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Planescape: Torment Box cover for the game
Developer(s)	Black Isle Studios
Publisher(s)	Interplay
Designer(s)	Chris Avellone (lead) Colin McComb and others[1]
Engine	Infinity
Version	1.1
Platform(s)	Microsoft Windows
Release date(s)	December 12, 1999
Genre(s)	Computer role-playing
Mode(s)	Single-player
Rating(s)	ESRB: T USK: 12+ ELSPA: 11+ OFLC: M15+
Media	CD-ROM
System requirements	Minimum 200MHz CPU w/ MMX 32MB RAM 4MB video card 4X CD-ROM drive DirectX 6.1 650MB available hard disk space Windows 95/98
Input methods	Keyboard, Mouse

Planescape: Torment is a computer role-playing game developed for Windows by Black Isle Studios and released on December 12, 1999 by Interplay Entertainment. It takes place in Planescape, an Advanced Dungeons & Dragons (AD&D) campaign setting. The game's engine is a modified version of the Infinity Engine, which was also used for BioWare's Baldur's Gate, a previous AD&D game set in the Forgotten Realms.

Planescape: Torment places a strong emphasis on conversation and storyline rather than combat. The protagonist, an immortal known only as "The Nameless One", has lived many lives, and forgotten them all. Most of the game centers on The Nameless One's journey throughout the city of Sigil and other planes to reclaim his memories of these previous lives.

The game was not a significant commercial success but received widespread critical praise and has since become a cult classic. It was considered by many video game journalists to be the best role-playing game (RPG) of 1999, and continues to receive attention long after its release.

Contents 1 Gameplay 2 Plot 2.1 Setting 2.2 Characters 2.3 Story 3 Development 3.1 Audio 3.2 Adaptations 4 Cultural impact 4.1 Critical reception 4.2 Awards 5 See also 6 References 7 External links

[edit] Gameplay

Planescape: Torment is built on BioWare's Infinity Engine, which presents the player with a two-dimensional world in which player characters are controlled from an isometric perspective.^[2][3] Exploration around the painted scenery is accomplished by clicking on the ground to move, or on objects and characters to interact with them.^[4] Items and spells may be employed through hotkeys, "quick slots," or a radial menu.^[4] The Nameless One starts as a fighter, but he can later change his character class to both thief and wizard and back to fighter after finding corresponding tutors.^[4] The player may recruit adventuring companions over the course of the game. There are seven potential party members, but only a maximum of five may accompany him at any point. Party composition is significant beyond combat due to banter that can occur between party members, both randomly and during conversations with other non-player characters.

The game's storyline is primarily driven by dialog-based subplots. The complex, storyline-based gameplay often focuses on resolution of quests through dialog rather than combat. Engaging in a long chat with one of the player's party members can often advance the game more than combat and questing. These vignettes help the player understand the world of Planescape and gain insight into the backgrounds of the characters, each of whom has their own "torment" to resolve. Many of the game's combat encounters can be resolved or avoided through dialog or stealth.

Planescape: Torment is notable for the quality and quantity of textual dialog it contains, which is an integral part of the game's design. It is estimated that the game's script contains around 800,000 words.^[5] As a review in the New York Times noted, "The game's level of detail and its emotional impact have prompted some players to cast about for literary peers."^[6]

The game's implementation of alignment was different from most AD&D-based computer RPGs. Alignment — which determines a character's ethical and moral perspective on the independent axes of "good vs. evil" and "law vs. chaos" — is traditionally a static property and chosen by the player at the start of a game. In Planescape: Torment, the character begins as a "true neutral" character (that is, neither good nor evil, and neither lawful nor chaotic) and throughout the game, based on the character's actions, this property is incrementally changed.^[2][7]

Another feature unique to this game is the use of tattoos, which can be applied to The Nameless One and certain other characters to enhance their abilities. The tattoos are, in some ways, a supplement to armor, which is scarce in the game.^[6]

[edit] Plot

[edit] Setting

Planescape: Torment is set in the Planescape "multiverse" of AD&D, a setting which consists of various planes of existence (i.e. alternate dimensions), the creatures which live in them (such as devils, modrons, and even deities), and the magic which infuses the multiverse. This is the first video game to be set in the Planescape universe.^[8]

The first part of Planescape: Torment takes place in the city of Sigil, said to be at the very center of the multiverse,^[9] atop an infinitely tall spire, and connecting the planes with each other using magical portals. The city is overseen by the powerful Lady of Pain. Sigil also contains fifteen factions which control different functions of the city related to each group's world view, each striving for further control of the city. Several of these factions can be joined by The Nameless One. The story eventually moves on to other planes, such as Baator and Carceri, where The Nameless One continues to discover more about his past.

