened, bad things happened. Mostly bad things happened. I feel so sorry for The Nameless One.

I might need to replay it soon. I wonder what else the planes have for me... My advice to anyone is to never drop any random quest item. If something has a name, it has a purpose somewhere down the line. I kept something seemingly pointless and it swayed the ending of the game massively. Seriously. Keep everything. No matter how annoying it seems.

The first two thirds of this game are all top notch. The last third gets into a lot of forced combat that kind of sucked (and was totally unlike the first 2/3rds). But the story ends tremendously. Can not overstate how good the story is. Play through it on story mode just to get the story. It's SO GOOD

"The best thing that could happen to this world is for it to be wiped out. The pain, the misery, it should all end," - The Transcendent One.

"Life’s a joke, my friend. A cruel, twisted, never-ending joke. And we’re the punchline." - Morte

"True Death is non-existence. A state devoid of reason, of sensation, of passion. A state of purity." -Dhall

In a world where existence is the ultimate affliction, "True Death" is the only freedom.

Another classic CRPG initially from the Black Isle portfolio, “Planescape: Torment” is probably the least known of the AD&D-licensed games from this studio. Remastered version from Beamdog Software from 2017 brings essentially the same game, with several improvements. Compared to the earlier Bioware AD&D games, this one is starkly different: first, it takes place in the Planescape multiverse, and second, there is very limited choice of classes and equipment. Main focus is on the story, where your main character suffers from amnesia after having died and risen again (repeatedly), and sets on a quest to recover his name and his past. With that said, be prepared that the game is very dialogue-heavy and you’ll have to read through literal walls of texts. But if you have the patience, you’ll be rewarded with unique world setting, lore and story that is engaging and emotional in equal measure. Despite that, I wasn’t enjoying the game that much, I’ve really been missing more variety of classes and hunt for the best gear that made me replay Baldur’s Gate or Icewind Dale so many times; also the environment and graphics are somewhat drab (think of a Fallout-level bleakness). Nevertheless this game is still counted as an AD&D classic, complementing the Baldur’s Gate and Icewind Dale franchise, so if you’ve played (and enjoyed) these, grab “Planescape: Torment” for sure to complete your collection.

The best things about PS:T are the setting, which is novel and interesting to explore, and the characters, which are all bizarre in their own way. It's nice that the player gets to learn more about the various party members and even return to pick up old conversations when new information arises. The story is good, at least, I felt compelled to read through and understand it.

The combat is rubbish, but then, I didn't like it in Pillars of Eternity either. Where PS:T really shone for me was in its world and setting, and what is given to the player is really cool, but it's jarring to realise that, by the end of the game, the NPCs and quests have spoken of all these weird and (not) wonderful planes of existence and you get to visit virtually none of them.

PS:T is absolutely crucial for CRPG fans or players seeking an older-school adventure to sink their teeth into. I would be reluctant to call it story-heavy when a more appropriate term might be reading-heavy - it can feel like there's a lot to churn through.

The graphics are drab but wonderfully detailed and convoluted, just like an other-worldly plane of being ought to be.

another cool blast in the past game just only wish i was around when it came out how people must have played on those oldschool computers golden age type stuff

Played it because of how heavily the Disco Elysium team cited it as an influence, and it's definitely Disco's spiritual ancestor. If you like exploring lengthy, in-depth dialogue trees about rich and bizarre lore (I sure do!), this is the game for you.

Absurdly good RPG with an original fantasy world. Blew me away when it first came out.

This game should be in a masterclass of RPG game creation. It used the Infinity Engine from Baldur's Gate and builds upon it. There are enough game play elements and UI changes to where those aspect feel different from Baldur's Gate. Then when you add on the incredible world building and storytelling, this game has an amazing atmosphere and just feels so unique. Highly recommend for any classic RPG fans.

Finally, after having it recommended to me many times over the years, as well as having purchased it a few times for different systems without ever playing past the introduction (mortuary), I have played through 24 hours (with every intention to continue). It has nestled itself into my top 20 with deep and satisfying storytelling - putting to shame many of the CRPG I have tried in the last decade with more modern graphics and settings.

However, it still is a game from the 90s and as such it has not aged well - from ableist slurs and a heteronomative/patriarchal voice that one expects from Dungeons and Dragons and one that will be familiar to any queer and femme player of both tabletop and CRPGs. It makes me appreciate newer storylines while yearning for the quality and depth of writing one finds here.

Edit (hour 48): I would like to add that while there are subtitles in the main game, I have just discovered that cutscenes do not have them. d/Deaf, Hard of Hearing players be advised. I have been informed there are also asides that your companions will say that are not captioned - and only for story flavour, not for game progression it appears.

Why does it feel so much like a weird, medieval Disco Elysium???

I even like the outdated graphics!

Get ready for more text than a Shakespearean play, except instead of poetic prose, you get dragged into conversations longer than your last family reunion.
Ever wanted to feel like you're slowly poking enemies to death with a toothpick? Well, look no further because the combat in Planescape: Torment will have you questioning if your character forgot to bring their weapon to the fight.
If you enjoy being confused, disoriented, and questioning your sanity, then this game's convoluted storyline will be right up your alley. Who needs a straightforward plot when you can have a labyrinth of confusion instead?

Yeah, so, this game is fantastic. I can see why it's considered by many to be one of the greatest RPG's of all time! The story is rich, deep, and philosophical. It does play more like an interactive book, and the combat can be tricky unless you utilize the shit out of the pause feature (but also I think I built my character haphazardly). Great replay value, I'm curious to see how things would play out if I had made different decisions and picked a different class. My only qualm was that when you can no longer complete a quest, it doesn't get removed from your quest log. Otherwise, I would highly recommend Planescape: Torment for anyone who enjoys a great story.