Planescape: Torment: Enhanced Edition

This iteration of one of the best games in gaming history is THE version to get. If you do not get Beamdog's version of PS:T, you will be futzing with mods for up to an hour or more and won't have all of the quality of life upgrades that Beamdog's version has. There is nothing at all wrong with this version of the game. The primary reason for the bad reviews is that Beamdog once included a trans woman in one of its own games. You read that correctly: A certain segment of gamers are still so angry about a years-old trans character that they are *still* attacking this developer. There are plenty of developers who have horrible, violent, hateful worldviews that they actually defend (Vavra, Wardell, etc.), but the instant a developer includes a minority character they lose their minds. Most of the bad reviews are from gamergate types complaining about Beamdog. Please keep in mind that gamergate is an organ of the fascist alt right that seeks to push women and minorities out of gaming spaces. The SPLC has classified Gamergate as a hate group. Beamdog has done nothing wrong and hasn't made any questionable design choices at all. This is a political attack on Beamdog because they pose a threat to the fascist worldview. Gamergate will *pose* as a "reasonable" middle ground, but once you pull back the curtain, and actually look at the hatred they spew on their websites and forums, it becomes apparent what they really are. Beamdog gave us a much-needed update of one of the best PC games in history. I'd recommend buying it at full price if you don't already have a copy of PS:T. If you do and you intend to replay the game, wait for a sale.

People who think this game is one of the best games ever haven't been playing games for the last two decades. I mean, the game is alright, but just go play a game that's better than just alright, plenty of them out there. As a cRPG, this is pretty bad. Terrible gameplay, so it plays like a puzzle game with extra steps. As a puzzle game, it's pretty bad because of the extra steps. Same for a narrative game. I mean, this game is doing like 2-3 different things that just don't work together very well. And as a result, it just doesn't feel cohesive or engaging. Combat is just a terrible nuisance. Quests are pretty whatever. I didn't care much about the characters, so it just felt like busywork. The entire game is a chore. I got to meet the Ravel, and I was hoping I'd be close to the end, but the game just went on. I stopped at that point, and I hope I don't get baited by all the 20 years old praise to give this another chance.

For those who don't know Planescape Torment. This is a story Heavy (with a capital H) isometric RPG. The story is superb, the best of any RPG I know, it really excells in banter between your party members and the colorful characters populating the worlds. Besides the story it has all the standard RPG stuff like leveling up, choosing your skills etc. The original version unfortunately didn't age very well and though you can play it I wouldn't really recommend it. I played the original for some time after many years and it did hurt to see the state it was in (cursor flashing all the time, the black borders etc.). The enhanced edition uses mostly the same graphics. The enhancements are however that it now works great on modern systems. Because most of these Black Isle and or Bioware games use a large map you can (as is the case with for instance Baldur's Gate II) just show more of it on a large screen. And that is how this enhanced edition works. In addition to that the interface itself was created in a higher resolution as well as all the rendered text. Obviously it would have been nice if all the graphics would have been re-rendered in a higher resolution but I don't think that would have been realistic (from a business point of view). I only played the first part, in the mortuary, so far, but I didn't encounter any problems. Gameplay is exactly the same as the original though controls are slightly different in the enhanced mode. There is no radial menu but you can use a key and/or the HUD to achieve the same effect. (I am not sure which one was better, right clicking on an enemy and go through the radial menu (several clicks) or press a button or the HUD to do the same). I really recommend this over the almost unplayable original. It is good to see this masterpiece brought back to life again after so many years. If you like Adventure RPG's (i.e. RPG's with story) or just Planescape Torment then this is really the version you want to buy.

The core of the game has not been changed, which is for the best. The brilliance of Planescape: Torment is kept entirely intact, but now it is guaranteed to be playable on modern systems. No more stability issues, no more widescreen issues, more graphical and gameplay customization and an improved but faithfully replicated UI. Unfinished Business mod is not yet available at the time of this review (4/13/17), that's the only thing it lacks really. Don't worry about the official screenshots showing odd sprites around the characters, that can be disabled. As for the game itself? A must play. It raised the bar for story driven RPGs and so few RPGs since then can even be compared. Its writing quality on every level obliterates modern RPGs and so does its amount of role-playing. It is a text heavy game, taking after literature and using those strengths opposed to other storytelling methods. The descriptive writing is wonderful. And unlike most other great story driven RPGs, this one remains excellent from start to finish.

If you like RPGs you probably will enjoy playing it. But don't expect fireworks. Mechanics wise the game is super boring, so you will want to skip the fighting and get to the story ASAP. Luckily you're naturally faster than all your enemies, so you'll only be forced to fight 2 bosses. Because extra dialogue is opened with Intelligence, Charisma and especially Wisdom there's no reason for you to ever play anything other than mage. The setting may appear original if your only other exposure to fantasy was classic DnD. Other than that it's just a city of adventure with factions being copied real-life religions, philsophies and ideologies (Dustmen are buddhists, Harmonium are authoritarians, Xaositect are discordians...). Oh and there are portals that only convienetly pop up when the plot demands it. Incredible. Don't get me wrong, the game starts off very strong with the weird and alien mortuary, but once you leave it, you're greeted by slums with more thieves than there are victims and good(!) gangsters. After that you get higher class quarters and slums again. Oh and there are sewers with monsters in them. Not exactly unique. As for the apparent depth of the story, all I have to say is meh. If the deepest story you've ever experienced was something from Marvel Cinematic Universe maybe you could be amazed. Otherwise nothing to write home about. They ask you a question of "What can change the nature of man?" and let you answer it. The whole plot is undermined by one, but giant hole: there's no reason whatsoever for the non-Good Nameless One to enter the final dungeon.