Torment: Tides of Numenera

This was the first game that I've ever pre-ordered, fooled by the promises that it will be the spiritual successor of PS:T and the hype developer update videos. What I got instead was a half-baked game with bad clunky interface, bad pathfinding, and lots of breaking bugs. Back in 2017, I couldn't even play the game till the end - got too frustrated with the numerous bugs and simply gave up. Foolishly, I decided to give it another chance. One would expect that in the span of three years a host of patches would've been released to fix at least the most obvious bugs. And one couldn't be more wrong. Nothing has been fixed and it seems that the developers have moved onto something else just a couple of months after the release. Anyway, here is a list of some of the game's pros and cons: Pros: + You can die even before the tutorial has began :) + Good story; + Quality voices. Unfortunately, only a handful of interactions are voiced. Very incoherent choice of what to voice; + Beautifully drawn scenes. Cons: - Buggy interface: when you look at things, the text bubbles often appear partially or completely outside the current viewport; - Bad pathfinding: characters often get stuck and need manual rerouting; - Bad interface: characters disappear behind obstacles, even in combat; - Bad interface: worst implementation ever of turn-based combat that punishes every misclick; - Broken content: had to manually modify the XML in one resource file (following some guy's explanations on Steam) to complete an early side quest; - Unbalanced: you find yourself outnumbered in practically every crisis, possibly as punishment for not talking your way out of it; - Small scenes. Compared to games like PS:T, BG, and PoE, this one feels like a 10x5-piece puzzle for small kids In conclusion, four stars for the story and the beautiful scenery minus two stars for still charging the original GOG preorder price while never fixing even the most obvious outstanding problems.

Just. Ugh. I played this right through to the end. I'm really fond of clever games and good story and characters, with or without much combat. The combat system is horrendous. Don't even get me started. In the beginning, prepare to die. By the end, it's tedious and winning is a foregone conclusion. The story blithers about from place to place and while I'm a grand fan of lots of dialogue options, the majority of them are pointless except for giving you *more* dialogue about more stories that are meaningless to what actual little plot it has. The reason Torment was so amazing is that the dialogue wasn't just there for the sake of exposition dumps--it was there in relation to the main character and story arc. The exposition dumps in this would flunk a grade 10 creative writing class. They're just there for the sake of dumping and without them, there's next to no actual story or game, left. The side characters are just...annoying, for the most part. Rarely do I say that about side characters, I usually love them but these are half-baked ideas, not fully-fleshed out individuals there to give weight to the plot and main character's arc while maintaining individuality. The only one that has any strong emotional impact by the end of the game is essentially--a jelly puppy. Everything in this has been done in another game, better. I wanted to like this, I really did. It just had zero resonance. The only thing I felt by the end was, "So, that was IT? Argh, I should have skipped all that reading and just sped to the end." The problem with this game was lots of interesting ideas strung together with little cohesion. Too meandering to be a novel, too mechanically stunted to be a game.

First thing first, Tides isn't a bad game. I'd say it's pretty good. However the game has serious flaws that need to be mentioned. First off is the combat system, while I find the system to be interesting and innovative, it has serious failings in terms of; 1. Lack of information 2. Awful UI 3. Incredibly glitchy interface. In most Turn-Based games such as this, there are Action Points or similar mechanics, this game however has Movement "Points" which is actually just one point, and finally there is the Action Point, which can be used for movement as well as combat and dialogue, but only one at a time. The problem with this is that the games UI doesn't give feedback due to design issues and glitches. Each major action uses a stat pool, there are three, Might, Speed, and Intellect. I actually like this system. It gives more reason to rest, and also makes the effort and edge system more integral in the game. Unfortunately the game sometimes glitchs and doesn't allow you to actually choose an action. In other words you are occasionally barred from taking certain actions. There are more problems but I really want to get into the plot of the game. I'll say that I liked only two; Erritis and Rhin. But even they didn't have the depth I felt that they needed. Actually their story goes through long periods of inactivity. Not to mention that the games story arc isn't satisfying. WHen I reached the ending, I knew it was the ending, but it was incredibly unsatisfying to me, not to mention that many of my choices were irrelevant. Sure I get that the devs cannot make every choice meaningful, but even the seemingly meaningful ones are unaccounted for. Now the ending. Some have complained about the ending being a bunch of slides, which is an odd complaint for a text heavy game. My issue with the ending is the lack of choice. The game doesn't even answer it's main question nor does it ever explain it. I would like a sequel but I don't feel inxile can handle it. Buyer beware.

Not a bad game - but a big disappointment nonetheless. It's extremely uneven. It'd hard to explain spoiler-free, but let me try. The game has ambition, heart and is well thought-out. I love old-school cRPGs and this game? It grabbed me almost instantly. Hypnotized me. The gameplay felt really fun, the setting fascinating. Crises are well-crafted. Dialogue, the focus of the game, makes you feel like your choices matter. The visual style and design is unique and I loved it. And the million of small touches! This is a game where "vendor trash" loot manages to tell its own little stories. Where the environment is detailed and meticulously crafted. Minor NPCs are interesting and fun. Torment is a game of a million details of exquisite charm. And the key points in a spiritual successor to Planescape: Torment, story and writing? Superb! I really wanted to see how the story ends. I enjoyed learning more through extremely story-heavy interactions. But... by the end, my enthusiasm waned and soured. Why? My biggest gripe is the final hour. The entire game feels like a first chapter, it doesn't feel epic or like it had proper buildup. The game feels too short, and it's not *just* because I completed it in only 19 hours. The ending's just... too abrupt, it didn't feel earn, the buildup was off. And, purely subjectively, I disliked the ending. It didn't feel satisfying or powerful. But, the game has significant non-story problems, too. Here's a microcosm of the game's issues: the Tide-based morality throughout the game. It's quite brilliant and builds anticipation. But it never has any payoff or weight. It's just sort of... there. Detached. Throughout the game, the pieces are set up very well. But it's all anticipation, too light on delivery. I loved everything... in principle. Cool combat skills left unused, story beats with off pacing. NPCs I *want* to love or hate. I love most things from this game... but not the game. It feels like a ten-second drive in a Ferrari.

I find it hard to judge this game, while I was playing it I found it irritating and complicated. But when I finished it, it became clear how everything that happened in the game comes together and makes a greater sense. And then I even considered to play it again. I certainly am not smart and patient enough to appreciate a game like this, but someone who is might enjoy it a lot.