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Planescape: Torment is a computer role-playing game developed by Black Isle Studios, released in 1999. The game takes place in the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Planescape campaign setting. Unlike similar computer role-playing games, such as Baldur's Gate, Torment places emphasis on conversation and storyline instead of combat, and the game's plot has a darker, more mature tone and style than those of its contemporaries.
Torment received almost universal critical praise, and according to designer Scott Warner, sold a profitable 400,000 copies at retail. • Planescape: Torment has since become a cult classic. The game was added to Gamespy's Hall of Fame in August 2004• and Gamespot's Greatest Games of All Time list in October 2005.•
The game's main themes include guilt, redemption, regret, the significance of reality vs. perception, the power of names, the importance of knowing one's true nature, and the power of one's will.
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Synopsis
Tagline: What can change the nature of a man?
The story begins in Sigil – the "City of Doors". The protagonist, an enigmatic and heavily scarred immortal with pallid gray skin referred to in the game interface as "The Nameless One", wakes up in a mortuary with no memory of his identity and past experiences. A chattering skull named Morte floats over to him and informs him of the 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 find out who he is, and what brought him to his curious condition. His journey takes him across a number of planes of existence and leads him to meet all sorts of strange people, all the while being hunted by his past and by the great and horrible deeds he committed in his previous lives.
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Gameplay
The player controls the protagonist from a top-down (isometric) perspective. The game runs using the Infinity Engine designed for the Baldur's Gate series, which presents the player with a three-dimensional world explored by clicking on the ground to move to that spot or on objects or characters to interact with them. Items and spells can be employed by using their assigned hotkeys, by equipping them in a series of quick slots along the bottom of the screen and clicking on them, or by accessing a radial menu using the right mouse button in the manner of The Temple of Elemental Evil and Neverwinter Nights.
The Nameless One can obtain several companions through his journeys. While there are seven potential members, only five may accompany him at once. Players may switch party members by finding and speaking to whoever was left behind.
The Planescape campaign setting incorporates beings, locations and oddities from several different existence planes. The player travels to destinations such as Avernus (the first layer of Baator), Carceri (the prison plane of thieves and liars), two of the Lady of Pain's Mazes, a "pregnant" alleyway, and more.
One idea that presents itself many times during the game is a sort of consensus reality — if enough people believe in something, then it is real, and begins to exist. For example, when people ask The Nameless One his name, one of the choices of response is to lie that it is "Adahn". If the player tells 10-12 people that this is his name, a man named Adahn will appear in a certain location, claiming to be an old friend, even though he never existed before. Another example is a recovered memory of a past event in which the Nameless One apparently debates a man out of existence.
Another feature of the game is player's ability to join several of the factions which exist in Sigil. Players can join the Dustmen, the Sensates, the Godsmen, the Anarchists and the Chaosmen. Along the way, the player can learn what these factions believe in about the world. Some of these belief systems are non-trivial. Most of the non-player characters in the game are members of one faction or another.
Through the course of the game, the protagonist learns that his original incarnation sought out Ravel Puzzlewell, an infamous night hag and greatest of the Grey Sisters, whose pursuits were the "solving of puzzles not needed to be solved", and whose crimes included crossing the Lady of Pain and attempting to open all of the portals in Sigil. It was this incarnation who asked Ravel for immortality. The request was made because he had performed a terrible crime, a crime so wicked that a lifetime of good deeds could not save him from eternal damnation in the Blood War, an ancient demonic feud. Ravel took up this challenge and attempted a solution, which was mostly successful — The Nameless One could still die when wounded badly, but would later wake up physically intact, albeit missing his memories. Unfortunately, this was only discovered when Ravel killed the first incarnation in order to test her work. Upon waking, The Nameless One had forgotten his goal of lifetimes-worth of redemptive acts.
The overall goal of the game is to recover The Nameless One's mortality. His mortality must be recovered because with each "death," another person dies in his place, contributing to the vast crimes of the first incarnation. This is achieved by following clues and hints that the previous incarnations had left him. However, many links in the "chain" of knowledge leading to his mortality are broken or dead. For instance, the tattoos on his back instructed him to read his journal (which was destroyed by an incarnation of himself) and to find Pharod (who is eventually killed). Those are two links in the chain which are broken throughout the course of the game, and many more are sundered as the player continues on his quest. Were the Nameless One to lose his memory again, he would be lost without a single guide to nudge him in the right direction, and would probably never recover his mortality.
