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Hey, I need your opinion here
Posted: Tue Feb 12, 2002 2:12 am
by JosephM
1st of all, I had just finished the game and are pretty damn impressed with it, so impressed i found it a better game than bg2!!!
so my question is... WHERES THE SEQUEL!!! if they spiced up the box it came in to make it look more appealing, maybe add a few more npc's, and some new monsters, i think this game will be a big hit.
Posted: Tue Feb 12, 2002 2:45 am
by SilentHedges
I think that, in a strange way, it's a good thing that there isn't a sequel to Torment. It makes it more unique amongst the other Black Isle RPGs (who else thought that BG2 didn't really lead on from BG1 in terms of its atmosphere and focus?), and I feel that a sequel wouldn't be anywhere as good. To make it a commercial success, they'd cram it full of combat and take away those highly interesting (though dated) graphics.
Also, while the story in Torment is left open at the end, I can't really imagine a feasible way to extend it- all the Nameless One's mystery is gone by the time you complete the game, and that was what Torment was about. A sequel in which the Nameless One redeems himself would be too soppy to stand...
Sure, there are too few spells in Torment (though the ninth level spells are better than those from BG2, IMHO- Meteor Storm Bombardment compared to Meteor Swarm, no contest) but Torment wasn't about using spells to make a whole new layer of dull complexity (unlike BG2: 'Use Spell Shield to counter Spellstrike to counter Spell Turning to counter spells...').
SilentHedges
Posted: Tue Feb 12, 2002 9:24 am
by fable
There was no sequel, because the game didn't sell as well as Interplay had hoped. I've heard contradictory information about those sales figures--that it was simply very good but not stellar, and that it just about broke even. In either case, the Black Isle Studio folks were shunted over to TORN, a P:T-like project using a NWN engine. And when TORN was killed, most of the creative team at BIS was terminated.
Posted: Tue Feb 12, 2002 9:59 pm
by JosephM
UncleScratchy,
you actually figured out his name?! can you tell me?
Posted: Thu Feb 14, 2002 11:06 am
by fable
I think he's having you on.
Posted: Thu Feb 14, 2002 12:00 pm
by fable
As I recall, that journal is in a coded language, and requires the services of the linguist, Fingam, for diciphering.
Posted: Thu Feb 14, 2002 12:22 pm
by Sojourner
His name is also written on one of the wall panels in his tomb.
Posted: Fri Feb 15, 2002 2:37 am
by Sojourner
The journal entry you mentioned is identical to the writing on the wall panel.
Posted: Fri Feb 15, 2002 2:44 am
by Firrari
They shouldn't make a sequel since they could never compete with the original. What they should try to do however is try to come up with another game that is as creative as Planescape Torment. After Baldor's Gate I tried BGII and got bored too fast and never played it very long. I think part of that was that I had some of the same characters and personalities I had before. I realize they did it for falimiarity but it made it boring to me. I think it would probably be the same with a sequel to Planescape Torment since a continuation would just be that, a continuation. It was fresh, new and creative. I think it would have been more popular as far as sales if it hadn't been so creative. I think many people that read the box thougt that it would be too wierd. Personally I thought it was the best RPG I've ever played. Some of the concepts (Sensates for example) and many others were interesting. The characters were so much more colorful than in most RPG's including other Black Isle products. I played Icewind Dale which was pretty good but didn't really compare. It was just BGII with a different story but at least it was different enought for me to enjoy it. Someone at Black Isle just needs to come up with a very interesting storyline with some mystery, suspense and homor like Planescape and we will all be happy. Have a great day.
Firrari
Posted: Fri Feb 15, 2002 12:11 pm
by fable
Originally posted by UncleScratchy
Didn't know that - was I right about the name? I wasn't planning on replaying the game to check out the tomb.
I'd have to say that no, it isn't his name. Two reasons:
1) First, the journal in question was left by the paranoid (evil) persona of the Nameless One. This is the same guy who killed to hide his tracks regularly. He would be as likely to write his name, anywhere, as he would be to write his private thoughts across the sky in letters of fire.
2) He's called the Nameless One because he doesn't have a name. He's probably had many, over hundreds of years. But they aren't him, any longer. He is a nullity.
Posted: Fri Feb 15, 2002 12:13 pm
by fable
Originally posted by Firrari
They shouldn't make a sequel since they could never compete with the original. What they should try to do however is try to come up with another game that is as creative as Planescape Torment. After Baldor's Gate I tried BGII and got bored too fast and never played it very long. I think part of that was that I had some of the same characters and personalities I had before.
