what can change the nature of a man?*

You might remember that “what can change the nature of a man?” is the central question to Planescape: Torment, a computer RPG that came along in the late 90s.

I have no time for computer games these days (I last played SKYRIM sometime in October), but this might make me find time – there might possibly be a sequel to Planescape: Torment coming along. 

I got Planescape: Torment in 1999, and did not actually finish it until 2005. Ah, but it was a twisty, complex, deep maze of a game, with layers upon layers, like a fractal onion. A definite classic, and there has been nothing like it before or since. It was really more of an interactive novel with occasional battles – if I remember correctly, something like 500,000 words of dialog were written for the game.

Because of that novel-like nature, there were scenes of remarkable power in the game, scenes that I still remember years later. Like the ultimate purpose of the bronze sphere. Or the Nameless One’s confrontation with Ravel Puzzlewell in her black-brambled prison. Or the inscriptions around the sarcophagus in the Nameless One’s tomb. And the fact that of all the potential combats in the game, I think only three of them are actually unavoidable – the Nameless One can literally talk himself out of anything else, up to and including the game’s final battle.

So if there is a Torment sequel, I will definitely be checking it out.

-JM

*In the game, the question has no right answer – the point of the question isn’t the answer, but how you answer, since it’s one of those questions that reveals more about the person answering the question than any sort of objective truth.