Planescape: Torment: Enhanced Edition Review Summary

Outstanding Story and Characters: The game is widely praised for its exceptional story and well-developed characters. Players highlight the depth, uniqueness, and emotional impact of the narrative, as well as the memorable and engaging characters.

Unique and Immersive Experience: The game offers a unique and immersive experience, with a deeply realized world and narrative. Players appreciate the unique setting, atmosphere, and the overall experience.

Deep and Philosophical Themes: The game explores deep and thought-provoking themes, including philosophical and existential questions. Players appreciate the depth of content and the meaningful narrative.

Engaging Dialogue and Interactions: The game features engaging and well-written dialogue, with meaningful interactions and rich dialogue options. Players enjoy the thought-provoking conversations and the impact of their choices.

Timeless Classic and Influence: The game is considered a timeless classic and one of the most influential narrative RPGs ever made. Players appreciate its ambition, imagination, and lasting impact on the genre.

Clunky and outdated combat: The combat system is frequently described as clunky, outdated, and frustrating. Players find it lackluster, repetitive, and not engaging, with poor AI and tedious mechanics.

Dated graphics and interface: The game's graphics and interface are considered outdated and low-detailed. Many players find the visuals unappealing and not up to modern standards.

Outdated mechanics and design: The game suffers from outdated mechanics and design choices. Players note that the gameplay and systems show their age and can feel convoluted.

Excessive and verbose text: The game is criticized for having too much text, which can be verbose and redundant. This heavy reliance on text may not appeal to all players.

Confusing and overwhelming gameplay: The game can be confusing and overwhelming, especially for new players. The complexity and information density may make it feel unfinished or poorly designed.

Narrative-driven gameplay experience: The game is heavily focused on its deep and inspirational narrative, providing a story-rich experience similar to text-based novels and visual novels.

Dialogue-heavy interactions: Gameplay revolves around extensive dialogue and conversations, with a strong emphasis on dialogue-driven interactions and a focus on reading and dialogue.

Unique combat system: The game features a unique combat system that is challenging but not overpowered, though it may not be well-received by all players.

Character stats affect interactions: Character statistics and development significantly impact dialogue options and interactions, adding depth to the role-playing experience.

Unique world and setting: Features a unique and well-designed setting with rich lore, providing a distinctive backdrop for the game's events.

Frequent crashes and bugs: Many players report that the game, particularly the Enhanced Edition, suffers from frequent crashes and bugs. These issues occur during various activities such as loading locations, saving, and specific sections like the Baator / Pillar of Skulls.

Improved UI and graphics: The Enhanced Edition of the game has received significant improvements to its user interface and graphics, accommodating modern resolutions including 4K support and enhancing the overall visual experience.

Enhanced music and performance: The game features an enhanced soundtrack and generally runs smoothly on modern hardware, including Mac and GNU/Linux systems. However, some players experience performance issues and crashes on specific setups like Windows 11 and Intel 620 HD GPU.

Accessibility and usability improvements: The Enhanced Edition includes several accessibility and usability improvements, such as high-resolution text support, zoom functionality, and pathfinding improvements. However, some players find the high-resolution text to be too small.

Miscellaneous feedback: Various other feedback includes issues with the save system, trouble with loading characters for cutscenes, and positive remarks on specific features like auto-looting. Some players also mention that the game occasionally fails to launch.

Highly recommended for various players: The game is strongly recommended for a wide range of players, including those who enjoy deep narratives, philosophy, and mature gamers seeking a quality RPG. It is also recommended for its story, setting, and dialogue.

Deep narrative and storytelling focus: The game is highly recommended for players who enjoy deep narratives, immersive worlds, and engaging characters. It is praised for its storytelling, soundtrack, and unique setting, making it ideal for those who prioritize story over combat.

Comparison to other CRPGs: Players who enjoy games like Baldur's Gate, Icewind Dale, and Pillars of Eternity are likely to appreciate this game. It is suggested as a good companion piece to these games and offers a unique CRPG experience.

High praise for RPG elements: The game is praised as one of the greatest RPGs of all time, ranking among the top RPGs. It is also noted for its highly reactive narrative interactions and different, fulfilling experiences every time.

Worth the purchase and collection: The game is considered worth adding to your collection and is deemed worth the asking price. It is recommended to buy and cherish the game for its unique qualities and storytelling.

Community fair range: $18.00 - $20.00.

Game completion: 41.0h.

Story completion: 30.0h.

Session length: 4.0h.

Endgame: 10.0h.

Planescape: Torment has a challenging start due to its clunky interface and unclear storyline, but it becomes significantly more enjoyable after a few hours of play, particularly once players reach key narrative points.

Reported time to anchor: 4h.

Story-First Explorer: Focuses on dialogue and story progression, often using guides to navigate complex choices. Motivation: Engaging with deep, philosophical narratives and well-written stories. Stance: buy.

Strategic Optimizer: Uses guides and strategic planning to navigate the game, focusing on optimizing character stats and outcomes. Motivation: Optimizing character builds and exploring the consequences of player choices. Stance: sale.

Tolerant Literary Enthusiast: Tolerates gameplay flaws and uses cheats or guides to focus on the narrative and dialogue. Motivation: Experiencing the game's unique story and appreciating its literary qualities. Stance: sale.

Steam Deck: The analysis of user feedback reveals several key issues with the game. Stability issues, including frequent crashes and problems with launching or saving the game, are the most severe problems reported. Users also express a preference for a different control scheme, indicating potential discomfort with the current setup. Additionally, while the game generally performs well, there are specific issues in certain locations, and users appreciate the native GNU/Linux support.

External guides: The primary user complaints revolve around the game's complexity and the necessity of using external guides or walkthroughs to fully understand and enjoy the game. Many users find the game mechanics and storyline difficult to grasp without additional resources, which significantly impacts their experience.

Requires lots of patience: Players have noted that the game demands a significant amount of patience to progress and enjoy.

Cheat code for combat: There are mentions of a cheat code specifically related to combat mechanics in the game.