Planescape: Torment - Philosophy Explored

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Strat-Edgy Productions looked at Planescape: Torment's philosophy in depth.



Planescape: Torment is all about choices. Not necessarily choices in the game, though there is some of that, but the choices we have made in the past that send ripples throughout time. It plays with many ideas, but what it plays with the most is the idea of death and rebirth and how with each new life, we become a different person based on the circumstances of our rebirth.

You can even see this theme in the main menu of the game where most games would have the option for you to start a new game, Planescape asks you if you would like to start a new life or resume an old life. It's one in a number of ways the game makes you consider the consequences of your choices and the insignificance of a single life when it comes to the nameless one.

But The nameless one is unreliable. His memories are fractured and missing. We cannot rely upon him to give a faithful recollection of his actions, and since I believe that intent does not matter and instead, what matters most is how your intentions are experienced by others, let's explore the Nameless one through the eyes of the people who knew him and who have met him for the first time.
More information.
 
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What can change the nature of a man…absolutely nothing can.:cool:

Still prefer this version over inXile's new Torment game.
 
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I never played T:ToN but I never took it as being related to the original one in any way (besides the word 'Torment' in both names). Am I wrong?
 
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I never played T:ToN but I never took it as being related to the original one in any way (besides the word 'Torment' in both names). Am I wrong?
Yes they claim its a spiritual sequel but it's completely different.
 
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What can change the nature of a man…absolutely nothing can.:cool:

Still prefer this version over inXile's new Torment game.

They are very different games, but yeah, Planescape Torment is better. I just think that Tides of Numenera gets a lot of unfair criticism. The game was pretty good, despite the lack of action.
 
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I found the starting area of PS:T very ... disgusting. Others would say it was "more mature". But anyway, it very much fits into the game's theme of death and rebirth.

What i thought then - and now as well, is, that the look of an starting area has quite an psychological effect on starters of a new game. And I do not mean with that something like "the first impression is the deepest" or "let's make an first impression on the player so that she or he will get a taste of what's the *whole* game is about." Pars pro toto.

What I mean is that some people might be driven away from a grim look of a game. Children won't be likely to play PS:T - AND PS:T was *never* intended to be played by children. This is made much more than clear in the starting area of the game.

Of course, there might be teenagers who might try to play PS:T as some kind of ... "test of bravery" or something like that, but ... I don't know how many these would be. Plus, there might even be teenagers attracted by these grim themes.

I don't think it would be right to say that the grim starting area of PS:T might act as some kind of psychological copy protection, but I think it could indeed have happened in some cases that people who might have regularly pirated games might have been driven off by this intentional disgusting starting area.

I'm often surprised of how few psychological implications on players are taken into consideration by developers.

Me, I did play quite a time into PS:T - after havin been strongly persuaded to try it out by membery of RPGDot and the Larian Studios forums ... - but I never finished it.

Even I, who doesn't pirate at all, felt driven away from the grim look of this game. Even then, I didn't like it at all. The *only* thing that kept me playing on was its depth in dialogues, the philosophies in there.

I wonder if PS:T was the first - or one of the first - games in that line of "dark & gritty" so-called "mature" games.

And I'm sure that people believe me to be immature because I was driven off by the grimness of the PS:T starter area.
I'm sure people believe me to be immature because I vastly prefer games with light colours.
 
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Just remembered a NWN mod that's similar but not set in the planes.

Link - https://neverwintervault.org/project/nwn1/module/revenant
Your murder was sudden and brutal. Yet you remember nothing of it. As you rise from the soft earth of the village graveyard, you recall only that you were betrayed, but by whom? The fog of death clings to your mind like the earth clings to your decaying body.

You have become a revenant - an undead creature whose only reason for existence is to hunt down and exact revenge upon its killer. But who has slain you and why? And, most importantly, did you deserve to die? Your quest for answers begins now …
 
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@Alrik Fassbauer;

Are you talking about teenagers / children playing P:T today, or back when it was released?

If it is the former: Todays teenagers would not be appalled by the setting at all, I'd bet they see far more extreme things in other games or videos.
They would still be appalled, but only due to the graphical quality, not the setting.

If it is the latter: I still doubt it. Even back then, you could see some pretty horrible stuff on TV / in movies. Yes, the starting area is a bit grim, but it never comes across as anything close to real life, which removes a considerable amount of it's "shock" potential.

And regarding actual children: the age rating of the game (and the enhanced edition) is probably teens and older, in most countries. They are also not the target audience.
 
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Such a great game, I'll take this easily over the newest version, and even over Original Sin the second. This is yet another one of those games that aging doesn't even play a factor, and one I'll likely be playing on and off for the rest of my computing days.
 
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If it is the former: Todays teenagers would not be appalled by the setting at all, I'd bet they see far more extreme things in other games or videos.
They would still be appalled, but only due to the graphical quality, not the setting.
Today's teenagers completely ignore PST as it's nohow connected to social networks.
Brainwashed majority.

Each generation however spawns a minority with their own taste and appreciation for works of art. Thank you evolution.
 
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@joxer;
You are right of course. I was considering this in a hypothetical manner: If they noticed the game at all, they would certainly not be shocked by the content.
 
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Likely too much text in the original Planescape as well, I mean, I've seen children these days that cannot even seem to read beyond "U" and silly symbols. No doubt it would be amusing to watch some of them try to play it!!
 
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Someone should add this to the steam and GOG page.:biggrin:

*Warning* This game contains TONS of dialogue. Reader discretion advised.

I just got a good idea for a new YouTube series. Take a room full of teens and millennial's and have them play classic RPGs like Baldur's Gate & Planescape: Torment.

Then sit back add commentary and laugh your ass off.:lol:
 
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I'd totally give that a view, as long as every machine that the players used was also fully air-gapped. I actually want to see them play the game to completion, not cheat or beg for help along the way.
 
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I wasn't as blown away by PST as some. I enjoyed it mainly due to the setting because I love D&D and Sigil was cool as hell, but the combat is boring compared to the BG and IWD games. It also lacked the variety those games had when it came to gear/spells/enemies.
 
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I hated the puzzles. Solved a bunch of them but got bored running back and forth and the combat was pointless. I did love the beginning of the game but started thinking less of it as time wore on. I wish I liked it so I could join the "club" of those who rave over it but I just found it pretentious with the puzzles and ultimately overrated.
 
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sad. that people dont understand that gameplay should at worst be a challenge, and at best a fucking sweet dream.
the game is too old to bitch about, but its way too hard, it fucks ur memory way too much. it basically assumes u will give that game 2000% of your time and attention. no long breaks etc.
compare it with walking dead games.. where u have some dialog but liniarity. dont u think its an extreme? the level of complexity?
personally im not a fan of such complexity. u might as well make 5 games out of it. humans need closure, and humans need that those things that are not fun / great / rewarding dont appear much or ar optional ..
 
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I'm not quite sure what you are talking about. What kind of complexity/difficulty? Combat? Quests? Riddles?
 
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