Planescape: Torment

Planescape: Torment is a computer role-playing game (CRPG) that takes place in the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Planescape setting. It was created by Black Isle Studios and released in 1999. Chris Avellone, now of Obsidian Entertainment, was the lead designer.

In the game, players assume control of an enigmatic character with no memory of his identity and past as he wakes up in a mortuary. He soon meets a floating, talking skull named Morte, who follows him around from then on. Planescape: Torment differs from similar CRPGs like those in the Baldur's Gate series by a heavy emphasis on conversation and storyline, thus decreasing the importance of combat. The game is still hailed today as one of the finest examples of storytelling in a computer game. Themes include the significance of names, the question "What can change the nature of a man?", and the importance of knowing oneself.

Synopsis

The story opens in Sigil, City of Doors, when the protagonist (The Nameless One) awakens on a mortuary slab, not knowing who or even where he is. A chattering skull named Morte floats over to him and informs The Nameless One of writing on his back instructing him to read his journal, and then find someone named Pharod. The Nameless One then embarks on a quest to resolve two fundamental problems: why he is immortal, and how he can become a mortal again.

These two plot devices carry the player throughout the rich Planescape setting, which is filled with people, objects, and oddities from different planes all across the multiverse. One idea that presents itself many times during the game is a sort of consensus reality stating that if enough people believe in something, then it is real, and simply pops into existence. For instance, when people ask The Nameless One his name (which he doesn't know), there is usually a response where he tells them that his name is 'Adahn'. If he tells enough people that's who he is, Adahn may appear, claiming to be an old friend, even though he never existed before. The player also travels to exotic destinations like Avernus, the first layer of Baator, the plane of thieves and liars, the Astral plane, one of the Lady of Pain's Mazes, a pregnant alleyway, and more.

Eventually, The Nameless One reaches the Negative Energy Plane to confront his mortality, an extremely powerful being known only as The Transcendent One.

Credits

Cast (voice)

• Michael T. Weiss — The Nameless One
• Rob Paulsen — Morte Rictusgrin
• Jennifer Hale — Fall-from-Grace/Deionarra
• Sheena Easton — Annah-of-the-Shadows
• Mitch Pileggi — Dak'kon
• Charles Adler — Ignus
• Rodger Bumpass — Strahan Runeshadow
• Dan Castellaneta — Nordom
• Flo Di Re — Ravel Puzzlewell
• Tony Jay — Transcendent One
• John de Lancie — Trias
• Keith David — Vhailor

Trivia

While considered by many to be one of the greatest computer role-playing games ever made, Planescape: Torment remains one of the least commercially successful, with approximately 73,000 copies sold. For comparison, Diablo sold approximately 1,300,000 copies.

Planescape: Torment is notable for the amount of dialogue (in text form) which it contains. An estimate by the creators of the game place it at almost 1 million words. This is comparable to one volume of the Encyclopædia Britannica.

External links

• Gamespot's Planescape: Torment entry
• Gamebanshee Planescape: Torment section, contains various files and a walkthrough
• Bootstrike's Planescape: Torment Files Collection, a file resource center
• RPG Codex (covers all CRPGs)
• Sorcerer's Place (extensive coverage of all (A)D&D CRPGs)
• MobyGames entry for Planescape: Torment