Torment Planescape Torments Me

[SCO]

Since you're about to go into the "neutral" plane, be aware that although it is considered by many the weakest part of the game, there is more to do than is apparent (if you're quick on the DPS to have no collateral damage).

 

[Lord Andre]

If you have interacted with all these people and didn't have fun with any of them, I would say this game really isn't for you.

Probably not, because these NPCs were text-dispensers not role-playing opportunities. I didn't find their little back stories quite so engaging considering they're context-less, irrelevant to any plot that I've yet to see, they don't affect my character in any way, and half of them asked me to run a FedEx quest for them. Honestly, why couldn't they have just made Sigil a bunch of menus with illustrations so I don't have to actually watch my characters walk back and forth all the time?

Anyway, I just met Pharod and got.... a FedEx quest! I have to go fetch an Orb for him before I get to experience more of this masterful and highly-acclaimed storytelling. I stepped into the Catacombs and immediately got attacked by about 4,000 of these bat-looking monsters. I clicked on one of them, made a cup of coffee, and came back and the combat was only just finishing up. The whole time I was making that coffee I was wondering why modern cRPGs don't learn more from PST.

Come on, you're starting to enjoy it. I can tell.

From talking to NPCs about Pharod you gather: The nigger was a promising politician, maybe even a king of the hubs but one day he just disappeared beneath the trash. There he made a mock kingdom for himself, a crooked reflection of his former fiefdom, all beneath the mountains of trash.

Then you meet him personally: Nigger what the hell is wrong with you ? Why did you come down here ? And he says: Mother-fucker, YOU sent me down here. Sweet talked me into searching for a bronze sphere the size of a fist in a gigantic maze of trash. Told me it would prevent me from going to hell. Go get your own damn sphere, you fucker !
And you say: Nigger please ! I'm the god damned immortal hero of the planes. My belief shapes your very world. I can kill winged rats and the niggers be dropping bronze sphere loot all over the place. Just wait here a moment...

Some time later: Nigger I found the sphere ! Pharod: Yay ! You: No yay for you I'm afraid. This shit is for me. It could never help you. You got punked by my previous incarnation into searching your whole life for something that has no value to you. Have a nice day looser !

More time later: I can't open this damn thing ! Morte, can I use your skull as a nut-cracker ?

If what I just wrote ain't a great fucking story then I don't know what is...and the shit is just beginning.

 

[Stalin]

Yes but was it voiced by Capt. Piccard?

 

[Castanova]

If what I just wrote ain't a great fucking story then I don't know what is...and the shit is just beginning.

That sounds pretty cool but none of that occurred when I spoke to Pharod. He just said "hey, i know stuff. get me the golden orb and i might tell you." and I said "Goddamn it, fuck you! Tell me now!" and he said "nope." Then I began my quest to kill 4,000 bat-like creatures.

 

[Castanova]

All in all, hoping for significant amounts of anything but textual foreshadowing via conversation in such game is plain retarded - if anything, you should be grateful for the brief moments when the devs could break the interactive storytelling paradigm by showing stuff like mortuary shadows scene.

It sounds to me, then, that the Hive should have been condensed from four areas into maybe one. The NPCs with dialog that strongly support the themes and provide necessary foreshadowing should have been made mandatory by being involved in a quest chain that leads you to Pharod. (As it is, it's way too easy to find Pharod considering how no one in the Hive has any idea where he is beyond Ragpicker's Square.) The NPCs with non-essential themes and foreshadowing should have either been moved to after Pharod, denoted in some clear fashion that you don't need to talk to them, or cut entirely.

Also, I did a 19 WIS, 15 INT build so far. If I pump all future points into STR and play a Fighter, can I ensure that I never lose any mandatory fights nor have to bother preparing for them?

 

[Falkner]

If what I just wrote ain't a great fucking story then I don't know what is...and the shit is just beginning.

That sounds pretty cool but none of that occurred when I spoke to Pharod. He just said "hey, i know stuff. get me the golden orb and i might tell you." and I said "Goddamn it, fuck you! Tell me now!" and he said "nope." Then I began my quest to kill 4,000 bat-like creatures.

Yeah, because it's revealed only at the very end.

