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Game News Planescape: Torment: Enhanced Edition officially revealed, coming April 11th

Blaine

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Oh man, X-COM's looking PRETTY PIXELATED these days! I just can't stand jaggies, let alone figure out how to set my GPU to scale 640 x 400 proportionally in fullscreen.

974a1a9b17.png


It runs completely flawlessly on modern systems with Open X-COM, but I mean wow, if I can't have it in 4k, I just refuse to play it! I mean, come on.

BEAMDOG! BEAMDOG, WE NEED YOUR HELP!

49ebe7d532.png


Oh, hell YEAH!

Beamdog, you did it again!

Take my entire fucking wallet bro, 9.5/10! Can't wait for the tranny alien DLC, I mean just wow what a time to be alive, holy shit dude. What kind of stupid alt-right neckbeard Trump supporter wouldn't think this is FUCKING AMAZEBALLS?! Updanks and Reddit gold for everyone!
 
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Sensuki

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There is no way to increase the texture resolution of the Torment art assets, unless they re-render (which they won't, as I'm pretty sure BioWare and Black Isle have lost their original art files), so I can't see the benefit of zoom as I can't stand viewing textures below the source resolution.

Sure it'll be more zoomed in, but there's no way to stop it from looking worse.

I really fucking hope that a future screen technology has a solution that has no source resolution, or at least allows for lower resolutions without a drop in visual quality (besides larger pixels).
 

Blaine

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There is no way to increase the texture resolution of the Torment art assets, unless they re-render (which they won't, as I'm pretty sure BioWare and Black Isle have lost their original art files), so I can't see the benefit of zoom as I can't stand viewing textures below the source resolution.

Sure it'll be more zoomed in, but there's no way to stop it from looking worse.

I really fucking hope that a future screen technology has a solution that has no source resolution, or at least allows for lower resolutions without a drop in visual quality (besides larger pixels).

No screen technology will be able to do that. The issue you're describing has very little to do with the screen (as long as proportionality is maintained), and everything to do with the textures themselves, as well as a game's rendering engine. I assume you're referring to 2D art assets, because 3D assets will remain crisp at reasonable zoom levels provided they're sufficiently high-res at maximum zoom.

There's nothing stopping a game zooming in on its 2D assets like this, aside from its engine:

8ca6b496e6.gif


Unless your screen is a very odd one, it should be pretty clear that the graphics remain sharp as the camera zooms in.

If you're expecting more detail as the camera zooms in, well... for 2D assets, that would require a separate asset for each zoom level.
 

Sensuki

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What I mean is, on a CRT monitor you can run 640x480 resolution on a 22" screen and it looks fine. The pixels are big, but there's no other distortion. LCD technology can't display lower resolutions with the same clarity. Anything that can do what a CRT can do would be awesome.
 

Goral

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I thought that the fact MCA was curating this would be enough to calm me down but with them hijacking Black Isle's work I'll never buy anything released by these hacks. https://af.gog.com/mix/beamdog_is_the_parasite_of_the_industry?as=1649904300

aVENGER Hey, just a minor gripe, not to undervalue you guys' effort over this and I guess this is likely business side of things. But I don't like that Beamdog doesn't specify original developer in store page.

WvxtCYL.png


It's same for other stores and Beamdog's previous releases.

Compare that to how Nightdive is doing for Turok 2 remaster:

Qd0O5NO.png


And System Shock 2 re-release (which Nightdive gave much less effort on remastering compared to Turok games):

W3uCBFe.png


Yeah, many people who buy these releases probably know that who the original developers are, but I think omitting original studio's name is not a good way of respecting the legacy.

(Sorry if this was pointed out here, I just skimmed 10 pages of this thread.)

XQEhWmT.png
 
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MicoSelva

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I approve of this, as this will make it easier for new players to enjoy the best RPG of all time.

