What's this game about?

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I read what I could find here and there on the net... basically you wake up dead in the city of doors with no memory... so then... what? You venture about trying to find out who you are? What then after you figure that out?

Not saying the game is bad, or bashing it, I just cant find anything indepth about it, without reading a walkthrough, and those are only good if you have te game...

[ September 05, 2005, 18:27: Message edited by: Taluntain ]

 

The game ends.

 

Yes, but regaining memories, and the storyline, and the people you meet and expieriences you have along the way make it a great game

 

Just play it, it's dirt cheap now. The reason why it's difficult to describe is because, in a sense, there is no other game like it - and there probably never will be.

Everyone who appreciates a good (dare I say, fantastic?) story, characters and locations, not to mention by far the best writing in any video game ever, owes it to himself to play it.

 

its a path to death - the eternal struggle of a man who cannot die

 

dirt cheap it may be, but it more than makes up for thaqt with it's lack of availability. had to order mine from an independent seller via amazon.

 

Another reason you wont hear much about it is that it can be heavy going if you arent a big roleplaying fan and/or you dont like to read. There is loads of text and dialogue in this game and you get more out of talking to people (indeed, most of your experience and powers) than from pulverising hordes of monsters. I dont think its too much of a spoiler to say that beliefs and ideaologies literally change the shape of the planescape setting, making it a wonderfully refreshing change if you're saturated with traditional fantasy. Still, its an acquired taste and it takes some getting into at first. However, as has been said, it can be cheap if you shop around. Play it!

 

After reading about it on this Board I ordered mine from an independent dealer via Amazon (sp link natch). The game is different. There is fighting in it but it's much, much more than a slash and bash game. In the beginning it doesn't seem like you have much choice but as you go along you do. Everything is a choice or so it seems to me. It's hard to say to another person "you'll love this game" because tastes vary so much. I'll go this far, if you love a good puzzle you will love this game.

 

You'll hate it if you just like to go in and kill things.

One of my favorite parts of the BG saga was the in depth story and interactions -- PST takes this to an entirely new level. It does take a little while to get going. One of the biggest complaints I've heard is the lack of a good players manual -- but this was intentional. Nearly all aspects of the game are learned by the player and 'The Nameless One' at the same time (including spells). You don't know what a spell will do until you gain the spell. Weapons perform differently in the planes than in the prime. Also, your actions determine your alignment -- you don't pick it at the beginning of the game.

You can still kill and maim, but interactions and non-violent solutions give greater experience rewards. Wisdom is the most important stat in PST.

 

Well, it's often hailed as the greatest CRPG ever, it won game of the year way back when, etc., so you might safely conclude that it is worth a serious look. It is definitely heavy on the role playing. To tell you too much about its story, however, would perhaps spoil the fun of the game, so I would advise you not to dig too deeply before you've had a chance to play it (unless you're the kind of person who likes to know the ending of a book before you read it).

The setting is a bit macabre, but if you can get used to that, the story is by far the most interesting and developed of any of the D&D based CRPGs. To gain the depth of story, however, it was necessary to design the game with limited playing options. Simply put, there is only one protagonist option: you are the nameless one, an amnesiac human male who begins the game as a fighter. The primary goal of the game is to rediscover your identity and name.

Your class options are non-traditional. You may not truly dual-class, but you can become a mage or a thief. You can also switch back and forth between classes as often as you like (with certain story-specific limitations).

The game consists of the traditional series of quests and subquests, though with far less mandatory fighting and far more conversation than you'll find in something like the Baldur's Gate or Neverwinter games. If you like hack and slash, however, it is possible to play many parts of the game that way.

 

theres a copy of torment on ebay if anyone is still looking:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Planescape-Torment-for-PC-Boxed-RARE_W0QQitemZ8224686227QQcategoryZ11050QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

 

I too, just got a copy off of the SP link, through "Nothing but software" off of amazon. Been playing for two days now and really like it. I have a few questions though.

