Changing the Nature of a Man

I finally managed to finish my journey in Planescape: Torment. Luckily, much had been forgotten since my first playthrough, which was maybe 7 years ago, and things were new for the most part. I could still recall the main plot, though, which is bit of a pity in a story-focused game like this. However, I had fun, and that is the most important thing.

If you come to this game from those other Infinity Engine games that are set in the Forgotten Realms (Icewind Dale, Baldur's Gate), the first thing you notice is how weird things look - places and people are literally outlandish. The Planescape setting is really something different. You can notice this from the available weapons too; there are no swords! Well, excluding Dak'kon's blade.

Combat is not the main point of the game, though. Torment's focus is on the story, and it's not the common save-the-world story - it's about one man's quest to find himself again. However, the Nameless One is not just any man; he is a muscular, scarred ugly bastard who has forgotten everything -- even his name -- and who cannot die.

Through tons and tons of dialogue scattered across the game, you slowly discover the past of the protagonist, and what can change the nature of a man. The said question is asked by a night hag called Ravel Puzzlewell. The conversation with her is probably the longest you can have in the game. You could actually call it the End Boss of All Conversations. The dialogue has its place, though -- Ravel is one the key characters in the Nameless One's story. And it gives buckets of experience too!

Regarding experience, having a high enough Wisdom score gives a bonus to experience gained. And higher your Wisdom, the higher the bonus is. If you spend points to Wisdom, however, you have less points to spend in Strength, Dexterity and Constitution - all important stats for a melee character. Mage, on the other hand, only requires Intelligence to be successful. And that os one of the reasons I chose the path of a spellcaster for the Nameless One.

The second reason is spells. Because when talking about Planescape: Torment, spells is definitely one the things you have to mention. The spells of Torment are flashy, a lot more flashy than in Baldur's Gate (II), and many - if not most - of them pause the game to play the effects. The high level spells even have short movies! A fact that caught me off guard at the boss of the Modron Cube, who cast Mechanus' Cannon at Nameless One. I wasn't expecting any movie to start playing suddenly. The Nameless One was blasted to pieces... and then resurrected at the start of the maze, of course.

In my opinion, the most awesome spell is Symbol of Torment. And which is sadly only available at the end of the game.



Even with his high Wisdom score, the Nameless One was only at level 16 when entering the final part of the game. And that means the highest spells he could cast were those of level eight - level nine spells are the most powerful. Luckily, recalling his name (which is not revealed to the player) gave an astonishing amount of two million experience to the Nameless One, pushing him from level 16 to 23. Yay, more spells to fight with in the final showdown!

The best ending is not available through violence, though, but -- surprise, surprise -- through dialogue. In how many games is that possible, huh? However, I wanted to see all the spells that just came available, so I challenged the final boss into battle -- and lost. "You have been decapitated and cannot finish the game." At least I got to see all the spells...

Then I of course loaded a save and talked myself into the best ending.

The final movie gives me the chills.

Now that I am finished with the game, I doubt I will touch it for a while. I know I most likely missed lots of stuff again, but I cannot be arsed for another run through - at least not in the next seven years. Also, a door and container hilighting function is really required in these kind of games, and this one does not have one.

Oh yeah, what can change the nature of a man? The answer is: many things. "--whatever you believe can change the nature of a man, can." The Nameless One himself believed it to be regret.

Also, while in Curst, I found ~11k silver rings in some container. I guess some variable had overflowed. Gave me loads of copper, that did. Too bad there is nothing to buy in this game.