Eventually, The Nameless One reaches the Negative Material Plane to confront his mortality, separated from him by Ravel. He discovers his mortality has grown into an entity by the name of "The Transcendent One" (having "transcended" from simply being someone's mortality to a far more powerful being).
If The Nameless One is wise enough, he can convince or force The Transcendent One to merge with him. If he accomplishes this, The Nameless One wakes up in a new plane, going willingly to the punishment he became immortal to prevent - becoming a soldier in the Blood War. Various other options are available to persuade The Transcendent One if The Nameless One is charismatic enough.
If The Nameless One is not wise enough, he can choose to murder himself or threaten to do so. Given the special nature of the Negative Energy Plane, it is the only place that The Nameless One can truly die. As such, if he dies, The Transcendent One dies as well. This requires use of a special item.
Finally, The Nameless One can defeat the Transcendent One in combat, with or without help from allies.
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The Nameless One
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(voiced by Michael T. Weiss)
The being now known only as The Nameless One is one of the closest things the multiverse has to a true immortal. Precisely how long he has lived or how many reincarnations he has had is unknown, but judging from some of the contacts he has made (Lum the Mad, among others) he is probably at least several thousand years old, and a former "incarnation" notes that he has died several thousand times.
Over the centuries, The Nameless One has taken myriad life-paths. According to Morte, his longtime companion, his personality often changes with each death. He has been virtually everything, from mighty wizard to petty thief, a paragon of virtue and a heartless villain. At the beginning of the game, The Nameless One awakens in yet another incarnation, remembering nothing of his long and complex history. This time around however, he finally possesses the ability to recover from death without a memory loss. If the player gets The Nameless One killed in the game, it will simply continue with the hero waking somewhere else (this can be anywhere from a metal slab at the Mortuary or a bed at an Inn, depending on the hero's location at death) and will be able to continue his journey.
Each time The Nameless One dies, another life is claimed in his place. This other soul becomes a shadow and travels to the Fortress of Regrets on the Negative Material Plane for a time. The energies of the Fortress and the Plane give them power, and the oldest shadows have grown far larger and stronger than they were before. Eventually, some escape (or are released) and attempt to track down The Nameless One and slay him in revenge to the torment he has put them through, however unwillingly.
Upon the skin of the Nameless One is an unusual symbol which represents Torment. It represents the nature of existence that he endures. Additionally, those who are drawn to him and become his companions are themselves tormented in some way - usually by their own nature. For example, Fall From Grace is tormented because she is denying her nature as a succubus.
In the official novelization of the game, which is only loosely based on its plot, The Nameless One was a human being, who made a pact with the Baatezu Fhjull Forked-Tongue - an NPC met late in the game -, offering his service as a soldier in the Blood War in exchange for his town being spared. He then sought a way to become immortal to avoid the Blood War entirely, and all of his most recent struggles are in fact the culmination of the machinations of Fhjull to claim TNO's soul. In the book, TNO's ability to remember memories from prior incarnations (beginning with the one that wakes up in the Mortuary) is due to being dosed prior to awakening in the Mortuary with a special elixir derived from the waters of the Styx by Fhjull Forked-Tongue.
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Morte Rictusgrin
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(voiced by Rob Paulsen)
A floating skull with an acerbic attitude. While he lacks a body, he is a capable warrior in many aspects, biting with his sharp fangs and throwing foes off guard with taunts, while his smaller size, lack of vital organs and pseudo-undead nature protect him from many attacks that would normally inflict serious wounds. Many fans wonder where he keeps his inventory. Morte and The Nameless One have an extended history together.
Morte accompanies the Nameless One from the beginning of the game. He is the source of much of the game's humor, not the least being the chaotic conversations that can result between him and the Nameless One, whom he refers to as Chief.
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Dakkon
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(voiced by Mitch Pileggi)
A Githzerai zerth, Dak'kon is the last known wielder of a karach (chaos-matter) blade, which alters its shape, appearance and abilities depending on the power and mental state of its owner/wielder. Unlike most githzerai, Dak'kon is a capable wizard and an even more capable warrior; however, his coal-black eyes hold a deep, secret pain, one that weighs on his very soul.
In the book loosely based upon the game's early script, Dak'kon is a member of the Believers of the Source, who originally encountered The Nameless One after being sent to observe him and see if he could be useful to their faith. It is Dak'kon who gave The Nameless One the name of Hra'ka'lothanek, the contraction of which -Thane- is used to address The Nameless One throughout the book.