 

[Tolknaz]

 

[DraQ]

All in all, hoping for significant amounts of anything but textual foreshadowing via conversation in such game is plain retarded - if anything, you should be grateful for the brief moments when the devs could break the interactive storytelling paradigm by showing stuff like mortuary shadows scene.

It sounds to me, then, that the Hive should have been condensed from four areas into maybe one. The NPCs with dialog that strongly support the themes and provide necessary foreshadowing should have been made mandatory by being involved in a quest chain that leads you to Pharod. (As it is, it's way too easy to find Pharod considering how no one in the Hive has any idea where he is beyond Ragpicker's Square.) The NPCs with non-essential themes and foreshadowing should have either been moved to after Pharod, denoted in some clear fashion that you don't need to talk to them, or cut entirely.

IESV.
FVCKING.
CHRISTI.

WTF am I reading???

 

[Lord Andre]

I kind of get the feeling that game devs expected the player to follow the main story for a while and explore the hubs gradually as time goes by. Which is kind of strange since your usual suspect has "no side-quest left behind" tattooed on his chest.

A few other things you might find cool: (trying to keep spoiler levels to minimum)

**** : I am the big bad hag that punked gods. I forgotten more of the art than you will ever know...
TNO: Ugly, I am the immortal gigolo of the planes, prepare for pussy-wetting experience.

****: I am the avatar of entropy I...
TNO: Nigger, I am the immortal hero of the planes, I...
****: Looky what I made ! A blade that can kill you.
TNO: Yeah right, hmmm, maybe you better give it to me because...because I am the almost immortal he...you get it.

****: I a...
TNO: Nigger, I am the immortal hero of the planes, I...
****: Casting ass-rape spell. Grease your little corn-hole and prepare for penetration.
TNO: Let me guess, another trip to the mortuary.
Morte: More like another trip to the load screen.
TNO: The fuck !

TNO: Oh, a foxy lady !
****: Silence.
TNO: Baby, I'm the imm...wait a minute did I save ? Fuck ! I am no one of importance and will be leaving right now.
****: Silence.
TNO: Mazed.
TNO: Shit. There better not be any bats in here !

TNO: Nigger, I am the immortal hero of the planes, I...
****: It sounded better when I said it ! You got to emphasize the "I" a little more.
TNO: ????

 

[Castanova]

WTF am I reading???

Pharod is the hook of the story apparently. Why put like five hours worth of what APPEARS to be filler content in between the beginning of the game and getting to him? It's common sense, really. That's why professional novelists work with editors -- to point out this kind of thing.

 

[Stalin]

 

[DraQ]

Game, even PS:T, is not a fucking novel.

...
Get the fuck out, please.

 

[Johannes]

WTF am I reading???

Pharod is the hook of the story apparently. Why put like five hours worth of what APPEARS to be filler content in between the beginning of the game and getting to him? It's common sense, really. That's why professional novelists work with editors -- to point out this kind of thing.

Why talk to people you don't want to talk to? It's up to you if you want to meet with Pharod soon, or later. There's a good amount of "extra" content so it's totally up to the player to decide what stuff to tackle, what appears relevant to the story or interesting to you as a player.

The beginning is sort of a detective quest, if a pretty easy one. It's still more interesting to being just railroaded.

 

[Castanova]

Why talk to people you don't want to talk to?

But you can't tell if you want to talk to someone until after you've already talked to them!

 

[Black Bart Charley]

tldr

 

[Stalin]

erm real troll would hold the mask until found out lurk moar fggt

 

[Johannes]

Why talk to people you don't want to talk to?

But you can't tell if you want to talk to someone until after you've already talked to them!

Seems like you're just bad at this game.

 

[RatFink]

lord andre

...dude!
the

Spoiler

tags are there for a reason!!

seriously planescape torment is a if not THE game where you absofuckinlutely DO NOT want to know anything about what is to come before experiencing it yourself!!

* and putting it in your own words is not fuckin sufficient!

you can jizz all over your post with saying how great it is going to be...but if youre getting more specific..PLEASE...

Spoiler

...PUT IT IN SPOILER TAGS!!

thank god i...kinda...stopped reading after the first 2 lines..cause i just had that in the game...

what makes people go and start revealing shit without the spoiler tags as soon as they enter a planescape torment thread...
additionally one created by some guy who has just left the hive..

