These games are to gaming weirdly similar to buying an inflatable doll at home. You need to be really desperate in both cases
Beta tested it, I was only able back then to install it on my phone, and seems now even here, there's no option for a Mac either. Anyway, the game in itself is certainly well done, the graphics are good, the whole rules and gameplay are well done, as someone that played card games since early magic the gathering and was a playtester and giving demos or run tournaments for countless other card games later, I certainly applauded it, 'as is'. The problem was and, from what I gather, still is, the playerbase. There were very, very few people in there playing just to have fun. It's exceedingly rare for instance you'd meet someone playing, say, a deck full of Geralt and his merry squad. Or anything story-related or, well, y'know, resembling the thing it's titled for, named after, supposed to represent? But no, everybody just copy/pasted whatever was supposed to be the 'power deck(s)', and people either played that, or some meta to beat them. Then the company repeatedly had to swoop in and balance some cards, making changes. So all those people would go and flock to a new deck winning everything. In the end after hundreds of games, I noticed I was getting a pattern of the fact that by the time you saw a 2nd or 3rd card go up, you just threw your arms up and conceded. The other players can push a button 'good game', applaud you, etc., but hardly anyone ever did, while they did do sounds like make you hurry along. To me, at one point, I noticed I was starting to forget to log in, and not even feeling like it anymore, as there was no fun. Then that turned to weeks, months, and finally just uninstalled. Try it out, as a game/card game. But prepare to get it on your nerves with what the playerbase is.
Played this at the start, refused to back in itself but once I was certain it was going to happen (instead of most projects) and being a fan of the original Torment, I wanted this to succeed, and finally give some closure or at least a few notes on the original story. Sadly, even that last bit was asking too much. So unfortunately: 1. The Planescape/Torment name and IP was bought to garner sales and nothing else. There's no link to the previous game, and even very few links to the planescape system and world in general in favor of the new 'Numenera' setting. If you're halfway familiar with pen and paper roleplaying: Nobody wants Numenera or asked for it. 2. Anyone that played the original Torment can to this day tell you who the companions like Morte were, down to the point of character quirks, it was that well written. This? Couple months after you played it, you won't be able to name a single one. Buying IPs with no competent writers in-house... 3. As is now common knowledge, the parent company got a LOT of backing funds as most people were wanting a sequel or at least a game set in the same setting as the original, and initially promised as such, started the coding and writing at the first part of the game (Which is.....ok to sometimes good, mostly), then took so much of all the money (And we're literally talking hundreds of thousands and after a certain stage, millions), then half arsed it on the second part of the game, didn't even bother giving it a real finish, and just threw it out there and ran with the cash. Everything, in the latter half of the game, from maps to dialogue to story, feels rushed and uninspired. I guess if there's something like a 75 percent or more discount, you can have some enjoyment of the first few hours of playing. Just expect immense disappointment for the end
5 star reviews: All new users, the only review they ever did Overall score: 3.4 out of 5, yet not a single negative review in the list. Apart from having to stoop to the level of now adding content like this, GOG seems to allow them to artificially bump their own score too. Wonder how many were real buyers to have it show up in the top 5 bestseller list lol.
So, I am doing a replay on mac a good while after finishing it on playstation. I remember at the end rushing through it on PS as I got bored of repetitive ship battles and a stale storyline. I tried going a different route this time and now after a good talk with Eothas and starting a new chapter in the storyline....I'm inclined to go to the next part in the story and just finish it ASAP instead of the 101 sideplots because....Well, as an RPG gamer both paper and PC for 30 years, this is just dull beyond comprehension. Often, things don't make sense, like liberating an NPC and telling them to go rest in your boat while you clear the area, and they're in your ship in ship management, but the next encounter the NPC suddenly speaks up, so they're present - But click on your boat and they're there, too? Same for a lot of quests, even the main one: If you don't follow the linear way of doing things (often you're told very heavy handedly), you will get a ton of text about things having happened or you supposedly did, but actually didn't. Sail to Ashen Maw where Eothas is in your first chapter instead of following the inear story for instance, it's hilarious. Also: If the history of RPGs taught anything, it's that people love high fantasy, green fields, lush exploration in them, etc., from Tolkien, to early D&D, to Baldur's gate, etc.; Ad&D in the 80s and 90s also thought people needed new textures, and tried to push them into Arabic settings, planeswalking, Pirate settings in far off lands like this game, and more. Guess where those settings were 5 to 10 years later due to popularity and sales? So yeah, POE2 didn't sell well even before people knew how it played, while a lot bought and liked POE1, maybe think a bit how the announcement about the whole pirate and sailing thing went down, eh? 100x the same boat fight gets repetitive and dull as hell too.
I don't usually bother doing reviews, however I have 30 games now in my GOG library so they made hundreds on me and feel inclined. I'm someone that has people sometimes come over with neither GOG nor my Macs, and let them fiddle, start games, and sometimes say 'If you want to try out something else, check their site, we can always nab something new if needed'. That's now not an option anymore, as my family of friends would go 'Erm, aren't that a whack of porn games at the top of the list, first thing we see?'. Just before the holidays, I can't imagine being the only one in that scenario now can it? Especially having it immediately pop up in the discounts, with hardly a real discount on it, is shady and transparent as hell, but then again, so are these 'games'. Just so you know: These aren't 'games'. At most, you can call them 'interactive', sometimes you're presented with a choice, however, the main aim of those is mostly geared towards which scantily clad, heavily bossomed female you want to get nasty with. And feel free to watch videos anywhere if you're so inclined, not only is this basically porn, they're also *highly* misogynistic seemingly (Picking the option to 'cum' will have most women need to drop down on their knees in front of you while you do your thing on yourself and they patiently wait for it, not a single time it seems is any scene geared towards actually both having a good time during sex - Splendid idea to give to anyone low enough to enjoy these). And no, I didn't play it, I saw this pop up in the store and had a look at videos to see if it was as bad as I thought and other reviews said it was (and it's worse). If GOG wants to lose a well paying member hopping to another gaming platform (enough choice, these days), I'd say, keep adding tripe like this.
