Company News Codex Scoop: Brian Fargo has acquired the trademark for Torment (but not Planescape)

[kaizoku]

KS ETA?

I would prefer for it to be after W2 is done and shipped.
But I have a feeling it won't be the case.

 

[BLOBERT]

BROS I AM AWAITING THE WASTELAND2 AND PROJECT ETRETNITY GAMES BEFORE I GET TO EXCITED ABOUT ANY OTHER KICKSTARTERS IN FACT I FEEL A LITTLE GULLIBLNE FOR EVEN JUMPIN INTO TWO OF THEM

 

[toro]

2013 - Wasteland 2
2014 - Project Eternity
2015 - Torment 2

Fuck, I need to loose some weight.

 

[Brother None]

Torment wasn't a sales failure anyway. I mean, not exactly. It didn't cost them a ton of money or anything. It just didn't match the sales clout of other D&D titles at the time (read: BG), and had more of a long tail than being a big immediate hit.

 

[Rake]

Torment wasn't a sales failure anyway. I mean, not exactly. It didn't cost them a ton of money or anything. It just didn't match the sales clout of other D&D titles at the time (read: BG), and had more of a long tail than being a big immediate hit.

Also its 10 years from then.Ten years where it's hailed as one of the best RPGs ever.And with P:E the IE games came back in the spotlight.I think it will sale better than back in the day, if only from people who will want to know what the hype is about

 

[Zed]

Torment wasn't a sales failure anyway. I mean, not exactly. It didn't cost them a ton of money or anything. It just didn't match the sales clout of other D&D titles at the time (read: BG), and had more of a long tail than being a big immediate hit.

Probably because of the god awful box cover.

(yes yes, it's unique and it's certainly iconic today... but...)

 

[Wyrmlord]

Wow that's interesting. But as it has already been stated, Torment was a great story in a great setting. The story had an end and frankly I can't fathom a new Torment game without the planescape setting.

If you played Torment right and pick the right options till the end, here's a couple things that happen:

• The Nameless One discovers that he no longer loses his memories when he dies. He is now the last incarnation.
• He also discovers that having a broken mind with lost memories is slowly killing his brain, until he becomes a vegetable.
• He resolves the above problem instantly when he regains all of his life's memories by re-merging with the Original Incarnation.
• The Nameless One's magical powers become so stronger after regaining his past memories and after merging with the Transcendental One, that he can indefinitely prolong his life and bring back from death any of his companions. This much, he says, in the finale of the game.

So the Nameless One is now a man with a mind made whole again, with all his memories intact, with his body and mortality finally in one piece, and with the ability to prolong his life indefinitely.


What happened at the end was that he made a conscious choice to die. All we have to do is continue from the angle that the Nameless One does not make a conscious choice to die. Instead, he spends centuries as a reconstructed, wholesome, and immortal being correcting all the wrongs of his life until he can completely avoid the Blood War.


And as abnaxus said, a 4ed deity destroyed the Abyss. So TNO would have prolonged his life long enough for the Abyss to cease existing. Saving him from the Blood War completely. So he can continue his life like normal or just die in peace and go to the celestial planes.


What could be the angle of Torment's sequel? Of all the people that TNO hurt and whose lives he ruined, several of them use the same sort of magic that Ravel did to strip themselves of their immortality. And then they hunt down TNO for vengeance over the centuries. And they don't hope to kill him, but put him in the same sort of eternal punishment that would be akin to going to the Blood War.

 

[mondblut]

What happened at the end was that he made a conscious choice to die. All we have to do is continue from the angle that the Nameless One does not make a conscious choice to die. Instead, he spends centuries as a reconstructed, wholesome, and immortal being correcting all the wrongs of his life until he can completely avoid the Blood War.

Yawn. How about, the reconstructed, wholesome, and immortal being has beaten everyone in the Abyss into submission, and now our brave and hearty band of no-name adventures must slice through the entirety of the Abyss to finally face and kill the new overlord of evil?

And as abnaxus said, a 4ed deity destroyed the Abyss. So TNO would have prolonged his life long enough for the Abyss to cease existing.

For one, Abyss did not cease to exist, it only relocated. All the demon guys are alive and well at the bottom of elemental chaos, thank you very much.

What's more important, this stuff is apparently Realms-exclusive. In "standart" D&D cosmology both Baator and the Abyss are where they used to be, and the blood war still goes on.

 

[FrancoTAU]

Yes, I have fond memories of the mid-90s. There was nothing quite like opening up that Planescape Campaign Setting while listening to goth music and realizing I'd just spent 2 weeks worth of lunch cigarette money on D&D.

