So, one of the reasons I've been offline for awhile is because I've been busy playing the beta and subsequent early release of Torment: Tides of Numenera

This game has some huge, no, gigantic shoes to fill by calling itself the spiritual successor to Planescape Torment, one of mine and many other gamers' favorite older RPG's.

I have to admit, after playing games like Dragonage, Skyrim and the like, when the graphics kicked in on this game I felt a little bit of a let down. We are full bore into nextgen graphics with other game releases, but what I came across in my first limited play was something not that far from the original release of any other early Black Isle game. Then my little brain kicked in and said, "DUMMY, it's supposed to be this way!" Amending this comment because it turned out to be a resolution issue, which after tweaking, the graphics came through lovely.

So, after starting the early release, my first impression is "Old School" all the way. This game relies heavily on text presentation and story telling. Many people will be surprised how long the text base introduction lasts and somewhat confused by the initial, experience based character building process.

From what I've played so far, it seems this game holds true to early RPG releases that worked to keep close to their pen and paper counterparts. The more I played, the more I read, the bigger my smile. The game is nostalgic and gave me flashbacks to the time I first started playing Neverwinter Nights, which is a good thing in my opinion.

Game mechanics are also old school and turn-based. If you want to move, you click on the ground, if you want to attack, you select your attack and click on the enemy and so on. The camera is controlled by the WASD buttons.

Big caveat though, I would hold off from investing in the early release. The combat mechanics definitely need refining as does how the dialogue is presented along with other action prompts.

That said, the story so far is great - Some first class writing went into this. One of my favorite lines comes up as you are almost unknowingly, moving through character building, "There's something else - A gust of sour air pulling at you like a predator inhaling the scent of its prey at the far end of a dark whispering field."

The writers obviously put quite a bit of effort into the story. Warts and all, I'm going to keep playing this release and can hardly wait for the final, polished product.

Thanks Trail! Sounds pretty good.

Hmmm. I have become spoiled to voice overs and voice acting for characters in games and the term text presentation I get wary.

This does sound promising. I can still enjoy top-down game-play, so that wouldn't be a deterrent for me. The artwork I saw looked lovely.

Keep us posted on this one. I'd love to see where it goes.

I absolutely empathize with you oldman. The great quality voice overs that have been prevalent in games for the last several years has spoiled me as well. At first I thought they would be doing full voice overs, because the introduction was fully narrated. As soon as the actual game kicks in though, the voicing is very similar to early Black Isle and Interplay games, only greetings or the occasional "Have at it!" and so on during battle.

What kept me engaged was the quality of the narrative and dialogue. They've also accomplished to give the game the same feel as many of the early RPG's; the view being 3rd person isometric and areas that haven't been explored are darkened until your party enters them.

It's definitely not going to be a game for everyone. I've seen plenty of comments on the YouTube teasers complaining about the large text window compared to the action of the game. The effort is being overseen by Brian Fargo, the founder of Interplay, which released the original Planescape Torment. I believe that as opposed to producing a near triple-A style game, their intent was to build a follow-up set in the Planescape universe that could have been released shortly after the original.

Planescape is kind of holy ground to some gamers, so either way they are taking a chance by doing this release. There are two ways they could have gone with the Kickstarter funding they received and proposed timeline - Produce a graphics heavy game with less back story and more voicing or concentrate time on the writing and build an engine to emulate the older styles; they chose the latter. Either way it will be a toss up on how the game will be received.

Thanks, Trail

Sounds good to me. [Loved the original Torment game ]

Thanks Trail_Mystic.

Yeah !!

I'm amending my previous comments about the game graphics. After doing some tweaks, I brought the resolution of the game up quite a bit and now see it for what it is.

The background settings of the game are very stylized, unique. It's somewhat deceiving, the game's perspective makes it a little difficult to really grasp your surroundings. It's been so long since I've played a new game in this style, I'm still adjusting to it.

Apologies for the double posting, but I thought a recent discovery within the game would be of interest to those that are thinking of eventually purchasing.

In short, don't die So, without giving too much away, your character is endowed with certain abilities that make it very difficult for you to die. You can be...er...temporarily "displaced" I suppose is the best word for it. This seems to be a way to mimic the old method of some one being out of a battle temporarily, until it was completed. Here's a clue though that will come in handy during your game play. If some one in your party indicates that the action you're about to perform left the last person a pile of fine ash, DON'T DO IT! While I'm all for letting a person experience the wonder of a new game's consequences, this one was particularly nasty. You see, my character was not figuratively obliterated, he was completely and utterly obliterated, saved games and all!

