Planescape: Torment - Does anyone reload?

CerebroDragon · 08-21-2003, 12:15 PM

I think I may have just entered the most combat heavy phase of this brilliant game and I'm having to think of all sorts of beautifully cunning strategems to survive which is making this RPG all the more dear to my cantankerous heart...

It is so vastly ironic to be immortal and yet still fear death!

I love it!
Yet, if I ever die, I feel an utter compulsion to reload, always...cheating death for me erodes somewhat that fine boundary between fearing death and confidence in your alter-ego's life.
So are there many of you out there who will continue to play without reloading if they do indeed, meet their apparent death? Have there been any noticable effects on your character? (The Nameless One!)
Traditionally back in good ol' second ed D&D (Big thumbs up to oldschool role playing incidentally) you would lose con, each time you die...

I was inching my way through the Prison complex....took me a good couple of hours to clear and get to the inner circle areas. (erm, did I say Possible SPoilers?) The Curst Guard number you face is very daunting indeed, and in groups enmasse, they can be quite brutal. I've been experimenting with different methods to kill them as you do and have found Viper's Kiss and the gorgeous Cone of Cold to be quite effective.

But eventually, I got up to Cassius. But I made a seemingly foolish choice. I chose to fight him, not even considering wits, since I undertook the fighter's path as a class profession. First he killed me in two hits. Second, after directing my characters back into his approximate area, encountered more dire Curst Guard! Scratched and pulled on my beard in dismay...then tried to reload, only to discover I'd forgotten to save.

This rarely happens to me with the conveniency of a quick save but when it does, I usually smile, acknowledging that a game has sucked so hard on my conciousness that I'd forgotten to do so, living it as if it were life!

But yes, I think I'll try wits next time and hope to get some kind of riddle which relies on my wits, rather than my particular Nameless One's intelligence!
[img]smile.gif[/img]

Ahh yes, another point for discussion:
Also, how many NPC's which can join the party are to be found in this game?
I am only slightly disappointed that there don't seem to be as many as Baldur's Gate. My party consists of:

The Nameless One
Morte (of course, the lecherous little sod!)
Dak'Kon (Who I am growing to love and become more reliant upon since entering the Prison) His stoicism is to be commended...and one must say, he has a cool sentient sword!

Fallen-From-Grace (Lulling british accent ^sigh^...come on, admit it lads, how many of you haven't tried taking her armour off?

And thats all the characters I have...although I did meat Anna, but unfortunately in a fit of rage, killed her very early on in the game. She may have said something which hit some kind caveman defense instinct, I don't remember! [img]smile.gif[/img]

But I think story wise and wholistically, RPG wise, it is definitely on a par with the BG series. Great philosophical factions and moral and existential dilemma's to be found!

Cheers,
CerebroDragon
((((((OO))))))) UDIC

Gabrielles blades · 08-22-2003, 10:42 AM

i typically just let him get up after dieng, there was no consequence other than morte complaining about having to drag your sorry arse *again*.
*spoilers*
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anna is a character recruitable for your party btw
theres more characters (a modron, and not sure if i can remember what else if any)
there are times where you can actually die for real - reason, as far as i can tell, all you are really is a special troll, and theres a wizard who knows this...

pritchke · 08-22-2003, 11:55 AM

I usually reload after dying, not always but usually because I can't help myself.

I believe there are 8 recruitable characters in the game (includes Nameless One).

My current party is

Nameless One
Annah
Dak'kon
Fall-from-Grace
Morte Rictusgrin
Ignus

I am currently just running quest in Clerk's Ward.

[ 08-22-2003, 12:34 PM: Message edited by: pritchke ]

Dreamer128 · 08-22-2003, 12:10 PM

I usually reload, since I'm too lazy to walk all the way back

CerebroDragon · 08-22-2003, 07:25 PM

One grim dark night full of gaming later, and I'm up to Curst Gone...

By the merciful gods Baator is an evil and most cunning beast to finish...good luck Pritchke when you get up to here! Mind you, with a bigger party, it should be somewhat easier.
I had to flee alot just to survive, particularly towards finding the portal to exit. Some fantastic plot revealed in this section too.

Not having been back Sigil in so long, my threadbare party is struggling.
I'm regretting not having endeavoured more enthusiastically to free Ignus!

