My impressions of Torment

[Zhuangzi]

It was in a small building in Ratpickers something. I was ambushed by three men and they demanded 100 coins. One must have cast a spell because it flashed up on the screen and then it froze. I reloaded and avoided this area. And yes, I downloaded all the fixpacks etc.

 

[hiver]

You need to try again. Maybe it wont happen again.

Ratpickers square.

 

[Darth Roxor]

Ragpicker's square, heretics.

 

[hiver]

Damn it! 8bangs his head a few times with a keyboard)
hey...im forgetting some details!

 

[Nim]

You need to turn down the hardware acceleration for the graphic card.

 

[Zhuangzi]

I thought that might be it, nim. Can't quite figure out how to do it though. The card is a Geforce 8600 GT. The nvidia control panel just has a slider that goes from 'performance' to 'quality.' Will turning this down help or is there something else I'm missing?

 

[xantrius]

use the windows control panel

enter start->control panel->display->troubleshoot

and then put the hardware acceleration down 3 notches (or more can't remember )

 

[Nim]

What Xantrius said. You'll have to experiment a bit how many notches you'll have to go down. IIRC spell graphics might get screwed up a bit, but as long as it doesn't crash anymore that should be fine.
I've also read that you can use DXdiag and switch off D3D Acceleration there, haven't tried that yet though.

 

[hiver]

You might try to set the compability in the properties of the exe of the game to different systems. That might help.
Also in the game video options you can turn off acceleration for graphics and sound.... try those too but, this is an old game and there are going to be glitches in it.

Is the freezing up repeating?
Vista or XP?

 

[Zhuangzi]

Thanks for all the help, guys. It's xp and I've done as xantrius said. I haven't got back to the same area yet (or seen someone else using a spell) but I will see if it has helped. Cheers.

 

[Whispering Darkness]

I've had a similar problem, maybe it's the same thing. My PC is kinda crappy but not so crappy to not run Torment well. When certain spells are cast, my whole game slows down to an almost dead stop. It even blurs spell effects, the more elaborate ones.

 

[Elwro]

I also had the freeze problem back when I played the game and turning down the acceleration was also the answer for me.

And as for the later game containing too much combat, I remember sneaking with 1 PC through the whole Baator region. When I reached the other side I honestly expected a variant on the "You must gather you party before venturing forth" line but to my surprise the whole party materialised on the next map. A bug, maybe.

 

[Admiral Rimjob POOBUM]

You sometimes need to roll your graphics card drivers waaaaay back to get spell animations to show properly, I think. That's how I did it, though there may be easier ways around it.

 

[ghostdog]

IE games have issues with newer nvidia cards. Check this thread for detailed help: http://www.shsforums.net/index.php?showtopic=30840

 

[Whispering Darkness]

Alright, I'll see if it works. Thanks.

 

[Zhuangzi]

Okay, my first impressions after 4-5 hours...

The Mortuary area was excellent. Very interesting and different. So far I'm finding the Hive to be less interesting.

The story IS genuinely compelling. I rarely take an interest in the plot in rpgs but this one is streets ahead. I am also pleased to find a game where you get more xp for talking than for combat. I always like taking intelligent characters for better dialogue options, and PS:T really rewards you for wanting to do this.

On the other hand, the combat is lame. Sub-Arcanum lame. And I keep getting accosted by thugs all over the place. The only way to heal currently seems to be sleeping at this lady's house. There doesn't seem to be any time penalty so far.

Another frustrating thing, I can't find anywhere to unload all the crap I keep picking up. Bracelets and so forth. Worse, I can't figure out how to transfer items between party members. Do I have to drop them on the ground and then have TNO pick them up? This is quite laborious.

But overall I am pleased with the game so far.

 

[Helton]

You just haven't seen enough of the Hive. There's really a ton to do and even several of the "generic" NPCs have unique dialogue.

Drag the item to a party-members portrait to transfer it to his inventory.

And you sell things at shops. The Southwest section is the Merchant area with several junk-like vendors.

Healing? Well, I think TNO always regenerates, but slowly with low Constitution. And there are a lot of healing items like bandages, embalming fluid (for Morte and TNO), and clot/blood charms. But, yeah, sleeping it probably the best way and there are a few ladies in the Hive who let you crash with them.

 

[hiver]

Yeah, thugs can get on your nerves at the beginning.
Later on they wont bother you.

one of the first quests gets you into a local mausoleum and there you will find your first bandages and charms to help you with the healing.
In Mortuary you could have found some threads and needles and a couple jars of embalming fluid.
All this can be used to heal the Nameless One since he is a kind of zombie after all. Walking corpse heh, heh... man i love it.

You can sell trinkets you find at the market in the Hive. There are a couple of merchants there. Be sure to reveal all parts of the Hive.
tip: its important on which side of the local map you are exiting.

To transfer items between party members just open your inventory and then drop items directly on the picture of a party member. Amazing how much a floating skull can carry isnt it?


-edit- Helton beat me to it-

I told you constitution is important for fighters didnt I?

 

[Zhuangzi]

Okay, drag the item onto the portrait. Didn't think of that.

The dialogue is pretty awesome, though. Much more detailed than in any other game I can think of right now. I don't know why we need like 50+ Harlots in the Hive though. What ARE these people doing with their free time?

 

[hiver]

Hey, its the Hive man.
There can never be enough harlots in the Hive.

Try to get Morte laid with one of them.

 

[xantrius]

I'd recommend to check out the "generic" NPCs too. Some of them turns out to be interesting, and triggers different things, sometimes.
I'm especially fond of a beldame's epic rant; scolding you, you and your party, as just more adventurers' with their stupid, forever same, brainless questions. Her dialogue is priceless.

 

[roshan]

Chaotic is the worst possible path in this game, because it's "random monkey cheese" kind of stuff. Too bad, really, for a game that does evil so well.

I'd imagine Chaotic done properly would be something like Fight Club. If I remade Torment, I'd replace the Barking Dogs or whatever they were called with a group of intelligent nihilists.

Jaime, those intelligent nihilists were there and they were called Anarchists.

And you can actually join their faction.

lolwut?

In Fallout, you have to lie to Gizmo to get Killian to go arrest him. How am I being chaotic by supporting the law?

"Lawful" and "Chaotic" in DND are more than just being about breaking the law or upholding it.

My point is, Torment's view of chaotic was simplistic. Lying could be fun, but it really didn't matter whether you picked "vow" or "lie" most of the time, because you could still do either thing.

Of course it mattered. Vowing makes you lawful, and lying makes you chaotic. But for the most part, its a roleplaying decision. I think its fantastic, roleplaying wise, that you get not only to define your characters responses but also the intent behind the response.

 

[Whispering Darkness]

I did notice when playing Torment that your role playing decisions effected your alignment radically. That you built your alignment as you went along instead of choosing your alignment and it took awhile to even change it. Lie a few times and you can quickly find yourself chaotic, kill a few people wrongfully and you are quickly evil. Felt like I earned my alignment instead of just picking one at the beginning of the game.

 

[hiver]

crap...someone should do a mod in some new toolset, maybe witcher one, whadyacallit... electron?

Expanded Hive. Even more quests and C&C.

then a few planes... Oy whats new on Purgatorio front?...
Monty? Drop us a word.

 

[sirfink]

If you can't customize your appearance then it is not an RPG.

Maybe if I didn't have to play a guy who looks like a pro wrestler, I wouldn't mind the inability to change my appearance.