Death, love, deceit, revenge, mystery, salvation, redemption, and torment...
I don't know where to begin summarizing the deep and magnificent plotline of Planescape: Torment, which is easily one of the most underrated and best written games ever made.
STORY: The story is the main reason to play the game. First off, the story takes place in alternate planes of existence, where elves and dwarves are replaced by demons and bizarre creatures (all those demons you can summon in Baldur's Gate II live in the world of Torment). You play as a strange man known only as The Nameless One, who awakes one day in the city morgue to find that he has no memory of who he is, and, for some strange reason, cannot be killed. And so, the Nameless One sets out into the world to try to piece his life back together and figure out who he was and what he was doing. This plot is excellent and flawlessly executed, and the characters that the Nameless One picks up along the way are believable and well-written. Also, there are some genuinely surprisingly twists that will keep you playing for hours on end, just to find out what happens next. Just writing about the story in Torment makes me want to tell it all in its glory, but I with restrain my enthusiasm, and not spoil too much.
GAMEPLAY: Same, really, as any Baldur's Gate engine. You control your group of six people, pausing to issue orders during combat. The only real difference is that Torment has a radial menu more similar to Neverwinter Nights than to Baldur's Gate.
PLAYABILITY: Torment is one of the deepest, most involving RPGs. The scenarios you get put into are incredibly fun to play out. However, anyone looking for compelling combat should look elsewhere, as Torment focuses mostly on story and character interactions (in fact, most people consider Torment to be a cross between RPG and Adventure games). Also, your decisions truly have an impact on the story (there are 3 endings) to an extrordinary degree for a game made before Deus Ex and Knights of the Old Republic.
GOOD: One of the best, deepest, most surprising storylines ever; great RPG scenarios.
BAD: Not for everyone (the de-emphasis on combat might annoy some people, but not me; the weird setting might annoy some people, but not me; the dated graphics might annoy some people, but not me).
OVERALL: Any and all RPG and Adventure fans must get their hands on a copy ASAP(unfortunately, its a hard game to find in stores). PLAY IT NOW!!!
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