In 2001, my dad purchased a brand new graphics card for our computer, and with it I received a copy of Baldur's Gate I. Years later, I purchased a copy of Baldur's Gate II with what very little money my teenage self had left from a computer game shop that was going out of business. At the time, I felt the story of the Bhaalspawn was the greatest videogame story ever told. However, I had heard of Planescape: Torment, but I was never able to source a copy. I am eternally thankful for gog.com for bringing this to us all as a DRM free digital download. Planescape: Torment is a paragon in its genre. It's protagonist, and those who follow him, are deep and compelling. The musical score is beautiful. The setting is magnificent, and full of wonder. The graphics are of the time of its release, but the mods available make it very playable today. If you play one game in this genre, make it Planescape: Torment. And remember, DON'T TRUST THE SKULL.
With the exception of its beautiful graphics, I have nothing good to say about this game. There is nothing innovative or refreshing about this game: just pure unforgiving frustration and misery. Well, I say unforgiving... It's quite forgiving in the sense that if your character gets defeated in battle, you lose a small amount of your HP permanently. You only truly die when the amount of permanent health loss is equal to or exceeds your HP. Cool. However, what's not cool is that when you are defeated, you drop all your weapons and torch on the floor which are pretty hard to pick back up due to their small on-screen size. This wouldn't be so bad if it wasn't for the fact that the guy who just defeated you is still there, waiting, probably with his friends, ready to ruin your day all over again. Your character starts to attempt his return to his feet with all the grace and dignity of an elderly gentleman with a double hip replacement who has had to call the nurse up to help him off of the couch. Urgency is clearly no priority; It's not like you're being whaled on by some topless guy with a wooden bat or anything. If you're lucky enough to get back to your feet before you are defeated, there's simply no opportunity to rearm yourself in time before you are defeated again. And this cycle of up and down continues until your character is dead and you have to start all over again. The experience would be significantly less stressful is defeat means death. I could accept that. But I cannot accept this state of faux death that only exists to prolong the inevitable. I should also mention that your character is in a full suit of armour with a mace and the enemies are topless with make-shift weapons. I do not accept the disclaimer that you'll suck at this game at first but things will get better. I simply do not think things will get better. I appreciate that it's "in development", but nothing short of starting again is going to make me want to play this game.
