I was speaking about all fictional literature in general, but if Tolkien, Erickson, Sanderson, Rothhuss, or Hobbs played Planescape they would say it has bad writing.
God I hope this is bait, but if it isn't, I'm sorry, but your taste is fucking awful. Your criticism of Torment's writing rings hollow when you list shit like Sanderson and Rothfuss as a superior alternative. If you were listing people like Wolfe, Peake, Harrison, Crowley, Kiernan, or Vance, then you might have a leg to stand on. Instead, you're just grabbing the stuff that r/fantasy jerks themselves raw over. Read better books dude.
Yeah, Torment's prose isn't great. I wouldn't explicitly call it
bad, but it does definitely feel amateurish and like it could have used another editing pass to cut down on word count. I feel like if
Chris Avellone were to pop into this thread he'd probably agree with me on this. Torment strikes me as written by a guy who reads more than he writes, and game masters more than either. The issue with that is neither of those really give a whole lot of experience or insight into prose. However, they give insight into other things, and
those are where the strengths of PS:T's writing lie.
- Torment shows a great deal of knowledge of its own medium. The way it fucks around with the basic mechanics of death and does it *well* is very impressive. Unlike when I've played Bioware games, I don't remember any times when playing Planescape:Torment where I'm presented a list of dialogue options and it felt like the manner I'd like to respond wasn't listed, or wasn't present in the implicit choice to just kill the guy once I stopped talking to him. Torment understands how players tick, and knows how to use that to get them invested in a story and world that are very different from their expectations. This is no small feat.
- Torment's characterization is fucking excellent. Avellone in general is very good at this. Whereas in other games I'll typically remember three characters at most, in Torment the entire main cast is very memorable, as well as some of the secondary cast. Avellone has a very good grasp on dialogue, especially on how to convey a pretty incredible range of different character voices. Some of the main cast do receive more development than others, compare Grace, Morte, and Dak'kon to Ignus and Vhailor. However, all characters are well characterized and voiced, even if some characters get much more writing than others. On top of this, tying it in with the sheer number of options present in dialogue is a very impressive feat.
- Avellone knows how to pace an interactive plot and mystery very well. Most games just railroad you through the core story with the player having no effect on it. Maybe with some sidequests, but they're completely ancillary to the main plot. Torment slams you with a great opening to get you invested, then drip feeds you with new clues and information with just enough frequency to keep you intrigued, without demystifying itself with massive exposition dumps. On top of the main story thread, there are tons of sidequests that frequently tie into the main plot and provide clues, and the main plot will recognize whether or not you've received that information. PS:T is a very well crafted mystery, especially in the first half, and I think it doesn't get enough credit for that.
- Finally, the thing that elevates PS:T over most games of its type is how well it uses theme. All the stuff on the power of belief, regret, the capacity for individuals to change, the importance of death, etc. Planescape: Torment asks a lot of very heavy questions, ties them into its mechanics, and, most importantly, lets the player answer those questions instead of answering those questions for them. This is the most important thing PS:T does, and what sets it apart from so many other games in the genre. It asks all these big questions, let's the player answer them for themselves, and engages with them on good faith regardless of answer, all while blending these questions into the mechanics themselves.
Yeah, Torment's prose is obviously written by someone lacking the experience to really pull off something with its word count. But it does so many other things well that we're willing to forgive it for mediocre prose. "Writing" is such a broad fucking quality that contains so many things that saying something's "writing" sucks without delineating that means your complaint says nothing. Torment's prose is mediocre, but every other part of its writing is fucking phenomenal.
In conclusion, your gay.