How very Zen (Planescape - Torment (PC))

Member Name: DudeGlove

Product:	Planescape - Torment (PC)
Date:	21/09/01 (84 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Morte, Spells look very cool, Gigantism

Disadvantages: Over sized penguin, Al Gore, Morte

You like role-playing games, of course you do , what can be more fun than at the end of a stressful and boring day of work, you set about bludgeoning to death a series of bizarre monsters who have more points of articulation than a Swiss army knife. And so this is one of those opinions where I tell you how wonderful the product is, you read it, I get dooyoo miles and everyone is happy at the end of it ... hopefully. But enough about this introduction, onwards! Oh yeah and plot details are discussed so look away or turn off the computer and walk away.

Well isn’t Black Isle just marvellous. Not only did they help produce the brilliant games "Fallout" and "Fallout 2”, in which you took on a character in a post apocalyptic world trying to save your people from extinction, they also created the fantastic "Baldurs Gate" and "Baldurs Gate 2: Shadows of Amn" as well as the add -on packs "Tales of the Sword Coast " for Baldurs Gate 1 , which proved to be a huge success as well as the other add on pack for Baldurs Gate 2 (which I canna remember the name cap'n) , they've gone and created a new role playing game for the PC.

The game itself goes along the title of "Planescape Torment" which is a rather odd name but with most of Black Isle's titles they seem to run along with the theme of the game itself for example "Fallout" the whole game was practically set in a radioactive wasteland and so on. The plot itself in this case is a strange one , you aren’t really the sole survivor of humanity nor are you its last great cause. In this case you wake up in a mortuary with your body laced with deep scars and you don't remember a thing of who you are or where you're from . From the sight of your wounds you SHOULD be dead , but then again you are the nameless one (also the game would end pretty quickly)

Now comes the sneaky bit , the plot revolves around t
he fact that you the character are immortal , your "mortality" in a sense has been stolen which you learn a little later into the game . If you die you get back up again fully revitalised with no real damage done to you , though in some instances you can be removed from the planes by being fried , eaten , captured or tangling with deific figures whose power is way beyond your own but in the majority of instances you cannot die and this makes for some interesting scenarios. My favourite out scene has to be in a game when a religious spokesperson is having a debate in one of the buildings and he states that "After death there is nothingness" , to this you can say that you cannot die and you can repeatedly kill yourself to prove this point to the extreme embarressment of the spokesperson and also to give you some good experience.

When you start the game you can choose your statistics which are Strength (STR) Wisdom (WIS) Intelligence (INT) Constitution (CON) Dexterity (DEX) and Charisma (CHR/CHA) , the game is actually on the same engine as the engine for Baldurs Gate 1. They all start from a base of 9 and you get 21 points to spend on each statistic or "stat". These “stats” govern certain factors of your character. Increasing Strength allows you to dish out more damage and carry heavier items in your backpack making it good for the fighter class. Wisdom is good for the priests and for some dialog options aswell. Intelligence is a must for mages as it allows more spell spaces for the character to use so he can cast a spell more than once a day. It also introduces more dialog options and is useful for certain puzzles and situations . You may be able to outwit stupid enemies or figure out traps before you set them off. Constitution is your health controlling statistic but seeing as you are an immortal there is no real point in using it unless you want to last in those big fights with scythe wielding morons who seem to k
eep on coming back. Dexterity is important should you want to become a thief but with the inclusion of the PC “Annah” who is a thief you have no real reason in pursuing the class of thief , Dexterity also affects your armour class , a high dexterity value means you have lower armour class making you harder to hit. Charisma is the final statistic and it allows for more dialog options and can reduce prices of items at shopping markets and so forth. Personally I like to choose the Mage class purely for all the cool spells that you can learn , the basic spell “Magic Missile” looks a lot better on Planescape Torment than it does on Baldurs Gate 1. My favourite spell has to be the priest spell “Call Lightning” which sends down a huge lightning bolt in the area of your choice and does around 50 damage depending how close the enemy is to the bolt of lightning.

Unlike Baldurs Gate or Fallout , there isn’t a large number of party characters you can acquire so I can list them here.

Morte : Morte is a hovering talking skull who you meet at the start of the game and he has a penchant for insults as well as for fighting . Do the quest for “Ingress’s Teeth” and you can turn him into a powerful fighter. Talking with him can dispel information on what to do next in the game.

Dak’kon: Dak’kon is of the race githzerai and as you learn is an outcast of his own people for going against their ideals . He is a Fighter / Mage and a powerful combination at that. As he levels up his sword (which is made from a special material) changes shape and consistency . At level 7 fighter the weapon changes to a “Chained Blade” which gives plus four to AC and one to twelve slashing damage which is quite funky. You can also learn spells from his religious item “The unbroken circle of Zerithmon”. This item can teach you up to six new spells depending on how high your wisdom and in
telligence is and is very useful. Talking to him can reveal about his past

Annah: As I’ve said before Annah is a Fighter/Thief . She is useful in opening doors and doing backstab damage and plenty of other thief skills like detecting traps and sneaking. Talking with her usual gives some sort of backchat or quick witted remarks but shes useful nonetheless.

Fall-From-Grace : This is the only priest in the entire game and she is of a Succubus race , but don’t worry shes a good one. She doesn’t get on well with Annah and there’s some kind of female competition going on between the two but her healing skills are extremely valuable. Talking with her reveals secrets of her troubled childhood.

Ignus: Ignus is a pure mage who due to your characters actions in a past life made him completely aflame. He is essentially a walking fireball but his fire magic is second to none and he has an incredibly high intelligence and constitution score which means he can learn a lot of spells and he regenerates health like the main character. Talking with him allows you to learn secrets of your past lives and you can learn fire magic spells of him but they come at a cost , your health will be lowered permanently by this but the experience for doing so , and the spells , are well worth it.

There are two more characters who I wont reveal because they are secret (tee-hee) but they are well worth it as one is a confused and backwards robot whilst the other is a spirit that inhabits a suit of armour , they are called Nodrom and Vhailor . See if you can find them.

The graphics in this game are great , the spells look good , the character models and enemies look good and even though it’s the same graphics engine as the first Baldurs Gate game , it looks ten times better and plays a hundred times greater. In terms of longevity this game is HUGE. There are so many quests its unbelievable and with the option of switching betwee
n classes of character (fighter mage priest and thief) there is lots to accomplish depending on your path taken in the game. You can choose to be the old goody two shoes or you can go around ruthlessly beating people to within an inch of their life or beyond that.

I have thoroughly enjoyed playing this and there is no end to it , you can become any level of experience that you want in the game regardless of class and become as strong as you want. And theres plenty of the wee side quests to keep you interested and those elusive level nine Magi spells that are just plain ridiculous and take about a minute to fully cast.

In conclusion , I would definitely choose this game over Baldurs Gate purely because it played a lot better and you can never get lost regardless that the game itself is absolutely huge . Be sure that you listen to Morte’s curses !

-Dude

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