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Annah-of-the-Shadows
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(voiced by Sheena Easton)
A brash young tiefling (person with fiendish heritage; one of Annah's grandparents was a fiend), Annah appears mostly human except for her tail. A fighter and a thief, Annah was raised to be a capable rogue, useful for tasks that his more ordinary underlings could not complete. Annah has no tolerance for fools or the clueless, and she is quite skilled at heaping verbal abuse, heavily laden with Hive slang, on those who annoy her. She is somewhat superstitious, especially where the Lady of Pain is concerned.
In the book, Annah is similar in personality but in many other aspects very different to her game incarnation. In the game, Annah's sole deformity is her tail. In the book, Annah is described as having beige skin, six functional fingers on each hand, thin black lips that barely frame her wide mouth, which is filled with a chaotic jumble of squared-off teeth and pointed fangs, white hair that covers her head like lamb's fleece in inch-thick curls and slits of skin instead of ears. She also wears a tightly-laced dark-purple bodysuit instead of the mis-matching scraps she wears in the game. She also differs by being a multi-classed Thief/Wizard instead of a Fighter/Thief and by going by the name of Annah rather than Annah-of-the-Shadows.
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Ignus
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(voiced by Charles Adler)
A pyromaniacal mage, Ignus is chaotic and insane. Ignus once attempted to burn down the Hive, and was only stopped by a collaboration of many local magic users, from minor hedge wizards to mighty sorcerers. Furious at his mad killing spree, they converted him into a living conduit to the Elemental Plane of Fire as an ironic punishment. Such treatment would have instantly incinerated a normal mortal, but Ignus survived. Stuck in a semi-coma and reveling in the never-ending flames coursing over his body, he was eventually made into a mascot for the Smoldering Corpse Bar.
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Nordom
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(voiced by Dan Castellaneta)
A Modron who separated from the Modron hive mind after being exposed to the raw elemental chaos of Limbo, Nordom remains a very logical, mechanical thinker. While often referred to as "he", Nordom is sexless.
Nordom has chosen to replace the wings that other Modrons have with a second set of arms. Nordom is a very confused creature, unused to his new individuality; he's not entirely certain what happened to him to split him away from Mechanus, and he is used to being part of a hierarchy.
Nordom is sort of a secret character, as players can play through the game without meeting him or even learning of his existence entirely.
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Fall-From-Grace
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(voiced by Jennifer Hale)
Fall-From-Grace is a succubus, one of the tanar'ri, a creature literally formed of raw chaos and evil, her body and mind the perfect template to tempt a man of any species, any age. She is the proprietress of the Brothel for Slating Intellectual Lusts.
A creature of contradictions. Fall-From-Grace is a cleric but worships no god. She is formed from pure chaos and evil, but is (apparently) lawful neutral with leanings towards good. She runs the Brothel For Slating Intellectual Lusts. Perhaps the oddest of all, she is a beautiful succubus, but is by all appearances chaste. Her kiss is fatal.
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Vhailor
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(voiced by Keith David)
This suit of Mercykiller armor apparently has been standing here in the prison under Curst for some years. It has not been disturbed, which is strange, considering how very quick the people of Curst are to seek a profit.
A fanatical Mercykiller who is lawful neutral, Vhailor's drive for Justice is so strong that it enabled his soul to remain long after he had died and his corpse rotted completely away. He now inhabits his suit of armor, and does not appear to recognize that he has died. He simply doesn't think about it - and why should he, when there are so many criminals in the Multiverse to bring to justice? Vhailor's favored weapon is his cursed executioner's axe, "Final Judgement".
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Ravel Puzzlewell
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(voiced by Flo Di Re)
All the stories you heard about Ravel Puzzlewell prepared you for a loathsome monster who would devour your soul. If she intended that, though, she chose a strange way to go about it - she is undeniably insane, trapped in a black-barbed maze of thorns and evil. You can't help but pity her, despite her great power: She has lost everything and doesn't even know it.
One of the ladies of the Gray Waste, well-known and feared throughout the planes. Many people come to ask boons of her, and are enslaved when they fail to answer her riddles.
At the time of the game Ravel had been "mazed" by the Lady of Pain: placed in a pocket dimension constructed from an unused section of Sigil. This was in retaliation for Ravel's attempt to destroy Sigil.
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Trias
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(voiced by John de Lancie)
Trias is a deva, a celestial being from the Upper Planes. First encountered him in the prison of Curst, imprisoned in an obsidian bubble, his beauty is astonishing to behold; the aura of goodness rolls from him like a glorious wave of light. His wings are charred down to the bone, yet he seems to bear his suffering with pride.