However, I do now have Vhailor who was precisely the sort of NPC I needed to help The Nameless One in the front!

I realised Annah could join the party when I killed her, but never thought I'd regret killing an NPC! Unlike the time I killed Minsc in BG 1. Attack me eh Minsc, what's that you say? Nay foul Ranger, I do my quests when I like! Dieeeeeeee! I'm just glad that killing these characters doesn't make the games un-completable!

Well, I'm hoping I can finish this brilliant game within the week and from there, it'll either be a dabble at Wizards & Warriors, Might & Magic IX....or, if I can finally get it going, Serpent's Isle.

But for now, its back to Curst Gone and the kind of miscreants I meet there!

Cheers,
CerebroDragon

Nerull · 08-22-2003, 10:12 PM

SPOILERS
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
Honestly, when you finish, you will find that you missed many of the details playing as a warrior with low mental stats. You not only have to fight your way through most of the encounters (many of which you can talk your way through for more xp), but you will also get a somewhat ok ending. If you concentrate on the mental stats (Wisdom and Intelligence tied, with Charisma next up) you will find out a LOT more about the story, and exactly why the game is so popular (you have missed a lot of the plots involving the NPCs). There's nothing wrong with playing a fighter, but you end up only getting the "bare bones" plot.

Thus, after this, I would recommend going back and playing with another character, this time concentrating on the mental stats (I usually play a wizard in such games; make a beeline for Ragpicker's Square and ask Mebbeth if she is a witch). Make sure you talk to the NPCs a lot. If you do it this way, you get the better ending, too (you figure more out). However, some who like a lot of combat find this path dull, as it involves more talking and interaction, and for those that need combat to speed things up it can slow the game down for them. Just letting you know about this option.

NPCs:
[list][*] Nerull is offline

CerebroDragon · 08-23-2003, 01:06 AM

You make some great points Nerull, cheers.

Being an Ultima Dragon means that I'm very well acquainted with social interaction based RPGs and really enjoy them so much more than the more combat oriented stuff, when they are implemented well. (Ultima 7, Ultima 4 and Ultima Underworld for instance) To persevere with these games, as any other dragon can attest to, requires inexhaustive patience and ALOT of talking to NPCS.

I'm well aware that I may have missed stuff being a fighter, but thats the beauty of this game, I'll be able to come back and try again as another class to seek out all the things I m

Nerull · 08-23-2003, 10:46 PM

SPOILERS
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
Your party is way underpowered. I went there at an average level of 18 last game (make it a point to rack up xp in both the slums (thugs) and UnderSigil (critters)). You can still do it, but you are going to have a bear of a time with the boss in Carceri. Also, the boss you face is the one that Vhailor closes the talking option on. After you finish with the boss, you will be returning to Sigil.

That fiend is a pain of a fight for everyone. There are little tricks you can exploit to finish it off, but it is a tough fight. That you beat it at all is a good sign for your survivability against the boss in Carceri. However, that box you were supposed to deliver holds that demon you just fought (the guy told you not to leave Sigil with it!), so that specific quest is screwed.

Once you take off to see Ravel, you can't return to Sigil until you finish everything in Carceri. Sucks but that's life. However, once you get back, take a swing to UnderSigil and do some killing. Also, revisit many of the areas you originally went to, and do some "clean up quests" to earn more

CerebroDragon · 08-25-2003, 09:07 AM

Finally, I smell the thick polluted air of Sigil once more!

I must say that I was surprised with the relative ease that I disposed of the boss in Carceri - it almost felt as though getting up to him was more difficult. Admittedly it still took me a couple of reloads to sufficiently maim him, but not as many as the fiend! I spotted a vital weakness which I took advantage of!

SPOILER ALERT (for battle against boss in Carceri)

I noticed that the dialogue options for this encounter would only open when The Nameless One came close enough. Now at first this just seemed like an obvious fact. I attempted to battle from afar with spells and scrolls from Dak'Kon and to pummel the creatures he summons to you. After suffering a mass of obliteration spells from him and death from a distance, I decided upon another approach with the small flaw in mind. I swarmed him with Vhailor, Morte and Dak'Kon first before approaching him with TNone. I roared with maniacal laughter when he never got a chance to summon help or cast a spell.

