"This is the perfect setting for a Planescape style game."
"When inXile calls this a beta, they definitely mean beta. This slice of the game is buggy as heck, suffering from dialogue tree glitches where you know of characters before meeting them and similar scripting errors, and with its first real combat sequence – using the Crisis system – so broken that I’ve still not managed to play it properly."
"It is possible to entirely skip the hugely scripted, complex encounter just by bluffing your way past."
"Easily my favourite thing about Numenera is its sense of personality – something I personally found very lacking in its closest Kickstarter competitor, Pillars of Eternity."
"The mechanics it sets up are at least interesting. Like Torment, Numenera leans further towards adventure than RPG in many ways. There’s no character customisation beyond gender, combat seems pretty rare so far (focusing on the heavily scripted Crisis system rather than random skirmishes), and most encounters are handled through dialogue and skill-checks. The twist is that each character has three skill pools, Might, Speed and Intellect. Instead of just rolling on a stat, as in the D&D model, you spend points from these pools to make challenges easier – to intimidate, to repair an item, to recall someone or something from the past, or whatever else awaits."
"Time alone will tell whether or not it boasts the philosophical edge or deep characterisation that helped Planescape cut deep and sink in its talons, but this opening section at least promises an adventure full of personality and fun ideas. That’s what I wanted to see from the beta, and as long as inXile is serious about taking feedback on board for its bugs and distinctly wobblier bits, I’m pretty confident the final product won’t disappoint."
Pcgamesn has given an Early Access review. Again, the article is spoiler heavy.
And again, I will copy parts that are NOT spoilers:
"As introductions go, Tides of Numenera’s is dense. I can’t think of any denser."
"Some of your decisions will impact your ability pool, broken up into might, speed and intellect, but it feels more like you are rapidly constructing a person rather than a traditional RPG avatar. These are personality quirks, opinions and events that have already taken place rather than simple numbers on a sheet."
"There are bugs and missing features and an ugly UI to contend with, but restarting didn’t faze me; in fact, I probably needed that second run-through of the introduction so I could soak it all in. "
"The more time I spent wandering the streets of Sagus Cliffs, the more baffled I became. But it was a great kind of bafflement!"
"Playing Tides of Numenera feels like playing a great tabletop RPG, where the Game Master favours narrative over action-packed lootfests and dragon-slaying. That’s not surprising, since Numenera is actually the setting of a tabletop RPG, created by D&D game designer Monte Cook, which “focuses on story and ideas over mechanics.” The sometimes obtuse rules of D&D have been replaced with philosophical concepts and surrealism, making it a less fussy, though undeniably stranger, system.
In videogame terms, it’s more like an adventure game than a traditional RPG, with its long, meandering – but intriguing – conversations and esoteric puzzles.
Sometimes, it delves into the more conventional aspects of RPGs though – and right now it’s worse off for it. Take combat, for instance: plodding, turn-based fights absent excitement. Interactable objects dotted around the place might confer surprising bonuses on you or your party, requiring skill checks and a spot of luck, and conversations and story seep into battles with interesting results, but the actual act of fighting is slow and weightless and ultimately just a wee bit dull. Avoiding fights or trying to cut them short can be a lot more interesting – allowing you to be shrewd or clever rather than just violent."
"The version I’ve been exploring is the Kickstarter backers build, which is also what you lovely lot will be able to get your hands on when it launches on Steam Early Access. It represents about a fifth of the game, in a very unfinished state, and really you should avoid it unless you are willing to spoil the game for yourself a wee bit in the name of helping inXile bug hunt, which is undeniably a noble goal.
Buttons stop working, the game briefly freezes frequently, transitioning to a new area breaks the game half of the time and while none of these things are entirely unexpected in a work-in-progress, it’s hardly pleasant. And this isn’t some sandbox that you’re messing around in; it’s a story-driven RPG with a massive central mystery, and you risk dulling some of the surprise by jumping in now, long before it’s actually ready to be shown off."
According to the Kickstarter update @Kamigoroshi posted on the 5th page, the beta is supposed to be 10 hours long, and George Ziets during the IGN stread said that the full game will be 40-50 hours total, so this indeed illustrates the beta is about a fifth of the game.
And the third review, again with spoilers, if you read it in full.
"What is abundantly clear from the first moments in Torment: Tides of Numenera is that this is not a standard story-driven RPG in any sense. The only recognizable portion of character creation is the selection of a player's gender. From there, the story truly begins with players arriving in a literally black and white world."
"T:ToN requires a lot, a LOT, of reading. As said earlier, it is more closely related to, I believe, an interactive novel. The writing is beautifully and intricately done, though I will further admit that becoming invested in the story took a few hours."
"For those who remember the amazing companions from Planescape: Torment -- Falls From Grace, Morte, Ignus and the others -- and the extension to story they brought to the game, rest assured that there is more of that coming in Torment: Tides of Numenera. The companions, at least so far, are fascinating, each with his or her own story to discover and motives to discern. They argue and jibe and joke with one another. They offer advice and direction and even heckle decisions made. The writing for each rivals that of the main story itself."
"Are there issues with this beta presentation? Of course there are. I ran into more than a few bugs and I found the "first pass" UI to be intrusive and often times frustrating as the text I wanted to read would disappear requiring scrolling to read. As mentioned earlier as well, there will be many, many who think that they want to play a game like T:ToN who will be unsatisfied with the way the story painstakingly unfolds or who will miss the D20 dice rolls from more traditional DnD games.
For those, however, who remember the best days of RPGs, games that told stories and allowed the player to discover organically how their story would unfold, Torment: Tides of Numenera will be a find that might just stand alongside its predecessor, Planescape: Torment. Though I only had the opportunity to experience a tiny portion of the game, I can clearly see its potential and I can't wait to finish my Castoff's journey."
A very nicely-written review by rpgwatch.com and without spoilers:
"The game is incredibly text-heavy. Torment is no place for those who don't enjoy reading; this is a universe of the mind, and words are the vehicle through which you will traverse this world. It's probably the most text-heavy game I've played in a long time; it reminds me more of a choose-your-own-adventure novel, or one of those old text-based games, than a typical RPG. But the writing is excellent; there's absolutely no room for complaint in the game's wordcrafting. It's the best writing I've seen since Pillars of Eternity, and both games share a talent for describing the indescribable. But, using the current build of this game for comparison, I would say that Pillars lets you act more. Torment makes you read more, and while I loved the writing, my eyes started to ache long before I was through. It made me appreciate the minimalism of a game like Sunless Sea, with its combination of brilliance and brevity. It also gave me a craving to go back and play Pillars; it's very similar to Torment in a lot of ways."
"P:T might have started out with a lengthy dialogue (with a talking skull), but that felt far more like starting a fresh game of any of the old Infinity Engine games - you got through it after a minute or two, and your quest began. I felt like the new Torment was far less interactive, at least in the sense that all you were doing was going through a sort of dream state, doing little more than making dialogue choices that moved the narrative along in a slower way. I didn't do a word count to compare the two or anything, but I felt myself reading way more in Torment than I did in Planescape, possibly because Planescape's dialogue seemed to move faster. Maybe more was going on, I don't know. But I felt the keen urge to hurry the game along this time around, hoping to get to the more active parts."
"...This differs from Planescape in one crucial way: in Planescape, you made your character in the beginning. In this installment, your character comes to life based on your decisions in the dialogue."
"Right now, the game only has one combat scene in the beginning area, and it doesn't hold your hand. You're told what to do in dialogue with another character, but you're expected to know what he means and do it on your own. If you mess up, things can go wrong. Whether InXile adds more help and structure, turning it into something closer to a tutorial, is yet to be seen. We're also promised that fighting won't necessarily be what this game revolves around; many situations can be resolved by your character's guile or other means. A fight is called a "Crisis", and if that first one was any indication, it definitely feels like a crisis. I'm personally excited at the idea that I'll be able to actually avoid fighting, that my character's smooth-talking skills can get me out of battles. It seems that so few RPG's actually deliver on their promise to let you do this, so I'm cautiously hopeful that InXile will give that to us.
As for the actual fights, they're turn-based, and at the present, they feel a little clunky (though this could change). I know this will be good news to those of you that hated the combat in Pillars of Eternity, especially those that considered it too fast."
Wow...a positive review from the Codex? That's good indeed. I've been trying to play the beta but I'll have to wait a couple of updates I think. They haven't gotten it at all optimized yet ( understandably) and it just barely runs on my PC at this point. I'm loving what I've seen so far.
...and I managed to die literally 1 minute into the game
Not from the Codex, though. From rpgwatch.com. rpgwatch.com and rpgcodex.net are different sites And the general reception of the beta on rpgcodex.net is mixed. Not bad, but mixed. The thing that bothers them now is the size of the game and the number of fights in it. And they've been discussing in-game portraits, models and the fact that all 3 companions are human.
Also, they've touching the subject of how long the beta will take. It could last for almost a year, they say, as it was the case with Wasteland 2.
Anyway, inXile released the beta on Steam Early Access today.
“Originally launched on Kickstarter in early 2013 after our successful crowdfunding of Wasteland 2, the first part of Torment: Tides of Numenera is now ready for the fans who helped make it happen and anyone looking for deep, reactive gameplay and a rich narrative experience.
