Planescape Torment review: the GOAT of RPGs? Does it compare with Baldur's Gate 2 and Icewind Dale

Planescape Torment juggles with some of humanities biggest questions, especially those that revolve around transcendence and spiritual rebirth. As a story telling piece it is a masterpiece. But is it the greatest video game of all time? Even the best RPG of all time? How does it compare to some other D&D titles like Baldur's Gate and Icewind Dale?
I might have not been crazy about planescape torment ost, but I'll leave a link here for you to check it out. • Planescape Torment Sou...

[@teroril]

You definitely missed a bunch of story and narrative with the characters: They are all inherently bound to The Nameless One in one way or another. Past reincarnations of you having huge influence on their arcs. And one of the most memorable moments for me in the games was seeking forgiveness for the actions of your past reincarnations. -You were Ignus' Mentor. That's why he follows you and, ultimately, betrays you. -You created the Circle of Zerthamon as a conundrum Dak'kon couldn't solve, in order to enslave him. -You orchestrated for Annah to find your dead body in a very specific manner as a ruse to evade a previous incarnation's plans and start you on the path of the game -You pulled Morte out of the Pillar of Skulls and made him permanently indebted to you againwt his will (also making him a little bit insane by being a companion for you in every reincarnation). All potential party members have a past with your previous incarnations. Besides that, there's swaths of side content. My favorites of which: -being trapped by the Lady of Pain, because you treated her as a deity by making an effigy out of a doll depicting her. -Joining the Believers of the Source (Godsmen). -Joining the Anarchists. -Entering the plane of Mechanus, only to discover that the Modrons there have created the "pinnacle of adventuring" - an automated, self-randomizing, infinitely replayable dungeon (this is the game being self aware about min/maxing and powergaming). -Finding a hidden portal that only opens by the express intent of not wanting to enter it, leading to Coaxmetal - the military industrial complex of the Blood War, forever sealed away because it could create any weapon you could imagine. Then having it craft a weapon that can kill an immortal being (which you can use at the very end to commit suicide, thus killing your mortality along with yourself). There are many more of these sorts of quests and moments in the game.

[@sebastianzaczek247]

Ignus follows you only cause you saved him? (spoiler) No, you were his (sadistic) teacher. That's why he comes after you at the end. Edit: What about Vhailor and Nordom (great companions imho).

[@Siperos]

I've been meaning to play this game for a very long time now since it's such a classic and everyone gives it such high praises. Planescape: Torment is also the only game whose soundtrack I have listened from start to finish multiple times without ever actually playing the game before, so, funnily enough, I may feel nostalgic about the game for the music alone when I start to play it. I think the music very VERY good!

[@justtkrl]

The music is amazing but unfortunately i found that it gets almost nauseating at times when you’re in the hive. You just hear a lot of the same tracks over and over for like the first 8 hours lol. But that’s only for the start. Once the game opens up more you appreciate the full soundtrack for sure

[@ganjiblobflankis6581]

The music is elevated for me by the main theme and the variations on it. It somehow tells you everything about the character you play so that in the end it makes sense. This is right up there with anything in movie scores or classical music in how well it does the job. Most game music sets the scene (good example, Halo or Balder's Gate) and so at first that is what you take it for. This way it can act as heavy foreshadowing without you realising it unlike in a movie where a character enters and their theme tells you about them (see Star Wars).

[@jiikuncorner]

'only you can change the nature of a man, ravel, you freakin absolute babe.' - high cha build nameless one

[@pantonearqm2791]

In knowing the teachings of Zerthimon I have become stronger. Great game, it's level of story and characters remain unmatched by any other game. UPD: you didn't mention Fall From Grace in companions part of the video. That's a war crime.

[@YeOldEntertainment]

I see what you did there

[@Toffiewolf]

Only recently watched a playthrough of this and it was incredible. The story stands out above all.

[@filo552]

I loved the video! I just found you channel, I subscibed. However, I respectfully disagree about the companions. For me, all of them were deep in character, I talked with them a lot. Even Annah, for me, she was a lost soul, who finally found love and welcoming in NO, and this is why she would die for him in the end. By gameplay and fights, they give a lot. Every one of them had their role, not just Morte. Fall-form-grace has soma very impressive dps magic, Dak'kon is a multitalent (I made him a tank/wizard). So for me, they were deeper and more important

[@YeOldEntertainment]

Thanks for the sub!! O.k. Fair enough.

