Hi there! I've just finished playing through PS:T (finally!) twice, and both times I noticed something about the storyline that made me have to come out and post, simply because I found this game to have one of the most fascinating story lines I have ever come across.
The thing that got me most about this story, and unlike other games I have played or books I have read, is that although you play as TNO, a being who cannot die, and lives in a universe (or rather a MUTLI-verse) where people talk about hopping from one plane of existance to another as if it were taking a plane to the nearest country; for once, you don't play the epic -of-save-the-world/universe-from-the-forces-darkness. In fact, the TNO's goal, no matter what alignment you play, is nothing but a selfish desire to die.
I don't play many computer games, except for a few RPGS. I've played both NWNs, Fable TLC, Morrowind, Ultima 8 and 9, two GTAs, Fifa 99 and Cricket 05 in my entire life. There are a few others, but these are the only ones that I have played through, at least. The rest I tossed aside without finishing them. So I don't know if this story concept is unique or not, but to me, I've never seen anything like it.
There are no greater ramifications as to whether TNO lives or dies. And all the major events in the story were not caused by TNO, but by characters he had contact with, and could very well have done what they did with or without knowing him. Take that deva (forgot his name). He caused massive chaos in Curst, and you had to wade through it to reach him to get answers. But TNO is just another piece of that chaos, which fits with the whole event, what with the town slipping out of neutrality. The only reason that deva was important to TNO was because it had information TNO could use. The previous incarnation who the deva had contact with also did not influence the deva's actions because it was always a betrayer, and could very easily have caused the problems it did without knowing TNO.
This also made the the whole alignment system and the moral choices you made a lot more relevant to the game, storywise anyways. Look it...in NWN, regardless of how good or evil you are, you will anyways end up saving the world. You're good and evil is a dialog thing and has really nothing to do with anything, storywise or game play wise. But in PS:T, because the end goal of the game is a personal objective, it adds that little more to the value those dialog options add to you're character.
It's enjoyable how this also puts the whole multi-verse's size in perspective. I always found it hard to swallow that the actions I'm taking in say, NWN, actually was beneficial for the world. From what I could gather, the NWN is similar to the PS:T world in that it is made of multiple planes, and here I am having to believe that lizard people endanger everything that exists in an existance which includes multitudes of powerful demons, devils, angels, and Gods too (Morrowind did come close to PS:T though)? It also personalizes all the people in the game so much more, even beings like Ravel. I've never actually paid any attention to the side characters before too.
And of course, there's a whole other slew of reasons why I love this game, but that's not for here. Just wanted to say piece, is all. I'm just sad that it took me so long to hear about this game. Better late than never though!
Something About the Story
I feel the same way. I think any character would require a really strong, solid personality to carry a save-the-world plot on their shoulders, and in many games the player character's personality is essentially reduced to the not-very-varied dialogue options you pick for them. Any hero who was saving the world on such a grand scale would alienate the player/reader/audience easily, unless their motivations and personal desires were very clear.blueblip wrote: I always found it hard to swallow that the actions I'm taking in say, NWN, actually was beneficial for the world. From what I could gather, the NWN is similar to the PS:T world in that it is made of multiple planes, and here I am having to believe that lizard people endanger everything that exists in an existance which includes multitudes of powerful demons, devils, angels, and Gods too (Morrowind did come close to PS:T though)?
I can't relate to my own character in a lot of games half as well as I can to this existentially tortured, immortal amnesiac, because, as bizarre a character as TNO is, it makes him so much more REAL that he is dealing with his own problems, his own life and that the rest of the world moves on its own accord around him.
Torment just includes so many of those things that other games forget, to give it that touch of reality amidst all the weirdness. Another thing to mention is characters that you can never hope to kill no matter how high level you are, but who can kill you if you offend them, such as the Lady of Pain. Many other games make the "mistake" of having your character end up as the toughest guy/girl in the world, unstoppable by anyone.