Our experience with Wasteland 2 on Steam Early Access led to it being one of the first success stories on the platform, enabling it to become a bigger, better game - all thanks to your valuable input. We want to recreate that success with Torment: Tides of Numenera and push it even further. We will be actively listening to your feedback on all aspects of the game, from our graphics and art, to interface, to gameplay systems and, of course, story and characters, in order to create a worthy successor to the Torment legacy.
We're not the only developers who have had success with Early Access. Many of our friends have had great success with doing high-quality RPGs on the platform as well, such as Divinity: Original Sin. What we’ve found is that by interacting with our fans and players, we’re able to ensure that we are delivering experiences that meet, and surpass, expectations. By buying Torment: Tides of Numenera in Early Access, you too can have a hand in crafting the spiritual follow-up to one of the most legendary RPGs of all time.”
Approximately how long will this game be in Early Access?
“A huge reason our previous Early Access title, Wasteland 2, was such a success was that we listened intently to community feedback and adjusted large sections of our design in response. Thus, we try to remain as flexible with our production scheduling as possible in order to ensure we release a game worthy of your patience and support. That said, we’re as anxious as anyone to release the final version.”
How is the full version planned to differ from the Early Access version?
“Torment is a single-player, deeply story-driven RPG. That means that while we are giving you the first chapter in the story, we are saving the later chapters for the final release. Additionally, with your feedback, we will continue to add new gameplay features and improvements to balance, update our visuals, sound, interface, and more. And that doesn't even touch on the additions to the storyline, conversations and characters you will meet in the game, which we also hope to flesh out even more.”
What is the current state of the Early Access version?
“This version of Torment is close to feature complete and contains most of the first major location of the game. Throughout Early Access, we will iterate and improve on features and content in the game, and roll out changes for you so that we can get your feedback and insight for what works.”
Will the game be priced differently during and after Early Access?
“It has yet to be determined whether the price of the game will change during or after early access.”
How are you planning on involving the Community in your development process?
“We built a 'Feedback' button right into the game so we can gather your feedback on all aspects of the game, from our graphics, to interface, to gameplay systems and, of course, story and characters. Our experience with Wasteland 2 on Steam Early Access led to it being one of the first success stories on the platform, enabling it to become a bigger, better game thanks to your valuable input. We want to recreate that success with Torment: Tides of Numenera and push things even farther in order to create a worthy successor to the Torment legacy.”
Tried this for a few moments this afternoon. It's clearly very raw and I don't want to jump to any conclusions about how the final product will run, but for a game that to my eyes looks considerably WORSE than Pillars (graphically), it runs like an absolute snail on my laptop (which is no powerhouse to be sure). Loads quickly (in a fraction of the time of an initial Pillars load actually) but the actual gameplay is....sluggish. Granted it's probably a combination of my laptop and the game having not been optimized in the least, but it's continuing this trend of isometric games that seem far more demanding on graphics cards and systems than seems even remotely reasonable for what is being portrayed on the screen. So, if your working with a lower-end system, I'd advise caution, though certainly hope isn't lost considering it's a first beta build.
Then you have what Styg did with Underrail. In my estimation it looks no worse graphically than any recent isometric game, yet it could probably run on a calculator used in advanced high school math classes. Not saying people need to adapt Jeff Vogel-style graphics for major Kickstarter projects, but you also shouldn't need Alienware to run them. Optimization killed Sword Coast Legends for me, and while it only affects initial load times in Pillars, that's still annoying. The Enhanced Edition of Divinity: Original Sin proved this is a fixable problem, but one that may be more than these companies are willing to take on.
"The Tides replace the old school Dungeons and Dragons alignment system used in the original, Planescape-based Torment game, and I like them quite a bit better. Rather than rating you on axes of "Good vs Evil" and "Law vs Chaos", each tide represents a more organic and morally relative attitude and approach to life. Red is fiery and passionate. Indigo and Gold both incorporate elements of sacrificing for the greater good. I ended up aligned most strongly to Blue, which is all about curiosity and gaining knowledge, and Silver, which is about changing the world and performing great deeds for the sake of glory. My character wanted to be brilliant, and make sure everyone knew just how brilliant. It feels much more natural and diverse, and avoids pigeonholing you into the archetypical "Chaotic Good Robin Hood" or "Lawful Neutral Judge Dredd" roles that tend to arise with the old system.
At least in its current state, the interface keeps your relationship to the Tides opaque. Dialogue options don't tell you which Tide they will pull you towards, and your character sheet has no indication of which Tides you embody most strongly. There is an ally character you can visit from time to time to get a sort of alignment check-up, but the information is not available on the fly. If this remains the case in the final game, I'm not quite sure how I feel about it yet. On one hand, I do like the idea of simply making the choice I want to make, rather than looking for "the Red one" or "the Silver one", and seeing where the chips fall. On the other, such indicators can sometimes lend you a clearer idea of what certain dialogue options are actually implying, which can be a useful roleplaying tool."
"I had three, big takeaways from this build of Torment.
First, I have full confidence that the writing and storytelling are going to be complex, diverse, engrossing, and exquisitely constructed.
Second, Torment's launch feels a long way off. With so many aspects of the game in such a rough state, I don't expect to see a retail release earlier than late 2016.
Finally, I wouldn't recommend buying into Early Access at this stage if you're looking for a fun gameplay experience or a taste of how the systems are meant to operate."
"Your first significant location in Torment’s beta is a multi-zoned city packed with a wealth of unfamiliar characters, ideas, and terminology. This pushes a huge amount of exposition (in what is, like its inspiration, already a very text-heavy game) right into the early hours. There’s a period in all RPGs of this type where narrative pacing gets temporarily abandoned in favour of players pursuing a check-list tour of “important characters and events in the city”, and it’s something none of them has ever really addressed with complete elegance."
"Several character abilities were not yet even present in this beta release, and combat systems and balance are unlikely to be final. Nonetheless, an early fight in the Reef (the outskirts of Sagus Cliffs) had some encouraging aspects to its design. With the right skills, it was possible to prevent the foes from healing, make use of multiple points in the environment (for buffs or damage), and even, potentially, just teleport away and make a run for it. The usual, turn-based “hit a guy with my current weapon” option was there too (and encompasses a flanking system), but there was a clear attempt to provide other, more thoughtful options."
"Combat and dialogue-prompted actions alike draw from your character’s Might/Speed/Intellect pools. Attempting to heave open a hatch would check against Might, while an effort to steal something from a merchant would test against Speed. Most of the speech-related checks (persuasion, intimidation and so on) seemed to use Intellect. Each action has a base cost and estimated level of success (challenging, moderate, easy etc) and can be boosted a step further by ‘spending’ some of your pool.
Ultimately, this will leave you (and any companions you may have with you) short of each ability and in need of rest to top the pools back up. This, though, advances time. And time is something you may not always have in great supply for Torment’s quests."
Also, there's a 30-minute video available with the beta gameplay and Colin McComb:
@jjstraka34 agreed! I'm not Oi worried about it at this point, though. The devs have said that optimization comes really late in development. InXile did get Wasteland 2 running really well even on my laptop, even though the initial release was nearly unplayable for me.
@jjstraka34 agreed! I'm not Oi worried about it at this point, though. The devs have said that optimization comes really late in development. InXile did get Wasteland 2 running really well even on my laptop, even though the initial release was nearly unplayable for me.
Yeah, Wasteland 2 and Pillars both work just fine for me, so I can't say I'm giving up, but I won't be playing anymore beta in the future at this rate. The thing that gets me is that the character sprite looks no better (and maybe worse) than the one in Fallout, and I mean the one from 1997. The blocks in that room aren't exactly the cutting edge of graphical innovation. I mean I realize I'm gonna mention some older games here, but is there any reason on earth that games like this should run worse than Witcher 2 and Skyrim??
I'm sure it has to do with the Unity engine. Even people with better computers are complaining about poor frame rates. to avoid any chance of getting spoilery:
I had the same thought about that first area with the character looking HORRIBLE. I was able to get through that section to the next, and the Castoff's avatar looked better. When you get past that there's a pretty cool Choose Your Own Adventure style section that is basically, along with the battle/crisis before it, your character creation. It's pretty interesting, like a souped up Ultima IV intro. When you get into the actual world, things start to look really good, like you would expect. The problem is that is where my frame rates dropped through the floor and I haven't been able to progress without punching my computer. So I THINK (and I could be wrong) that your avatar looking really simple in the beginning is on purpose, conceptually. The conversations you have immediately after leaving the Labrinth (or your brain, really) is pretty fantastic and really well written. Hopefully it's representative of the rest of the game. And if it is, this is going to be a LOT of reading if it's anywhere near as long a game as PS:T. I've put the beta on the back burner until they put out at least a couple of updates. I really want to participate in the bug hunting, but just can't play it in its current state. No matter, I just loaded up the beta of the PoE 3.0 patch with White March II coming right around the time I'll likely get to it in my attempted full play through.
"Just as promised, sometimes Torment depicts the events in the form known from gamebooks – and from Pillars of Eternity. However, inXile is using these sequences much less often than Obsidian, and they are of different character. They are more complex and used to depict long fragments of the story which are e.g. flashbacks set in different time and place than the main plot. Simple interactions which in PoE are also depicted using this gamebook (e.g. attempt to climb on the ruined watchtower in the forest), in Tides of Numenera use „normal” dialogue windows."
