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''Planescape: Torment'' is a Computer Role-playing Game (CRPG) which takes place in the '' Advanced Dungeons & Dragons '' '' Planescape '' campaign setting, released in 1999 . It was developed by Black Isle Studios (closed in late 2004 ), with its design team being lead by Chris Avellone (now of Obsidian Entertainment ). In the game, players assume control of an enigmatic and heavily scarred . The game's main themes include Guilt , Redemption , Regret , the significance of reality perception and the importance of knowing oneself. SYNOPSIS The story begins in Sigil – the "City of Doors" – a city in which the Protagonist (The Nameless One) awakens on a mortuary slab, not knowing where or who 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 an immortal and how he can become a mortal again. 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 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 instance, when people ask The Nameless One his name, there is usually a response where he tells them that his name is "Adahn". If the player tells many people (about 10-12) that he is Adahn, a man named Adahn appears, claiming to be an old friend, even though he never existed before. Another example is a recovered memory in which the Nameless One debates a man out of existence. Another feature of the game is the player has the ability to join several of the Factions which exist in Sigil. Players can join the Dustmen, the Sensates, the Godsmen, the Anarchists, and (with a very odd sequence of actions) the Chaosmen. Along the way, you can learn what these factions believe in about the world. Some of these belief-systems are non-trivial. Through the course of the game, the protagonist learns that his original incarnation sought out Ravel Puzzlewell, an infamous night hag, greatest of the Grey Sisters, whose pursuits were the "solving of Puzzle s 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 ". Ravel took up this challenge and attempted a solution, which was mostly successful — The Nameless One would be immortal — however, he could still die when wounded badly, and would later wake up mostly intact, albeit missing his memories. Ravel, in a gesture of cruelty, killed the first incarnation in order to test his immortality. Upon waking up, he was still alive, though he had forgotten his goal. 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 Tattoo s 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 that are broken throughout the course of the game, and many more are sundered as the player continues on his quest. Suppose that The Nameless One lost 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, which was separated from him by Ravel, and had grown into an entity by the name of "The Transcendent One" (a being which had "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 Charisma tic 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. This results in the protagonist going to the punishment he became an immortal to prevent, thus becoming a soldier in the Blood War . CHARACTERS CREDITS Cast (voice)
LITERARY ASPECTS ''Planescape: Torment'' is notable for the quantity of dialogue (in text form) which it contains. An estimate by the creators of the game places it at almost 1 million words. This is comparable to one volume of the Encyclopædia Britannica . It has been argued that the wordy nature of the game may have turned off potential players, having realized that gameplay often focuses on resolution of quest and story objectives through selection from available dialogue choices, rather than through combat encounters. There were very few (about four or so) required combat encounters within the game. All others could be resolved or avoided through dialogue or stealth. The weakness of this approach was that the game's interface borrowed heavily from previous CRPG's like the ''Baldur's Gate'' series. These games were mainly combat oriented, stitched together with short, simple dialogues. ''Planescape: Torment'' was the opposite, and the interface didn't lend itself as well to the screens and screens of text. In some cases these would require many minutes of perusal in a small window, often with multiple optional responses that were too long to compare side by side. A book based loosely on the game was also released (by Ray and Valerie Vallese , ISBN 0786915277 ), though the storylines do not match up due to the book having been written before the game's script was completely finalized. Fan reactions have been generally negative due to serious 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. A novelisation based more closely on actual game dialogue was completed by Rhyss Hess , and is available for download . TRIVIA
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