The Inside Scoop on Gaming

Planescape: Torment is the latest offering from the current masters of computer role playing, Interplays' Black Isle. It is a game with many great aspects and very few detriments and threatened to absorb any free time you might have. Invariably there will be much comparison to the other Black Isle AD&D game, Baldur's Gate. They share the same basic game engine and have very similar looks and feels. But the plot and settings are much different and it stands on its own accord.

As the Nameless one the game starts with your character waking from the dead, looking and feeling much the worse for wear. Then things get really interesting. Torment really benefits from having a much-improved script over the other solidly written Black Isle games. The plot depth is quite surprising as well as the twists and turns as taken the Nameless One through his quest to discover who, what and why he is. There is a lot of reading to do and it can be tempting to glaze over the text to get back into the game. This will make you scramble later on and have to pick you brain over the important pieces of text presented to you in the game. Keep track of details, for they are not always in the automated quest journal and are only logged by day in the master journal. Some of the quests can seem more difficult than they are, or very obscure, or both! It is a good mix.

The character generation in Torment is different than the other predecessors in the long line of AD&D CRPG's. The character has a base set of statistics, all average. Then points are applied, as the player would like. However there are not enough points to make a Monty Haul character, so invest wisely and in at least the two of the four classes that you want the Nameless One to go. As there is very little armor in the game a high dexterity is a big plus (as I found out the hard way). The Nameless One's statistics will improve over time.

The Nameless One's travelling companions are an odd group, but that is a great part of the surprise of Torment, but not surprising considering the oddness of the Planescape setting. Their classes are static, but they have greater personality and provide a much better mix of skills and talents then the characters in Baldur's Gate. As they grow in experience with the Nameless One, their talents can improve as well. For example, one PC has a sword that grows in power as he does.

The equipment in Torment is an odd mix of really interesting stuff and omissions. There are many interesting magic items in the game with the fun addition of tattoos. Tattoos can give a statistic bonus, dice roll bonus, spells or resistances. Sometimes this is at the cost of a statistic or resistance. There are also funny items like the ring of near invisibility. Sure it only conveys a +1 to armor class, but it is an interesting unique item. The omissions in equipment are just as odd. There are very few missile weapons and very few options for armor. Armor like many items are keyed to a specific character and may be used by no others. Either case, there is enough equipment in Torment to keep a player busy shopping and few copper common in their pocket.

Unlike Baldur's Gate, Torment is a more basic variant of AD&D. The character classes have been narrowed down to priest, thief, fighter and magic user. As the Nameless One, you have the options of changing classes as often as you find a trainer. But the catch is once you take a new class you r old class is frozen and the skills and abilities you acquired are lost till you take up a sword, spell book, holy symbol or lock picks again. This is a nice option as you can balance out your party or apply skills as needed. Even then, as the Nameless One you are still powerful no matter what class you choose. As your character advances in levels, the more statistic points you get. There is a catch however, this is only when your character advances to a higher level than any of their other classes. For example, your experiences have made you're a level 5 fighter, level 3, thief and a level 4 mage. To get an additional point you must advance to 6th level in any of the classes to gain an additional point. Otherwise the game has an interface and AD&D engine very much akin to Baldur's Gate.

The graphics of Torment are a notch better than Baldur's Gate. The graphics for the PC's are really well rendered and nicely animated. The NPC's are a mixed bag and get slightly repetitive, as many are just different color variations on the same model. But most NPC's are simply window dressing and more for show than effect. The spell effects have been upgraded and are much more unique and animated, axe of torment is particularly impressive.

The game interface is akin to Baldur's Gate, but some improvements and failures have come with these changes. The option, text and character bar on the bottom of the screen is much improved over Baldur's Gate. The worst improvement is the character actions have been consolidated into a pop up window for a selected character and pauses the game and is a somewhat clumsy interface. It all looks good and none of it is bad enough to reconsider the game!

The character AI is fairly weak in Torment. The PC's that the Nameless One gathers in his quests are programmed oddly and the controls for their actions are either preset or manual. This is probably the biggest flaw in Torment and a frustrating one at times. However with careful game play your PC's will not have many gaffs, but it would have been nice to have better AI options for characters.

Unlike Baldur's Gate no effort was made to make Torment a multi-player game. But the multi-player implementation in Baldur's Gate was kludge and disrupting to the game. This option not being available in Torment does not account for much of a loss. That aside, the story line for Torment is not nearly as multi-player friendly as Baldur's Gate and seems like it plays better as a single player game.

Torment combines an interesting world, immense plot, excellent graphics and great characters into one nice package. Kudos to Black Isle, but your significant-other might say otherwise!