[edit] Characters

Planescape: Torment's main character is "The Nameless One", an immortal being who, if killed, will simply wake up some time later, but without any memories. Each time The Nameless One dies, another person in the multiverse dies on his behalf. These dead turn into shadow ghosts that seek revenge on him. When the game starts, The Nameless One wakes in a mortuary, having complete amnesia as a result of his latest death. He sets out on a quest to regain his lost memories and discover why he is immortal. He slowly learns about the personalities of his previous incarnations, and the influence they have had on the world and people that surround him.

Over the course of the game, The Nameless One meets seven other characters who can join him on his quest — up to five others at once. These playable characters can also be interacted with to further the game's plot. Morte, a cynical floating skull originally from the Pillar of Skulls in Baator,^[10] is introduced at the game's very beginning. Morte loyally follows The Nameless One, partly out of guilt for having caused the deaths of some of his previous incarnations.^[10] At some point in the past, the githzerai Dak'kon made an oath to follow The Nameless One until the latter died, not knowing of The Nameless One's immortality, and thereby binding him to The Nameless One for eternity. Annah-of-the-Shadows is a young and brash tiefling (half-human, half-demon) rogue. Nordom, a modron disconnected from its species' hive mind, is found in a random location inside one of the game's mazes, making it harder to find him than the other characters. Unlike other succubi, Fall-From-Grace, the proprietress of the Brothel of Slating Intellectual Lusts in Sigil, is not interested in sex.^[10] She is the only playable character with healing powers.

One out of the other two playable characters will actually fight against The Nameless One at the end of the game (if they have not done so already), depending on the actions taken by The Nameless One. Ignus is a powerful magician, taught by one of The Nameless One's previous incarnations, and used as a conduit to the Elemental Plane of Fire as punishment after he tried to burn down Sigil's Hive Ward. Vhailor is a "restless spirit" who inhabits a suit of armor and wields an axe. In one of The Nameless One's previous lives, Vhailor tried to slay the immortal, but failed.

[edit] Story

The Nameless One wakes up in Sigil's mortuary. He is immediately approached by a floating skull, Morte, who offers advice on how to escape. Morte also reads the tattoos written on The Nameless One's back, which were inked there as reminders to himself, that say to find a man named Pharod. After a foreshadowing talk with the ghost of his former lover Deionarra and passing by various undead, The Nameless One leaves to explore the slums of the city. He finally retrieves a magical bronze sphere for Pharod, the chief of a scavenger gang who lives in an underground village, and gains further hints to piece together his forgotten past. A "pregnant" alleyway gives passage to the previously inaccessible wards. To discover how to reach the night hag Ravel Puzzlewell, who is imprisoned in a maze created by the Lady of Pain, The Nameless One must complete several quests in the new areas. He must also find lost records which were written by his previous incarnations and provide further clues to his identity.

Once in the maze, he engages with Ravel in a lengthy discussion; the crux of this discussion is the question "What can change the nature of a man?", which plays a prominent role throughout the game.^[11][10][12] Ravel is pleased with The Nameless One's answer because he gives his own thought; she claims she has killed many men in the past who, instead of giving their own answer, tried to seek an answer which pleases her. Ravel also tells of how she granted him immortality at his request, but made a mistake: his death and resurrection would cause the loss of all his memories. Additionally, she did not know where The Nameless One's mortality might be, as it was never in her possession, but that the fallen deva Trias might know its whereabouts.

After battling Ravel, The Nameless One travels to the city of Curst, a gate town on the border of the Outlands and Carceri, to meet and free Trias. Through a tip from Trias, who claims to not know where The Nameless One's mortality lies, The Nameless One then visits the Outlands and Baator, where he learns that his mortality lies in the "Fortress of Regrets" and that only Trias knows how to access this place. Meanwhile, however, the city of Curst has "slid" from the border of the Outlands to the neighboring chaotic plane Carceri due to chaos unleashed by Trias after The Nameless One freed him. After a fight, Trias tells The Nameless One that the portal to the Fortress of Regrets is located in Sigil's mortuary, in the very room where the game began.

