PC Gamer - November 2011

Not pictured: The astoundingly sad music that plays during this bit. Sniff...

READ ME RELEASEDATE 1999 PUBLISHER Interplay DEVELOPER Black Isle Studios GET IT $9.99 — Good Old Games VIDEO GUIDE Let’s Play: Planescape: Torment http://bit.ly/nrtnPH TRIVIA There was an official novelization of Planescape: Torment, and the word “dreadful” doesn’t begin to describe it. While not as bad as the Baldur’s Gate 2 novels— little is—it’s best- summarized by the fact that it gives The Nameless One... a name. All the clever- ness, intrigue and etail is simplified to the point of stupidity, and the main plot is clearly based on an older version of the story than the one that made it to screen. If you want to read an authentic Torment novel, try the fan- made one, which you can download for free at http://bit.ly/aAbjsI.

Belief is powerful. Make this lie too often and it can have very unusual repercussions.

Most RPGs give you a quest. Torment gives you a question: “What can change the nature of a man?” It’s not a riddle. It’s not a puzzle. It’s simply the first hint that you’re about to embark on the smartest, most philosophical quest of your life.

Torment is the story of The Nameless One, a grey, scarred immortal who wakes up with amnesia on a mortuary slab in the middle of a filthy city built on filth, fear and backstabbing. With the help of a cheerful, slightly perverted skull called Morte, he soon discovers that he’s an immortal trapped in an endless cycle of death and rebirth.

The Nameless One has lived good lives. He’s lived terrible ones. His one constant is that wherever he goes, pain follows, along with a ruthless enemy willing to do anything to keep him from

breaking his curse.

Given its cult status now, it’s hard to remember that nobody had much hope for Torment when it first came out. It had the most boring trailer ever created.

The launch announcement was a badly rendered girl wearing nothing but a few strips of strategic red leather, with The Nameless One described as simply “a corpse with irresistible sexual charisma.” Ouch. Bad start...

Mind over matters

Risking a purchase anyway, mostly because it was a Black Isle game (Fallout) using the Infinity Engine (Baldur’s Gate), Torment quickly exploded to the point that even after replaying it several times, I barely know where to start telling you about it.

Maybe with a story about Ravel, the wicked witch tired of cruelty? Fall-

All your party are tormented souls, drawn to your pain. But they kill things pretty well.

From-Grace, a puritan succubus who runs a brothel for sating the mind? The brutal humor? The sadness of Deionnara, the still obsessed ghost of a woman broken by The Nameless One in a past life? The endless layers of detail?

I could, but instead, let me share the moment Planescape really clicked for me. To be honest, up to this point, I wasn’t enjoying it much. I was lost, frustrated, and had no idea what the hell I was meant to be doing. Then I met Mebbeth.

Mebbeth is a witch, willing to share what “little” she knows of the Art...but only if you agree to help her with some quick chores. The first is to get some seeds from the market. Unfortunately, the seed merchant doesn’t have the ones you need, so you need to find another character who can will the original tree back into existence for you.

O-kay. Time for magic?

No. Not yet. Returning, Mebbeth remembers there was something else she needed from the market—her laundry. Unfortunately, the merchant who does her washing has had her sheets for years, and has washed and rewashed them so many times that they feel like cardboard. Luckily, Mebbeth doesn’t mind. She just sends you back to the market, this time to retrieve ink.