[@filo552]

@@YeOldEntertainment *when sempai notices you sounds* Keep up the good work, mate, so far I love your videos ;) (because I couldn't watch all of them, yet)

[@YeOldEntertainment]

@@filo552 Take your time. After all I take my time making them XD

[@dolbz]

There is a chain quest that leads you to Valygar in bg 2 and it starts in the slums but you can get to him in multiple ways and that's one of the great things of BG 2 that devs have hard time recreating to this day

[@hoi-polloi1863]

Thanks for the review! One note about the combat system... melee combat is a bit "meh" as you say, but one place where it shines (and just *maybe* goes over the top) is the spell animations. Am I the only guy who would cast Mechanus Cannon on random street thugs over and over, just to see the movie? ;D

[@tbone9474]

Took me by surprise when it got released. One of my all time favourites to this day

[@TheRPGChick]

Hey there, cutter, this was an excellent review, givin' poor sods the chant about this amazing game. That said, talkin' like a berk about the companions the way you did... that'll have you penned in the dead-book for sure. Nobody here wants to turn stag on yeh, so I'd advise you to stop rattling yer bone-box in such a manner. Most of the chant yer givin' us here is on the level, and yer videos are quite canny as a whole. I greatly enjoy yer wigwaggin' about all these fantastic games. Keep up the good work, cutter!

[@TheRPGChick]

@blahblahblah1312 Blah blah, says the berk.

[@pitchforker3304]

Great video, YEO! Lots of nostalgia watching and hearing PS:T again... I remember I spent the first part of the game trying to find armor and a sword. It's a fantasy RPG, right?? I loved it. It's an experience unlike any other game, book, or movie. Oddly, even though playing PS:T was epic and emotionally thrilling, I haven't played through it again. I can't put a finger on what's missing for replay value. Someday I'll jump in again... Without a doubt it's one of the best. And, slight disagreement, I think Mark Morgan's soundtrack is fantastic (I have listened to it many, many times...). Cheers!

[@hoi-polloi1863]

Ha, I had a similar problem before I got used to PST. I was going crazy looking for swords, and *armor* for crying out loud. I passed by the tattoo parlor multiple times because I wanted an *armory* dammit! ;D

[@chance20m]

Though it might be my favorite game, this is a fair review. I liked the music a bit more than you. And frankly, I was never as into its peer RPGs as most others were.

[@farvardinmainyu1961]

Thank you for the stupendous video ! The writing style of this game is my favorite.

[@YeOldEntertainment]

Yeah, Chris Avellone is something else!

[@jimmym3352]

hearing the "updating my journal" brings back the nostalgic feelings. I always felt the game as a bit overrated, but the story is topnotch. I can't honestly say it's the best RPG, because I rate "goodness" by how many times I've replayed a rpg. Chris is a top notch writer and some of my favorite rpg's were written by him, I won't get into his problems in "other areas".

[@YeOldEntertainment]

This comment gets a Ye Old Gamer recommends! I one 100% subscribe to this.

[@Banefane]

I played the classic a long time ago. My answer to the question wasn't there in the game's answer options. I wanted to answer "a stroke of fate". Still, it was really exciting to answer this question. Unfortunately, in my opinion, there aren't enough games with deep philosophical content that is also well implemented. Torment is a great game for me.

[@YeOldEntertainment]

Well there are quite a few that strike hard: Disco Elysium, What Remains of Edith Finch, Outer Wilds if you look deep into it. Gamedec (came out this year) is also pretty decent.

[@Banefane]

@@YeOldEntertainment Thank you for the recommendation! Never heard of What Remains of Edith Finch. I put it on my to-play list.

[@galacsucc630]

Not even 10 seconds in and there is already a Dream Theater reference... Instant Sub

[@YeOldEntertainment]

haha! thanks!

[@petermaasz]

I haven't watched the whole video yet but in terms of combat comparing Planescape: Torment with Disco Elysium is a bit unfair because Disco Eysium had 20 more years of Game Developement history to learn from compared to Planescape. But I totally agree, combat is not Planescape's strenght.

[@YeOldEntertainment]

Thanks for leaving a comment, mate. Disco Elysium does not have combat at all. What I meant is that Planescape: Torment could've not had combat. It probably would've been better if it hadn't had any. But that was unthinkable back in the day.

