Now that I'm done with the game, the spoiler floodgates can be opened up. There are so many web pages and forum threads I've skipped through the years, but the Wikipedia page is a good place to start. I see the box cover and am reminded why I didn't want to play this game when it came out. I don't like the styling of the Nameless One at all, with his weird face, minimal attire, and bone clothing. It seems silly now, but it has always rubbed me the wrong way.
Back to the Wikipedia page, to get the basics: producer (Guido Henkel), designer (Chris Avellone), composer (Mark Morgan), developer (Black Isle), publisher (Interplay), engine (Infinity, by BioWare), setting ("Planescape multiverse of AD&D"). The game was "not a significant commercial success", but a lot of great art isn't, especially not at first. In the planning stages, it seems like this game aspired to be a work of art from the beginning, though the designer seems to have some regrets, like having too much dialogue in the finished product. A patch was released, and the game was re-released on DVD in 2009, and there are mods. There's a novelization, bundled with a re-release on GOG. Novelization of games usually don't work at all, but I could see it working here.
Brian Fargo (Wasteland!) announced "Torment: Tides of Numenera" in 2013, as a "spiritual successor" to Planescape Torment. As long as it doesn't try to mess with Planescape's story in any way, that's fine. Planescape: Torment concluded definitively, and needs no embellishment. I question if there's even any value in an enhanced update, other than getting rid of the graphics glitches.
There is an interview with Chris Avellone at RPGWatch from 2007, which I think is the source of the section in Wikipedia where the designer regrets making the game too "story-heavy", and the marketing too "strange". There is a brief but deep look into what goes into making a game like this, specifically a highly detailed Word doc on Ravel's character design. I like the name of "dialogue-based" for this genre; it is at once its criticism and its praise. There's also a PDF of the original game proposal from 1997.
I file those documents away in my text archive, and notice I have a folder called "planescape-torment.com", which contains a file "index.html" from 1999.10.08.0719. I don't remember anything about this, but I guess I was checking out the game then, and didn't take it any further.2014.09.27
After some further time to reflect on the ending, I realize the villain of this story is Nameless. Various dangerous characters seem to be in the way, like The Lady, Ravel, Transcendent, etc. but they are mostly just reacting to what you are doing. The driver for all the various deaths and suffering was always Nameless. He had an evil life to atone for, but instead of just facing it he moves heaven and earth to extended his life so he can atone later, only to to end up doing far more evil. It is still a redemption story, but more of a 'stop the out of control bad guy for good' story. This game does wonderful things with perspectives.
While there's still a few interesting things left to do in this game, it seems clear that I already finished the optimal path through the game, (high Intelligence and Wisdom, mage, Lawful Good) and I've seen most of the what the game has to offer.
2014.10.02
It takes a while to get through a tvtropes page; there are so many rabbit holes to go down, and sub-rabbit holes, and sub-sub, etc. This site is a demonstration of the best and worst uses of tabbed browsing. "Overly Long Fighting Animation" - this game probably invented this. This leads me to a video of the Mechanus Cannon, which I missed, and a few of the other high level spells that I never got to see properly, and some fun comments on the overkill of it all.
2014.10.15
I check out RPGClassics, lots of good gameplay info about many old games. It seems kind of abandoned, and a little sad, but I'm glad its still there.
I find the novelization [wischik.com/lu/senses/pst-book.html], where the author "followed one path through the game, creating a written story from the source material". I've thought of doing just that for several games, but never followed through, so its very interesting to see how it turns out. And this game is probably the most prime candidate for this treatment. I read a few pages, and it is quite readable, but I don't think I want to do this until I've played through again, if ever.
I find the novelization [wischik.com/lu/senses/pst-book.html], where the author "followed one path through the game, creating a written story from the source material". I've thought of doing just that for several games, but never followed through, so its very interesting to see how it turns out. And this game is probably the most prime candidate for this treatment. I read a few pages, and it is quite readable, but I don't think I want to do this until I've played through again, if ever.
I've been getting more and more into fan art, so off to deviantart.com to see what they have. I find a nice large map of the planes called "The Planescape Multiverse" by zen79. I keep forgetting that the Planescape world is much larger than we get to see in Torment, I should read up on it. I am especially interested in the Sensates, I couldn't get enough of that in the game.
As part of my wrap up procedure, I make sure I have archived files of everything, and that includes getting all the mod files out there, whether I will use them now, later, or never. See previous post for details, but suffice it to say that I see worth in running through this game again, but I don't think I want or need to do that right now. This is something that I will have to revisit over time.
And I know I will continue to think of Planescape: Torment again and again over time. It's the kind of experience that resonates with you at multiple levels, and with multiple realizations over time; I think that's the definition of great art.