"Of course, using choices in the narrative as a way of creating a character isn’t anything new in the RPG genre but I have never seen this process to be so softly and intuitively put within the narrative… and to be so long."
"Hero’s characteristics consists of three core elements:
Descriptor – an epithet describing the character’s main attribute, e.g. Tough, Charming, Strong
Class – there are just three classes: Glaive (a warrior), Nano (”a mage”), Jack (combination of the previous two with a bit of a thief thrown in)
Focus – what the character is most known for or their special talent (e.g. Brandishes a Silver Tounge)
An example: ”Charming Nano Who Rides the Lightning”
"Although terms the game uses (e.g. Tides, Descriptors, Focus) seem to be abstract and can be confusing in the beginning, everything turns out to be pretty simple and intuitive after a while. Even the original systems don’t cause problems, like five Tides describing the hero’s personality or using three core attributes as pools of points to spend to perform various actions (in every test we decide how much effort we will put into it and, therefore, how many points we will spend affecting the chance for success). In general terms, the creators of the system artfully combined new and original elements with things well known to RPG fans (e.g. active and passive skills)."
"Also the system of performing tests is unusual. Its core element is rolling a 20-sided dice and comparing the result with action’s difficulty level (which depends on the character’s statistics and other factors) but it’s modified by the Effort. Every time we perform a test we decide how many points of a chosen attribute (Might, Speed or Intellect) we spend on it – the more points you choose, the better the chance to succeed. Attribute points are regenerated by resting, just like with hit points in traditional RPGs."
"While in terms of the story, world, etc. Tides of Numenera is very promising already, the technical side of the game is far from being finished. User interface windows don’t have final shape yet and when you try to open them the game often freezes for several seconds. Gameplay balance is in its first trial (balancing will begin when players start to send their feedback). Your character can’t use all the skills yet. Sometimes framerate drops occur (below 30 FPS on good computer). Keyboard shortcuts can’t be used and the Controls section in the menu is not available yet. Naturally, there are also tons of bugs."
"The new Torment seems to do with its predecessor what Pillars of Eternity did with Baldur’s Gate – it is an amazing tribute to the classic, but at the same time Tides of Numenera deepens everything we loved in it and makes another huge step in the evolution of the RPG genre. I know these words sound pompously but believe me, it’s hard not to be euphoric while playing Brian Fargo’s new game. I’m more worried about the technical side of the game and its artstyle – the beta is far from being perfect, and Wasteland 2 showed that inXile isn’t on its best when dealing with this part of the production process. There’s still a lot of work for the dev team, so if you thought that releasing the beta of Tides of Numenera in Early Access is the final step before the final release of the game (that has already been delayed few times), then I’m afraid that you’re up for a disappointment. The aforementioned Wasteland 2 was in the early access for a good part of nine months and I’m afraid that Brian Fargo’s new project will meet the same fate. I really hope that I’m not right about it."
Another review (it seems they keep coming, but the more the better, right - the expectations about the game are huge, so this is understandable and appreciated), again with spoilers, so I again have to choose what to paste here:
"The RPG gameplay in Numenera is simple. All the actions that we undertake - from dealing out a stab wound, shooting a blaster, attempting to convince a mutant merchant, or even bypassing the circuits of an ancient robot - have an assigned difficulty from one to ten (which is then multiplied by three to make a throw with a twenty-sided dice). Our skills can reduce the difficulty to make it more affordable, and adversaries can make the situation more complicated. There are even small random elements (in the case of the role-playing game these are direct and impromptu interventions from the Game Director) that hamper specific actions. This system has been respected as much as possible in Torment: Tides of Numenera, retaining both the system's minimalism and the clarity of presentation. Whenever you execute an action that depends on a "dice roll" you know the difficulty beforehand and thus you can freely decide to chance it or not."
"This system is deeply interwoven into all elements of the game. Of course, combat (tactical and turn-based) is determined both by these dice rolls and the difficulty of your enemies, but the truth is that Torment: Tides of Numenera is not a game that focuses on fighting, but on missions, on the narrative, on the discovery of stories and characters. Like its predecessor, this is a game with a huge amount of text. The quality of the writing is very high and when we found spoken fragments, the voice actors do an outstanding job too."
"Both the stories seem enjoyable and the mission structure breaks with what we are accustomed to seeing in an RPG. Maybe the game that comes closest is The Witcher, with its ambiguity and twists on familiar scenarios, but the world of Torment: Tides of Numenera is much more varied and allows for more powerful and shocking scenes."
"The narrative of this game is based on the written word, on the literary text. This can feel somewhat contradictory in a video game, as it has visual tools to tell us stories. If a character combs his beard you don't have to write about it, you animate the character doing it. Not here. The graphics are merely an interface between the player and what he or she wants to do, the visuals merely provide information about what is really happening. They are a stage, a backdrop, there to put you in the moment."
"...based on what we've seen and enjoyed, it seems that this is a game that exists on another narrative level, and it's one we still have to play for many more hours before being able to decide what we think of the combat system."
"For the moment, fans of Planescape Torment can rest assured, Torment: Tides of Numenera has all the elements that made it's predecessor great. It also has a background, Numenera, which is equally mysterious and as powerful as Planescape. Keep it on your radar, for this is one could well be one of the greatest games of 2016."
From what I played of it, this game seems like it's not gonna be ready before August at this rate. Even calling this a beta is being pretty generous. Like I mentioned above, I hope it gets optimized at least as well as Pillars (and it should, it's the same damn engine) and that alot of people can enjoy it. This has been THE game everyone has been waiting for in the Kickstarter revolution-era of the genre, even among heavyweights like Pillars and Original Sin. It would be a shame if it didn't live up to the hype.
I dealt with the 5 creatures and went through the tear. Then I found myself in a room with two (for lack of a better description) "people" standing over me. I had no UI access and no ability to do anything. I assume this is just a cutscene that didn't trigger correctly.
Turns out though I was able to get passed the area by reloading and doing the previous part over. So anyone playing the game would be wise to keep a few saves handy (the game doesn't seem to autosave)
While there's a patch for the beta expected in the next few days, a new review is out, and not a spoilery one.
"Over the last couple of weeks, I’ve spent a not-inconsequential amount of time playing Pillars of Eternity. Got a copy off GoG in an effort of expanding my DRM-free library for the hell of it, and I have to admit it’s an exquisite game indeed. A phenomenal RPG, even, with truckloads of content spread around the vast game world for the player to interact with. However, it misses a certain something that I’ve been unable to put my finger on. Whenever I play, I keep thinking about how it doesn’t truly encapsulate my imagination. Never did it completely suck me in, which is the effect I was hoping to attain. This is a personal, subjective quirk, mind you, and is entirely irrelevant when it comes to the actual quality of PoE. All the same, I went into the Early Access build of Torment: Tides of Numenera expecting much the same experience, seeing as how the two share a passing resemblance, only to be completely blown away by what I got to play.
From the initial “birthing” sequence to the exploration of the first city you literally crash into, Tides of Numenera has a unique oomph to it. The atmosphere is nailed down perfectly and is highly reminiscent of Planescape: Torment, and to say that the static backgrounds are gorgeous in their weird, otherworldly way would be a severe understatement. Over the course of a single hour, Torment: Tides of Numenera has succeeded in completely and utterly enthralling me (once more) with its universe, a feat PoE hasn’t achieved after nearly a month of on-off playing it. Even at this stage of development, InXile have a special jewel at hand, and they’re treating it really, really well."
"The enemies don’t feel like overly powerful tanks nor are they sitting ducks – a fine balance has been struck which I can only applaud. The relatively rare combat encounters thus feel more satisfying and tactical than those in PoE do, in my opinion. I will say, however, that Torment is slightly weirder than one may expect as far as equipment and whatnot goes because different mechanics are in place compared to, say, Pillars of Eternity, but it’s all fairly manageable. The UI is due to get a revamp anyway, so rest assured that all of that mess is very fluid as it currently stands."
"Now, in regards to the visual design of the game, I am positively astonished by the quality of levels and quite worried about the 3D characters sticking out of them. The levels themselves are masterfully designed and intricately filled with interactive elements but aren’t attuned to the characters moping around their surface. This is not visible on screenshots but only when animations are played out, so if that’s something that bothers you, I suggest trying to squint, maybe? Plenty of eye candy can be found in lighting, effects and virtually everything else, though. The music is phenomenal as well and sets the mood perfectly regardless of what may be taking place on-screen."
"Now, in regards to the visual design of the game, I am positively astonished by the quality of levels and quite worried about the 3D characters sticking out of them. The levels themselves are masterfully designed and intricately filled with interactive elements but aren’t attuned to the characters moping around their surface."
i don't understand what he's getting at in terms of technology here
@bob_veng Among other things, beta-testers have been actively discussing the models of NPCs in this game and the fact they look worse than levels and backgrounds. It seems the reviewer shares that thought.
Today we are pleased to announce patch 1 for Torment: Tides of Numenera's beta/Steam Early Access release, which should begin downloading for you periodically. This patch corrects a number of critical bugs our community reported and also has some feature and gameplay improvements across the board. Enjoy!
Note: This patch may be incompatible with your previous save files due to changes in our save/load system. If you experience bugs as a result of loading up old saves, we recommend starting a new game.