From the manual, and my first experiences in the mortuary, I thought that this place was limbo, or purgatory, or something like that, where ALL the beings encountered were spirits, who had already lived once in the prime material plane, and were now trying to attain TRUE DEATH, through a lack of emotions, something akin to Buddist nirvana, stopping the cycle of death and rebirth.

But now that I'm in Sigil talking to people, it seems that many of them are just normal humans, living for some reason in this city in the planes, and have not yet died even once, yet the Dustmen's philosophy about attaining True Death only really makes sense if we're all spirits here, yet the Dustmen collect the bodies of those who die.

To sum it up, I'm confused about the nature of reality there in Sigil. Without any (or too many) spoilers, could somebody clear things up for me?

Are all the entities in Sigil/Planescape already dead spirits, or is it just me the Nameless One?

 

To clear something up: in the D&D cosmology, Limbo is NOT purgatory, and has no connection whatsoever to "paradise" or "hell" or whatever. Limbo is one of the Outer Planes, and is a plane of pure chaos, without any connection to good and evil (it's the Chaotic Neutral plane if you like). And the opposite end of the Ring is Mechanus, which is the plane of absolute law (Lawful Neutral). If you want a comparison, Mechanus and Limbo are at the opposite ends of the Lawful-Chaotic axis, just like Heaven and Hell are on the opposite ends of the Good-Evil axis (although these last two have different names in the D&D cosmology).

Now, to your specific question. I'll try as best as I can not to spoil anything. Imagine this Great Ring, lined with Outer Planes all around it. You've got a Good plane on the top (name?), an Evil plane on the bottom (Grey Waste), a Lawful plane to the right (Mechanus), and a Chaotic plane to the left (Limbo). Anything in-between two of these would be a mixture of the alignments (so the Abyss, between Limbo and the Grey Waste, is Chaotic Evil, while Baator, between Mechanus and the Grey Waste, is Lawful Evil). Now, if you think about it this covers all the alignments except one, True Neutral. For that, imagines a plane that is "on top" of the ring, connected simultaneously to all of the other planes on the Ring: these are the Outlands, the True Neutral plane. On this plane (in its center to be specific), you've got this huge Spire, and on top of this Spire you've got Sigil. Because of its unique position (the center of the Outlands, which is itself at the center of the Ring, and therefore of the entire cosmology) Sigil is a very special place. The inhabitants can be locals from Sigil, or denizens of any of the planes (Sigil has portals connecting to everything else, hence the name "City of Doors"), but MOST of them are alive and well. Oh, and the Nameless One is not "dead". I won't elaborate more on that, go play the game

There's a guy in the Smoldering Corpse bar (which you should find soon) that can offer you more details on the Ring and the Planes. I suggest talking to him thouroughly to get a good idea of how the cosmology works. And if you want more details you can always buy the Manual of the Planes

 

In short: The Mortuary (dooh!) is the "home" of the dustmen, they are thos weird people everyone looked weird at in school.... that doesnt make everything else to be dead (not the dustmen either for that matter, they are just obsessed with the dead).

[ November 16, 2005, 20:00: Message edited by: raptor ]

 

actually, the great foundry is home of the godsmen, not the dustmen.

As to your question: the dustmen are just one of many factions in Sigil. They believe that everyone's dead and stuff, but just because one faction says something doesn't necessarily make it true. The dustmen only represent the views of a small part of sigil's population. As the nameless one, you can choose from a few different factions to join, one of which is totally contradictary to the dustmen. So it's up to you whether to believe dustmen or not.

Ok, and as far as the whole D&D cosmology goes, it never even mentions the dustman philosophy. so no, the people living in sigil aren't dead/spirits or whatever. But the thing you have to remember with sigil and the outer planes is that if enough people believe in something, then it can be true. so its totally your individual choice whether to believe in the dustmen philosophy or not.

Ok, i hope that doesn't confuse you more. But the more you play the more the whole planescape universe will make sense to you.

-PT

 

If you want to learn more about Planescape campaign setting / Multiverse, and Sigil in particular (and much more) without spoilers on PS:T per se, try http://www.planewalker.com

 

Thanks all. I've met the plane walker in the Burning Corpse, he's a fountain of info.