Planescape question

[Robert Sharp]

OK, I am replaying this one, since I never really got past the Clerk Wards or so on my first play through. I am at about that point again. Anyway, I played as a thief until I got Annah because I needed those skills. This got me to about level 6 or so as a thief. Then I switched to mage, which is what I kind of prefer. But as a thief I got a bonus to my dex for "specializing". Now, as a mage, I have not gotten the same bonus even though I raised several levels and got to level 8 now. Should I stick with mage from here on out? Will I start to get INT boosts? Is there any reason to keep switching to other classes, other than to do special tasks, spend proficiency points, etc.? Should I just level as a mage, in other words, from here on out? Note that I am NOT trying to min/max per se. But I just don't want to get screwed over later in the game for making a "wrong" choice.

[TurinTuramba]

There are 2 boni you can get from your class, one at lvl 7 and one at lvl 12. You can only get both boni in a single class, so you won´t get a mage bonus. They aren´t that crucial, I think you get +3 intelligence and +1 wisdom total as a mage.

In addition those specializations enable you to buy special tatoos, which are pretty nifty, the lvl 12 mage tatoo doubles your lvl 1 and 2 spells.

[TriggerHappy]

If I remember right, you can get one bonus for two classes, but the combined bonus won't be as good if you hit the benchmark levels with the same class.

Thief first class to level 7, get +1 dex.
Mage first class to level 7, get +1 int.

Theif to level 7 then mage to level 14, total +1 dex, +1 int.

Thief to level 14, total +3 dex, +1 str (or something like that)
Mage to level 14, total +3 int, +1 wis

[mystery]

Man, when is someone going to make a complete remake of this game in a real 3D engine? NWN would suit, wouldn't it?

[Jason McCullough]

Www.bootstrike.com isn't responding for some reason, so here's the cached google version:

There are two "hidden stats" maintained by the game:

- Lore gives you a chance to identify items without a spell. Increases as you level.

- Luck is a very powerful stat. You can get from 1 to 3 luck points. For each point of luck, you get a +1 to hit, +1 to damage, +1 to saving throw, and +1 HP from healing spells. Opponents get -1 to hit and -1 to damage. Plus you get a small bonus to thief skills, bashing, and weapon speed.

In addition to normal effects of stats, they do the following in Torment:

- High Strength allows for intimidation of some NPC's

- High Intelligence gives extra dialog options, helps regain memories and a bonus to lore

- High Wisdom gives experience bonus (starting at 13), extra dialog options, warnings of danger and luck bonuses (starting at 15)

- High Dexterity gives extra dialog options

- High Constitution allows you to regenerate faster

- High Charisma gives a discount in stores (starting at 16), extra dialog options, increases impact of certain lies and truths and improves certain rewards.

Most statistic checks in the game will succeed for a stat that is 13 or higher.

There are many ways to raise stats as the game progresses.

You can switch between fighter, mage or thief any time you can find someone to train you.

You get a +1 bonus to your primary stat for whichever class you reach 7th level in first.

If you make 12th level first in the same class you first made 7th level, you get the following "super bonus":

- Fighter gets +1 STR, +1 CON, +3 max HP

- Thief gets +2 DEX, +1 Luck

- Mage gets +2 INT, +1 WIS, +5 Lore

(Internet archive version):
http://web.archive.org/web/200410130...com/index.html

[Kalle]

Man, when is someone going to make a complete remake of this game in a real 3D engine? NWN would suit, wouldn't it?

Hopefully, never. If I saw Planescape's art butchered in a low-poly NWN conversion that would force me to hunt down and kill the mod artist responsible.

[eliandi]

Man, when is someone going to make a complete remake of this game in a real 3D engine? NWN would suit, wouldn't it?

Hopefully, never. If I saw Planescape's art butchered in a low-poly NWN conversion that would force me to hunt down and kill the mod artist responsible.

Already in progress, and certainly not low-poly

http://www.city-of-doors.com/index.html

[stusser]

Instead of remaking a perfectly playable old game why not create a new one of similar quality? I don't get the whole remake craze.

[Lunch of Kong]

it's just a hobby, stusser. like restoring old cars.

[RichardC]

I think they're meant to be doing original Planescape stuff, not recreating Torment.

[AlanT]

I think they're meant to be doing original Planescape stuff, not recreating Torment.

Which would be good, it's an interesting setting.

But a 3D Torment would be like a colorized Casablanca.

[mystery]

I think they're meant to be doing original Planescape stuff, not recreating Torment.

Which would be good, it's an interesting setting.

But a 3D Torment would be like a colorized Casablanca.

You don't understand -- I like occasionally installing old games and playing them because they were just too good to forget. Like reading old books you liked.

The problem with Planescape is that I jump into the game and the first thing I think is: "Wow, how do I zoom out on this." Everything's blocky and indistinct. Sure, it runs extremely fast, but the graphics just kill it for me.

I just wish someone would come along and layer that same game play over a 3D engine. Expanding it after that fact is fine, I just want to go back and really enjoy it.

[mono]

The problem with Planescape is that I jump into the game and the first thing I think is: "Wow, how do I zoom out on this." Everything's blocky and indistinct. Sure, it runs extremely fast, but the graphics just kill it for me.

I just wish someone would come along and layer that same game play over a 3D engine. Expanding it after that fact is fine, I just want to go back and really enjoy it.

I completely agree. I never played Torment and have heard endless praise for the game. Everytime I've loaded it up, I feel like I'm playing Adventure for the Atari 2600, and just can't play more than 10 minutes. I'd love to see an NWN, or any modern engine, remake.