Highlights Heavy optimization pass to Fathom 13 scene. Camera improvements. Large balance passes. Added hotkey support to the interface. Press I for Inventory, C for Character, M for Map, B for Quick Abilities, V for Quick Items, and J for Journal. Escape should close out of these menus, as should pressing their respective keys while the UI is open. Customizable hotkeys are not yet available. Added Autosave functionality with three rotating slots. Added Quicksave/Quickload functionality. Press F5 to quicksave, F6 to quickload. Added a Shins (currency) display to the Inventory screen. The camera should no longer pan while a menu is open. Manifold miscellaneous optimizations to performance. Updates to portrait artwork. Fixed Broken Dome bug that could cause the intro cutscene/conversation to not play correctly. Should also fix misc. bugs that could be caused by user interface inputs falling through the UI. Fixed Cypher Sickness not saving properly. Fixed combat freeze-ups that could occur with repeat save/loads. Cyphers can now be dragged to other characters. Cypher Sickness should no longer multiply in effect after save/load. Issue with movement getting stuck on scene transition should no longer occur.
Gameplay Fix to allow non-singular amounts of items to be added to an inventory simultaneously. GridNodeFilter_WillBeFlanked was improperly if the user would be flanked. CombatantSCorer_CanFlank should now calculate Flanking properly Various AI bug fixes and updates/optimizations. Many miscellaneous bug fixes and tweaks to abilities. Many miscellaneous bug fixes and tweaks to items (especially Cyphers). Tweaked items throughout game scenes, including more Shins placed in containers so players wouldn't find themselves running out so easily and unable to pick certain quest options. Fixes to tooltips on Skill and Ability descriptions. Fixed an issue in the Sticha Lair with stray colliders blocking doors. Increase minimum bonus regained from Resting. Unarmed attacks now treated as Light Bashing type. Added Devourer of Wrongs to Dendra O'hur Cave. Added Sir Arthour. Balance pass to slightly reduce armor and HP across all enemies. Issue with movement getting stuck on scene transition should no longer occur.
Quests & Dialog Numerous miscellaneous scripting and dialog fixes and updates. Updated Peliai to resolve her quest on all cutscene exits, many paths didn't resolve. Updated Tybir to only trigger warnings about Ris' quest if Ris is still set to be executed. Updated the steel hands in the Reef so that the Smashing skill applies to the task to break off the Eight-fingered Mace. Updated the scripting of Aidan Sitabo so that LCO dies when defeated by Aidan in the final challenge of his duel. Updated Tranquility's conversation to start the cutscene of Tranquility hypnotizing LCO into the Calm to occur in the onEnter of a Script Node rather than the OnExit. Fixed an exploit allowing players to get a quest reward from Fulsome infinite times. Updated Jernaugh's conversation to only allow LCO to mention Piquo when the player has learned of Piquo's indecision Updated Jherem to move Jherem near his parents after LCO tells him the horrible truth and disable the bark triggers near the merchants he normally visits. Updated Circus Minor to auto-move Jherem to the spot under the right conditions to help offset any weirdness with him getting pushed or doing something bizarre AI-wise Players were able to tell Piquo about Qeek being dead even though they had never talked to Piquo about her. Added a conditional to prevent this. Prevented Qeek from talking about Piquo unless Wayward Son is active. Removed "take me to egg chamber" option from conversation if the Sticha have relocated. Simplified Callistege's "What should I do next?" responses. Added a non-quest critical option to check Imbitu's alibi with Fulsome without accusing him first. Updates to the Reef obelisk, including cutscenes. Added more "opinions of CNPC" lines with party member reactions.
Graphics Body piece alternate materials now function properly. Numerous miscellaneous VFX, models, background art, textures and character graphics updates. Updates to Inventory paperdoll rendering and lighting. Should make them look much closer to in-world view. Allowing Buzzer and Crossbow projectile with new tech to originate from the actual weapon and fixing the buzzer prefab while also reworking the projectile slightly. Updates to portrait artwork.
User Interface Cyphers can now be dragged to other characters. Added a check (and set a prefab flag) to avoid clicking on interactable objects through UI. Minor art updates throughout the interface and HUD. Tooltips and extra information added for the left-hand stats panel in the Inventory and Character screens, and lots of formatting improvements. Fixed incorrect portrait on offscreen character indicator for male Last Castoff. The end turn button should now be re-enabled if the party element is hidden and re-enabled within a Crisis. Mousing over a mob in the turn order bar now shows their stats on the left. Clicking on a mob in the turn order bar now "locks" their stats on the left. If a hostile mob is in range its selection circle will slowly pulse. If a hostile mob is targeted, its selection circle will rapidly pulse. Added a Shins (currency) display to the Inventory screen. Added a placeholder sliced frame sprite. Fixed an issue that was causing text in the character sheet to vanish. Added a function to retrieve the style setting defined color for a given stat. Null ref check to avoid error spam on levels without maps set up. Tier 0 abilities will now show up in Tier 1 to make sure special Class and Focus abilities show up. Fixed vanishing free abilities in Tier increase window. Updated stat display icon names to match the new all-lowercase naming convention. The free advancement popup should appear directly after changing Descriptor. Load screen art updates. Fix for inventory UI keeping references to old Cyphers Updates to Mere artwork and text. Added hotkey support to the interface. Hotkey input should be blocked when any windows are open. All scroll view positions on the Inventory screen should be reset when it is opened. The Options menu should now accept hotkey input. The camera should no longer pan while a menu is open. The Last Castoff should start selected in the Loot window, so Take All sends items to LCO instead of companions. Conversation window sets itself inactive after sliding out of view to prevent issues where it could remain active even when not visible. Updates to Fettle tooltips. They now auto-generate information on their effects instead of needing it typed in manually. Fix for bark strings handling *, also removes the " at the start and end of a bark string. Combat movement circles will now draw past valid movement range. Fixes rare wrong color in circles when there's a valid path at maximum movement range. Added info button art to the temp Effort window. Adjusting temp art with improvements to help usability: added in depth to images to improve readability. Quest entry title labels are now tinted based on whether they are main quests or not. Added a close button and the Main Menu VFX to the Credits window.
Save/Load Added Autosave functionality with three rotating slots. Added Quicksave/Quickload functionality. Press F5 to quicksave, F6 to quickload. MapData now saves scene name. Fixes the bug whereby users could not leave Fathom 1 after being sent there from the real world, saving, and loading in Fathom 1. Save files can now have spaces in their names. Fixed Cypher Sickness not saving properly. Fettles, Abilities, and Progressions now do the same thing as Items: newly-created instances have their templates pulled from the respective manager class to ensure reference equality persists across save/load, and the various Get methods do the same. Quest item display should now be updated correctly after loading a saved game. Fixed combat freeze-ups that could occur with repeat save/loads.
Sound Updated title music with loop. New intro SFX for Fathom 1, new charge SFX for Sorrow Fragments. Sound hookups for Spend XP window, Inventory window, and Journal window. Many miscellaneous SFX updates and additions.
Misc. Manifold miscellaneous optimizations to performance. Disabled Unity Shadows on backgrounds (we aren't using them at all) for a performance increase. Optimizing to reduce some created garbage. Added functionality to override camera fades when leaving scenes. The camera should no longer pan while a menu is open. Misc. combat camera updates/fixes. Companions won't immediately resurrect on combat end when it is triggered by LCO death. They'll wait until pre-transition-save to do that. Fixed a bug where AI characters would sometimes try to path through player characters. Reworked resolution switching slightly to make it actually work. Mostly. Refresh rate is broken thanks to a Unity bug. Steamworks updates. Eric Schwarz inXile Line Producer
"Note: This patch may be incompatible with your previous save files due to changes in our save/load system. If you experience bugs as a result of loading up old saves, we recommend starting a new game. "
"Note: This patch may be incompatible with your previous save files due to changes in our save/load system. If you experience bugs as a result of loading up old saves, we recommend starting a new game. "
"In general, while we do want to try maintaining compatibility where possible, we may ultimately need to ask you start a new game each time a major update comes out. This won't be every week or anything, typically, so you will still have time to play (and a break to appreciate the changes made in the next build)."
"A weird scene catches my eye. There's a man standing on a rostrum with a creepy mummy-like figure behind him, and it's wrapping a rope around him - a rope coming from his mouth! Rank! I have to know more.
It's an execution and the rope-spewing man is the accused, and that thing behind him, that's his Death, a sort of living statue formed by the rope, which is actually flesh, tumbling from his mouth ( @Anduin, have a look ). Words turned to flesh, coming from a forced, hallucinatory nightmare. It gets worse, or better depending on how you look at it, because now the Death is fully formed it's using the fleshy rope to wrap around the man and squeeze him slowly to death. And when he dies, an even more ominous figure lurking behind - a hooded Devourer of Wrongs - will eat him, sucking the marrow from his bones, confirming the guilt within.
It's just a passing scene in a town, no biggie, and yet it's so typical of Torment: Tides of Numenera. This may look like something you've seen before, may even look unremarkable, but let yourself be intrigued and look again and you'll find that it it's so much more."
"Torment doesn't struggle for imagination but to make it really work you will need to invest yours, too, for this is a game about reading, about letting your mind wander as if you were reading a book - or as if you were playing a tabletop role-playing campaign. If you don't meet it half-way you will be left with a plain experience. Fully half of the screen can be text at times, with little going on elsewhere, although sparse but well-timed sound and visual ornaments - shouts of a crowd, flashes of light - do enough to bring to life what you read. It isn't ugly, I'm not saying that; the environments are like lovely little paintings that your rather more mundane characters trample on. But it is a game that requires your input."