Man, I miss the days of cheap cigarettes and good cRPGs. It's more like 3 days worth of cigarettes in New York for a game now.

I am definitely interested in the game for the lowest pledge at least. The enthusiasm level can easily go up depending on who is involved and any work being shown.

 

[laclongquan]

Torment wasn't a sales failure anyway. I mean, not exactly. It didn't cost them a ton of money or anything. It just didn't match the sales clout of other D&D titles at the time (read: BG), and had more of a long tail than being a big immediate hit.

Probably because of the god awful box cover.

(yes yes, it's unique and it's certainly iconic today... but...)

Uniquely Grosteque! What's so hard to put some chick up there with him? The contrast between the scarred ugly mug of his with Anna's bosom and Fall From Grace's bone wing will be and would have been pretty eyecatching.

 

[TwinkieGorilla]

BROS I AM AWAITING THE WASTELAND2 AND PROJECT ETRETNITY GAMES BEFORE I GET TO EXCITED ABOUT ANY OTHER KICKSTARTERS IN FACT I FEEL A LITTLE GULLIBLNE FOR EVEN JUMPIN INTO TWO OF THEM

I've missed you.

 

[Jaesun]

Also LOL at people thinking this will be a turn-based tactical cRPG. Of which that was never the point at all in the game. It is actually more suited as an adventure game honestly.

 

[EG]

Also LOL at people thinking this will be a turn-based tactical cRPG. Of which that was never the point at all in the game. It is actually more suited as an adventure game honestly.

Kill the snake!

 

[Hormalakh]

Also LOL at people thinking this will be a turn-based tactical cRPG. Of which that was never the point at all in the game. It is actually more suited as an adventure game honestly.

I always thought of dialogue as a turn-based tactic but oh that's just me.

 

[mondblut]

Also LOL at people thinking this will be a turn-based tactical cRPG.

But that would be delightful, would it not? Screw the game but imagine the butthurt!

 

[Shannow]

The Nameless One finds a portal that connects the Nine Hells, the Wasteland of Crust the Southwestern United States and Limbo the Aedyr Empire ! TNO must gather both the desert raiders and the paladins of Aedyr in order to stop an evil device threatening the existence of both worlds. A device of HIS OWN MAKING, or rather one of his former incarnations making. A device known as.... The Eternity machine.

He must traverse both realities and find out what his past --or is it future ?-- incarnations were up to. Was really one of them called... "The Master" ?

Meanwhile at inXile mansion.

"What, someone on the Codex just posted the entire plot synapse of 'Torment 2: Eternity Fallout'!

"Fuck, we have a mole again!"

"It must be that None guy!"

"I knew that we should not have trusted someone who went through the effort to explain that he was no-one's brother..."

"Safety protocol 2 section 5 is now in effect. Seize mr. None immediately and close the compound. No-one gets in or out!"

Haba fails Brother None's Fallout knowedge check and Jaesun mixes up wanting a TB game with expecting one...
What's up codex? At this rate we wouldn't even be worth a Torment 2.

And Planescape was 70% (at least) of PST's glory. So T without PS ... meh.M:

 

[Haba]

Haba fails Brother None's Fallout knowedge check

How does any of that have anything to do with None's Fallout knowledge? It is not likely that inXile consulted their community manager before writing the outline. I don't get it. You fucking with the Shannow, huh? HUH?

Why am I not drunk? Where is my booze. Monday? Meeting with the board? Fuck that shit.

SECRETARY, GET YOUR FAT ASS HERE!

 

[Zeriel]

The Nameless One finds a portal that connects the Nine Hells, the Wasteland of Crust the Southwestern United States and Limbo the Aedyr Empire ! TNO must gather both the desert raiders and the paladins of Aedyr in order to stop an evil device threatening the existence of both worlds. A device of HIS OWN MAKING, or rather one of his former incarnations making. A device known as.... The Eternity machine.

He must traverse both realities and find out what his past --or is it future ?-- incarnations were up to. Was really one of them called... "The Master" ?

Meanwhile at inXile mansion.

"What, someone on the Codex just posted the entire plot synapse of 'Torment 2: Eternity Fallout'!

"Fuck, we have a mole again!"

"It must be that None guy!"

"I knew that we should not have trusted someone who went through the effort to explain that he was no-one's brother..."

"Safety protocol 2 section 5 is now in effect. Seize mr. None immediately and close the compound. No-one gets in or out!"

Haba fails Brother None's Fallout knowedge check and Jaesun mixes up wanting a TB game with expecting one...
What's up codex? At this rate we wouldn't even be worth a Torment 2.