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Pharod Wormhair
Pharod Wormhair is the Collector King of the Hive, a man crippled in body and spirit. His mind, however, seems to be as sharp as ever. He rules the Buried Village with an iron fist, keeping even that disorderly rabble in line. He is a sneak, a thief, and he seems to know far too much about you, though he does not reveal it without ... coaxing.
The "King of Rags" who rules a community of thieves, graverobbers, and other desperate ne'er-do-wells beneath Ragpicker Square. The Nameless One seeks him out because the tattoos on his back advise him to. Once a man of nobility and influence but dubious integrity, Pharod demands that The Nameless One retrieve a certain object, a Bronze Sphere, for him in exchange for information so as to avoid an infernal fate.
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Literary aspects
Planescape: Torment is notable for the quantity of textual dialogue it contains. An estimate by the creators of the game places it at almost 1 million words.*. A review in the New York Times noted that, "The game's level of detail and its emotional impact have prompted some players to cast about for literary peers."•
The complex and storyline-based nature of the game means that gameplay often focuses on resolution of quest and story objectives through selection from available dialogue choices, rather than through combat encounters. Simply stopping and having a long - often a very long - chat with one of the other members of the player's group can often advance the game more (and reveal more surprising things) than hours of combat and questing in other games. In fact, there are only four or so required combat encounters within the game, as compared to tens or hundreds in contemporary role-playing games. All other encounters can be resolved or avoided through dialogue or stealth. As the game's interface borrows from other Infinity Engine computer role-playing games like the Baldur's Gate series, it was occasionally criticised for being ill-suited to such a large number of dialogue-heavy encounters.
A book based loosely on the game was also released,• though the plot was largely different from that of the game, due to the script not being completely finalized at the time of the book's writing. Fan reactions have been generally negative due to liberties in plot and characterization. For instance, the Nameless One actually chooses a name, and is referred to by it early in the book, something he never does in the game.
One of the characteristics that makes Torment unique however is the content of the plot itself. Unlike traditional RPGs, the purpose of the game is not to save the world, but rather to find out more about oneself. Through the quest, the Nameless one encounters themes such as the power of will, the non-attachment to this life and the value of true knowledge. While traditional roleplaying games often simply amount to hack and slash, Torment deals with issues taken out of Hindu and Buddhist philosophy.
An unofficial novelisation based more closely on actual game dialogue was completed by RPG author Rhyss Hess.
Torment has been translated to several languages by fans and enthusiasts. A full translation to Hungarian took over 4 years to develop. The Italian Translation Project took about 15 months translating 1.4 million words in 68,510 dialog sentences. A Korean translation was completed as a one-man effort. A Spanish translation by Clan Dlan, an RPG fan group, was reviewed and reported to be of a professional level. A full Polish translation took almost a year and is considered to be of a very high quality by the polish gamer community due to its attention to detail, skillful transliteration of the cockney of the game's underclass, and little inside jokes understandable to Poles.
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Trivia
The Planescape setting slang terms used in the game (cutter, berk, dark, etc.), are based on actual 17th century English slang, spoken by the working class.
The poem recited by one zombie in the Mortuary is actually part of a poem by Li Shangyin, a poet of the late Tang Dynasty period of China.
The designers chose not to have any swords in the game with two exceptions: the sword of Trias (only usable by Lawful Good characters) and Dak'kon's karach blade (only useable by Dak'kon). Axes, maces, and daggers are all common, but no swords. This adds a somewhat humorous note to the entry in the game manual, which states that "...ideas and beliefs can be more threatening to you than some berk with a sword..."
The game Baldur's Gate II has an optional quest which involves a group of actors from Sigil. The player can choose to rescue the bard (a Tiefling, like Annah) and may choose to enter a pocket universe. Some rare magical items related to Planescape: Torment can also be purchased from a special merchant (such as Dak'kon's Zerth Blade or Vhailor's Helm).
"Planescape: Torment - The Soundtrack," an unofficial promotional soundtrack album by Mark Morgan and Richard Band for Planescape: Torment, was released in Poland by CD Projekt as a bonus CD which contained several tracks not included in the game. It includes two unused themes for a "good" and a "neutral" ending; it appears that only the "bad" theme made it into the game's final version. A 38th bonus track of the game credits was released from Platter's site.
Many bugs were unfortunately still left in the game, and never patched. A fix pack is available, made by various contributors, and fixing many bugs within the game.
The Brothel for Slating Intellectual Lusts is known as the Brothel for Slaking Intellectual Lusts in the Planescape role-playing setting.
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