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Still puts most RPGs to shame
Planescape: Torment is a great RPG, in the truest sense of the genre. You play the Nameless One, a confused but apparently immortal (in the sense of if you die, you don't die for good) wanderer of the planes, whose very flesh tells the tale of his endless struggles. You are turned loose into a world that bears only a passing and vague resemblance to any other D&D or RPG realm you may have encountered, and that is filled with endless mysteries and characters. I've never played another game where you can spend an hour talking to the other NPCs in your party (let alone in the rest of the world), earning experience and knowledge for what you uncover about their lives, and never feel like you're bored. There are plenty of fights but no sense of tedious hack-and-slash, and it's difficult to emphasize just how convoluted and intricate both the plot and the game systems really are. As an example, at one point my Nameless character was festooned with power-granting tattoos, dual classed as a thief-mage, and clubbing his enemies with a severed limb from one of his own previous incarnations. I mean, come on!
This is not really an RPG you can 'power game' your way through, more to its credit. One of the most important statistics is Wisdom, tactics are more important than brute force, and the puzzles and side quests are to be savored, not accomplished as rapidly as possible.
Lastly, in response to some of the other reviews, I have to note a few things. First, there are plenty of ranged weapons, particularly crossbows for a character you can obtain about halfway through in an impressive "side" quest. Moreover, there are life indicators under the portrait for each NPC so it's easy to see when people are hurt. And finally, having played Baldur's Gate, Baldur's Gate II, Icewind Dale etc, the spell names, types, and effects in Planescape are totally awesome and in keeping with the surreal and twisted landscape. This is not a game to be missed.
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