I was momentarily annoyed when Vhailor decided to step in at the battle's conclusion but eventually warmed to the Mercykiller's creed in the situation!

I wonder if you get extra xp for appealing to his conscience or something? That's another alternative for me to remember next time!

But yes, I'm not particularly looking forward to the END as you describe Nerull, I want this game to keep going! Pity an expansion or extra planar scenario wasn't made or something!

Thus, now that I'm back in Sigil, I'm enjoying immensely just revisiting everywhere and talking to old friends. After attempting to do all the quests I have left listed, it'll be time to build some additional xp in Undersigil and any other avenues I've left unexplored. Perhaps the Modron maze, as I never did follow up on that...

Cheers,
Cerebrodragon
)))+UDIC+(((

Nerull · 08-25-2003, 11:06 PM

[quote]Originally posted by CerebroDragon:
[b] Finally, I smell the thick polluted air of Sigil once more!

I must say that I was surprised with the relative ease that I disposed of the boss in Carceri - it almost felt as though getting up to him was more difficult. Admittedly it still took me a couple of reloads to s

08-21-2003, 12:15 PM	#1
CerebroDragon Red Wizard of Thay Join Date: March 2, 2003 Location: Ballarat, Australia. Age: 46 Posts: 878	I think I may have just entered the most combat heavy phase of this brilliant game and I'm having to think of all sorts of beautifully cunning strategems to survive which is making this RPG all the more dear to my cantankerous heart... It is so vastly ironic to be immortal and yet still fear death! I love it! Yet, if I ever die, I feel an utter compulsion to reload, always...cheating death for me erodes somewhat that fine boundary between fearing death and confidence in your alter-ego's life. So are there many of you out there who will continue to play without reloading if they do indeed, meet their apparent death? Have there been any noticable effects on your character? (The Nameless One!) Traditionally back in good ol' second ed D&D (Big thumbs up to oldschool role playing incidentally) you would lose con, each time you die... I was inching my way through the Prison complex....took me a good couple of hours to clear and get to the inner circle areas. (erm, did I say Possible SPoilers?) The Curst Guard number you face is very daunting indeed, and in groups enmasse, they can be quite brutal. I've been experimenting with different methods to kill them as you do and have found Viper's Kiss and the gorgeous Cone of Cold to be quite effective. But eventually, I got up to Cassius. But I made a seemingly foolish choice. I chose to fight him, not even considering wits, since I undertook the fighter's path as a class profession. First he killed me in two hits. Second, after directing my characters back into his approximate area, encountered more dire Curst Guard! Scratched and pulled on my beard in dismay...then tried to reload, only to discover I'd forgotten to save. This rarely happens to me with the conveniency of a quick save but when it does, I usually smile, acknowledging that a game has sucked so hard on my conciousness that I'd forgotten to do so, living it as if it were life! But yes, I think I'll try wits next time and hope to get some kind of riddle which relies on my wits, rather than my particular Nameless One's intelligence! [img]smile.gif[/img] Ahh yes, another point for discussion: Also, how many NPC's which can join the party are to be found in this game? I am only slightly disappointed that there don't seem to be as many as Baldur's Gate. My party consists of: The Nameless One Morte (of course, the lecherous little sod!) Dak'Kon (Who I am growing to love and become more reliant upon since entering the Prison) His stoicism is to be commended...and one must say, he has a cool sentient sword! Fallen-From-Grace (Lulling british accent ^sigh^...come on, admit it lads, how many of you haven't tried taking her armour off? And thats all the characters I have...although I did meat Anna, but unfortunately in a fit of rage, killed her very early on in the game. She may have said something which hit some kind caveman defense instinct, I don't remember! [img]smile.gif[/img] But I think story wise and wholistically, RPG wise, it is definitely on a par with the BG series. Great philosophical factions and moral and existential dilemma's to be found! Cheers, CerebroDragon ((((((OO))))))) UDIC __________________ Diddledy High, Diddledy Low, Come Brave Blood Sheep, You've a goodly way to go. - Brilhasti Ap Tarj

