Planescape: Confusion

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Hello everyone, this is my first post here so I'll write about my favorite game - PST.

I recently replayed the game after many years and some things seemed odd or just "wrong."

For example, what's with Fell and all the "I know everything but I can't (won't) tell you" c***?!

With all the answers lying two street blocks south east, it's pretty hard not to imagine TNO beating the truth out of him instead going for tiresome and lengthy plane-hopping.

There are more plot holes I noticed, and it seems to me that all protagonists and antagonists were left unexplained for some reason. I really cannot pick one major character and tell, yeah I figured him / her out - this game makes me feel good. It's impossible!

[ March 16, 2007, 19:09: Message edited by: Yaballa ]

 

No kidding, a friend of mine love the game, but simply can't replay it becose she gets pissed every time she starts the game and KNOWS that the final portal lies right next to where you start. Ansd still have to go through half the multiverce just to figure that out.

In regards to Fell, he is a very iconic character in the Planescape setting, and is to be considered pwoerfull enough not to be messed with. He is also at odds with the Lady of Pain herself, and thus people are quite afraid to mess with him. Why he keeps secret about what he knows about you I guess is more to add mystery to the story than anything else (love it!).

Same thing as when you finally get to know your name, and the player never get to know, really anoying for the player, but a genious in storytelling.

 

I actually thought not telling the player TNO's true name was a very clever thing to do. Think of it this way: would you have felt a sense of accomplishment if the game told you TNO's name is John? Or anything else, really?

No matter how fancy the "real" name, I don't think it can be as grand as whatever you as the player came up with. So why spoil the entire mood of the game and force a random name on you? I thought knowing TNO had found his real name without the name actually being spelled for me was much more rewarding.

 

Yeah, I understand your point of view and have read similar answers from PST's developers on one or two ocassions before. But when you think better, the player really doesn't expect John or Bill

I believe they had his background and most answers to our question prepared but decided not to release them so that they could build upon the mistery of the game and make it more interesting (I'm talking about pure game marketing here).

I remember that game's producer had additional information on TNO (such as his age and all the classes he has been) and spoke about it freely in his interviews. However, that info wasn't present in the final game. When I sum everything up, I believe they wanted for player to solve TNO's mistery at one point, but for unknown reasons dropped those options and went with full mistery until the end. And I can bet producers had no knowledge of that decision

 

Dead on, Ziad. By that point in the game, you've gotten so used to thinking of the character as "Nameless One" that any actual name would be a let-down. And the way they do the non-reveal is classic and surprisingly elegant. Putting a dialog-block break just before the name, and then starting the next one with "...It's such a simple thing, [etc.]" That had me grinning from ear to ear, not only from the good execution of a non-reveal, but also because it was the perfect choice for the situation.

So much in the game is left unrevealed, for players with good imaginations to fill in with whatever details suit their personality. The missing name was just the icing on the cake.

 

Correct.

In fact if you let the Nameless One present himself as Adahn enough times, which is a lie option, a person named Adahn will show up.

 

LOL, TNO's name is "That"

Game quote: "That was my name all along? But if I was-"

Humor aside, I can't understand the way he talks about his true name once he finds it out from the Sphere. He's talking about it as if he encountered it earlier during the gameplay ("If I was...", "Does that mean...?"). It's like; yeah you stumbled upon the truth earlier but we won't tell you which one is true!

Does anyone remember what theories about TNO pop up during the gameplay? I can't seem to remember any.

[ March 19, 2007, 13:11: Message edited by: Yaballa ]

 

There have been a bunch of topics on the boards about this over the years. One theory is that TNO was Yemeth, from the crypt and from the Pendant of Yemeth.

That's probably not his original identity though. Not old enough.

 

I think it's mentionned at one point that TNO used several names over the years (centuries?), as the different incarnations came and went. The name revealed by the bronze sphere however is the very first one, and isn't mentionned anywhere in the game. So I think that means Yemeth, Adahn, etc are all out.

 

Indeed. I figure Yemeth was probably the incarnation who taught Ignus.

 

If we had learned that TNO's name was actually Fred, than we'd probably all start calling him Fred.

Message boards and fan sites everywhere would have been calling him Fred instead of TNO, and the mystery would have been killed for game replays.

Good idea not to tell us.

 

The Nameless One's real name is Floyd.

 

I assumed that was the Practical incarnation. I don't think it's mentionned directly (don't remember if you can ask Practical about it when you meet him in the Fortress) but from the way the incarnation acts in the memory (like an utter bastard) I just thought it had to be this one. I don't think Practical was Yemeth though... for that matter I don't remember if Practical was even a mage.

 

You can ask him, and his response is "Who?", to which TNO says something along the lines of "Well, I guess that answers my question." Given, he could be lying, but with all the stuff he *admits* to, somehow I doubt he'd deny teaching Ignus. I don't think it was him. It's not like there can only be one incarnation that's an a**hole.

[ May 28, 2007, 21:44: Message edited by: Felinoid ]

 

I forgot about that answer. That definitely rules out Practical then. I suppose most incarnations were pretty nasty anyway (Paranoid was a serial killer in addition to being insane)

Is there a lot of stuff said about Yemeth in the game? I only remember the pendant and that brief mention in the Tomb (and the memory from Ignus I guess)

 

Err, is there a character in PS:T called TNO (The Nameless One)? I've never played the game, but I was making a mod with a character by the same name for BG2... glad I didn't finish it and get crap for copying PS:T (I've never played it or heard anything about it besides that it is a good game).

 

Yes, the main character.

Yeah, that's pretty much all I remember of him too.

 

Yemeth is present in quite a few dialogue files, but they're not always easy to find. It's definitely more than just the pendant and the tomb.

 

No way... damnit, looks like I'm scrapping that mod.