[@petermaasz]

​@@YeOldEntertainmentI understood you correctly and I agree. All I wanted to say is what you summarized here. Back in the day it was unthinkable to make a CRPG without combat. Anyway thanks for your in-depth reviews of these classic games. I enjoy them quite a lot.

[@perlipopo6644]

Greeaaat video man! I'm impressed by the precision of your rating system. I would have a hard time determining the quality of the gameplay of some games on 1 to 10 scale and you do it with decimals! Oh and thanks for the spoiler alert. Was wondering if there was any chance you will review the Troika games in the future? Just curious, no pressure. Have a great day!

[@YeOldEntertainment]

Thanks for leaving a comment. Well this one in particular is the one that was altered the most in it's final score. What I do is apply the "rating system" and I reserve for myself a few decimals or even points to add or subtract depending on whether or not there is something that adds value (that Ilike/dislike) that's not considered in the system. In this case... the story is just soooooooooo awesome... that it makes up a thousand fold for the things that aren't great about it. And yes... there probably will by an Arcanum review before the year ends and maybe Temple of Elemental Evil further along the line. And if people are interested, Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines. We'll see.

[@arthurvandelay.]

Sadly I think Mark Morgan's soundtrack here is a bit hit and miss. There's some memorable tracks, like the start menu one, the Brothel track, or the Mortuary track, but other are rather meh. Did you know Morgan was actually a late replacement for the guy who was originally tasked to make the music for Torment? An ambient artist named Lustmord

[@ShootingStar1313]

26:10 Yeah, well, you know, that's just like, your opinion, man. (Jeff Lebowski) 🤨

[@YeOldEntertainment]

Duuuuude. Everything in the video is, dude. (I approve of the reference!)

[@rekv1n241]

Great video as usual! P: T is one of my favorite games and now that I've been reminded that Disco Elysium is its spiritual successor, I've gotta play it as soon as possible. On that note, what are your spoiler-free thoughts about DE and how do you think it compares to P: T in terms of writing, story and gameplay, and which one is overall better in your opinion?

[@YeOldEntertainment]

Well... you can always watch the video on my channel XD. Short version... I think Disco Elysium is magnificent. I find it remarkable that it is Planescape: Torment's spiritual successor without copy-catting it in any way. To me, Disco Elysium it feels a little leaner and more sophisticated in its writing than Planescape: Torment (is 20 years more recent!) but it is less poignant and definitely not as epic. Also, it is significantly shorter. There's a new version that came out last year. I hear it is fully voiced and comes with more content. You might want to check that one.

[@rekv1n241]

@@YeOldEntertainment Thanks, man, appreciate it! I will watch your video on DE when I finish the game, since you said it is more of an analysis and involves spoilers, which is why I asked you for your spoiler-free thoughts on it.

[@Thorpal]

​@@rekv1n241 Actually they take a very different road, storytelling wise. Planescape has, with the Nameless One, litteraly the best character arc ever written in video game - and maybe beyond - something so solid that gets enhanced by the "dark whimsical" vibe of the Planescape universe. Disco Elysium, tells a run of the mill story of a not so hard boiled detective in identity crisis that's transcended by the sheer amount of details Za/Um has put in the way the universe is built and connected to what you do. I mean, Disco Elysium is mostly the game version of the encyclopedia of its universe. It's a masterpeace by the cosmogony they created. It allows a various amount of touching and/or dreadful encounters that will make you think : both about down to earth aspects and abstract concepts. And there are a lot of connections to our own crapy world too. As a game(play) it's far from perfect, as a digital (narrative) experience it's wonderfull and you should definitevely play it. I've only stopped my fourth playthrough when they introduced fully voiced dialogues and changed some actors in the process - they were "badly good", now they are just bad and I read much quicker than they talk...

[@Cannotbetamed1]

Well that was a lot more negative than I was expecting.

[@TheRPGChick]

Same! This cutter is usually right on the jink-jink with his reviews. But he has the right to rattle his bonebox in any way he chooses. (shrug)

[@YeOldEntertainment]

Thanks for dropping by! Well the things Torment doesn't do all that well aren't as important as the things it does phenomenally, so I still think it's a timeless game that will stand the test of time for years to come.

[@TheRPGChick]

@@YeOldEntertainment You were probably addressing the original poster, but you're right, of course. And it has stood the test of time, I feel, for over two decades now. My comments were half tongue-in-cheek with the cant. I'll add that the music is mainly used to convey a mood. The example you gave is probably the only track I don't like. But hearing any of these tunes just brings me right back to Sigil, it's uncanny.