In the Fortress of Regrets, The Nameless One encounters three of his past incarnations (one practical, one good, and one paranoid). The Nameless One learns that the "good" incarnation is the original, who was made immortal by Ravel. He had committed immeasurably terrible deeds in his lifetime, and when he realized there would be retribution on his soul when he died, he sought to postpone death as long as possible in order to right his wrongs. After meeting his past incarnations, The Nameless One confronts his mortality — embodied as a powerful being called The Transcendent One. The Transcendent One reveals that since being separated from The Nameless One, he has enjoyed his freedom and has been attempting to erase any clues which might lead The Nameless One to discover the truth. Depending on the player's choice, The Nameless One either slays his mortality or convinces it to rejoin with him, which finally ends his immortality and allows him to die. The final scene of the game shows him awakening near a battleground of the eternal Blood War between demons and devils. As he picks up a mace and walks towards the battle, a voice echoes: "What can change the nature of a man?"

[edit] Development

In 1997, the game's designers produced a 47-page document that outlined the game's premise and vision statement, and was used to pitch the idea to management at Interplay.^[13] This was made available on the internet in 2007. Initially, the game was to be called Last Rites,^[14] and they described the game as avant-garde fantasy to distinguish it from high fantasy.^[13] The document also contained concept artwork for characters and areas of the game.

From the outset, Planescape: Torment's designers intended to challenge traditional role-playing game conventions: the game features no dragons, elves, goblins, or other common fantasy races; there are only three swords; the rats faced in the game can actually be quite challenging to defeat; undead sometimes proved more sympathetic than humans.^[10] The designers explained that most RPGs tend to have a "correct" approach to solving problems, which is almost always the morally good approach.^[13] They called this "predictable and stupid" and wished to make a game with greater moral flexibility, where a particular problem might have "two wrongs or two rights".^[13] The main quest is not about saving the world, but about understanding The Nameless One and his immortality.^[13] Death (of the protagonist or his companions) is often just a minor hindrance, and even necessary at times.^{[3][15][13][16]}

According to lead designer Chris Avellone, Planescape: Torment has numerous inspirations from a variety of books, comics, and games, including Archie Comics, The Chronicles of Amber, The Elementals, Final Fantasy, and Shadowrun.^[12] The game's 1997 outline also makes references to The Lord of the Rings to describe some characters.^[13] Planescape: Torment incorporates elements from the Planescape setting, such as "the Cant", a slang inspired by 17th century colloquial speech.^[17] While working on Planescape: Torment, Avellone was simultaneously working on Fallout 2.^[14] In an interview from 2007, he says that Fallout 2 helped him rethink the possibilities of dialog in Planescape: Torment (and in later games he was involved with, including Neverwinter Nights 2).^[10] Ultimately, Avellone has expressed some regret about the game's heavy focus on dialog, as he feels this interfered with the overall game mechanics, particularly the combat system.^[10][18]

The game used the Infinity Engine, a game engine initially developed by BioWare for Baldur's Gate.^[19][3] However, Planescape: Torment was being developed using the Infinity Engine before Baldur's Gate had been released, leaving the engine's acceptance in the market still unknown.^[8] Black Isle made modifications to the engine to suit the game. For example, players were able to run, and both the character sprites and backgrounds were larger and more detailed.^[8] The greater size and detail was achieved by bringing the perspective closer to the ground.^[2] Magic was also an important part of the game's design, and a team of four designers worked solely on the visuals and mechanics of spells.^[20]

[edit] Audio

Dark ambient musician Lustmord was hired by Interplay to create the musical score for the game, which was not used in the end. His music was pulled from Planescape: Torment by the game's producer so that the game's music could be taken in a different direction,^[21] and Mark Morgan created the game's final music.^[1] Morgan composed the soundtrack in about two weeks.^[22] Planescape: Torment – The Soundtrack, an unofficial promotional soundtrack album by Mark Morgan and Richard Band, was included with the Polish version of the game by CD Projekt. It contains several tracks not included in the game, including two ending themes that did not appear in the game's final version. In a 2008 interview, Morgan admitted that he did not know where some of the master recordings for Planescape: Torment were.^[22] The game included professional voice actors such as Michael T. Weiss, Sheena Easton, Mitch Pileggi, Dan Castellaneta, and Tony Jay, among others.^[1]