Old players probably own multiple copies of the original already, so they can pretty much ignore the remaster, or just get it for $2 in a bundle at some point (but obviously it is better to bitch about it instead).

Here is my 2016 review of Baldur's Gate Enhanced Edition, btw:

BG Enhanced Edition Rambling Review

I have played BGEE first soon after its release, and... it was not very good back then. It was not exactly broken, since I was able to complete The Black Pits module without much problems, but the game had numerous bug, lacked polish in some aspects and interface changes made for an unpleasant experience, especially since I was so used to how the game had always looked and felt. However, it did sow some promise when it came to engine improvements - the original (and GOG release) does not work well with modern CPUs and always puts load close to 100% on the core where it is running - even if the game is only showing main menu. This did not happen with Enhanced Edition, so I had some hint that Beamdog can actually be competent when they want to. I have decided to put the game away and check it later, since nowadays games seem to be never finished on release and see patches months and even years after release.

bgtbp_up01_000.jpg


Thanks, but I do not do Early Access.

That later turned out to be almost four years later. (That is how much time I have for games these days :negative: ). In the meantime, Beamdog managed to patch BGEE multiple times, release BG2 EE, patch that too, release IWD EE, patch that one also and then announce and release an expansion to BGEE called Siege of Dragonspear. While I ignored most of these events (after all I was not going to restart my LP by moving to BG2 EE), that last one grabbed my attention, and I had decided to give the Enhanced Edition another go. And I was pleasantly surprised.

bgee_title.jpg


They have even changed the title screen.

While the game is still not 100% bug free (which one is? Tetris?), and contains some hard-to-explain quirks, it plays really, really well. Many of the long-present bugs have been fixed (you can finally wear ankheg plate together with a ring of protection!) and new interface is actually very comfortable to use and allows to easily locate relevant information. A good example is character screen, which is now divided into tabs, so everything you want to know is just one click away. Larger and higher-resolution fonts are nice to have too.

bgee_stats.jpg


Combat Stats tab displays detailed breakdown of Armor Class, among others.

Some of the improvements I did not even realise I wanted until I got them. A simple thing like separating spells from different levels in the quick-cast bar turns out to make a lot of difference in the heat of the moment, when your eyes are searching for that one specific spell icon. THAC0 and damage numbers in the inventory screen will probably always look out of place to me (since I am so used to the traditional BG1 inventory), but they are very useful too. I do not know which of these improvements come from Beamdog and which are a result of fan feedback, but I applaud the devs for including them either way.

bgee_spellbook.jpg


New spellbook screen is just straight-up better than the old one.

What is also worth noting, the game runs really, really well, finally taking advantage of all that computing power we have gained since the release of the original. System requirements of Enhanced Edition are obviously way higher than the original (for example, Steam lists 512MB RAM as minimum, while the original needed... 16MB), but could not be called high by anyone who bought even a low-end a PC in the last ten years. This game literally runs on anything, including the cheapest netbooks and tablets you can get (and yes, you can play on a touchscreen, even though touchscreen controls are not native like in the iOS and Android versions). And last, but not last, loading times are extremely fast, especially compared to the original version which tends to take its time even on a SSD.



This is how long it takes to load a saved game in BG:EE on a fast hard-drive (not an SSD).

It is not all strawberries and ice-cream, though, because BG:EE still suffers from some unnecessary annoyances. First of all, new companions are pushy - they initiate dialogue and try to force their way into your party, unlike the original ones who politely wait until you talk to them. I know that devs are proud of their work and want the player to see it, but I still found that irritating (at least you can tell them to go away, and they obey - watch and learn, Imoen). I mentioned no game is 100% bug free, and I am impressed that the game allowed me to import a completely broken Throne of Bhaal character and did not crap out, but I still encountered more bugs and glitches than I would have expected during my four-hour playthrough, although they were all minor and easily ignored. Also, I do not like the new look of dialogue screen and found it a pain to operate (and take screenshots of). Also, the less said about the The Black Pits adventure module the better - it is not worth your time, unless you seriously cannot get enough of Infinity Engine's combat system.

bgee_dialogue.jpg


I like the use of colour, but do we really need that last line displayed twice?