"But of course there are dice rolls. There are those mechanical innards - this is a role-playing game after all. It's not based on Dungeons & Dragons, that's a major differentiator from its thematic predecessor Planescape: Torment, but instead a new tabletop game called Numenera, which tends towards story rather than spreadsheets, and that's apparent here. But there are statistics, character sheets, to-hit modifiers, turns, flanking, and all that stuff. And there are new things, such as abilities connected with Tides (alignments of sorts), and ancient relics called Numenera you can use in battle. Generally, though, it's familiar and comfortable, although the implementation can be sluggish and fiddly and ultimately a bit boring, lacking the zip and zest of a turn-based game like XCOM 2. Still, it's early days, and there's usually a way out of Torment's major encounters that isn't fighting."
"the Early Access experience can be rough, and it would be unfair to scrutinise too deeply at this stage. I've had crashes, bugs preventing progress, incompatible saved games. This meant retreading sections and trying things differently, and the game is pliable in this way, but not enough to prevent my re-traipsing eventually becoming a slog. And a slog isn't how I want to remember Torment nor how I would advise you experiencing it. I hope inXile uses the months planned in Early Access - and the patient people along for the ride - to bang out the kinks and sharpen the edges."
Comments
https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2016/01/25/torment-tides-of-numenera-beta/
I will copy parts that are NOT spoilers:
"This is the perfect setting for a Planescape style game."
"When inXile calls this a beta, they definitely mean beta. This slice of the game is buggy as heck, suffering from dialogue tree glitches where you know of characters before meeting them and similar scripting errors, and with its first real combat sequence – using the Crisis system – so broken that I’ve still not managed to play it properly."
"It is possible to entirely skip the hugely scripted, complex encounter just by bluffing your way past."
"Easily my favourite thing about Numenera is its sense of personality – something I personally found very lacking in its closest Kickstarter competitor, Pillars of Eternity."
"The mechanics it sets up are at least interesting. Like Torment, Numenera leans further towards adventure than RPG in many ways. There’s no character customisation beyond gender, combat seems pretty rare so far (focusing on the heavily scripted Crisis system rather than random skirmishes), and most encounters are handled through dialogue and skill-checks. The twist is that each character has three skill pools, Might, Speed and Intellect. Instead of just rolling on a stat, as in the D&D model, you spend points from these pools to make challenges easier – to intimidate, to repair an item, to recall someone or something from the past, or whatever else awaits."
"Time alone will tell whether or not it boasts the philosophical edge or deep characterisation that helped Planescape cut deep and sink in its talons, but this opening section at least promises an adventure full of personality and fun ideas. That’s what I wanted to see from the beta, and as long as inXile is serious about taking feedback on board for its bugs and distinctly wobblier bits, I’m pretty confident the final product won’t disappoint."
Pcgamesn has given an Early Access review. Again, the article is spoiler heavy.
http://www.pcgamesn.com/torment-tides-of-numenera/torment-tides-of-numenera-early-access-review
And again, I will copy parts that are NOT spoilers:
"As introductions go, Tides of Numenera’s is dense. I can’t think of any denser."
"Some of your decisions will impact your ability pool, broken up into might, speed and intellect, but it feels more like you are rapidly constructing a person rather than a traditional RPG avatar. These are personality quirks, opinions and events that have already taken place rather than simple numbers on a sheet."
"There are bugs and missing features and an ugly UI to contend with, but restarting didn’t faze me; in fact, I probably needed that second run-through of the introduction so I could soak it all in. "
"The more time I spent wandering the streets of Sagus Cliffs, the more baffled I became. But it was a great kind of bafflement!"
"Playing Tides of Numenera feels like playing a great tabletop RPG, where the Game Master favours narrative over action-packed lootfests and dragon-slaying. That’s not surprising, since Numenera is actually the setting of a tabletop RPG, created by D&D game designer Monte Cook, which “focuses on story and ideas over mechanics.” The sometimes obtuse rules of D&D have been replaced with philosophical concepts and surrealism, making it a less fussy, though undeniably stranger, system.
In videogame terms, it’s more like an adventure game than a traditional RPG, with its long, meandering – but intriguing – conversations and esoteric puzzles.
Sometimes, it delves into the more conventional aspects of RPGs though – and right now it’s worse off for it. Take combat, for instance: plodding, turn-based fights absent excitement. Interactable objects dotted around the place might confer surprising bonuses on you or your party, requiring skill checks and a spot of luck, and conversations and story seep into battles with interesting results, but the actual act of fighting is slow and weightless and ultimately just a wee bit dull. Avoiding fights or trying to cut them short can be a lot more interesting – allowing you to be shrewd or clever rather than just violent."
"The version I’ve been exploring is the Kickstarter backers build, which is also what you lovely lot will be able to get your hands on when it launches on Steam Early Access. It represents about a fifth of the game, in a very unfinished state, and really you should avoid it unless you are willing to spoil the game for yourself a wee bit in the name of helping inXile bug hunt, which is undeniably a noble goal.
Buttons stop working, the game briefly freezes frequently, transitioning to a new area breaks the game half of the time and while none of these things are entirely unexpected in a work-in-progress, it’s hardly pleasant. And this isn’t some sandbox that you’re messing around in; it’s a story-driven RPG with a massive central mystery, and you risk dulling some of the surprise by jumping in now, long before it’s actually ready to be shown off."
According to the Kickstarter update @Kamigoroshi posted on the 5th page, the beta is supposed to be 10 hours long, and George Ziets during the IGN stread said that the full game will be 40-50 hours total, so this indeed illustrates the beta is about a fifth of the game.
And the third review, again with spoilers, if you read it in full.
http://www.mmorpg.com/gamelist.cfm/game/1020/feature/10510/Torment-Tides-of-Numenera.html
Here're not spoiler-parts:
"What is abundantly clear from the first moments in Torment: Tides of Numenera is that this is not a standard story-driven RPG in any sense. The only recognizable portion of character creation is the selection of a player's gender. From there, the story truly begins with players arriving in a literally black and white world."
"T:ToN requires a lot, a LOT, of reading. As said earlier, it is more closely related to, I believe, an interactive novel. The writing is beautifully and intricately done, though I will further admit that becoming invested in the story took a few hours."
"For those who remember the amazing companions from Planescape: Torment -- Falls From Grace, Morte, Ignus and the others -- and the extension to story they brought to the game, rest assured that there is more of that coming in Torment: Tides of Numenera. The companions, at least so far, are fascinating, each with his or her own story to discover and motives to discern. They argue and jibe and joke with one another. They offer advice and direction and even heckle decisions made. The writing for each rivals that of the main story itself."
"Are there issues with this beta presentation? Of course there are. I ran into more than a few bugs and I found the "first pass" UI to be intrusive and often times frustrating as the text I wanted to read would disappear requiring scrolling to read. As mentioned earlier as well, there will be many, many who think that they want to play a game like T:ToN who will be unsatisfied with the way the story painstakingly unfolds or who will miss the D20 dice rolls from more traditional DnD games.
For those, however, who remember the best days of RPGs, games that told stories and allowed the player to discover organically how their story would unfold, Torment: Tides of Numenera will be a find that might just stand alongside its predecessor, Planescape: Torment. Though I only had the opportunity to experience a tiny portion of the game, I can clearly see its potential and I can't wait to finish my Castoff's journey."
Cheers!
"The game is incredibly text-heavy. Torment is no place for those who don't enjoy reading; this is a universe of the mind, and words are the vehicle through which you will traverse this world. It's probably the most text-heavy game I've played in a long time; it reminds me more of a choose-your-own-adventure novel, or one of those old text-based games, than a typical RPG. But the writing is excellent; there's absolutely no room for complaint in the game's wordcrafting. It's the best writing I've seen since Pillars of Eternity, and both games share a talent for describing the indescribable. But, using the current build of this game for comparison, I would say that Pillars lets you act more. Torment makes you read more, and while I loved the writing, my eyes started to ache long before I was through. It made me appreciate the minimalism of a game like Sunless Sea, with its combination of brilliance and brevity. It also gave me a craving to go back and play Pillars; it's very similar to Torment in a lot of ways."
"P:T might have started out with a lengthy dialogue (with a talking skull), but that felt far more like starting a fresh game of any of the old Infinity Engine games - you got through it after a minute or two, and your quest began. I felt like the new Torment was far less interactive, at least in the sense that all you were doing was going through a sort of dream state, doing little more than making dialogue choices that moved the narrative along in a slower way. I didn't do a word count to compare the two or anything, but I felt myself reading way more in Torment than I did in Planescape, possibly because Planescape's dialogue seemed to move faster. Maybe more was going on, I don't know. But I felt the keen urge to hurry the game along this time around, hoping to get to the more active parts."
"...This differs from Planescape in one crucial way: in Planescape, you made your character in the beginning. In this installment, your character comes to life based on your decisions in the dialogue."
