Tuesday, June 5, 2018

Planescape: Torment: Enhanced Edition - Initial Thoughts

About The Game (From the Steam Store Page)

The original Planescape: Torment was released in 1999 to widespread critical acclaim. It won RPG of the Year from multiple outlets for its unconventional story, characters, and amazing soundtrack. Since then, millions of Planescape: Torment fans have enjoyed exploring the strange and dangerous city of Sigil and surrounding planes through the Nameless One's eyes.

Discover an incredibly rich story and a unique setting unlike anything else in fantasy. Defeat strange and alien creatures, engage in rich dialogue, and explore the dark and dangerous Planescape setting in this 50+ hour RPG classic.

This is Planescape: Torment like you’ve never seen before.

Previous Playtime

0 hours (hah!)

What Was I Thinking When I Bought This

I'm not sure what level to start on. The prosaic first, I guess. I already own this game on disc, but the disc in a closet and its four dollar price tag is low enough that it was worth it just to avoid having to dig through a closet. Also, I'm hoping the "enhanced edition" will run on my new computer better than an executable from 20 years ago.

Now to the more abstract. I bought this particular game at this particular time explicitly because I wanted something new to play in the waning days of my blog, and this is a game I'm both excited about personally and which I think will make some interesting blog posts.

Expectations and Prior Experience

I've actually played this game a lot. The world of Sigil is amazing, both visually and in the depths of its fantasy conceits. And the plot of the game is fascinating. You're this guy who literally can't be killed and you wake up in a morgue with no immediate goal but to unravel the mysteries of your existence. It immediately sucked me in and made me eager to explore.

Unfortunately, and to my lasting shame, I've never finished this game. It's powered by the AD&D second edition rules and as we saw in Baldur's Gate II, they can be kind of a drag. Unpredictable difficulty spikes have inevitably led to me abandoning the game in frustration.

But I'm older now, and wiser. I'm hoping that the perspective I've gained from playing dozens of different games in nearly every genre imaginable has somehow strengthened my gaming fortitude and I'll be able to figure out a way to play this game without running into any insurmountable obstacles.

Worst case scenario, I spend 20 hours on the fun parts of the early game and quit in around the same spot as I always quit, none the worse for wear and with one fewer disc I have to search for next time I upgrade my PC.

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