[awdougherty]

Part of me wishes there was a way to play it in a higher resolution, like the way bgtutu converts the first baldur's gate. Other than that, I'd take the original over a 3d remake myself.

[Justin Fletcher]

I've never understood all the sprite hate. There's lots of great examples of 2D artistry, Planescape being just one of them.

And, seriously, this equals this?

[Gordon Cameron]

Yeah, I dunno, PS Torment came out in 1999, that just doesn't seem that ancient to me. I guess it would be nice if someone could mod it to display at a higher resolution though.

I've still never won the damn thing. First run-through I got stuck in Curst with a 5 person party (had forgotten to recruit that angel chick) and couldn't fight my way through. Later I tried again, got Mazed, was unable to solve the puzzle and lost interest, then my hard drive exploded and i lost the save games.

Someday I'll run through it yet again.

[graller]

I thought it was a beautiful game. My only issue was wishing I could see longer distances. Ranged weapons were worthless in that game.

[Moore]

I'd prefer ports to portables. DS or pocketpc or psp would make the blockyness way less noticable.

DOS emulation on PPC helped me play the Worlds of Ultima games without the graphics bothering me at all.

[Chris Nahr]

I've still never won the damn thing.

You couldn't win a game that let you survive your main character's death?

Okay, you're officially pathetic. :P

[Gordon Cameron]

Hey, just cause you can keep resurrecting doesn't mean you can wade through all those demons in Curst with a 5-man party. At least I couldn't... :?

[awdougherty]

What tripped me up my first time through was the maze. That annoyed me to no end, but eventually I had to just make myself get through it. Afgter that, it was back to the awesome stuff.

[Qenan]

I remember that the maze caused me to actually buy a pad of graph paper.

Hmm, may be time to replay Torment. Great game.

[Shadari]

I thought it was a beautiful game. My only issue was wishing I could see longer distances. Ranged weapons were worthless in that game.

I thought it was a visually pleasing game as well. But I did have problems making heads or tails of the various city structures and such as they had some very strange architectures and the colors tended to blend together in such a way to make things less distinct. I couldn't tell if something was a building, aquaduct, a wall, etc. That made it a bit hard to find doorways and things like that.

[Bill Dungsroman]

When I play Torment, I usually do this:

Start you character with 18 WIS and 17 INT. Start as a fighter (natch), and level up to 5th or 6th level. Leveling up in a certain class first will give you that class' hit die for HP gains, so you want to level up first in fighter as often as you can (you only get 1hp from other classes when you level if they are below another class' level). But, you want to get the stat bonuses for reaching 7th and 12th level first as a mage. So, I have Mebbeth switch me to Mage and continue on until I hit level 7, taking some time along the way to level up as a thief (Ratbone, I think, in Ragpicker's Square will train you) to 4th or 5th level, to snag an easy few hp that won't cost too much XP to get. I usually dump all thief points into one or two skills - if you have a high enough score in a thief skill, you can actualyl train Annah in it, improving her skill and getting XP for it.

When I hit 7th level as a mage, I have Dakkon switch me back to fighter until level 9 (the XP cost gets too high after that), then back to mage forever.

[Robert Sharp]

That makes sense, Bill, but I am not worried about HPs. I think I will go for the thief bonus, since luck sounds pretty damned good for everything. And I can raise my int and str with the free stat points I get for levelling, which is also fairly fast with a thief. I just didn't have the info on the super bonus, and I don't want to get a FAQ because I don't want too many spoilers. I just didn't want to ruin my character.

[Robert Sharp]

I just hit the maze for the first time (I guess I didn't piss the Lady off the first time I played...or didn't get far enough). The personal maze (if that is the one you mean) turned out not to be a problem really. I guess it did take a few minutes though, mainly to unveil the map. If there is ANOTHER maze, I don't think I want to see it.

[Quaro]

Don't worry too much about min-maxing the combat system. There's only one part of the game where you are forced to fight, two if you count the optional dungeon-o-matic thing. THAT was the toughest part of the game for me.

I went with a fighter up to level 11 or so. I somehow missed the mage quest but since i really wanted to be a mage I kept upgrading my wis and int and chr only. Anyway, I eventually switched and got through the combat parts just fine -- I just gave my minor and major fighter class tats to D'Akkon and had him clean house everywhere where fighting was necessary.

I think the game shines brightest with a talky character who maxes wisdom, int, and char, so that's how I'd recommend you play. In some ways it turns Torment into an adventure game, but the combat part of the game is certainly nothing special.

[Jason McCullough]

Yeah, I'd go all dialog, treating the combat as a side game. Go right ahead and use a character editor on your PC if you're having trouble, don't want to miss any of that golden story.

I'm wondering how far I can get through the game this time with my chaotic evil psychotic who tries to kill everyone he lays eyes on.....

[Robert Sharp]

I'm wondering how far I can get through the game this time with my chaotic evil psychotic who tries to kill everyone he lays eyes on.....

I started this second run that way, but I couldn't keep it up :). I just can't stand being mean to people in these games.

[Kalle]

If there is ANOTHER maze, I don't think I want to see it.

There is the Modron Maze, but it is purely optional. It's an entirely randomized mini-dungeon. The main reason to go there is that if you run the dungeon on the hard setting (you can change the difficulty of the maze from the control room inside it) you can find a new character, and if you defeat the dungeon master you get a pretty nifty 8th level spell plus some assorted loot.