"Right now, the game only has one combat scene in the beginning area, and it doesn't hold your hand. You're told what to do in dialogue with another character, but you're expected to know what he means and do it on your own. If you mess up, things can go wrong. Whether InXile adds more help and structure, turning it into something closer to a tutorial, is yet to be seen. We're also promised that fighting won't necessarily be what this game revolves around; many situations can be resolved by your character's guile or other means. A fight is called a "Crisis", and if that first one was any indication, it definitely feels like a crisis. I'm personally excited at the idea that I'll be able to actually avoid fighting, that my character's smooth-talking skills can get me out of battles. It seems that so few RPG's actually deliver on their promise to let you do this, so I'm cautiously hopeful that InXile will give that to us.
As for the actual fights, they're turn-based, and at the present, they feel a little clunky (though this could change). I know this will be good news to those of you that hated the combat in Pillars of Eternity, especially those that considered it too fast."
http://www.rpgwatch.com/show/article?articleid=364
I've been trying to play the beta but I'll have to wait a couple of updates I think. They haven't gotten it at all optimized yet ( understandably) and it just barely runs on my PC at this point. I'm loving what I've seen so far.
Also, they've touching the subject of how long the beta will take. It could last for almost a year, they say, as it was the case with Wasteland 2.
Anyway, inXile released the beta on Steam Early Access today.
It comes with the new trailer:
Why Early Access?
“Originally launched on Kickstarter in early 2013 after our successful crowdfunding of Wasteland 2, the first part of Torment: Tides of Numenera is now ready for the fans who helped make it happen and anyone looking for deep, reactive gameplay and a rich narrative experience.
Our experience with Wasteland 2 on Steam Early Access led to it being one of the first success stories on the platform, enabling it to become a bigger, better game - all thanks to your valuable input. We want to recreate that success with Torment: Tides of Numenera and push it even further. We will be actively listening to your feedback on all aspects of the game, from our graphics and art, to interface, to gameplay systems and, of course, story and characters, in order to create a worthy successor to the Torment legacy.
We're not the only developers who have had success with Early Access. Many of our friends have had great success with doing high-quality RPGs on the platform as well, such as Divinity: Original Sin. What we’ve found is that by interacting with our fans and players, we’re able to ensure that we are delivering experiences that meet, and surpass, expectations. By buying Torment: Tides of Numenera in Early Access, you too can have a hand in crafting the spiritual follow-up to one of the most legendary RPGs of all time.”
Approximately how long will this game be in Early Access?
“A huge reason our previous Early Access title, Wasteland 2, was such a success was that we listened intently to community feedback and adjusted large sections of our design in response. Thus, we try to remain as flexible with our production scheduling as possible in order to ensure we release a game worthy of your patience and support. That said, we’re as anxious as anyone to release the final version.”
How is the full version planned to differ from the Early Access version?
“Torment is a single-player, deeply story-driven RPG. That means that while we are giving you the first chapter in the story, we are saving the later chapters for the final release. Additionally, with your feedback, we will continue to add new gameplay features and improvements to balance, update our visuals, sound, interface, and more. And that doesn't even touch on the additions to the storyline, conversations and characters you will meet in the game, which we also hope to flesh out even more.”
What is the current state of the Early Access version?
“This version of Torment is close to feature complete and contains most of the first major location of the game. Throughout Early Access, we will iterate and improve on features and content in the game, and roll out changes for you so that we can get your feedback and insight for what works.”
Will the game be priced differently during and after Early Access?
“It has yet to be determined whether the price of the game will change during or after early access.”
How are you planning on involving the Community in your development process?
“We built a 'Feedback' button right into the game so we can gather your feedback on all aspects of the game, from our graphics, to interface, to gameplay systems and, of course, story and characters. Our experience with Wasteland 2 on Steam Early Access led to it being one of the first success stories on the platform, enabling it to become a bigger, better game thanks to your valuable input. We want to recreate that success with Torment: Tides of Numenera and push things even farther in order to create a worthy successor to the Torment legacy.”
Then you have what Styg did with Underrail. In my estimation it looks no worse graphically than any recent isometric game, yet it could probably run on a calculator used in advanced high school math classes. Not saying people need to adapt Jeff Vogel-style graphics for major Kickstarter projects, but you also shouldn't need Alienware to run them. Optimization killed Sword Coast Legends for me, and while it only affects initial load times in Pillars, that's still annoying. The Enhanced Edition of Divinity: Original Sin proved this is a fixable problem, but one that may be more than these companies are willing to take on.
From http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/video-games/previews/15336-Tides-of-Numenera-Preview#&gid=gallery_5515&pid=1:
"The Tides replace the old school Dungeons and Dragons alignment system used in the original, Planescape-based Torment game, and I like them quite a bit better. Rather than rating you on axes of "Good vs Evil" and "Law vs Chaos", each tide represents a more organic and morally relative attitude and approach to life. Red is fiery and passionate. Indigo and Gold both incorporate elements of sacrificing for the greater good. I ended up aligned most strongly to Blue, which is all about curiosity and gaining knowledge, and Silver, which is about changing the world and performing great deeds for the sake of glory. My character wanted to be brilliant, and make sure everyone knew just how brilliant. It feels much more natural and diverse, and avoids pigeonholing you into the archetypical "Chaotic Good Robin Hood" or "Lawful Neutral Judge Dredd" roles that tend to arise with the old system.
At least in its current state, the interface keeps your relationship to the Tides opaque. Dialogue options don't tell you which Tide they will pull you towards, and your character sheet has no indication of which Tides you embody most strongly. There is an ally character you can visit from time to time to get a sort of alignment check-up, but the information is not available on the fly. If this remains the case in the final game, I'm not quite sure how I feel about it yet. On one hand, I do like the idea of simply making the choice I want to make, rather than looking for "the Red one" or "the Silver one", and seeing where the chips fall. On the other, such indicators can sometimes lend you a clearer idea of what certain dialogue options are actually implying, which can be a useful roleplaying tool."
"I had three, big takeaways from this build of Torment.
First, I have full confidence that the writing and storytelling are going to be complex, diverse, engrossing, and exquisitely constructed.
Second, Torment's launch feels a long way off. With so many aspects of the game in such a rough state, I don't expect to see a retail release earlier than late 2016.
Finally, I wouldn't recommend buying into Early Access at this stage if you're looking for a fun gameplay experience or a taste of how the systems are meant to operate."
From http://www.pcinvasion.com/torment-tides-of-numenera-beta-preview:
"Your first significant location in Torment’s beta is a multi-zoned city packed with a wealth of unfamiliar characters, ideas, and terminology. This pushes a huge amount of exposition (in what is, like its inspiration, already a very text-heavy game) right into the early hours. There’s a period in all RPGs of this type where narrative pacing gets temporarily abandoned in favour of players pursuing a check-list tour of “important characters and events in the city”, and it’s something none of them has ever really addressed with complete elegance."
"Several character abilities were not yet even present in this beta release, and combat systems and balance are unlikely to be final. Nonetheless, an early fight in the Reef (the outskirts of Sagus Cliffs) had some encouraging aspects to its design. With the right skills, it was possible to prevent the foes from healing, make use of multiple points in the environment (for buffs or damage), and even, potentially, just teleport away and make a run for it. The usual, turn-based “hit a guy with my current weapon” option was there too (and encompasses a flanking system), but there was a clear attempt to provide other, more thoughtful options."
"Combat and dialogue-prompted actions alike draw from your character’s Might/Speed/Intellect pools. Attempting to heave open a hatch would check against Might, while an effort to steal something from a merchant would test against Speed. Most of the speech-related checks (persuasion, intimidation and so on) seemed to use Intellect. Each action has a base cost and estimated level of success (challenging, moderate, easy etc) and can be boosted a step further by ‘spending’ some of your pool.
Ultimately, this will leave you (and any companions you may have with you) short of each ability and in need of rest to top the pools back up. This, though, advances time. And time is something you may not always have in great supply for Torment’s quests."
Also, there's a 30-minute video available with the beta gameplay and Colin McComb:
There, Mr. McComb makes a statement suggesting there would be more TToN (content/games) after the release.
The conversations you have immediately after leaving the Labrinth (or your brain, really) is pretty fantastic and really well written. Hopefully it's representative of the rest of the game. And if it is, this is going to be a LOT of reading if it's anywhere near as long a game as PS:T. I've put the beta on the back burner until they put out at least a couple of updates. I really want to participate in the bug hunting, but just can't play it in its current state. No matter, I just loaded up the beta of the PoE 3.0 patch with White March II coming right around the time I'll likely get to it in my attempted full play through.
http://www.gamepressure.com/e.asp?ID=498
As always, I'll try to paste unspoilery parts:
"Just as promised, sometimes Torment depicts the events in the form known from gamebooks – and from Pillars of Eternity. However, inXile is using these sequences much less often than Obsidian, and they are of different character. They are more complex and used to depict long fragments of the story which are e.g. flashbacks set in different time and place than the main plot. Simple interactions which in PoE are also depicted using this gamebook (e.g. attempt to climb on the ruined watchtower in the forest), in Tides of Numenera use „normal” dialogue windows."
"Of course, using choices in the narrative as a way of creating a character isn’t anything new in the RPG genre but I have never seen this process to be so softly and intuitively put within the narrative… and to be so long."