You're certainly entitled to your opinion, but the vast majority of BG1 players enjoyed BG2 still more; and a lot are clambering for yet-another sequel. This would seem to indicate that sequels to work (well, plus the Ultima series, the Wizardry series, etc). Planescape: Torment was planned for a sequel, but the lack of sales on the original killed the idea of a followup.
Posted: Fri Feb 15, 2002 4:44 pm
by Andarian
I think your mixing the good and paranoid and practical incarnations all up scratchy, and I am pretty sure, though I can't remember, that someone in the story calls you Yemeth as an adjective at one point, which sort of invalidates it as your name.
Posted: Fri Feb 15, 2002 5:18 pm
by p1ane
Yemeth is not ur name. The whole "name thing" is so good cause u never get to know ur name. I think there should be a new Planescape game. Not about Nameless one or "The stories of Morte" or something like that. A completely new game ust with the spirit, gameplay, damn nice spell effects like Torment.
Posted: Fri Feb 15, 2002 7:10 pm
by fable
@UncleScratchy, just my POV, but I think you're barking up a defoliated tree.
He's called the Nameless One because that's what the development team wanted him to be, and the last thing they'd do would be to put his original, first incarnation name anywhere in the game. It really has no point anymore. He's not that person any longer.
Posted: Fri Feb 15, 2002 11:59 pm
by Sojourner
I think Yemeth is his real name after all. Why? Because
- The heads mentioned are clearly the Pillar of Skulls.
- If you ask the Pillar of Skulls who you are, they'll give you the answer written in the journals.
- IIRC, there's an Easter Egg in the game which refers to the name.
Posted: Sat Feb 16, 2002 1:27 am
by JosephM
IIRC, there's an Easter Egg in the game which refers to the name.
and that easter egg is what?
Posted: Sat Feb 16, 2002 1:41 am
by Sojourner
I can't remember - I'm going through the game now to find it, among other things.
Posted: Sat Feb 16, 2002 10:06 am
by Andarian
I mean an adjective they made up purely for Planescape, but I know that SOMEONE calls you yemeth at some time in the form of a description, just like Dhaal calls you restless one, even though that isn't your name ;P.
The thing is, the Paranoid incarnation never knew his name, he just ran around killing people and setting traps for us "Body theives" everywhere, and besides, if he did know it, you would find out when you merged with him, you wouldn't need the sphere to find it out ;P.
Posted: Sat Feb 16, 2002 11:50 am
by p1ane
Originally posted by Andarian
I mean an adjective they made up purely for Planescape, but I know that SOMEONE calls you yemeth at some time in the form of a description, just like Dhaal calls you restless one, even though that isn't your name ;P.
The thing is, the Paranoid incarnation never knew his name, he just ran around killing people and setting traps for us "Body theives" everywhere, and besides, if he did know it, you would find out when you merged with him, you wouldn't need the sphere to find it out ;P.
Ur "name" isn´t just nameless one. You have been called many things through the ages. And one thing.. Why don´t just make a wish for ur name with the wishscroll?
Posted: Sat Feb 16, 2002 6:00 pm
by Sojourner
OK, I can't recall how you run across this in the game, but here's what I found with IE:
Pendant of Yemeth
The Pendant of Yemeth is constructed of some silvery metal. Six crystals radiate from the skull in a circle, forming a crown of sorts. A leather lanyard is looped though an eyehole attached to the top of the skull.
The item is named for its creator, a sorcerer of a by-gone age. Though Yemeth's power was great, time began to take its toll on him; he began to grow weak and sodden. The Pendant was commissioned by the dying wizard to serve as a vessel for souls -- souls which Yemeth himself would draw from dying mortals, and later use to power his waning life-force. Yemeth was eventually slain in a battle, destroyed utterly, and the Pendant was lost. Sages said that, even if the Pendant were to be recovered, no mortal knows the secrets of its use.
Here's some other interesting items I found:
TOME O' CHEATS
This is the infamous Tome o' Cheats, a massive libram of sleazy little loopholes and the like written through the collaboration of dozens of dastardly power-gamers.
As soon as it's decided exactly how much of its possible functions can be implemented in the short amount of time we want to allot to it, you'll be able to cheat, cheat, *cheat* like mad with it. Hoody-hoo!
THE EVISCERATOR
(Unique, Artifact, Cheat)
Damage: 4-80 + 20
+20 to hit
+20 to Armor Class
Sets all Stats to 25
Weight: 0
Speed: 1
Proficiency: Edged
This unholy weapon is obviously intended for Quality Assurance to massacre any creature in their path as quickly as possible.