Death ... as liberation? It can become what we all fear, in special cases, in the only possible way out? And the death just to escape the terrible responsibility that every human being carries inside at the time of death? Do not you believe it, but we're talking about a video game the best computer RPG ever [...]
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E 'bias common to reduce a video game to a mere instrument to entertain (or keep busy) children, this being an alien world to areas more "cultured" or "mature." Often this concept is the daughter of the total strangeness of this world, sometimes the idea that a book is on another level of culture. A bit like the cinema is considered in relation to the theater, a kind of "minor child."
In fact, these (as well as music, painting or any other form of art) are nothing more than simple means by which man tries to express their thoughts and communicate to their stakeholders. Sometimes the choice of medium is dictated by their abilities, others times is chosen according to what seemed best. And as in literature, there are books suitable for children, even in the world of video games are works of thick ... and this does not mean having to turn the character who shoots at every step. Why
Planetscape: Torment can not define a simple entertainment for children, what this little masterpiece is trying to communicate is never simple, but profound and sometimes difficult to interpret, for the particular topics covered and how they are treated. More than once we feel we are faced with a philosophical work more than just a game, and a distance of 11 years after its publication is one of the highest games on the PC.
Torment was founded in 1999 as an RPG for the PC, using the graphics engine as Infinity Engine that already with the sagas of "Baldur's Gate" and "Icewind Dale" had been very successful. But the similarities with these other securities (other than the AD & D ruleset, however, changed in different parts of it) end up here.
right from the start we realize that we are not facing the usual RPG: we're going to play as the hero, Nameless One, is immortal. For an indefinite time, our hero dies and rises again in an endless cycle, without remembering anything of his "lives" in the past. And so we begin: raised in a mortuary, not knowing anything about ourselves. The aim of our game will not be used to kill the evil enemy of the moment or save the princess in distress, becomes instead try to understand ourselves, who we are and understand how to find true liberation after death.
Torment overturns the classic role-playing games, we're not the hero of the moment, but the poor helpless trying to understand himself, and the whole of the story is structured so as to add little by little, as in a large mosaic, piece by piece to our identity. E 'soul-searching, but at the same time makes us think the same player on issues such as death, existence after this, the role they play in this life.
The setting itself, surreal and exotic, it helps create a sort of bewilderment and surprise at the same time. Much of the game takes place in Sigil, a true crossroads plane from which you can access any plane of existence. Here converge races and thoughts of every place and not infrequently the canons by which it is compared with the typical fantasy settings will be put to the test.
Our own band mates (beginning with Death, a sort of talking skull that we would have from the beginning of our adventure) are not mere puppets, but an integral part of that larger story that is at a level higher than the very fabric of the game. Each has been meticulously characterized, with its own personality will emerge on several occasions that the context in which we find ourselves, and each will give us a sort of inner exploration of ourselves through a different point of view.
Technically speaking, the creators of Torment substantial changes to the graphics engine. All commands and toolbars of the game were moved to the bottom of the screen, leaving most of the game view free. This highlights the beautiful backdrops (the view is isometric 2D), on which our characters move. The Regulation is amended AD & D in various aspects and added a menu ring (used by pressing the right mouse button) from which you can access all the usable capacity of the characters. Black Isle in style this is the tactic to break the fighting, and in various situations of interaction with NPCs, we face a clear choice, then that will lead to different consequences.
But be careful, we can hardly say that this will be a sort of choice between good and evil, because in reality these two concepts is blurred, and often become more moral choices based on our view of things.
What is most striking, however, the narrative aspects. If in "Icewind Dale" much of the game in the clashes and was aimed in "Baldur's Gate" was a balance between fiction and fighting, Torment is definitely moved on dialogues. Of course, the fights are present, but not a fundamental point of the game. What impresses is the sheer amount of dialogue, perhaps unmatched even today, but especially the quality of these dialogues. At times we seem to read a book, so we engaged in lengthy dialogues and articulated. Not only that: "bypassing" a lack of graphics engine, the authors did not confine themselves to create simple dialogues, but the text is filled with descriptions of our partners, the feelings that we are testing, the environment in which we interact, or even the details that your character is able to grasp. No other game, both taking advantage of exploiting the animated graphics or text, has come close to what has been created with this title.
Torment The legacy we leave is more than just a gaming experience devoted to fun, something that in 11 years continues to give pause and think. Not a pastime to be taken when we have 5 minutes free, but almost a kind of commitment "mature" we commit mentally to be understood.
a sort of milestone, the greatest RPG ever developed, something more than just a game but a sort of spiritual guide who leads us into ourselves and leads us to reflect more than just a book.
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