I think it's a good decision. Of all these games, Planescape Torment is by far the best game. But really, I can't see it as an ad&d game. It's too special. It would be suggested along with Arcanum and Fallout if the question was just about RPGs. Also, it's very story-driven, so I don't feel that you can "invent" yourself in Planescape Torment as much as you can in others cRPGs. In that sense, it felt a bit closer to an adventure game.

I still push for Temple of Elemental Evil, but I have to admit its shortcomings : it's a very very straightforward simple game, in terms of story. It felt like Eye of the Beholder in that respect. The first part is open, having you travel between villages and cities, meet characters, make various choices, and feel as free as in any cRPG. But then, well, there's the temple (of elemental evil, yes), and the rest of the game takes place in it, making it a very old school dungeon crawl, which may or may not be what you're looking for in an ad&d game. Also : level cap. Half-breakable through mods, but still annoying. I had reached maximum levels -or antepenultimate levels- before entering the temple itself.

Neverwinter Night felt simpler, more action-based, less tactical, almost more diabloish, or sacredoïdal. I remember clickety fights, far from the tactical fights I loved in other cRPG, and a very predictable very linear story, with pseudo-twists that have been the same in most cRPGs for a long while. Still, a lot of character design freedom. I wouldn't take it as an exemple of great RPG, but again, I'm not sure any regular ad&d game would qualify. So, a bit too linear, simple, and action-ey for my tastes. But still, at the frontier, and modern enough to have a genuinely good interface (inferior to Temple's, but Temple's makes me angry at every other cRPG's interface), unlike the too aged Baldur.

There, it's all pros and cons, no classic ad&d crpg is truly perfect. There's still no ad&d equivalent to the Fallout games. Maybe the enhanced versions of Baldur's Gate will manage to provide a great story, a decent openness. and a good modern interface. Until then, it'll depend on the criterions you give priority to, and what aspects you are most looking for...

Text instead of fetch quests. That sounds pretty good, though having a "meh" combat system worries me.

IMO you've already narrowed down your choice to the best three D&D titles, from now on it depends on what you're looking for exactly.

Planescape Torment has the best atmosphere, it has the most profound story and the least typical setting and gameplay for a D&D game - which can be either a good or a bad thing depending on your viewpoint -, personally I'd say it's the most original game, but it requires patience because it's not hack and slash at all, there is lots of reading involved, a whole lot more than combat (but it's some of the best writing in video games ever).

Baldur's Gate 2 is a well done and polished RPG, with a gripping story, a good balance between combat, exploration and conversations, good tactical battles and memorable characters.

Neverwinter Nights is IMO inferior to Torment and BG2 as a standalone game, many consider its story to be quite weak and the gameplay a matter of taste, it also has a few flaws (like bad A.I.). But it's extremely powerful as a tool to create your own D&D adventures with, which means that there are countless great story modules by NWN community authors out there for free download. They're all independent of the original campaign, so if you find out you don't like NWN's story either, you can just play a different campaign module with a better story and suddenly you might love it. The choice is so great that you could play NWN for years without resorting to other games. The 60+ hours of gameplay in BG2 and Torment are nothing compared to that.


EDIT: TL:DR - what AFnord said. ;)

If you do go the neverwinter nights way, take a look at this topic. It'll certainly get you started. And also, do not expect polished adventures - content of most modules is very varying in quality.

I'll explain it this way: the main character is immortal. (That's not a spoiler, you learn that right at the start of the game.) For this guy, combat is incredibly pointless, and by extension, so it is for the game as such; you can quite literally defeat any enemy in the game by running up to them, hacking at them a few times, getting killed, waking up again, rinse and repeat until enemy is dead.

Frankly, Torment would be a better game if the combat were removed from it altogether. As it is, it's mostly filler. So yeah, if you want to have some hack'n'slash action, this game would be a terrible choice.

Install the widescreen mod. The landscapes might be mainly grey/brown, and the small resolution of the base game makes it impossible to see much of it, but when you get a better view of it all, you realize just how much work was put into making it, and how beautiful grey/brown can be, when used right.

I won't deny the fact that out of the infinity engine games, Planescape has the worst gameplay, but the story more than makes up for that.

Planescape's got the worst combat. Story is Planescape's gameplay, otherwise it wouldn't be nearly as popular. I will keep punching everyone until people finally realize what they've been doing most of the time in that game.

The thing is that you don't need to play BG 1 to play BG2, but playing BG2 first will spoil BG1, and make that a less enjoyable experience.
Reading? I would not call that gameplay ;) :P



(Don't take that comment too seriously, a relatively large part of Planescape is how you respond in different conversations)

Thank you! I aim to create a world where people don't think that gameplay = killing things

Oh, to not be taken as some hack and slash moron...

Planescape truly has the most amazing story and game world EVER created. Even the first hour of the game, when you read the zombies descriptions are better than anything else in most games.

The free code has arrived, and the arguments I've seen have convinced me to go with Neverwinter Nights for now.

Thank you all for your help! (Now I have to buy all those other games too, why couldn't I be rich?!)