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Editorial The Gift of Torment

VentilatorOfDoom

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Tags: Black Isle Studios; Planescape: Torment

Former GameSpot executive editor Greg Kasavin has put up <a href="http://kasavin.blogspot.com/2010/03/gift-of-torment.html">his thoughts</a> on this classic RPG.
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<p style="margin-left:50px;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;border-top-color:#ffffff;padding:5px;border-right-color:#bbbbbb;border-left-color:#ffffff;border-bottom-color:#bbbbbb;">It took years for anyone to improve on Torment's basic idea of letting you determine your character's intent and not just the content of his speech, but the Mass Effect games finally took this a step further through their system of subtext-driven dialogue. In those games, it's genuinely exciting to see the protagonist act out your dialogue choices, because you don't know exactly what Shepard is going to say or do -- you tend to just pick the emotion or intent behind the outcome you want, and your reward is seeing Shepard act it out faithfully, in most cases. The basic consequence of this is that dialogue sequences tend to be worth watching and listening to, something that's rather important for a game that's bothering to have tons of story content.
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</p>
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Mass Effect - the first games that managed to genuinely improve on the standards set by Planescape Torment.
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Spotted at: <A HREF="http://www.gamebanshee.com/news/97364-the-gift-of-torment.html">Gamebanshee</A>
 

JarlFrank

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It took years for anyone to improve on Torment's basic idea of letting you determine your character's intent and not just the content of his speech, but the Mass Effect games finally took this a step further

I stopped reading there.
 

Jaedar

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I wish, Oh God, I wish I could say I am surprised by the idiocy.
 

SerratedBiz

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Moray said:
Silellak said:
Former GameSpot executive editor
I stopped reading there.

Perhaps it was stupidity of just this sort that led to his current status as a "former" editor.

Yes, I'm sure Gamespot is enraged at the idea of sucking ME cock.

11mbale.jpg


Oh wai-
 

Sceptic

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JarlFrank said:
It took years for anyone to improve on Torment's basic idea of letting you determine your character's intent and not just the content of his speech, but the Mass Effect games finally took this a step further

I stopped reading there.
I was going to say "great minds think alike"...

Silellak said:
Former GameSpot executive editor
I stopped reading there.
... then I saw this and thought "fuck I should've done that instead".

Clockwork Knight said:
Btw, when did people start using "streamlined" as a buzzword? I missed it.
Not sure when it started but it's been around. One of the more rage-inducing ones was Dungeon Siege but I'm sure it wasn't the first.
 

denizsi

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As far as I can remember, "streamlining" is at least 10 years old. Google interviews to sequels of any popular game from early 2000. I'm sure it goes further back.
 

Silellak

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root said:
what the fuck does streamlined even mean? is it less pointless sidequests, less spikes on ships, or less brickblock graphics?
I always assumed it meant the box the game came in had less air resistance than its predecessor.
 

Gragt

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I remember that Kasavin used to write some pretty good reviews, and then went downhill in a drastic way.
 

DriacKin

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For what it's worth, the article really isn't all that bad. The last paragraph (where he makes the comparisons to ME) make me cringe, but the rest of it wasn't a bad read. It didn't add much that we haven't already heard before, but it still wasn't bad.

Also, Kassavin was one of the few decent reviewers that Gamespot had, imo.
 

Gragt

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DriacKin said:
Also, Kassavin was one of the few decent reviewers that Gamespot had, imo.

For a time at least. Then, whether of his own free will or not, he just joined the others in their mediocrity.
 

Black

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Yup, I love ME dialogue system

Sure (+1 paragon)
Okay
Alright (+1 renegade)
It's subtle and next gen!
 

Volourn

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"RPG Codex"

I stopped reading there.












...............



You fuckin' wish, assholes!!! :twisted:
 
Self-Ejected

ScottishMartialArts

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Isn't Kasavin unemployed now that C&C4 has shipped? As I recall, EA was going to sack the EALA RTS team as soon as the project was completed.
 

Volourn

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"I stopped reading there"

Heh. If only.



"D"

Stopped reading there.
 

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