What about all the unnecessary streamlining? Does Baldur's Gate really need pop-ups informing us about new quest and tl;dr summaries of what to do next for people who do not read dialogues in their RPGs? (No, it does not.) To be honest those only bothered me in the most superficial way possible, and can all be turned off in the options to suit anyone's playstyle, so no complains here. What bothers me more is that the new highest difficulty setting called Legacy of Bhaal not only spoils the game's plot twist with its name, but is also more annoying than truly challenging, since it boosts enemy levels and HP beyond any reason, prolonging every combat and breaking many spells and abilities in the process. There are better ways to do this, Beamdog.

bgee_options.jpg


You can customize to your heart's content.

Some of the streamlining is arguably for the better. While I have always enjoyed the organic nature of Baldur's Gate journal, finding information in it was always a nuisance at least and a time-eating chore at worst, depending on how recent it was. New journal is more akin to something we will find in a modern game (but also classics like Fallout or Torment), except it looks better than most attempts (in my opinion) and still keeps a separate tab for random not-directly-quest-related information gathered on the journey. Nicely done.

bgee_journal.jpg


I like the new journal. Also: 900 gold, hell yeah!

I have not played Siege of Dragonspear yet, because while I appreciate Beamdog's technical improvements to the game, their content creation skills have not given me much confidence so far (*cough*blackpits*cough*), so I need time to convince myself it will be worth it. However, if - or rather when - I play Baldur's Gate again, it will definitely be the Enhanced Edition. This will not be true for all people, especially those who enjoy the game only heavily modded, but for me this is definitely the superior version, and its advantages outweigh disadvantages by a large margin.
 
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I still have my original discs, in the original dust cover, perhaps the one and only surviving game I still have from the 1990s (I have all my Sierra boxes at Mom's house, but at least one disc per box is presumably dead by now).
is it still readable or corrupted already? Would be nice for someone with large collection go test them and say which discs are too old now

If they been treated well and kept in a normal room(not a moisty cellar etc) in a temperate climate zone chances are pretty good they work totally fine. I used to buy a lot of old used games on eBay and always tested the discs before storing them away and never had a failure. We are talking early CD-ROM stuff from the mid 90s mind you. I can't test my PS:T CDs right now but given how it hasnt been even 20 years since release I reckon they are fine.

Now floppies are whole other matter, I own a lot of them too but with no floppy drive I haven't been able to test them, I suspect quite a lot might be dead unfortunately.
 
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Andyman Messiah

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Well, there doesn't seem to be any reason to buy this. Original version with resolution mod and the optional fan patch(es) works just as well. From the look of the screenshots so far, Beamdog seems to have thought so as well.

Remastered music might be cool though. Of course there wasn't really anything wrong with that either in the first place but I'll be happy to listen to "Planescape: Torment Remastered: Official Soundtrack" on Spotify's new video game music section.
 

Bigg Boss

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I know it's a shameless cash grab but it just feels good to see a classic of this stature get some time in the spotlight aside from the hardcore fanbase. It's not being remade with a special hermaphrodite companion thrown in for good measure it seems so I am pleased. Yes, people can install the mods and get a similar thing. They are obviously not the intended audience for this release. If there was more added that same jaded and moncoled gamer would complain about the classic gem being tainted with SJW bullshit. Am I crazy here? Is it simply too rational to suggest it can be a good thing to update one of the best RPG's of all time, now playable on the most popular console of choice for our new age brain dead millennial masses? I'm speaking of these newfangled tablets they are playing games on if you were wondering. Fuck do I need a tablet now? Fuck a cellphone I don't need one. I'll just carry one of these big black bastards around while scrolling through massive amounts of text. At the very least it can be used as a blunt object to smack the occasional retard that asks me if it's one of them READING GAMES.
 