[@ICEMAN-]

Can you do an outward review ?

[@YeOldEntertainment]

Oh that review has been in the making for months... There's A LOT to say about that game. And I'm working on it. Still have not played the second expansion. It's hard work! But short answer: yes.

[@Sarval123]

My waiting is complete! Played original game for the first time of my life in 2015,it was great experience, but technicaly it was quite mediocre even with fanpatches.For example ,one should switch display resolution to 800×600 before entering Forge to avoid crash to desktop. Thanks for the review! Maybe Temple of The Elemental will be next or it will be books about Drizzt maybe)? Considering you completed your road to BG 3 and mentioned books among films and games.

[@YeOldEntertainment]

Thanks for the comment mate but oh man... I don't think I can bring myself to play through TOEE again to record footage for a review. Don't get me wrong, I think it's an underrated little jewel, but it's sooooooooooo freaking buggy... even with the Circle of Eight Mod pack... If anyone gives a few (easy to follow pointers) on how to get it (GOG version) to work decently (without corrupt save files mostly) on Windows 10, I might consider playing through it again to make a review.

[@Sarval123]

@@YeOldEntertainment Bugs in TOEE is a challenge as it is indeed,can't blame you -) I'll see what I do with corrupting saves in GOG version.Currently I'm playing it now on WIN 10,and yet never experienced corrupted saves

[@Sarval123]

@@YeOldEntertainment So I checked game out,I have GOG version ,if you want more specifics and maybe help ,let me know-). P.S. Check autosaving on changing map ,this is strongly advisable to disable it and by default is off,maybe it would solve your problem

[@RevocerGM]

I love this game. I've actually recently started recording an audio narrative gameplay - where I voice all the dialogue and text. Going to release as podcasts

[@YeOldEntertainment]

Excellent! I think I saw it somewhere on youtube. Is it the "fully voiced" Playthrough or something like that? is that one yours?

[@RevocerGM]

@@YeOldEntertainment yes! :) - I've put out a little 'trailer' while I figure out what to have as the backdrop for KZbin. I have much less experience editing video

[@cpmf2112]

It seems like you never explored the full dialog trees with companions, especially Dakkon and Fall from Grace

[@sesimie]

The best Story in video games....My Fav game of all time...

[@frankbonfilio7443]

100 times yes

[@TwippyTwilight]

I didn't find the combat boring at all. I loved the combat. I spend hours grinding in undersigil, or the modron maze

[@nullpexception]

Back in the day, there were a series of patches that added missing dialog back into the game. Not sure if the "enhanced" edition fixed those bugs.

[@shoaku]

It is the GOAT of rpgs! End of story!

[@krzysztofpaweczyk1515]

SPOILERS, obviously. Just finished it. Finally, One of the greatest games of all time. After knowing Baldurs'es for almost 20 years and hearing such immense praise I was eagerly looking forward to play this. Let's do it Your way. Character Creation (weight points for final Weighted Arithmetic Mean - 10) Agree with what you said, good but not great. But the fact that there is only ONE viable build in this game (if you want to know most of the story, lore and backgrounds) kinda soils that goodness. 6/10 60 pts for WAM Gameplay (80): Combat (20): Agree with you again - didn't really care about paying attention to my equipment or abilities... until I was suddenly standing against Crusty Old Guards, coming in packs of 5-6 and I just needed to cheese it by taking them one by one from the fog of war. 2/10 (Baldurs 1 would be 7, ID 8, BG2 7.5, didn;t play ID2 yet) 40pts Exploration (10): Not overly filled with content (loot is a non factor in this game), but huge variety of locations make exploration enjoyable. 7/10 70pts Questing (50): Most of the quests in this game were a simple go to point A, talk, go back, go to point A again, go back, voila. I enjoyed the writing for the most part, but most of the quest were jus a pointless fetch quests, without any interesting twists on it's mechanics. Three items for Dreamreader and 'murder investigation' in the Forge made me rage because of all that there-and-back-again. 2/10 100pts Overall gameplay: 3,5/10 210pts Story and writing (180): Story (100): Nothing burger. Short, not bad story about lost memories and rediscovering itself. And the ENDING SPOILERS? This whole shtick of not telling anything substantial to the player was like a spit in the face. Also, the famous question is just silly and people tend to make otherworldly profound experience out of it. What can change the nature of a man? Experiences he experience. Oh, you can say that to Ravel? Too bad, pick anything, because it doesn't even matter. At least the final answer at the very end of a game makes more sense lorewise. 6/10 600pts

