The best story in a video game ever

the amazing execution of its novel focus on story and character interaction would create a classic, inspiring the direction of the genre for many years to come, largely manifested through Bioware’s games. You can still plainly see its influence today in titles like Mass Effect and CD Projekt Red’s The Witcher. If you haven’t played Torment you might think those games improved upon this old codger - you’d be wrong.

This is where criticism of Planescape Torment’s combat system stems from, it’s not as good as some of its excellent contemporaries. But it’s still fast, it still requires plenty of deft thinking and strategy, there’s still a fair range of spells – which look awesome – and there are points in the game where you will have your limits tested, such as the intense duel with Trias, or fighting your way through grim prison of Curst. It’s a combat system that is at the very worst adequate, at best, moderately fun

Yet even if you end up absolutely repulsed by the combat, it is a minor facet of Planescape Torment, an ancillary gameplay element, and for that reason, easily forgivable.

The game is largely comprised of story exposition and potent decision making embedded into the expansive character interaction and dialogue choices,... would be a problem with most games, largely thanks to the poor writing so prevalent in the medium. But Planescape Torment isn’t “most games”; in this case it’s where it shines, brighter than any other game to date. In Torment you don’t just watch the story play out, it’s not a passive experience, in Torment the gameplay is the story. The lack of cutscenes and such does cause it to feel like an interactive novel a lot of the time, but a great one. It’s exceptionally well written, employing a classical English style (including oldschool slang); consistently eloquent, even poetic, frequently clever and funny despite the bleak setting, and always appealing.

While overall more compact than Baldurs Gate, the characters are consequently fleshed out better, and far more distinct to one another. They are all highly original, whimsical, and captivating both in aesthetic and in personality..... what truly sets the characters apart is just how believable they are. These are highly fantastical characters, they don’t talk in the relatable fashion like a Nathan Drake or Ashley Williams might, and that’s the point.

the carefully constructed dialogue sequences force you to really think your conversations through with them, they won’t start divulging their life stories to you right away, and say and do the wrong things and they may not ever open up to you, or worse. Likewise, the romantic relationships are very difficuilt to come by for that same reason (I mean shit who DIDN’T bang Ashley in Mass Effect?). These guys won’t just stick by you no matter what and act according to your exact volition, greatly undermining any sense of investment you might put in them or palpability they may possess. There’s no blatantly highlighted ‘good’ way of talking to everybody, and then quest to complete after saying a certain amount of ‘good’ things, leading to a lay, because in reality there is no clear cut pathway towards such a thing, people aren’t that simple (unless they’re hillbillies, or Collingwood supporters).

This same aspect permeates into the story and questing aswell. Black Isle does a tremendous job of injecting the game with moral ambiguity that along with the quality of the writing keeps every conversation engaging and dynamic.