Andyman Messiah

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I hope I can choose a name for my nameless one this time, or at least input my own "Adahn". If so I will give him the name Mel, after famous singer Mel Torment that died the year Planescape: Torment came out. Coincidence? I think not. Black Isle/Chris Avellone has a lot to answer for, for killing famous singer Mel Torment and making an unauthorized biography.
 

MicoSelva

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I hope I can choose a name for my nameless one this time, or at least input my own "Adahn". If so I will give him the name Mel, after famous singer Mel Torment that died the year Planescape: Torment came out. Coincidence? I think not. Black Isle/Chris Avellone has a lot to answer for, for killing famous singer Mel Torment and making an unauthorized biography.
Well, check this article:
https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2017/03/27/planescape-enhanced-edition-changelog/
 

Blaine

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What I mean is, on a CRT monitor you can run 640x480 resolution on a 22" screen and it looks fine. The pixels are big, but there's no other distortion. LCD technology can't display lower resolutions with the same clarity. Anything that can do what a CRT can do would be awesome.

In my experience, the reason lower resolutions look better on CRT monitors is precisely because there IS some fuzzing, alongside (usually) slight curvature of the screen. I bust out my CRT occasionally to play MoO2 or whatever and that's the conclusion I've come to.
 

Andyman Messiah

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I hope I can choose a name for my nameless one this time, or at least input my own "Adahn". If so I will give him the name Mel, after famous singer Mel Torment that died the year Planescape: Torment came out. Coincidence? I think not. Black Isle/Chris Avellone has a lot to answer for, for killing famous singer Mel Torment and making an unauthorized biography.
Well, check this article:
https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2017/03/27/planescape-enhanced-edition-changelog/
Oh wow that's hilarious. :nocountryforshitposters:
 

Sensuki

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In my experience, the reason lower resolutions look better on CRT monitors is precisely because there IS some fuzzing, alongside (usually) slight curvature of the screen. I bust out my CRT occasionally to play MoO2 or whatever and that's the conclusion I've come to.

CRT monitors do not have pixels built into the screen, whereas an LCD does, and any resolution other than the native res will be interpolated/scaled across those pixels. Only a CRT monitor can clearly display any res that the screen supports (limited by the KHz of the horizontal scan ... most 'top end' CRTs could/can do around 120-130KHz but some can do a bit more). If the screen is large in physical dimension, those pixels will be visually bigger.

I still have two CRTs that work - a rebranded Sony GDM-FW900 24" Widescreen CRT and a 22" LaCie screen (both flat). Baldur's Gate looks awesome at 640x480 on both and they're what I would call quite clear and if I could be arsed calibrating them they would probably look ace. The transformer in the Sony screen is on it's way out, but it's not dead yet. The LaCie one hasn't skipped a beat.

I use an Alienware 23" 120Hz screen normally and I did switch to the CRTs when I was playing old games, but I don't game much these days.
 

ArchAngel

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I know it's a shameless cash grab but it just feels good to see a classic of this stature get some time in the spotlight aside from the hardcore fanbase. It's not being remade with a special hermaphrodite companion thrown in for good measure it seems so I am pleased. Yes, people can install the mods and get a similar thing. They are obviously not the intended audience for this release. If there was more added that same jaded and moncoled gamer would complain about the classic gem being tainted with SJW bullshit. Am I crazy here? Is it simply too rational to suggest it can be a good thing to update one of the best RPG's of all time, now playable on the most popular console of choice for our new age brain dead millennial masses? I'm speaking of these newfangled tablets they are playing games on if you were wondering. Fuck do I need a tablet now? Fuck a cellphone I don't need one. I'll just carry one of these big black bastards around while scrolling through massive amounts of text. At the very least it can be used as a blunt object to smack the occasional retard that asks me if it's one of them READING GAMES.
It would be good if they charged 10$ for it as a replacement for 10$ base game + 10 minutes of installing mods.
It would be a good way to bring it to new public for same price. But now charging 20$ for this?! LOL.
 