 

[DraQ]

hahahahah brilliant opening post.

the fucking stupid codex hivemind thought i was a troll

The hivemind admits the possibility of mistake - after all it's not unlikely that you're just a genuine idiot.

 

[CappenVarra]

It sounds to me, then, that the Hive should have been condensed from four areas into maybe one. The NPCs with dialog that strongly support the themes and provide necessary foreshadowing should have been made mandatory by being involved in a quest chain that leads you to Pharod. (As it is, it's way too easy to find Pharod considering how no one in the Hive has any idea where he is beyond Ragpicker's Square.) The NPCs with non-essential themes and foreshadowing should have either been moved to after Pharod, denoted in some clear fashion that you don't need to talk to them, or cut entirely.

Great idea! They should totally remove all non-essential NPCs and dialogues and content, who needs that boring shit? Everything necessary to understand the setting and the story should be made part of a mandatory quest, preferably with a giant yellow exclamation mark above the "interesting" NPC heads - so you can know who is worth talking to, and you don't waste any precious time doing things that don't provide a +1 sword at least! Also, all this blind running around and looking at non-essential Sigil scenery is a total waste of time, they could totally have streamlined that with a simple quest compass! Dude!

G. T. F. O.

 

[Pussycat669]

Reminds me of the old lady at the start of the game who complains that everyone seems to confuse her with a quest dispenser or some such.

Forced lore dumps would probably be a lot more harmful to the experience since any average RPG escalates in a big battle anyways. No need to pester me with any additional information except a rough idea where the hero is supposed to be heading.

 

[Castanova]

ITT CappenVarra misses the point entirely, posts an animated GIF of Michael Jackson.

 

[DraQ]

It sounds to me, then, that the Hive should have been condensed from four areas into maybe one. The NPCs with dialog that strongly support the themes and provide necessary foreshadowing should have been made mandatory by being involved in a quest chain that leads you to Pharod. (As it is, it's way too easy to find Pharod considering how no one in the Hive has any idea where he is beyond Ragpicker's Square.) The NPCs with non-essential themes and foreshadowing should have either been moved to after Pharod, denoted in some clear fashion that you don't need to talk to them, or cut entirely.

Great idea! They should totally remove all non-essential NPCs and dialogues and content, who needs that boring shit? Everything necessary to understand the setting and the story should be made part of a mandatory quest, preferably with a giant yellow exclamation mark above the "interesting" NPC heads - so you can know who is worth talking to, and you don't waste any precious time doing things that don't provide a +1 sword at least! Also, all this blind running around and looking at non-essential Sigil scenery is a total waste of time, they could totally have streamlined that with a simple quest compass! Dude!

G. T. F. O.

I have another 'brilliant' idea - it would be glorious if not only did the quest NPCs had exclamation marks over their head, but also if those exclamation marks turned into a tooltip windows if you hovered your cursor/crosshair over them, and they would list the rewards you can expect at the end of a quest(line), so that player would know in advance if a quest is worth it.

...
The sad part is that someone will probably implement just such a thing over the course of a next year or two.

ITT CappenVarra misses the point entirely, posts an animated GIF of Michael Jackson.

Unless you were actually trolling with your OP (in which case congrats ) he does not, sadly.

How would you like your paperbag av?

 

[CappenVarra]

ITT CappenVarra misses the point entirely, posts an animated GIF of Michael Jackson.

Castanova misses the point entirely - the point of Planescape: Torment. Michael Jackson was a fitting visual representation of the sheer "brilliance" of your post.

Also:

Unless you were actually trolling with your OP (in which case congrats )

 

[Castanova]

How PST's opening is designed: the player is dropped into a 5-screen area. The player is told to visit Pharod but a rationale person comes to the conclusion that the 5-screen area they are already in may be important to explore before doing so. So the player goes about exploring this 5-screen area, spending upwards of, I dunno, five hours reading non-essential dialog, running boring FedEx quests, and avoiding boring combat encounters. At best, the player is fascinated by the healthy helping of lore being dispensed.

How PST's opening should be designed: better.