Torment: Tides of Numenera

(Full disclosure: Kickstarter backer) I aboslutely loved the original PS:T, and consider this a worthy successor. As good as the original? Well, no. But I consider that the greatest CRPG ever made, so nothing else compares that well either. Nonetheless, this game has faithfully recreated a similarly mysterious world in which you can spend hours unravelling its mysteries. It's fantastic fun to dig around numerous NPCs and interactables for little bits of knowledge or small rewards. If you liked Planescape:Torment, or NeverWinter Nights 2's Mask of the Betrayer, then you'll definitely enjoy this. As far as downsides go, the game definitely isn't perfect. First off, the combat is not terribly enjoyable. PS:T's was bad too, but this is worse. On the upside, your choices can avoid almost all of them. The companions also don't hold up as well as the original -- several of them are not nearly as quirky, interesting, or interactive. Lastly, there's a _LOT_ of reading. Even compared to PS:T. Plenty of the language is used is...overly complicated. Esoteric words, etc. Not necessarily a downside, but I can't recall another game that made me consult a dictionary as often -- and that's from an avid CRPG fan and book reader. There's also plenty of Kickstarter drama surrounding this game, but don't let that concern you. TToN was funded at the height of Kickstarter's popularity, yet before developers got good with managing promises and rewards. Combined with poor communication on their part, and it resulted in some upset backers. But the game stands on its own, and is still worth playing. I would hands down recommend this to any fan of the original PS:T or NWN2: MotB. If you like CRPGs, and don't mind a word-heavy low-combat game, then you'll probably enjoy this as well.

As a story, this ranges from great to mediocre, but, as a game, it is ultimately a failed effort and should not be compared to the true game that is Planescape: Torment.

After more of 40 hours of game, I can say that this game was able to deliver me what it's promised when I backed (though some stretch goals were postponed from the release and will be added in future patches, including a revision of the crisis system). This is a spiritual successor to Planescape Torment? Yes. It has a similar composition, but is, gladly, different and therefore the experience will be unique. - Both games offer a character that doesn’t have (or don’t remember) his past and it’s a blank sheet for the player. This is what make Tides of Numenera the spiritual successor of Planescape. - Both games borrow engines from other games (Pillars of Eternity, but this time, the game improved the engine a lot, all with save and load times). - Both games suck in combat (but at least this one developed its own crisis mechanics instead of killing the BG1 battle system). - This time, peaceful or aggressive approaches impacts on your resources and stats. So, you need to be careful with your resources. - Both games have similar length of time and text (yes. They do) and are more or less linear. - Both games offer a similar amount of characters and 3 main variants for the ending. The companions are not linked to the protagonist. This makes this experience very different to Planescape. They are well done and I truly enjoy many of them. Actually, I was never able to have my “final party” as I wanted to explore everything with all the companions. Also, from the beginning, you know what is your character. You play with him from his first minute of consciousness. You have a good idea of who could be the final bad guy (instead of appearing from nowhere). And yet, you have too much to discover from those similar to you. Something I truly loved about this game is that what happens in the description of the text, happens in the animations of the characters and the world. This is a minor thing, but one I truly loved. This game is different to other games in the market.

Played through the game completely in over 150 hours. I think the game is very lacking, even though it has some interesting ideas. Buy it only on sale or avoid completely, better play PST or BG2 again. And, yeah, I backed it. It feels as though the devs had no idea what to do with the game or which direction to take, game feels unfinished. Pros: - interesting setting, some interesting locations; - interesting writing at times; - good use of character skills in dialogues; - pretty art. Cons: - never explained what the main force (that supposedly was the reason for this entire game) was. There are hints as to what the Tides are, but they are so minimal, that you can slap any name on them for the same effect. Consequently, the main story feels forced and incoherent; - the writing is interesting only at times, for the rest of the game, it's just an endless discussion of some topics, which most of the time feels out of place, disconnected or boring; - your choices don't matter one bit: I understand that in the finale you can choose any option despite your choices for the entire game and you can go with it. What is the reason then for having the entire game before the finale? - the companions are bland. Some of their background is interesting, but the spacing of quests is so bad that you forget anything about them since the previous leg of the quest. You can't talk much with them, they have very few reactions to events in the game; - poor character and combat systems, the combat feels as one huge, incoherent mess. You are better off solving all the quests through talking just to avoid combat, but then, there are also quite a few of encounters, which you cannot avoid; - the inventory system is bland, no memorable items or their descriptions, the use of items is more of a chore than something that feels intuitive; - no replay value; - having finished the game, I can't think of any quest, which was memorable. They all were okish, but nothing more than that.

Not as good as original Planescape Torment or Disco Elysium which came out 2 years later than "Numenera". But untill 2017 there was only one game i knew about that was really a successor of Planescape and it was a polish 2002 RPG Another War. So it is a very rare type of RPG which i really love, but can't give the best score to Torment Tides of Numenera cause it delivered less than was promised during development and the second half of the game is less interesting than the begining.