Playing Planescape for the first time seriously

EnterHaerDalis

I'm going to tackle Planescape for the first time in my first serious attempt... I tried a few years back but really couldn't get into it. My love for the Infinity engine and black isle studios requires me to play this game to the end.

So - Any basic tips I should know about or pointers? Hopefully I can get a good interest level going.. :P

I built my guy like so

10 str
16 intelligence
9 wisdom
12 dex
10 con
18 charisma

TJ_Hooker

Start with 18 wisdom. It's hands down the best stat in the game. The next most important are CHA and INT. I'd recommend starting with 18 WIS, 15 INT, and 15 CHA, or something like that.

EnterHaerDalis

TJ_Hooker said:

Start with 18 wisdom. It's hands down the best stat in the game. The next most important are CHA and INT. I'd recommend starting with 18 WIS, 15 INT, and 15 CHA, or something like that.

Shit it's too late

Ah well. I tried to snap a neck of one of the dusties and set off an alarm lol. This game is kind of hard to get into.......

TJ_Hooker

Yeah it starts off pretty slow. It's only once you get out of the mortuary, and get your bearings in Sigil, that it starts to pick up.

EnterHaerDalis

also @tj_hooker noob question

do you know how to unlock locked Cabinets/chests etc?

TJ_Hooker

I actually kind of forget. I think you may need a crowbar to force them open, at least until you get a thief (or become one). There might be a strength check as well.

EnterHaerDalis

ugh hate how I'm forced to kill every zombie now

surely this nazi blitzkrieg strategy is not a good one

Stradlin

I much envy you OP. What an excellent game. Wish I could experience it 1st time as an adult. I'd like to chime in with two advices!
- Enjoy, read and be bothered by the dialogue. As you know many people love this game. Most reasons for it have to do with dialogue, descriptions etc. If you end up not enjoying them or hate idea of doing lot of reading mid video game, you will not like PST much.
- Approach combat as you would approach phone ringing in middle of reading a good book. Often Infinity Engine combat is pretty entertaining and cool business even today. This isn't the case in PS:T.

You really wanna have max wisdon, as has been suggested. I'd pour all my points in Wisdom, Charisma and Int. ...Tho to be honest, Wisdom is only one I'm sure has a significant effect to dialogue options and events. Combat will be terrible and non-entertaining no matter what you do with STR, Dex, Con,etc.

...In related news, the new Planescape game Torment - Tides of Numerena is looking quite promising. They recently released a teaser off the soundtrack and it is a BRILLIANT SONG.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qBc842j4vpU
It totally takes me back to early 2000s, Sigil. Can almost hear them echoes of my NPC companions's selection sounds. Seriously, if I randomly just heard the song in radio without knowing there is new PS:T game in the making, the song alone would make me assume there is new game inc.

EnterHaerDalis

@stradlin yeah I keep hearing how amazing the game is but how the hell do people get into it? My interest dies out very, very quickly. I've tried playing it a few times in the past but have been like how the hell is the hype for this game justified.. it's ridiculous to me. Even all the game reviews for like 5/5 it's like holy crap how did people even get their teeth sunk into the damn game

have been playing it for an hour or so so far and am bored silly. Tried to immerse myself with the story and all the zombies/skeletons but it's just not happening. Going back to warcraft 3 for the night, lol.

Sad

Teflon

EnterHaerDalis said:

TJ_Hooker said:

Start with 18 wisdom. It's hands down the best stat in the game. The next most important are CHA and INT. I'd recommend starting with 18 WIS, 15 INT, and 15 CHA, or something like that.

Shit it's too late

Ah well. I tried to snap a neck of one of the dusties and set off an alarm lol. This game is kind of hard to get into.......

With 18 charisma then why snap dustie neck;) ?
Well have fun since it is the game you play and I hardly don't think there is a certain rule how you play it. Well depending on your choice you will having hard time though.
Putting some constraints to your game is good way to enjoy it methinks. Like, low wis or str......

Wiggles

I attempted it for an hour as well and couldn't get into it. I'm all about story and getting engaged with the characters too ironically. Hell, I even bought CoD: MW 1-3 just for the story. I don't know what it is, but it bores me immensley.

TJ_Hooker

You really have to give it more than an hour or 2.

EnterHaerDalis

alright well I stopped being a bitch and trucked through. Got out of the Mausoleum and explored the town a bit. Picked up a cool dude named Dak'Kon. Explored quite a bit of the Hive so far and met a ton of people.. have a ton of quests and haven't completed any of them

Hopeing I can start getting some shit done and wrap my head around this game a bit more. The journal is awesome, love how it has a list of the PC's and NPC's you encounter. A flaming guy in a bar named Ignus and another chick named Annah are listed as PC's so I Imagine they are recruitable in the future some how..

Kenji

Oh the bliss of the first-touch.