08-22-2003, 07:25 PM	#5
CerebroDragon Red Wizard of Thay Join Date: March 2, 2003 Location: Ballarat, Australia. Age: 46 Posts: 878	One grim dark night full of gaming later, and I'm up to Curst Gone... By the merciful gods Baator is an evil and most cunning beast to finish...good luck Pritchke when you get up to here! Mind you, with a bigger party, it should be somewhat easier. I had to flee alot just to survive, particularly towards finding the portal to exit. Some fantastic plot revealed in this section too. Not having been back Sigil in so long, my threadbare party is struggling. I'm regretting not having endeavoured more enthusiastically to free Ignus! However, I do now have Vhailor who was precisely the sort of NPC I needed to help The Nameless One in the front! I realised Annah could join the party when I killed her, but never thought I'd regret killing an NPC! Unlike the time I killed Minsc in BG 1. Attack me eh Minsc, what's that you say? Nay foul Ranger, I do my quests when I like! Dieeeeeeee! I'm just glad that killing these characters doesn't make the games un-completable! Well, I'm hoping I can finish this brilliant game within the week and from there, it'll either be a dabble at Wizards & Warriors, Might & Magic IX....or, if I can finally get it going, Serpent's Isle. But for now, its back to Curst Gone and the kind of miscreants I meet there! Cheers, CerebroDragon __________________ Diddledy High, Diddledy Low, Come Brave Blood Sheep, You've a goodly way to go. - Brilhasti Ap Tarj

08-23-2003, 01:06 AM	#7
CerebroDragon Red Wizard of Thay Join Date: March 2, 2003 Location: Ballarat, Australia. Age: 46 Posts: 878	You make some great points Nerull, cheers. Being an Ultima Dragon means that I'm very well acquainted with social interaction based RPGs and really enjoy them so much more than the more combat oriented stuff, when they are implemented well. (Ultima 7, Ultima 4 and Ultima Underworld for instance) To persevere with these games, as any other dragon can attest to, requires inexhaustive patience and ALOT of talking to NPCS. I'm well aware that I may have missed stuff being a fighter, but thats the beauty of this game, I'll be able to come back and try again as another class to seek out all the things I m __________________ Diddledy High, Diddledy Low, Come Brave Blood Sheep, You've a goodly way to go. - Brilhasti Ap Tarj

08-23-2003, 10:46 PM	#8
Nerull Lord Ao Join Date: May 17, 2001 Location: San Antonio, Texas, USA Age: 55 Posts: 2,069	SPOILERS > > > > > > > Your party is way underpowered. I went there at an average level of 18 last game (make it a point to rack up xp in both the slums (thugs) and UnderSigil (critters)). You can still do it, but you are going to have a bear of a time with the boss in Carceri. Also, the boss you face is the one that Vhailor closes the talking option on. After you finish with the boss, you will be returning to Sigil. That fiend is a pain of a fight for everyone. There are little tricks you can exploit to finish it off, but it is a tough fight. That you beat it at all is a good sign for your survivability against the boss in Carceri. However, that box you were supposed to deliver holds that demon you just fought (the guy told you not to leave Sigil with it!), so that specific quest is screwed. Once you take off to see Ravel, you can't return to Sigil until you finish everything in Carceri. Sucks but that's life. However, once you get back, take a swing to UnderSigil and do some killing. Also, revisit many of the areas you originally went to, and do some "clean up quests" to earn more __________________ [img]\"ubb/noncgi/smiles/new/ghoul.gif\" alt=\" - \" /><br /><br />\"The middle class pays all of the taxes, does all of the work.<br />The lower class exists just to scare the middle class.\"<br />-George Carlin