[edit] Adaptations

A book based loosely on Planescape: Torment was released by Ray and Valerie Vallese in 1999.^[23] The book's plot is different from that of the game; for example the main character in the book chooses a proper name. An unofficial novelization based on the game's dialog was written by Rhyss Hess. Both books share the same name as the game.^[24] In addition, two user-created sequels, In The Footsteps of Dante and The Nature of a Man, were created as modules for the 2002 Dungeons & Dragons computer game Neverwinter Nights, which was based on the newer third edition ruleset.^[25][26]

The game has been translated into several other languages by fans and enthusiasts. A full translation into Hungarian took over four years to develop.^[27] The Italian Translation Project took about 15 months and translated 1.4 million words in 68,510 sentences of dialog.^[28] A Spanish translation was done by Clan Dlan, an RPG fan group.^[29] CD Projekt adapted a Polish version of the game, which included Polish actors doing voice-overs.^[30]

[edit] Cultural impact

Reception
Aggregate scores Aggregator Score GameRankings 90.78% [32] Metacritic 91/100 [31] MobyGames 89/100[33]
Review scores Publication Score Allgame [34] Eurogamer 7/10[35] GamePro [36] Game Revolution A-[37] GameSpot 9.0/10[2] GameSpy 90/100[15] IGN 9.2/10[19] PC Gamer US 93%[38]
Awards Entity Award Computer Gaming World RPG of the Year (1999)[39] GameSpot RPG of the Year (1999)[40] IGN Vault Network Game of the Year (1999)[41]

[edit] Critical reception

Planescape: Torment received widespread critical acclaim upon its release,^[31] but only made a small profit.^[14] GameSpot's reviewer stated "It's clearly the best traditional computer role-playing game of the year",^[2] a comment which the website would later expand to "one of the greatest ever".^[12] The gameplay was often compared to Baldur's Gate, another Interplay game that used the same engine as Planescape: Torment.^[37][34][42] The game's premise and writing were particularly well-received,^[15] and reviewers were pleased with the ability to shape their character's journey as they wished.^[43][37] In a piece written some time after its release, GameSpot stated "...Planescape: Torment has quite possibly the best implementation of role-playing an evil character ever to appear in a computer or video game to date".^[12] The heavily tattooed, egocentric and potentially selfish Nameless One was welcomed as a change of pace from the conventional RPG hero, who was considered a predictable do-gooder.^[2][12] Reviewers also approved of the protagonist's ability to gain new powers by "remembering" past lives, which allows The Nameless One to switch his class whenever the player wishes.^[2][19] The dark and diversified representation of the D&D setting of Planescape was lauded as a fresh departure from the traditional high fantasy of computer role-playing games,^[36][19] illustrated by this passage from one review:

"I am very familiar with the Forgotten Realms and Dragonlance universes for AD&D since I've read about 30 of the books, but Torment was a new experience for me. I will have to admit that it was a refreshing change of pace from the same stale old recipe most CRPG producers shovel."

—Chris Johnson^[44]

The technical aspects of the game were also praised. Although by the time of its release in late 1999, Planescape: Torment's default 640x480 resolution was not considered particularly advanced,^[43][35] reviewers were pleased with the art design and color of the environments.^[19][44][36] The game's sound and music were described as "well above the norm" and "superb",^[44][45] and one reviewer stated that his only complaint about the music was that "there wasn't enough of it".^[35] Another reviewer stated that Planescape: Torment had "just about the best sound" they had heard in a video game.^[37] GamePro stated, "...the characters talk with the talent of real professional voice actors during crucial bits of dialog".^[36]

"When you're in a crowded city, it sounds like a crowded city. Walk past a bar, and you'll hear the noise of the drunken patrons inside. Wander near a slave auction, and you'll hear the auctioneer calling. Go to a party in the festival hall, and it sounds just like a party.