FinneousPJ

Kenji said:

Oh the bliss of the first-touch.

http://youtu.be/s__rX_WL100

TJ_Hooker

From what I remember, it shouldn't be too much longer until you get your first real lead regarding your lost journal. From what I remember, that's where the game picks up (for me at least), as you finally have a real sense of purpose, rather than just wandering aimlessly around the city.

[Deleted User]

Yeah, the game has some pacing issues, and has way too much combat that doesn't serve any purpose except padding out the game (part of the reason for those pacing issues), but it's all worth it once it gets going.

EnterHaerDalis

Oh, and by Mausoleum I meant Mortuary :P

Funny, when I first tried my hand at Planescape years ago I actually thought it was an RPG style with you and the skull alone. Didn't realize you could recruit people into your party lol

smeagolheart

Planescape is a good game. It's more of a book RPG than an action RPG. Because you are on this site, you are an infinity engine fan, if you can enjoy reading a book then you can enjoy the game.

mlnevese

One hint with no spoilers is DO NOT avoid dying... sometimes dying may be very interesting

EnterHaerDalis

@mlnevese yeah fair enough

but how the hell do you resurrect party members or are you just supposed to let them die also? Dak'Kon was killed and I have no clue how to bring him back...

TJ_Hooker

EnterHaerDalis said:

@mlnevese yeah fair enough

but how the hell do you resurrect party members or are you just supposed to let them die also? Dak'Kon was killed and I have no clue how to bring him back...

If you talk to Deionarra (in the mortuary), you can get Raise Dead as a special ability for TNO.

EnterHaerDalis

@tj_hooker ok thanks. I assume I have to die to get there again since the doors are locked?

TJ_Hooker

IIRC, there should be a guy at the mortuary gates that can 'sneak' you back in (i.e. he murders you and you wake up in the mortuary).

EnterHaerDalis

alright thanks. I suppose I have to wait a bit further into the game to get that raise dead ability, she has the same dialogue options as before

yeah.. I've died like 10 times over and can't figure out how to resurrect party members, I don't want to out level them and leave them in the dust..... If anybody knows how to exactly do this I'd appreciate the knowledge lol

TJ_Hooker

Taken from: http://www.gamefaqs.com/pc/187975-planescape-torment/faqs/7964

Ask her who she is, claim that you feel the stirrings of a memory, and then ask if she knows who YOU are, and continue talking about yourself until you get the Raise Dead Ability and 1000 exp.

The guide does say that you need at least 11 Charisma or 12 Intelligence in order to claim to feel the stirrings of a memory, but besides that I can't think of any reason why it wouldn't be showing up for you.

Gawdzilla

Planescape Torment is amazing. When you're in a mood for a good book, or to watch a trilogy or something, that's the mood for PST. It's exploration, reading, learning the lingo & gutter politics, putting the jagged pieces together.

I remember I spent a good part of the early game looking for armor and a sword. Good luck with that! The game breaks all the rules of games. You have to be... curious, more than anything else.

Madhax

I skip melee stats entirely. Full points into wis/int/cha for the win.

The game gets MUCH better following the mortuary, and once you've gone through once or twice the mortuary only takes like 10 minutes, so I might actually recommend starting over with more wisdom. Wisdom governs, among other things, how easily you can recall old memories, which is a major contributor to the story. That said, you get +1 stat every level, so if you start pouring most of your points into wis now you should be okay.

DerDuKe

Cool to see I am not the only one playing through PS:T for the first time. I like it very much so far. :-) Enjoy your journey!

[Deleted User]

Gawdzilla said:

Planescape Torment is amazing. When you're in a mood for a good book, or to watch a trilogy or something, that's the mood for PST. It's exploration, reading, learning the lingo & gutter politics, putting the jagged pieces together.

I remember I spent a good part of the early game looking for armor and a sword. Good luck with that! The game breaks all the rules of games. You have to be... curious, more than anything else.

Well, all the rules except for the rule in D&D (and video games in general) that you need to have a fight every so often, even if it does nothing to further the plot. It has less fights than say, BG, but it still has many more fights than it needs.

EnterHaerDalis

Madhax said:

I skip melee stats entirely. Full points into wis/int/cha for the win.

The game gets MUCH better following the mortuary, and once you've gone through once or twice the mortuary only takes like 10 minutes, so I might actually recommend starting over with more wisdom. Wisdom governs, among other things, how easily you can recall old memories, which is a major contributor to the story. That said, you get +1 stat every level, so if you start pouring most of your points into wis now you should be okay.

well I already gave my guy the stats I thought would be most beneficial :P I'm trying to just role play it without looking at guides or anything to spoil stuff.

Still trying to find somebody who can sell half decent weapons and armor

Also - a question for anybody - If I train to become a thief or a mage can you revert back or change them later on?