"Hero’s characteristics consists of three core elements:
Descriptor – an epithet describing the character’s main attribute, e.g. Tough, Charming, Strong
Class – there are just three classes: Glaive (a warrior), Nano (”a mage”), Jack (combination of the previous two with a bit of a thief thrown in)
Focus – what the character is most known for or their special talent (e.g. Brandishes a Silver Tounge)
An example: ”Charming Nano Who Rides the Lightning”
"Although terms the game uses (e.g. Tides, Descriptors, Focus) seem to be abstract and can be confusing in the beginning, everything turns out to be pretty simple and intuitive after a while. Even the original systems don’t cause problems, like five Tides describing the hero’s personality or using three core attributes as pools of points to spend to perform various actions (in every test we decide how much effort we will put into it and, therefore, how many points we will spend affecting the chance for success). In general terms, the creators of the system artfully combined new and original elements with things well known to RPG fans (e.g. active and passive skills)."
"Also the system of performing tests is unusual. Its core element is rolling a 20-sided dice and comparing the result with action’s difficulty level (which depends on the character’s statistics and other factors) but it’s modified by the Effort. Every time we perform a test we decide how many points of a chosen attribute (Might, Speed or Intellect) we spend on it – the more points you choose, the better the chance to succeed. Attribute points are regenerated by resting, just like with hit points in traditional RPGs."
"While in terms of the story, world, etc. Tides of Numenera is very promising already, the technical side of the game is far from being finished. User interface windows don’t have final shape yet and when you try to open them the game often freezes for several seconds. Gameplay balance is in its first trial (balancing will begin when players start to send their feedback). Your character can’t use all the skills yet. Sometimes framerate drops occur (below 30 FPS on good computer). Keyboard shortcuts can’t be used and the Controls section in the menu is not available yet. Naturally, there are also tons of bugs."
"The new Torment seems to do with its predecessor what Pillars of Eternity did with Baldur’s Gate – it is an amazing tribute to the classic, but at the same time Tides of Numenera deepens everything we loved in it and makes another huge step in the evolution of the RPG genre. I know these words sound pompously but believe me, it’s hard not to be euphoric while playing Brian Fargo’s new game.
I’m more worried about the technical side of the game and its artstyle – the beta is far from being perfect, and Wasteland 2 showed that inXile isn’t on its best when dealing with this part of the production process. There’s still a lot of work for the dev team, so if you thought that releasing the beta of Tides of Numenera in Early Access is the final step before the final release of the game (that has already been delayed few times), then I’m afraid that you’re up for a disappointment. The aforementioned Wasteland 2 was in the early access for a good part of nine months and I’m afraid that Brian Fargo’s new project will meet the same fate. I really hope that I’m not right about it."
http://www.gamereactor.eu/previews/376123/Torment+Tides+of+Numenera/
"The RPG gameplay in Numenera is simple. All the actions that we undertake - from dealing out a stab wound, shooting a blaster, attempting to convince a mutant merchant, or even bypassing the circuits of an ancient robot - have an assigned difficulty from one to ten (which is then multiplied by three to make a throw with a twenty-sided dice). Our skills can reduce the difficulty to make it more affordable, and adversaries can make the situation more complicated. There are even small random elements (in the case of the role-playing game these are direct and impromptu interventions from the Game Director) that hamper specific actions. This system has been respected as much as possible in Torment: Tides of Numenera, retaining both the system's minimalism and the clarity of presentation. Whenever you execute an action that depends on a "dice roll" you know the difficulty beforehand and thus you can freely decide to chance it or not."
"This system is deeply interwoven into all elements of the game. Of course, combat (tactical and turn-based) is determined both by these dice rolls and the difficulty of your enemies, but the truth is that Torment: Tides of Numenera is not a game that focuses on fighting, but on missions, on the narrative, on the discovery of stories and characters. Like its predecessor, this is a game with a huge amount of text. The quality of the writing is very high and when we found spoken fragments, the voice actors do an outstanding job too."
"Both the stories seem enjoyable and the mission structure breaks with what we are accustomed to seeing in an RPG. Maybe the game that comes closest is The Witcher, with its ambiguity and twists on familiar scenarios, but the world of Torment: Tides of Numenera is much more varied and allows for more powerful and shocking scenes."
"The narrative of this game is based on the written word, on the literary text. This can feel somewhat contradictory in a video game, as it has visual tools to tell us stories. If a character combs his beard you don't have to write about it, you animate the character doing it. Not here. The graphics are merely an interface between the player and what he or she wants to do, the visuals merely provide information about what is really happening. They are a stage, a backdrop, there to put you in the moment."
"...based on what we've seen and enjoyed, it seems that this is a game that exists on another narrative level, and it's one we still have to play for many more hours before being able to decide what we think of the combat system."
"For the moment, fans of Planescape Torment can rest assured, Torment: Tides of Numenera has all the elements that made it's predecessor great. It also has a background, Numenera, which is equally mysterious and as powerful as Planescape. Keep it on your radar, for this is one could well be one of the greatest games of 2016."
Turns out though I was able to get passed the area by reloading and doing the previous part over. So anyone playing the game would be wise to keep a few saves handy (the game doesn't seem to autosave)
"Over the last couple of weeks, I’ve spent a not-inconsequential amount of time playing Pillars of Eternity. Got a copy off GoG in an effort of expanding my DRM-free library for the hell of it, and I have to admit it’s an exquisite game indeed. A phenomenal RPG, even, with truckloads of content spread around the vast game world for the player to interact with. However, it misses a certain something that I’ve been unable to put my finger on. Whenever I play, I keep thinking about how it doesn’t truly encapsulate my imagination. Never did it completely suck me in, which is the effect I was hoping to attain. This is a personal, subjective quirk, mind you, and is entirely irrelevant when it comes to the actual quality of PoE. All the same, I went into the Early Access build of Torment: Tides of Numenera expecting much the same experience, seeing as how the two share a passing resemblance, only to be completely blown away by what I got to play.
From the initial “birthing” sequence to the exploration of the first city you literally crash into, Tides of Numenera has a unique oomph to it. The atmosphere is nailed down perfectly and is highly reminiscent of Planescape: Torment, and to say that the static backgrounds are gorgeous in their weird, otherworldly way would be a severe understatement. Over the course of a single hour, Torment: Tides of Numenera has succeeded in completely and utterly enthralling me (once more) with its universe, a feat PoE hasn’t achieved after nearly a month of on-off playing it. Even at this stage of development, InXile have a special jewel at hand, and they’re treating it really, really well."
"The enemies don’t feel like overly powerful tanks nor are they sitting ducks – a fine balance has been struck which I can only applaud. The relatively rare combat encounters thus feel more satisfying and tactical than those in PoE do, in my opinion. I will say, however, that Torment is slightly weirder than one may expect as far as equipment and whatnot goes because different mechanics are in place compared to, say, Pillars of Eternity, but it’s all fairly manageable. The UI is due to get a revamp anyway, so rest assured that all of that mess is very fluid as it currently stands."
"Now, in regards to the visual design of the game, I am positively astonished by the quality of levels and quite worried about the 3D characters sticking out of them. The levels themselves are masterfully designed and intricately filled with interactive elements but aren’t attuned to the characters moping around their surface. This is not visible on screenshots but only when animations are played out, so if that’s something that bothers you, I suggest trying to squint, maybe? Plenty of eye candy can be found in lighting, effects and virtually everything else, though. The music is phenomenal as well and sets the mood perfectly regardless of what may be taking place on-screen."
http://mousenjoypad.com/previews/pc-previews/torment-tides-of-numenera-preview/
i don't understand what he's getting at in terms of technology here
[spoiler=2 screenshots with NPCs]
[/spoiler]
Today we are pleased to announce patch 1 for Torment: Tides of Numenera's beta/Steam Early Access release, which should begin downloading for you periodically. This patch corrects a number of critical bugs our community reported and also has some feature and gameplay improvements across the board. Enjoy!
Note: This patch may be incompatible with your previous save files due to changes in our save/load system. If you experience bugs as a result of loading up old saves, we recommend starting a new game.
Highlights
Heavy optimization pass to Fathom 13 scene.
Camera improvements.
Large balance passes.
Added hotkey support to the interface. Press I for Inventory, C for Character, M for Map, B for Quick Abilities, V for Quick Items, and J for Journal. Escape should close out of these menus, as should pressing their respective keys while the UI is open. Customizable hotkeys are not yet available.
Added Autosave functionality with three rotating slots.
Added Quicksave/Quickload functionality. Press F5 to quicksave, F6 to quickload.
Added a Shins (currency) display to the Inventory screen.
The camera should no longer pan while a menu is open.
Manifold miscellaneous optimizations to performance.
Updates to portrait artwork.
Fixed Broken Dome bug that could cause the intro cutscene/conversation to not play correctly. Should also fix misc. bugs that could be caused by user interface inputs falling through the UI.
Fixed Cypher Sickness not saving properly.
Fixed combat freeze-ups that could occur with repeat save/loads.
Cyphers can now be dragged to other characters. Cypher Sickness should no longer multiply in effect after save/load.
Issue with movement getting stuck on scene transition should no longer occur.
Gameplay
Fix to allow non-singular amounts of items to be added to an inventory simultaneously.
GridNodeFilter_WillBeFlanked was improperly if the user would be flanked.
CombatantSCorer_CanFlank should now calculate Flanking properly
Various AI bug fixes and updates/optimizations.
Many miscellaneous bug fixes and tweaks to abilities.
Many miscellaneous bug fixes and tweaks to items (especially Cyphers).
Tweaked items throughout game scenes, including more Shins placed in containers so players wouldn't find themselves running out so easily and unable to pick certain quest options.