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I hope I can choose a name for my nameless one this time, or at least input my own "Adahn". If so I will give him the name Mel, after famous singer Mel Torment that died the year Planescape: Torment came out. Coincidence? I think not. Black Isle/Chris Avellone has a lot to answer for, for killing famous singer Mel Torment and making an unauthorized biography.
Well, check this article:
https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2017/03/27/planescape-enhanced-edition-changelog/

Only at
New Game Mode: Action. All major conversations carefully abridged to enable full focus on tactical combat. For example, “You are wrong. If there is anything I have learned in my travels across the Planes, it is that many things may change the nature of a man. Whether regret, or love, or revenge or fear – whatever you believe can change the nature of a man, can.” now shortened to “Cram it, Skullface.
I understood it was a joke. Was going to make an angry rant about the paragraph on shortening Mortuary. Still angry at the mere though of this.
 

Goral

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Instead of investing proper time to, for example, implement some of the cut content in the game, they opted for the low hanging fruit.
According to aVENGER they were thinking about it but decided not to because reasons.

In other words it would cost too much and they were too incompetent to do that in about a year.
http://readme.spellholdstudios.net/PSTUB_Readme.html#components

It's time to backup all the mods along with the original game because soon they might disappear from the net.
 

Andyman Messiah

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Only at
New Game Mode: Action. All major conversations carefully abridged to enable full focus on tactical combat. For example, “You are wrong. If there is anything I have learned in my travels across the Planes, it is that many things may change the nature of a man. Whether regret, or love, or revenge or fear – whatever you believe can change the nature of a man, can.” now shortened to “Cram it, Skullface.
I understood it was a joke. Was going to make an angry rant about the paragraph on shortening Mortuary. Still angry at the mere though of this.
Really? Only then? Nothing about the extreme resolution support, the pizza shop or the flashing neon arrow? Or christ, even Rockpapershotgun?

Well, whatever, idiot. lol

:updatedmytxt:
 

Blaine

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In my experience, the reason lower resolutions look better on CRT monitors is precisely because there IS some fuzzing, alongside (usually) slight curvature of the screen. I bust out my CRT occasionally to play MoO2 or whatever and that's the conclusion I've come to.

CRT monitors do not have pixels built into the screen, whereas an LCD does, and any resolution other than the native res will be interpolated/scaled across those pixels. Only a CRT monitor can clearly display any res that the screen supports (limited by the KHz of the horizontal scan ... most 'top end' CRTs could/can do around 120-130KHz but some can do a bit more). If the screen is large in physical dimension, those pixels will be visually bigger.

I still have two CRTs that work - a rebranded Sony GDM-FW900 24" Widescreen CRT and a 22" LaCie screen (both flat). Baldur's Gate looks awesome at 640x480 on both and they're what I would call quite clear and if I could be arsed calibrating them they would probably look ace. The transformer in the Sony screen is on it's way out, but it's not dead yet. The LaCie one hasn't skipped a beat.

I use an Alienware 23" 120Hz screen normally and I did switch to the CRTs when I was playing old games, but I don't game much these days.

Yes, that is a limitation. If an LCD screen is tasked with displaying a low-res image at a scaled-up resolution that doesn't fit neatly into a pixel grid—essentially calling for "fractions of a pixel"—then it will be resampled blurrily to fit, even if the overall proportions are 1:1. This can be worked around however by ensuring that the game is displayed exactly 1:1 and only scaled by factors of exactly 2, although with 640 x 400 that will mean having a 1280 x 800 image in the center of a black field on your screen. It'll be on the small side, but it will be very sharp.

However, that's nothing to do with "zooming in" per se, which is why I was rather confused. I thought you meant zooming in in-game. You're talking about upscaling.
 
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