—Ferris Duke^[37]

There was also positive reception to the game's interface. The US edition of PC Gamer remarked on the automap, which automatically marked important locations and allowed the user to add custom notes, and on the journal, which separated completed quests from unfinished quests.^[38] PC Gamer also praised the fine-tuning to the Infinity Engine, such as the use of a radial menu, which allowed players to stay focused on the game instead of dancing between multiple screens and "messing with with windows and buttons".^[38]

Criticism of the game was minimal and problems were generally described as minor,^[37][2] but included complaints about bugs that could interfere with gameplay,^[43] and long load times on computers of the day.^[37] The bugs were responsible for causing slowdowns on some computers when a high level of graphical assets were on-screen at the same time, but several reviewers reported that a fix was released that solved the problem.^[34][15] Eurogamer went as far as raising its review score when the bugfix was implemented.^[35] Allgame's Derek Williams considered the game's combat simplistic (with a comparison to Diablo), which made the game too easy.^[34]

The most negative major review came from Eurogamer, who gave the game 7 out of 10 (and later increased it to 8 when the game was patched).^[35] The reviewer expressed distaste at the immortality of the player character, saying that it makes the lives of characters "cheap and meaningless",^[35] although other reviews welcomed this aspect, saying it was "implemented perfectly" and did not make the game any easier.^[34][2][19] Eurogamer also disapproved of the amount of experience that was awarded for certain dialogs later in the game.^[35] However, other reviews cited this as one of the main things that elevated Planescape: Torment above the standard RPG format.^[2][15][46]

[edit] Awards

Planescape: Torment won a number of awards after its release. It was given several Editor's Choice awards,^[19][2][47] was named RPG of the Year for 1999 by both GameSpot and Computer Gaming World,^[40][39] and won the Vault Network's Game of the Year for 1999.^[41] PC Gamer US named Planescape: Torment "Game of the Month" in their March 2000 issue (the issue in which the game's review appeared).^[38] It continues to garner respect long after its release — in 2004, GameSpy added it to their Hall of Fame,^[48] and in 2005 GameSpot declared it one of its greatest games of all time.^[12] In 2007, IGN named it 71st on their list of the Top 100 Games of All Time,^[49] and in 2008, the UK edition of PC Gamer rated it 9th on its own Top 100 list.^[46] In 2006, The A.V. Club included Planescape: Torment in their list of "11 of Video Gaming's Strangest Moments", due to the game's use of death as a means to advance the plot.^[16]

[edit] See also

• List of Dungeons & Dragons video games

[edit] References

[edit] External links

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Planescape: Torment

• Mirror of the official Planescape: Torment website
• Planescape: Torment Fix Pack
• Planescape: Torment at Spellhold Studios
• Planescape: Torment at MobyGames
• Planescape: Torment at the Internet Movie Database
• Pocket Plane Modlist Infinity Engine Modlist

v • d • e Dungeons & Dragons video games List Baldur's Gate series Baldur's Gate (Tales of the Sword Coast) • Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn (Throne of Bhall) • Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance • Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance II • List of characters Dark Sun series Dark Sun: Shattered Lands • Dark Sun: Wake of the Ravager • Dark Sun Online: Crimson Sands Dragonlance series Champions of Krynn • Death Knights of Krynn • The Dark Queen of Krynn Icewind Dale series Icewind Dale (Heart of Winter) • Icewind Dale II Neverwinter Nights series Neverwinter Nights (AOL game) • Neverwinter Nights (Shadows of Undrentide • Hordes of the Underdark • Kingmaker) • Neverwinter Nights 2 (Mask of the Betrayer • Storm of Zehir • Mysteries of Westgate) • List of characters Pool of Radiance series Pool of Radiance • Curse of the Azure Bonds • Secret of the Silver Blades • Pools of Darkness • Forgotten Realms: Unlimited Adventures • Pool of Radiance: Ruins of Myth Drannor Savage Frontier series Gateway to the Savage Frontier • Treasures of the Savage Frontier • Neverwinter Nights Others dnd • Dungeon • Dungeons & Dragons: Dragonshard • Dungeons & Dragons Online: Stormreach • Dungeons & Dragons Tactics • Eye of the Beholder • Forgotten Realms: Demon Stone • Planescape: Torment • The Temple of Elemental Evil

v • d • e Black Isle Studios video games Fallout series Fallout1  · Fallout 2 Icewind Dale series Icewind Dale · Icewind Dale: Heart of Winter · Trials of the Luremaster · Icewind Dale II Other games Planescape: Torment · Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance II · Torn (cancelled) · Van Buren (Fallout 3) (cancelled) Key people Feargus Urquhart · Chris Avellone · Josh Sawyer · Darren Monahan · Chris Jones 1 Fallout was released prior to the studio's official naming, and with a markedly different development team.