Elite Online Mag Elite 86 | Page 207

The game brings these elements across well; even mundane items like healing potions are presented as esoteric items, and all items have distinctive flavour text. There’s no vendor trash- items that have no practical use are given full descriptions that practically beg you to contemplate what the object might have been. The vast majority of your interactions with the world are carried out through dialogue trees and menus, whether you’re using an object or talking to one of Torment’s many and varied characters. Skills that affect dialogue choices or actions are helpfully highlighted, as are choices that will require some kind of attribute test. Clear use of colours and shaded text help keep the interface clean and the text easy to follow, though the font size might make reading all that text a bit tricky on a TV for you console players. The interface is simple and retro in style, but if it ain’t broke, why fix it? Whilst Torment’s story doesn’t quite pack the emotional punch of Planescape: Torment, it does bring together a fascinating story full of unpredictable twists, creative twists and startling revelations. It’s at its best when delving into theological and philosophical topics, providing interesting ideas without ever coming across as self-indulgent or pretentious. Its cast of characters is interesting, and your companions -all of whom are entirely optional, and can be easily missed - include an amnesiac orphan, a woman surrounded by ‘echoes’ of herself from alternate realities, and an albino assassin, to name just a few. Each has their own backstory that you’ll uncover through progress and discussions with them, and each will comment on other events as you encounter them, making them feel much more involved in the story than companions in RPGs often do. encounters, Torment opts for a series of event-based fights which it calls a ‘Crisis’. These Crises usually have specific objectives and don’t play out as standard ‘hit all the enemies until they die’ fare; you’re encouraged to make use of objects and features in the landscapes to make each fight a little easier. All of this works, but it does butt its head against Torment’s rather long- winded combat interface, which sticks to a classic turn-based format where each character gets a move and an action. This works fine, but the large numbers of enemies and long animations often mean you’re often waiting several minutes between turns. To make matters worse, the large character models and special effects often obscure some details, which coupled with the fixed camera and lack of confirmation for actions can result in easy mis-clicks and unintended movements or actions. Fortunately, most Crises can be avoided, either through stealth or persuasion, and the difficulty isn’t so punishing that you’ll ever feel too hard done by, but it can be frustrating. So what will Torment: Tides of Numenera’s legacy be? Whilst its hard to imagine that it will have the lasting impact of its predecessor, it definitely deserves a place alongside it. It might not have bettered the original, but then, how could any game compare against 20 years of expectation? That it comes anywhere close is an achievement in itself, and judged on its own merits, Torment is a powerful, imaginative RPG with a fantastic premise, a wonderful setting, and a riveting story to tell. 9/10 The Torment Legacy Released back in 1999, Planescape: Torment made waves with its powerful storyline and for challenging typical RPG conventions - there are no goblins, elves and orcs to be found, and your character is an immortal. It wasn’t a huge commercial success, but the plot, characters, and concepts at the heart of the game won it a passionate, if small, audience. At its core the game challenged the player to answer one question: What can change the nature of a man? Less satisfying is the combat, which is thankfully quite rare. Rather than a constant stream of random www.eliteonlinemag.com 207