Fixes to tooltips on Skill and Ability descriptions.
Fixed an issue in the Sticha Lair with stray colliders blocking doors.
Increase minimum bonus regained from Resting.
Unarmed attacks now treated as Light Bashing type.
Added Devourer of Wrongs to Dendra O'hur Cave.
Added Sir Arthour.
Balance pass to slightly reduce armor and HP across all enemies.
Issue with movement getting stuck on scene transition should no longer occur.
Quests & Dialog
Numerous miscellaneous scripting and dialog fixes and updates.
Updated Peliai to resolve her quest on all cutscene exits, many paths didn't resolve.
Updated Tybir to only trigger warnings about Ris' quest if Ris is still set to be executed.
Updated the steel hands in the Reef so that the Smashing skill applies to the task to break off the Eight-fingered Mace.
Updated the scripting of Aidan Sitabo so that LCO dies when defeated by Aidan in the final challenge of his duel.
Updated Tranquility's conversation to start the cutscene of Tranquility hypnotizing LCO into the Calm to occur in the onEnter of a Script Node rather than the OnExit.
Fixed an exploit allowing players to get a quest reward from Fulsome infinite times.
Updated Jernaugh's conversation to only allow LCO to mention Piquo when the player has learned of Piquo's indecision
Updated Jherem to move Jherem near his parents after LCO tells him the horrible truth and disable the bark triggers near the merchants he normally visits. Updated Circus Minor to auto-move Jherem to the spot under the right conditions to help offset any weirdness with him getting pushed or doing something bizarre AI-wise
Players were able to tell Piquo about Qeek being dead even though they had never talked to Piquo about her. Added a conditional to prevent this.
Prevented Qeek from talking about Piquo unless Wayward Son is active.
Removed "take me to egg chamber" option from conversation if the Sticha have relocated.
Simplified Callistege's "What should I do next?" responses.
Added a non-quest critical option to check Imbitu's alibi with Fulsome without accusing him first.
Updates to the Reef obelisk, including cutscenes.
Added more "opinions of CNPC" lines with party member reactions.
Graphics
Body piece alternate materials now function properly.
Numerous miscellaneous VFX, models, background art, textures and character graphics updates.
Updates to Inventory paperdoll rendering and lighting. Should make them look much closer to in-world view.
Allowing Buzzer and Crossbow projectile with new tech to originate from the actual weapon and fixing the buzzer prefab while also reworking the projectile slightly.
Updates to portrait artwork.
User Interface
Cyphers can now be dragged to other characters.
Added a check (and set a prefab flag) to avoid clicking on interactable objects through UI.
Minor art updates throughout the interface and HUD.
Tooltips and extra information added for the left-hand stats panel in the Inventory and Character screens, and lots of formatting improvements.
Fixed incorrect portrait on offscreen character indicator for male Last Castoff.
The end turn button should now be re-enabled if the party element is hidden and re-enabled within a Crisis.
Mousing over a mob in the turn order bar now shows their stats on the left.
Clicking on a mob in the turn order bar now "locks" their stats on the left.
If a hostile mob is in range its selection circle will slowly pulse. If a hostile mob is targeted, its selection circle will rapidly pulse.
Added a Shins (currency) display to the Inventory screen.
Added a placeholder sliced frame sprite.
Fixed an issue that was causing text in the character sheet to vanish.
Added a function to retrieve the style setting defined color for a given stat.
Null ref check to avoid error spam on levels without maps set up.
Tier 0 abilities will now show up in Tier 1 to make sure special Class and Focus abilities show up.
Fixed vanishing free abilities in Tier increase window.
Updated stat display icon names to match the new all-lowercase naming convention.
The free advancement popup should appear directly after changing Descriptor.
Load screen art updates.
Fix for inventory UI keeping references to old Cyphers
Updates to Mere artwork and text.
Added hotkey support to the interface.
Hotkey input should be blocked when any windows are open.
All scroll view positions on the Inventory screen should be reset when it is opened.
The Options menu should now accept hotkey input.
The camera should no longer pan while a menu is open.
The Last Castoff should start selected in the Loot window, so Take All sends items to LCO instead of companions.
Conversation window sets itself inactive after sliding out of view to prevent issues where it could remain active even when not visible.
Updates to Fettle tooltips. They now auto-generate information on their effects instead of needing it typed in manually.
Fix for bark strings handling *, also removes the " at the start and end of a bark string.
Combat movement circles will now draw past valid movement range. Fixes rare wrong color in circles when there's a valid path at maximum movement range.
Added info button art to the temp Effort window.
Adjusting temp art with improvements to help usability: added in depth to images to improve readability.
Quest entry title labels are now tinted based on whether they are main quests or not.
Added a close button and the Main Menu VFX to the Credits window.
Save/Load
Added Autosave functionality with three rotating slots.
Added Quicksave/Quickload functionality. Press F5 to quicksave, F6 to quickload.
MapData now saves scene name. Fixes the bug whereby users could not leave Fathom 1 after being sent there from the real world, saving, and loading in Fathom 1.
Save files can now have spaces in their names.
Fixed Cypher Sickness not saving properly.
Fettles, Abilities, and Progressions now do the same thing as Items: newly-created instances have their templates pulled from the respective manager class to ensure reference equality persists across save/load, and the various Get methods do the same.
Quest item display should now be updated correctly after loading a saved game.
Fixed combat freeze-ups that could occur with repeat save/loads.
Sound
Updated title music with loop.
New intro SFX for Fathom 1, new charge SFX for Sorrow Fragments.
Sound hookups for Spend XP window, Inventory window, and Journal window.
Many miscellaneous SFX updates and additions.
Misc.
Manifold miscellaneous optimizations to performance.
Disabled Unity Shadows on backgrounds (we aren't using them at all) for a performance increase.
Optimizing to reduce some created garbage.
Added functionality to override camera fades when leaving scenes.
The camera should no longer pan while a menu is open.
Misc. combat camera updates/fixes.
Companions won't immediately resurrect on combat end when it is triggered by LCO death. They'll wait until pre-transition-save to do that.
Fixed a bug where AI characters would sometimes try to path through player characters.
Reworked resolution switching slightly to make it actually work. Mostly. Refresh rate is broken thanks to a Unity bug.
Steamworks updates.
Eric Schwarz
inXile Line Producer
*elminster curses at the world*
"In general, while we do want to try maintaining compatibility where possible, we may ultimately need to ask you start a new game each time a major update comes out. This won't be every week or anything, typically, so you will still have time to play (and a break to appreciate the changes made in the next build)."
Eric Schwarz, developer
"A weird scene catches my eye. There's a man standing on a rostrum with a creepy mummy-like figure behind him, and it's wrapping a rope around him - a rope coming from his mouth! Rank! I have to know more.
It's an execution and the rope-spewing man is the accused, and that thing behind him, that's his Death, a sort of living statue formed by the rope, which is actually flesh, tumbling from his mouth ( @Anduin, have a look ). Words turned to flesh, coming from a forced, hallucinatory nightmare. It gets worse, or better depending on how you look at it, because now the Death is fully formed it's using the fleshy rope to wrap around the man and squeeze him slowly to death. And when he dies, an even more ominous figure lurking behind - a hooded Devourer of Wrongs - will eat him, sucking the marrow from his bones, confirming the guilt within.
It's just a passing scene in a town, no biggie, and yet it's so typical of Torment: Tides of Numenera. This may look like something you've seen before, may even look unremarkable, but let yourself be intrigued and look again and you'll find that it it's so much more."
"Torment doesn't struggle for imagination but to make it really work you will need to invest yours, too, for this is a game about reading, about letting your mind wander as if you were reading a book - or as if you were playing a tabletop role-playing campaign. If you don't meet it half-way you will be left with a plain experience. Fully half of the screen can be text at times, with little going on elsewhere, although sparse but well-timed sound and visual ornaments - shouts of a crowd, flashes of light - do enough to bring to life what you read. It isn't ugly, I'm not saying that; the environments are like lovely little paintings that your rather more mundane characters trample on. But it is a game that requires your input."
"But of course there are dice rolls. There are those mechanical innards - this is a role-playing game after all. It's not based on Dungeons & Dragons, that's a major differentiator from its thematic predecessor Planescape: Torment, but instead a new tabletop game called Numenera, which tends towards story rather than spreadsheets, and that's apparent here. But there are statistics, character sheets, to-hit modifiers, turns, flanking, and all that stuff. And there are new things, such as abilities connected with Tides (alignments of sorts), and ancient relics called Numenera you can use in battle. Generally, though, it's familiar and comfortable, although the implementation can be sluggish and fiddly and ultimately a bit boring, lacking the zip and zest of a turn-based game like XCOM 2. Still, it's early days, and there's usually a way out of Torment's major encounters that isn't fighting."
"the Early Access experience can be rough, and it would be unfair to scrutinise too deeply at this stage. I've had crashes, bugs preventing progress, incompatible saved games. This meant retreading sections and trying things differently, and the game is pliable in this way, but not enough to prevent my re-traipsing eventually becoming a slog. And a slog isn't how I want to remember Torment nor how I would advise you experiencing it. I hope inXile uses the months planned in Early Access - and the patient people along for the ride - to bang out the kinks and sharpen the edges."
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2016-02-12-weird-and-imaginative-this-is-torment