And Planescape was 70% (at least) of PST's glory. So T without PS ... meh.M:

I'm always amazed when people discount the effect of Forgotten Realms and Planescape on Bioware & Black Isle's output. Take away the massive amount of pre-existing materiel Forgotten Realms had, and I'm pretty sure BG 1 & 2 would have been utter shit story and world-wise (this assuming you don't hate BG 1 & 2). Torment is a little more survivable, there's a kernel of an interesting game there irrespective of setting, but anyone who has actually looked into Planescape knows it's one of the coolest settings ever.

Dragon Age represents to me the net effect of taking away the licenses from a studio like Bioware. They go on and on about how great it'll be not to be restricted by a license, but the end result suggests to me that these companies strike out at least half the time when they don't have something to work off of.

 

[mondblut]

^ I'd brofist that, but you got Forgotten Realms wrong.

 

[Zeriel]

^ I'd brofist that, but you got Forgotten Realms wrong.

Hahahahhaha wow, that's fucking embarassing considering how many years I spent on Forgotten Realms games. I guess that kind of puts in perspective how far D&D has fallen with its increasingly terrible editions and total lack of licensed property in recent years: I can't even remember the name of the most popular setting it had. Or maybe it was a freudian slip. Come to think of it, 'Forsaken Realms' sounds about right for what they've done to it.

 

[Infinitron]

Reddit gonna Reddit: http://www.reddit.com/r/Games/comments/145j5o/brian_fargo_has_acquired_the_rights_to_torment/

[–]riomhaire 31 points 15 hours ago
For years I thought the game was called Planetscape: Torment.

[–]RBLSTR 13 points 14 hours ago
I've known its Planescape for a while now.
Still call it Planetscape.

[–]litewo 11 points 14 hours ago
I have Planetscape saved on my Scandisk USB drive.

[–]thb82 6 points 10 hours ago
Planetscape: Tournament

[–]helpmeMFAyouaremy 1 point 3 hours ago
For years I was calling it this.

[–]Hippeus 1 point 2 hours ago
A friend of mine thought it was "Plan Escape : Torment" until I brought it up.

 

[Haba]

It seems that you...


...forgot Forgotten Realms




On topic, there is a huge difference between authors. BG was shit story and character wise, Forgotten Realms trappings only made the whole kazoo tolerable by name-dropping and relying on existing lore (well, in a way BG2 was extremely well crafted teenage power trip fantasy...). NWN2otB on the other hand have demonstrated that Avellone and co. can squeeze interesting stories out of a bland, mediocre setting. Was it PS that made PS:T a great game, or was it the Torment? What an addle-coved question, berk!

It was never the AD&D that made PS interesting for me, it was the multiverse of opportunities. So in that sense, you could just as well make a sequel in a completely new setting, just as long as you don't lose that same sense of wonder that Sigil has. Step through a door there and you never can be sure where you end up and who awaits on the other side.

 

[Zeriel]

It seems that you...


...forgot Forgotten Realms




On topic, there is a huge difference between authors. BG was shit story and character wise, Forgotten Realms trappings only made the whole kazoo tolerable by name-dropping and relying on existing lore (well, in a way BG2 was extremely well crafted teenage power trip fantasy...). NWN2otB on the other hand have demonstrated that Avellone and co. can squeeze interesting stories out of a bland, mediocre setting. Was it PS that made PS:T a great game, or was it the Torment? What an addle-coved question, berk!

It was never the AD&D that made PS interesting for me, it was the multiverse of opportunities. So in that sense, you could just as well make a sequel in a completely new setting, just as long as you don't lose that same sense of wonder that Sigil has. Step through a door there and you never can be sure where you end up and who awaits on the other side.

Well, MoTB basically used post-planescape Planescape (which is fairly identical, just a few names and stuff changed around so they can avoid admitting all their new stuff is crap). I'm curious how much of Planescape is trademarked, though. Could you make a City of Portals that is functionally identical, has all the same social structures, etc, just change all the names?

 

[mondblut]

Yeah, Planescape Tournament used to be all too common. The inbreds shopping blindly at pirate cd stalls all thought it's a sequel to Unreal Tournament

 

[Wyrmlord]

Yeah, Planescape Tournament used to be all too common. The inbreds shopping blindly at pirace cd stalls all thought it's a sequel to Unreal Tournament

The first time I heard the name ten years ago, I thought it was a space sim.

That impression was all the more deepened, because the person who mentioned it to me for the first time was a big Freespace/Wing Commander fan.

I thought, "Wow, he really likes it. I look forward to the greatest space opera in videogame form ever made."