Torment: Tides of Numenera

This is not your standart CRPG. It is more of novel-make your choice with some incredible writing. Combat is not the main focus, or op characters. This is more about understanding the world and how your very interesting Main character interacts with it. The setting is incredible interesting on its own, but on top of that the main character is , well , the remains of a god. 100% worthwhile, and probably some of the best writing you've seen in a crpg.

My impressions after a few hours of gameplay were not very positive. I was not familiar with the numenera setting and reading detailed descriptions of everything around you was not much fun, the story sounded too similar to PsT and the early environments and characters I found to be very dull. I slogged through and at the end I was very impressed by the game. After you move on from the city you start at, you move to more interesting locations, get to know much more interesting characters and the story becomes darker, which is good. After finishing the game I was left pondering the ending (one of several endings left to the choice of the player) and I felt for the main protagonists of the story. Besides the very slow beginning the game has a few other weaknesses. The combat system is not the best, to put it lightly, although there are only a few mandatory battles in the whole game. Character progression and strategic decisions play next to no role, as the game is holding your hand throughout and has the feel of reading someone's (victorious) adventure rather than facing challenges in which you can fail. All in all, I thoroughly enjoyed the new Torment game. An interesting story, memorable characters, some resemblance of choice and role playing, it's all there.

The world-building of that game is truly awesome. The Ninth World is alive, full of delicious weird, without ever becoming silly or ridiculous. The writing is great, so are the backgrounds of the various areas. It really feels like a worthy successor of PsT. The quests and companions are also well-written, interesting and original. As a Kickstarter backer, I'm proud to have been part of making that game possible. It is true that some of the promised content has been cut - and the game would have been even better otherwise, but we should judge a game on what it is, not on what it could have been in a parallel world, and TTON is a true masterpiece, worthy of the Torment name.

It's been some time since I played the original Torment, and unlike others that wax poetic about the game, I enjoyed it but didn't find it particularly memorable. Ultimately, I think my one line summary of Tides would be the same. The game is very flexible compared to a standard CRPG, and can be played almost like an adventure game (i.e. with very little combat). I took the this approach to the game (maximum roleplaying, minimum combat). Prior to the end-game I believe I had two "crises" where combat was required due to my choices. Even during the end game, I believe there were options during the crisis to prematurely end some (perhaps most) of the combat. The final endgame decision was simply a choice (one choice appears to be a choose-combat option). What I found (with my play style) was that the amount of reading was quite large, even more than would be required for an interactive fiction game. This meant that the running around the various maps (boring) followed by reading large chunks of text resulted in a very slowly paced game. The material was interesting enough that it was worth pursing until the end, but by the end game, I was definitely ready for the game to actually END. Overall recommended for fans of the original, but I wouldn't place this title high on my list of isometric RPGs.

If you loved Planescape: Torment, then I think you will also like Tides of Numenera very much. I'll start with the shortcomings which prevented a 5-star rating. The combat is atrocious!! If you're looking for a turn-based RPG with great combat, this is NOT your game. I find myself building characters who rely on non-combat skills such as charisma, deception, diplomacy, etc. just so I can avoid the combat. The audio could be better. Needs more spoken dialog. Also the ambient audio was mediocre. It wasn't bad, but it was more appropriate for a game from the early 2000's, not 2017. Now the good. In a nutshell, your decisions during character build combined with the phenomenal amount of branching dialogs with consequences give the game staggering replay value. Your Tidal Affinity (which is determined by your dialog choices and actions) has a dramatic effect on your character's legacy (i.e. what you achieved and are remembered for). I've played through using Blue, Gold, Indigo and Red affinities, and my characters' legacies were significantly different each time and my legacy was exactly what I would expect of that type of person in the real world. Excellent story. The themes covered in the story are timeless and part of the human experience. This is one of the traits that made Planescape: Torment so special, and Tides of Numenera follows this tradition. Many interesting and unique companions, NPC's, factions, and locations. Just mixing up your companions during replays produces distinctly different game experiences. Yes, I know this mechanic has been around for years, but not all games execute it well. Tides of Numenera is excellent in this area. Conversations and decisions made in one area of the game sometimes impact other areas of the game including what dialog options you have and how NPC's and companions react to you. A must-have game if you enjoy a thoughtful, complex, but combat-lite RPG with massive replay value.