Planescape: Torment EE - Review

Archangel said:
Since these options are on by default and they look worse, and new players will not bother learning what these options do or turning them off, this look is now the default look for the game.
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At the beginning of the game you get a pop-up screen that tells you about the Enhanced features, though. You get to choose right there if you want them on or if you want to play the original.

But, I understand not liking the outlines. For me, I tried playing with them on and off for an extended period of time and ended up liking the game more with them on. I think it makes the sprites "pop" a bit more out of the screen. For the record I'm also playing on a 55" 4K TV and playing in 4K, so that sort of thing might be more noticeable on a large set in high resolution. But I gave both options a try and simply preferred the sprite outlines turned on. Your opinion of course may vary.

I did express some concern over the text description text, though. Lee from Beamdog told me he may try to get that as an added feature, but basically, an option to increase the size of the text descriptions in the world (the '?' items) would be great, IMO. The font size slider does not affect that text and it is a bit small at high resolution.
 
Bumdog are parasites. They deserve to be laughed at.
 
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Beamdog is an amazing curation company and I am glad they continue to be financially successful enough to do the important work of preserving and improving old classics.

I find the EE of Torment superior in *every* way to the most modded version out there. This might be a matter of aesthetics and taste, but apparently many agree with me.

So far I'm enjoying this immensely.
 
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Don't think I need to comment that I'm enjoying it immensely as well, but I will, just to add balance to things. :D

Haven't run into any bugs yet, either, which is nice. Game runs rock solid, no slowdown, no framerate issues, crashes or anything like that. The game keeps multiple Quicksaves, which is the case in the original as well I think, but it's also a lifesaver for a game like this. The searchable journal is simply awesome, huge feature there. Typing in simple keywords will get you all the relevant results. TAB highlighting is a game-changer, as there really are many, many things you could miss (which could be good or bad depending on what you're going for. I think it would be cool for future playthroughs to not use highlighting, preferably after you've forgotten where everything is! :D) Zooming in is nice and I go back and forth from a zoomed-in as far as possible view to a wider view. The UI works well and the game sounds lovely, really immersive and intriguing with a nice set of headphones.

All in all it's great. I do hope they fix that text size issue with the '?' items, though. If you play at a distance from your monitor it gets a bit tough to read.
 
purpleblob said:
I get plenty of positive energy, thanks, and I still think Beamdog is a shameless parasite of the company. Perhaps you should learn to accept others have differing opinion? ;)
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Nothing wrong with having different opinions, but calling them a shameless parasite is pretty baseless.
 
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JDR13 said:
Nothing wrong with having different opinions, but calling them a shameless parasite is pretty baseless.
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That's how I view the company - all they've done so far is take classic masterpieces and modify them and claim it like it's their own. Modders have done similar things in the past for free (and some did better job I might add) and claim they've "developed" the game - I actually view it as "modified" not "developed". Future generation might even think Beamdog developed the whole thing, i.e. Falsely taking credit for the whole IE games - intentional or not. Just grow up and make your own game rather than be a parasite.

You can disagree. No ones stopping you ;) also, assuming someone who doesn't like Beamdog doesn't know how to think positive is baseless too.
 
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Hmm...this might not be a bad idea for some quick...err, how hard is it?
Have a pretty good modded version of BG II, could be worth at least 25$ or so, on the market.
 
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purpleblob said:
Future generation might even think Beamdog developed the whole thing, i.e. Falsely taking credit for the whole IE games.
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Beamdog credits all of the original developers in the in-game credits of their Enhanced Editions. Anyone who says otherwise is incorrect. Also, Wikipedia exists and the internet exists. And I highly, highly, highly (Rule of Threes :p) doubt that Beamdog is going to go around in 10 years telling everyone how they are the original creators of the games.

No matter how you slice it, what Beamdog is doing is 100% a service to CRPG fans. They are at the very least shedding light on classic CRPGs, which in turn will create hype for the games with a modern audience. That's not even considering the work they do to enhance the games themselves, which to me, is just a side bonus. Simply bringing these games back into the public's consciousness will have far-reaching effects, such as influencing future developers to create CRPGs like them, showing there is a market for similar CRPGs and so on.

What they are doing is great if you're a fan of CRPGs, unless you would rather see classic games fade into Oblivion or be unavailable to modern gamers. Strangely enough, I think some of their detractors would rather that, though. It's very weird.
 
Fluent said:
No matter how you slice it, what Beamdog is doing is 100% a service to CRPG fans. They are at the very least shedding light on classic CRPGs, which in turn will create hype for the games with a modern audience. That's not even considering the work they do to enhance the games themselves, which to me, is just a side bonus. Simply bringing these games back into the public's consciousness will have far-reaching effects, such as influencing future developers to create CRPGs like them, showing there is a market for similar CRPGs and so on.
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Again, that is your opinion Fleunt. Top x rpgs of all time usually includes these classics, so they were already well known to general public before Beamdog came along. Also, did you forget all those games advertised as "spiritual successor" of IE games. And GoG version was always available before EEs came along.
 
purpleblob said:
And GoG version was always available before EEs came along.
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Right. But by Beamdog making these EE's they are creating new hype for these games. GOG is great, but Beamdog has a PR team, social media, etc., promoting these games, actively supporting them and are 100% dedicated to them. It creates hype around the games and introduces new players to them, which can only be a good thing for CRPGs and fans of CRPGs going forward.

The other option is: don't make an enhanced version and let the games sit on GOG for eternity. Ok. Then what? I'll take something over nothing.
 
Fluent said:
Right. But by Beamdog making these EE's they are creating new hype for these games. GOG is great, but Beamdog has a PR team, social media, etc., promoting these games, actively supporting them and are 100% dedicated to them. It creates hype around the games and introduces new players to them, which can only be a good thing for CRPGs and fans of CRPGs going forward.

