People often praise this game and it’s sequels for the meticulously crafted world they are set in, as well as an engrossing, character-driven story. I found the story to be very dynamic, but ultimately dull. Worse still is that the dialogue between characters is mostly vacuous. It is on the level of what I imagine is found in cheap, weekly manga. As far as the world-building, the creators have certainly fleshed out the details and politics, but it all fell flat because of the uninspired art and graphics. Again, things are very detailed, with carefully placed objects in building interiors for example. But it all looks generic. All of the art in the game is bland. Character portraits are low-grade stereotypical anime. City aesthetics are usually not memorable. Finally, combat is sub-standard. It is not tactically challenging, and the higher difficulty settings only bloat enemy hp and make things a slog. Also the orbment system is not deep in the least bit. The stat adjustments are very minor and I was halfway through the game before I bothered learning about unlocking more powerful magic spells. Maybe I’m unfairly comparing this game to the classic JRPGs of the 90s, but chances are that you can play a better game in the same vein unless you’ve really exhausted your options.
I have played through this game countless times. It's almost hard to judge the game without playing through at least a couple of times. The story and lore is rich, and the way the game is designed you can do quick playthroughs where you uncover different bits of it all, and even change how the story progresses. I wish I had the patience to discover all of the cool things in Planescape Torment, which I would put as the pinnacle of story-centered RPGs. The way this game works, with fast travel vignettes, makes it easy to feel like you have accomplished a lot in a single play session. Is it a choose-your-own adventure? Maybe, but it's a damn good one. Are you railroaded? Maybe, but this railroad has a multitude of elegantly designed switches that will keep you engaged. The combat is excellent and fun to master and breaks up the rest of the game quite well, if you choose to play a fighter character. If you like RPGs, try this game. If you enjoy replaying RPGs to discover content you missed the first time around, you might love it. The achievements for this game on steam really add to it, and serve as an indicator of how much of the game you have actually experienced. I repurchased the game on steam for this reason. I don't know if these are incorporated into the gog galaxy client; they weren't when I last played.
Brilliant art and music combined with creative puzzles make for a memorable experience. You might be bothered once or twice with pixel hunting, but it's a very minor complaint. The game is very short, but it's well worth the money for the magical hand drawn environments and music alone.
If you've worn out all of the classic RPGs but don't have a good enough rig to play the newer games coming out, you should seriously consider checking this out. It is a little buggy, and there is probably one character build that is far better than all others, but other than that I only have positive things to say about this game. It's got great atmosphere, a combat system that gets the job done, an interesting magic system that I imagine was quite unique at release, a few puzzles here and there, a good end boss, and just enough side quests to keep most people interested. I honestly can't think of a better way to spend 5 bucks if you've got the free time for an RPG.