08-25-2003, 09:07 AM	#9
CerebroDragon Red Wizard of Thay Join Date: March 2, 2003 Location: Ballarat, Australia. Age: 46 Posts: 878	Finally, I smell the thick polluted air of Sigil once more! I must say that I was surprised with the relative ease that I disposed of the boss in Carceri - it almost felt as though getting up to him was more difficult. Admittedly it still took me a couple of reloads to sufficiently maim him, but not as many as the fiend! I spotted a vital weakness which I took advantage of! SPOILER ALERT (for battle against boss in Carceri) I noticed that the dialogue options for this encounter would only open when The Nameless One came close enough. Now at first this just seemed like an obvious fact. I attempted to battle from afar with spells and scrolls from Dak'Kon and to pummel the creatures he summons to you. After suffering a mass of obliteration spells from him and death from a distance, I decided upon another approach with the small flaw in mind. I swarmed him with Vhailor, Morte and Dak'Kon first before approaching him with TNone. I roared with maniacal laughter when he never got a chance to summon help or cast a spell. I was momentarily annoyed when Vhailor decided to step in at the battle's conclusion but eventually warmed to the Mercykiller's creed in the situation! I wonder if you get extra xp for appealing to his conscience or something? That's another alternative for me to remember next time! But yes, I'm not particularly looking forward to the END as you describe Nerull, I want this game to keep going! Pity an expansion or extra planar scenario wasn't made or something! Thus, now that I'm back in Sigil, I'm enjoying immensely just revisiting everywhere and talking to old friends. After attempting to do all the quests I have left listed, it'll be time to build some additional xp in Undersigil and any other avenues I've left unexplored. Perhaps the Modron maze, as I never did follow up on that... Cheers, Cerebrodragon )))+UDIC+((( __________________ Diddledy High, Diddledy Low, Come Brave Blood Sheep, You've a goodly way to go. - Brilhasti Ap Tarj

08-22-2003, 10:42 AM	#2
Gabrielles blades Baaz Draconian Join Date: April 26, 2002 Location: florida Age: 44 Posts: 761	i typically just let him get up after dieng, there was no consequence other than morte complaining about having to drag your sorry arse again. spoilers - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - anna is a character recruitable for your party btw theres more characters (a modron, and not sure if i can remember what else if any) there are times where you can actually die for real - reason, as far as i can tell, all you are really is a special troll, and theres a wizard who knows this...

08-22-2003, 11:55 AM	#3
pritchke Bastet - Egyptian Cat Goddess Join Date: September 5, 2001 Location: Calgary, AB Age: 50 Posts: 3,491	I usually reload after dying, not always but usually because I can't help myself. I believe there are 8 recruitable characters in the game (includes Nameless One). My current party is Nameless One Annah Dak'kon Fall-from-Grace Morte Rictusgrin Ignus I am currently just running quest in Clerk's Ward. [ 08-22-2003, 12:34 PM: Message edited by: pritchke ]

08-22-2003, 12:10 PM	#4
Dreamer128 Dracolisk Join Date: March 21, 2001 Location: Europe Age: 40 Posts: 6,136	I usually reload, since I'm too lazy to walk all the way back

08-22-2003, 10:12 PM	#6
Nerull Lord Ao Join Date: May 17, 2001 Location: San Antonio, Texas, USA Age: 55 Posts: 2,069	SPOILERS > > > > > > > > > Honestly, when you finish, you will find that you missed many of the details playing as a warrior with low mental stats. You not only have to fight your way through most of the encounters (many of which you can talk your way through for more xp), but you will also get a somewhat ok ending. If you concentrate on the mental stats (Wisdom and Intelligence tied, with Charisma next up) you will find out a LOT more about the story, and exactly why the game is so popular (you have missed a lot of the plots involving the NPCs). There's nothing wrong with playing a fighter, but you end up only getting the "bare bones" plot. Thus, after this, I would recommend going back and playing with another character, this time concentrating on the mental stats (I usually play a wizard in such games; make a beeline for Ragpicker's Square and ask Mebbeth if she is a witch). Make sure you talk to the NPCs a lot. If you do it this way, you get the better ending, too (you figure more out). However, some who like a lot of combat find this path dull, as it involves more talking and interaction, and for those that need combat to speed things up it can slow the game down for them. Just letting you know about this option. NPCs: [list][*]

08-25-2003, 11:06 PM	#10
Nerull Lord Ao Join Date: May 17, 2001 Location: San Antonio, Texas, USA Age: 55 Posts: 2,069	[quote]Originally posted by CerebroDragon: [b] Finally, I smell the thick polluted air of Sigil once more! I must say that I was surprised with the relative ease that I disposed of the boss in Carceri - it almost felt as though getting up to him was more difficult. Admittedly it still took me a couple of reloads to s __________________ [img]\"ubb/noncgi/smiles/new/ghoul.gif\" alt=\" - \" /><br /><br />\"The middle class pays all of the taxes, does all of the work.<br />The lower class exists just to scare the middle class.\"<br />-George Carlin

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