The other option is: don't make an enhanced version and let the games sit on GOG for eternity. Ok. Then what? I'll take something over nothing.
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Did you read my above post properly? They were included in Top X RPGs all the time, and every time someone announces "spiritual successor" of IE games, it creates enough hype. What makes you think GoG version just "sat there"?

Also, using your arguement: according to your logic, if Beamdog didn't "develop" enhanced edition, these games will just fade into history. Well, here's the revelation. EE will eventually will fade into history too.
 
I really don't get whats the harm. Beamdog is not claiming ownership of these classics. You can see it in the opening credits for god's sake. For me these EE editions have given a new life to old classics. The fact that I can play these classics on a modern pc hassle free is worth of few euros. :)
 
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purpleblob said:
That's how I view the company - all they've done so far is take classic masterpieces and modify them and claim it like it's their own. Modders have done similar things in the past for free (and some did better job I might add) and claim they've developed the game. Future generation might even think Beamdog developed the whole thing, i.e. Falsely taking credit for the whole IE games. Just grow up and make your own game rather than be a parasite.

You can disagree. No ones stopping you ;) also, assuming someone who doesn't like Beamdog doesn't know how to think positive is baseless too.
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Are you aware that Beamdog is in part made up of former Bioware employees who created the original Baldur's Gate trilogy? Beamdog was founded by Trent Oster, who was one of the co-founders of Bioware, and Cameron Tofer, who was a programmer for the Infinity Engine and worked on both BG 1&2.

Not to mention that PS:T EE was overseen by Chris Avellone who was the original lead designer of the game.

And I've never seen anyone from Beamdog claim that they developed the original games. (Despite the fact that some of them actually did!)
 
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JDR13 said:
Are you aware that Beamdog is in part made up of former Bioware employees who created the original Baldur's Gate trilogy? Beamdog was founded by Trent Oster, who was one of the co-founders of Bioware, and Cameron Tofer, who was a programmer for the Infinity Engine and worked on both BG 1&2.

Not to mention that PS:T EE was overseen by Chris Avellone who was the original lead designer of the game.

And I've never seen anyone from Beamdog claim that they developed the original games. (Despite the fact that some of them actually did!)
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I fail to see your point. Yes, I am aware Trent was former Bioware employee and Avellone was part of PS:T EE - and?

They helped created masterpiece in the past. Great. Move onto new things. Do they plan to live off their former glory for the rest of their life?

Also, just because they've achieved something great in the past doesn't mean they can do that again. People change, companies change. Beamdog is different to former Bioware. Just the fact a number of people who worked on original IEs are involved with EEs really doesn't mean much.

I didn't say they claimed they worked on whole IE games. I said future generation might think that way as Beamdog advertises they "developed" EEs. There is a significant quality difference between EE content and originals, excluding PS:T EEs. How would new generation be able to tell what's added and what's not. The EE and original content will be all judged as "one package" which is not fair on original.
 
purpleblob said:
I didn't say they claimed they worked on whole IE games. I said future generation might think that way as Beamdog advertises they "developed" EEs. There is a significant quality difference between EE content and originals, excluding PS:T EEs. How would new generation be able to tell the difference, what's added and what's not. The EE and original content will be all judged as "one package" which is not fair on original.
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Really? Because it looks like that's exactly what you said.

purpleblob said:
That's how I view the company - all they've done so far is take classic masterpieces and modify them and claim it like it's their own. Modders have done similar things in the past for free (and some did better job I might add) and claim they've developed the game. Future generation might even think Beamdog developed the whole thing, i.e. Falsely taking credit for the whole IE games. Just grow up and make your own game rather than be a parasite.
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And to be worried that future generations might be confused as to who the original creators were is just silly. Unless you're assuming those people will all be total morons who can't read. :)
 
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I'm not going to play with words especially with you JDR - forming argument in English can be challenging for me and you are known for your sarcastic comments :)

Beamdog claims they "developed" EEs while they simply "modified" originals.

With that and the fact new generation can't tell what's new and original content, the whole will be judged as a "one package" - pretty much giving whole credit to Beamdog as a "developer" of EE.
 
purpleblob said:
Did you read my above post properly?
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Sure did. I am just having a hard time understanding where you're coming from. Being included in Top X RPG lists is great, but do you think many modern gamers and newcomers, Steam gamers and the like are browsing some of our incredibly nerdy and mostly archaic lists? That is quite optimistic, IMO. :)

But still, while it is true the games are on those lists, it still does not invalidate my point. Beamdog is still creating new hype for the games and putting them into public and gamer consciousness more, encouraging new gamers to play them, and the hype they generate would not have been there otherwise. While there will always be a modicum stirring online for classic CRPGs, there is no denying that that is increased by Beamdog's work.

What I mean by "just sitting there" on GOG is that GOG, that awesome, awesome service and site, is still not doing a lot with the older games. They are supporting them to an extent, making them work on modern systems, and that is great. But the classic games there are still niche titles, and it's really a niche service. While the EE's are also niche, Beamdog is devoted to them, meaning that they are promoting them, supporting them to a much deeper level (actively patching, updating, offering deeper customer support and so on) and actively engaging with the community for these specific titles much more than GOG. And that is not a slight on GOG at all, as that is not their job. My point is that Beamdog is doing that work and promoting the games more, which takes me back to the first point I made in the above paragraph. They are generating interest and hype for those specific titles that otherwise would simply not exist.

Dez said:
For me these EE editions have given a new life to old classics.
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Yeah, for sure. New life = new interest = new CRPGs going forward (hopefully.) :)
 
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