[@krzysztofpaweczyk1515]

Writting (50): Great. Awesome in both style and substance. But only when you come down to details, the dialogues themselves. Overall plot constructing and overindulgent, unnecessary loredumps are not good. 5/10 250pts Lore (30): Hard to actually grade this, because it's not torment lore, it's Planescape. And it's AWESOME. 10/10 for lore alone. But how well was lore of this world intervowen into the story? I would say it was decent, but underused. 7.5/10 225pts Story, lore and writing overall: 6,16/10 1075pts Companions Lorewise (30): Finally something purely excellent. Their backstory, how every single one of them was connected to the main character was brilliant. With a smile on my face I can give here 9/10 270pts Companions gameplay-wise (10): :eye-roll:. Except for Mort taunts and reduced damage input, and Dak'kon spells - nothing here works. Jankies RPG I played in my life. 3/10 30pts Secondary mechanics (10): Dated, but also terrible. Similar to BG, but somehow clunkier. Basically what you said in review. Thankfully they were not important 3/10 30pts Sound effects and mix (5): Erm..they were there I guess? 5/10 25pts Music (20): Hit and miss. High highs and low lows. Also - not alot of music. 7/10 140pts Voice acting (10): It was really fine for what it was. I really liked the fact, that not every line was voiced. I hate to read and listen at the same time, and I'm reading much faster that actors are saying their lines. Hearing that disonance always distracts me. One line voiced per dialogue, to have a feeling of characters voice was really enough. 7,5/10 75pts Graphics (art design) (20): Immaculate. What a dirty, filthy, terrible place to look at. I loved it. Very cohesive, yet diverse, very moody, yet legible. 9/10 180pts Performance and Stability (1): Well it always (literally) crashed when I was turning it off. But a simple task manager was helping. 5/10 5pts Overall - I was coming into that game with hesitation. I knew it was too good to be true and that hype was way overblown. But I expected a janky game with a good, or maybe great story and I've got a terrible game with an OK story. I'm very disappointed and I will put my Arcanum playthrough on hold. Thanks to this review I could come to terms with my thoughts on this game and gave it a proper grade. Which is… 2100pts/432 = 4.9/10 Cheers to anybody who read that! :)

[@samuelevander9823]

What the heck did you do to your Nameless One?!!?? He became pale as a heck! What happened!? How did you do that?

[@ICEMAN-]

Awesome

[@YeOldEntertainment]

Thanks!

[@DreamMarko]

I think the other spiritual successor to Planescape is Torment: Tides of Penumbra.

[@GodOfPlague]

Avatar and pocahontas tell the same story lol. They so do. I'd argue pocahontas tells the story better while avatar is prettier. OK a bit biased for having zoe saldana in it. Thanks for the review man.

[@YeOldEntertainment]

I don't man, pocahontas is pretty seriously hot too. It's a tough draw.

[@HeartoftheWinter]

Love

[@YeOldEntertainment]

Is the way.

[@GodOfPlague]

Ha ha saw the ESO Champion Points system in there. Love the game not a fan of the champion point system. Although it's recent reworking into only three trees makes it much more uhm digestible. 🤔

[@zanderfield5960]

Suffering can change the nature of a man.

[@NyutsuaRO]

Finally

[@YeOldEntertainment]

Yeah, sorry about that. Work got on the way. But now the holidays are coming, I might be able to speed up things again with the channel.

[@NyutsuaRO]

@@YeOldEntertainment Oh, my reply was more about the fact that you ended up doing a review for my favorite game (which I recall actually requesting a review for in another of your videos). Keep up the good work!

[@YeOldEntertainment]

@@NyutsuaRO I know I know! And welcome the suggestion. I still owe some other commentator the review for Arcanum!

[@45helix]

[@fk7834]

The thing is, to learn the full story of nameless one u must max out intelligence and wisdom. Otherwise u will miss like half of the plot

[@TwippyTwilight]

Heh, This and Temple of Elemental Evil are both way better than baulders gate 1 or 2

[@thebanished87]

Lol Dream Theater

[@YeOldEntertainment]

XD