I finished
Planescape: Torment: Enhanced Edition a couple of weeks ago. Despite how old the game is I enjoyed the experience a lot, especially in regards of story and characters. The writing is without a doubt the strongest aspect of the game, not just because of the adventure itself but also because of how interesting and creative the setting was, and how engaging and even philosophical the story of the protagonist went. And what a story!
This game is quite rewarding for people with a lot of curiosity when it comes to character interactions, be it with NPCs (lots of interesting ones!) or with the party members. I liked almost all of the companions a lot (my favorite ones were Grace and Morte) but games like the Dragon Age series spoiled me when it comes to stuff like combat synergy between them and especially banter, things that in PS:T felt lacking or, at least, few and far between. But I know the comparison is not fair, PS:T is a game very much of its time.
Combat was... fine. Even though I’ve played only one run of the game, it felt like the most favorable and entertaining approach was the one I picked: a mage with high intelligence and high wisdom. The party is pretty helpful thankfully, they can help a PC mage not run out of spells quickly in the earliest parts of the game, plus they had a respectable amount of skill variety. Combat is definitely not the most interesting part of the game, and attributes like charisma and especially wisdom are quite crucial to avoid it. A high score on those attributes actually allows the player to reach the most interesting paths of many quests and get the most interesting dialog from many NPCs.
Visuals and production values were alright for a game of its time and its budget. I do have to say, even though the aesthetics were on point (there is no fantasy setting like this one), they felt limited by the graphical capacities of the engine. The game world and the UI didn’t have to be this overly drab (even for a place like Sigil) and poor in visual contrast, but I know that back then engines like this one had a really hard time with color “richness” and interface usability.
Despite all this, it was still a hugely memorable experience. I recommend it to anyone that can overlook its flaws in favor of getting to experience what I consider one of the most unique, intriguing and memorable storylines in videogame history
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So, I’m currently dividing my gaming time between
Age of Empires: Definitive Edition and
SOMA, and I’m also planning to continue
Dragon Quest VII after beating those two (I still have its post-game content pending). I have to admit, AoE has lost some of its appeal to me but I’ll still try to play as many campaigns as possible. The japanese one, where I’m at at the moment, is nice at least but it makes me miss the one from AoE III
Back then I enjoyed most of the campaigns of the third game a ton.
SOMA has been delightful so far (I’m at around 3/4 of the game, I think). Just like with Amnesia: The Dark Descent, the game engine could look better but it still manages to make the locations and creatures feel very scary. I love how dreadful and oppressive the setting is, especially as one slowly finds out more about it as the game progresses, and the body horror in this game I’d say is... successful