Yes, you read that right. This game holds lasting and terrible consequence for someone who may on occasion like to throw consequence to the wind and run head long into the unknown (read as, makes a silly decision.) You will have no choice after making such a decision than to build anew. Now does that mean I won't take silly chances in the game up ahead, no it doesn't. It is after all just a game and this may have just been another way to create tension. Also, it did happen relatively early on, so it could also be a warning. A way of telling you, listen to what your party members tell you or else.

Either way, there is so much about this game that is fascinating I have no issues starting it up from the beginning. *sigh*

UPDATE: The lost Save Games are a glitch after a save becomes corrupted. It's an early release AKA Beta, so bound to run into some issues.

Oh my Better you than me. I think that would have me tossing that game, but sounds like it's right up son's alley.

Usually, I would have stared at the screen for a good 10-20 minutes before letting loose a chain of words that the forum would automatically edit. In this case I was testing out a number of different character builds and the results of various decisions to see where they lead, so not really a big loss. Interestingly enough, the action I mentioned has an alternative that actually gives you an advantage in the game. So, it pays to take chances, just make sure they are intelligent ones...

UPDATE: Apparently the missing save games was a glitch. After quitting out of the game and returning later, I was able to start at my last save. This is part of the fun of playing an early release AKA beta, you never know what you're walking into...

So, I'm going to do running updates as I play this game. This is to make sure there is an understanding by those that come across the post that I'm reporting on a beta, not a polished version. To that end, I've updated the title of the post, placing Beta in parenthesis. I don't want any of the issues I've come across so far to put people off from trying the game once the full, polished version is released. Game play at the moment is somewhat slow due to loading screens and a few common combat glitches that require reloading your saves. Again, as I've mentioned ad nauseum, even though it's available on Steam it's an early release, that means a beta, so issues are to be expected. I personally did not purchase the early release, I was awarded a key because I contributed to their Kickstarter program. OK, onward

While I did amend my previous comments about the graphics, I should clarify that it still has the feel of an older game. You are playing in a 3rd person isometric view, so if the resolution isn't spot on things can appear grainy. This is especially true for the characters of your party and NPC's. I'm hoping this is improved in the later release because they certainly have some wonderful characters and beasties in this game and seeing additional detail would add to the immersion.

The main thing about this game is the writing. The story is excellent, the dialogue top notch. I've come across a few continuity and grammatical issues, but that's to be expected in an early release. While the actions required to complete quests are similar to other RPG's, the context of the quests are wonderfully fanciful. Several of what I would consider to be very minor quests had a theme that was really other worldly. If even the little XP building quests are written so well, I'm really looking forward to what the main quest line will uncover.

Character development is OK so far, I'm still getting used to which actions and so on are impacted by the attributes and skills. The development tree is not quite as clear as I'd like it to be, but again, the developers are making continual updates to the interfaces, so can't really make any judgments yet. I can be pretty picky about the appearance and content of character progression, so there's that . I'm also still not completely comprehending the character types yet. They have broken out the types into three base categories; Nano, Jack and Glaive.

A Nano is akin to a wizard, but dependent on how you develop your character their powers will lean either more towards the mystical or mechanical. Torment's world is littered with technology, most of which is either bio-synthetic or some form of nanotechnology. The latter is where the term "Nano" comes from. They leverage various forms of nanotech and other energies to cast "spells."

A Jack is a shortening of the term "Jack-of-all-Trades" and is a rogue like character. From what I've seen so far, they are either swashbuckling adventure types or stealthy assassins. I'm still early in the game, so there could be any number of variants I have yet to come across.

A Glaive is a warrior character type. Again, I'm not as familiar with this type, but they do seem to be a bit more depthy than fighter/warrior types I've seen in other games. Can't get into detail here as it would amount to a spoiler.

Time to get back to it.

Thanks, Trail. Beta is always fun. I'm glad you were able to recover your last save

Came across an earlier video trailer on Tides of Numenera. There have been changes to the settings since this video, but it does get across the unusual locales and early style of gameplay.

Torment -Tides of Numenera

Wow !! Just watched that clip and found it very reminiscent of Planescape Torment.

Lovely !!

Thanks, Trail_Mystic

Yes, and Icewind Dale II, as well.

Very nice. Looks like it'll be a wonderful side trip down memory lane.

Yup, it is most definitely a story driven game - I'm even more psyched for the 2017 release date now. Even though I've hit a couple of game breaking bugs in the beta, I'm still trudging through because of the writing.

It's funny though, one of the lesser bugs happens when your character equips a shield. On the character screen it's just kind of stuck to your leg, but in game it's stuck horizontally through your chest. Looks like you got attacked by a killer hula-hoop