Style: 5 (Excellent!)
Substance: 4 (Meaty)

Planescape: Torment
Author: Black Isle Category: CRPG Company/Publisher: Interplay Line: AD&D Cost: 52.99 Page count: n/a Capsule Review by Wes Johnson on 01/14/00. Genre tags: Fantasy	Planescape: Torment is the latest offering from the current masters of computer role playing, Interplays' Black Isle. It is a game with many great aspects and very few detriments and threatened to absorb any free time you might have. Invariably there will be much comparison to the other Black Isle AD&D game, Baldur's Gate. They share the same basic game engine and have very similar looks and feels. But the plot and settings are much different and it stands on its own accord. As the Nameless one the game starts with your character waking from the dead, looking and feeling much the worse for wear. Then things get really interesting. Torment really benefits from having a much-improved script over the other solidly written Black Isle games. The plot depth is quite surprising as well as the twists and turns as taken the Nameless One through his quest to discover who, what and why he is. There is a lot of reading to do and it can be tempting to glaze over the text to get back into the game. This will make you scramble later on and have to pick you brain over the important pieces of text presented to you in the game. Keep track of details, for they are not always in the automated quest journal and are only logged by day in the master journal. Some of the quests can seem more difficult than they are, or very obscure, or both! It is a good mix. The character generation in Torment is different than the other predecessors in the long line of AD&D CRPG's. The character has a base set of statistics, all average. Then points are applied, as the player would like. However there are not enough points to make a Monty Haul character, so invest wisely and in at least the two of the four classes that you want the Nameless One to go. As there is very little armor in the game a high dexterity is a big plus (as I found out the hard way). The Nameless One's statistics will improve over time. The Nameless One's travelling companions are an odd group, but that is a great part of the surprise of Torment, but not surprising considering the oddness of the Planescape setting. Their classes are static, but they have greater personality and provide a much better mix of skills and talents then the characters in Baldur's Gate. As they grow in experience with the Nameless One, their talents can improve as well. For example, one PC has a sword that grows in power as he does. The equipment in Torment is an odd mix of really interesting stuff and omissions. There are many interesting magic items in the game with the fun addition of tattoos. Tattoos can give a statistic bonus, dice roll bonus, spells or resistances. Sometimes this is at the cost of a statistic or resistance. There are also funny items like the ring of near invisibility. Sure it only conveys a +1 to armor class, but it is an interesting unique item. The omissions in equipment are just as odd. There are very few missile weapons and very few options for armor. Armor like many items are keyed to a specific character and may be used by no others. Either case, there is enough equipment in Torment to keep a player busy shopping and few copper common in their pocket. Unlike Baldur's Gate, Torment is a more basic variant of AD&D. The character classes have been narrowed down to priest, thief, fighter and magic user. As the Nameless One, you have the options of changing classes as often as you find a trainer. But the catch is once you take a new class you r old class is frozen and the skills and abilities you acquired are lost till you take up a sword, spell book, holy symbol or lock picks again. This is a nice option as you can balance out your party or apply skills as needed. Even then, as the Nameless One you are still powerful no matter what class you choose. As your character advances in levels, the more statistic points you get. There is a catch however, this is only when your character advances to a higher level than any of their other classes. For example, your experiences have made you're a level 5 fighter, level 3, thief and a level 4 mage. To get an additional point you must advance to 6th level in any of the classes to gain an additional point. Otherwise the game has an interface and AD&D engine very much akin to Baldur's Gate. The graphics of Torment are a notch better than Baldur's Gate. The graphics for the PC's are really well rendered and nicely animated. The NPC's are a mixed bag and get slightly repetitive, as many are just different color variations on the same model. But most NPC's are simply window dressing and more for show than effect. The spell effects have been upgraded and are much more unique and animated, axe of torment is particularly impressive. The game interface is akin to Baldur's Gate, but some improvements and failures have come with these changes. The option, text and character bar on the bottom of the screen is much improved over Baldur's Gate. The worst improvement is the character actions have been consolidated into a pop up window for a selected character and pauses the game and is a somewhat clumsy interface. It all looks good and none of it is bad enough to reconsider the game! The character AI is fairly weak in Torment. The PC's that the Nameless One gathers in his quests are programmed oddly and the controls for their actions are either preset or manual. This is probably the biggest flaw in Torment and a frustrating one at times. However with careful game play your PC's will not have many gaffs, but it would have been nice to have better AI options for characters. Unlike Baldur's Gate no effort was made to make Torment a multi-player game. But the multi-player implementation in Baldur's Gate was kludge and disrupting to the game. This option not being available in Torment does not account for much of a loss. That aside, the story line for Torment is not nearly as multi-player friendly as Baldur's Gate and seems like it plays better as a single player game. Torment combines an interesting world, immense plot, excellent graphics and great characters into one nice package. Kudos to Black Isle, but your significant-other might say otherwise! Style: 5 (Excellent!) Substance: 4 (Meaty)