In spite of everything I am about to say and whatever vitriol you have toward me, let me be clear about my feelings: Planescape Torment is a game everyone should experience, however they wish to choose, at least once in his/her life. However, I do not think the game is a masterpiece nor do I particularly like the game compared to any other CRPGs I've played because playing it gets to be a chore. If you are concerned that the Enhanced Edition is at fault, then rest assured that it improves on everything that was wrong with the technical details of the past. UI changes and other quality-of-life improvements like modern resolutions and an updated OST only make this experience as timeless as eternity. Aside from one or two crashes in the last two chapters of the game, the experience itself was flawless. The issue with PT is that no matter how much you polish it you cannot fix an imperfect game. Not only is the gameplay itself an issue but how the final acts are structured that goes against what the game has taught you in terms of alternative solutions to conflict. To those who defend the combat, if it was meant to dissuade you from fighting and choosing to resolve conflict by other means, then this game is a poor attempt to convey this idea. Everything about this combat is shallow to Infinity Engine games but also to modern RPGs that realize party composition and weapon variety is important. If any one sole thing killed PT for me it was an unreasonable desire to conform the gameplay back to other games that otherwise distinguishes PT as unique. At its very best, PT's setup, storyline, setting and gameplay is more like a D&D-inspired Fallout (1/2) than a D&D Infinity Engine game. Rules and lore aside, these games should feel nothing alike as RPGs. That is why the Enhanced Edition saddens me the most; it plays everything safe, changing nothing for better or for worse. Link to full review from Steam: http://steamcommunity.com/id/Brian_Colfxire/recommended/466300/
Had I not played Shovel Knight at the beginning of this year, Freedom Planet would have been my favorite retro platformer this year. But because of how fine tuned SK is, I cannot overlook the flaws in this game. What elements of old platformers that are in Freedom Planet, namely momentum challenges, level design and the boss fights towards the first half, are executed nearly perfectly. I say nearly perfectly because each has their own missteps. Unlike your retro Sonic titles, momentum on slopes is not an issue at all; you can lightly walk along curved walls at your leisure, which makes it jarring when you take Carol's motorcycle into consideration as you'll ride up ninety degree walls like they are nothing. I don't know if it was a deliberate design choice but it does take some of the immersion out of me when I'm coming up to dead-ends because I went up a wall I wasn't supposed to be able to get to. This isn't the reason why I took a way a star from my rating. It's just something I think the devs need to reconsider if they make a sequel. Level design and bosses are what got under my skin at the end of my two playthroughs (adventure mode with Lilac and Carol). The main problem is that it seems like the devs made the characters' abilities first, then the levels and the bosses separate from one another in the later half of the game. Lilac's boost ability (similar to Rocket Knight's jetpack) seems vital when fighting the last levels' bosses. Carol does not simply have enough momentum or a high enough jump to avoid certain attacks and to attack enemies out of her reach. Many times I had to exploit the invincibility frames to win the fights. Some might say this is because Carol is a harder character to play; I think it's more to do with a lack of focus. Each character, including Millia, gets their own level that works wonders with their abilities and they're great to play, despite the boss battle with Spade. So why shouldn't the final bosses be made the same?
