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[Spoiler] Question regarding the ending

Ian579Ian579 Member Posts: 241
edited May 2020 in Planescape: Torment: Enhanced Edition
Right after TNO defeated The Transcended One, a supernatural force dragged him into a hellish plane where he saw lots of demons battling each other in a distant battle field. And then TNO grabbed a weapon and walked toward the battle field, in a calmly and this-day-has-come manner as if he knew what was happening.

So can someone please explain what was happening? The information I saw in the game doesn't really provide much clues about that. I guess the battle is probably the "Blood War".

In my opinion, the ending is confusing and disappointing. I didn't get to see what happened afterwards to TNO's companions (they had been resurrected, though) and Deionarra. And I still don't know the crucial information—TNO's identity and his detailed story before he lost his memory.
Post edited by Ian579 on

Comments

  • ZaxaresZaxares Member Posts: 1,330
    You've more or less got it, yes. Either TNO defeats/destroys TTO, or he convinces TTO to merge with him. Regardless of which path was chosen, the TNO dies for the final time and his soul goes to his long delayed fate.

    Throughout the game, it's hinted that TNO did *something* that was so terrible and abominable that no amount of regret or atonement can ever make up for it. He is fated to be sent to the Blood War and battle endlessly in it for the rest of all time. In his efforts to avoid this fate, he visited Ravel and split off his mortality from his body. However, the game also makes it clear that such a choice ultimately resulted in torment for TNO, with his unending deaths and loss of memory. Like so many of his companions, he is trapped by his past, unable to move forward.

    Only at the end, when he accepts responsibility and the consequences for his actions, can he finally move forward with his life. (Which is why that final shot is TNO leaving his journal behind as he walks down to join the War. He doesn't need it anymore.) It is a bittersweet ending, but also a fitting one. For good or ill, the future is finally open to him once more.

    We don't get to learn all of TNO's backstory, although if you found and kept the Bronze Sphere with you, I believe in the Fortress of Regrets you finally encounter the original incarnation, who shows you how to open it and you remember everything, including TNO's true name. However, none of that information is actually revealed to the player. I suppose Black Isle wanted to keep it deliberately vague so the player could fill in the blanks themselves.
  • Ian579Ian579 Member Posts: 241
    edited May 2020
    @Zaxares

    Thanks. Well, now I just watched a video of the "best ending". And that ending does show what you said (TNO told Annah that he did crimes and must face the punishment). It is disappointing that those crucial information is not provided at all in the alternative ending I got.

    And you are also right that a journal-like thing is left behind in the ending. But I didn't notice that at all when I was watching the alternative ending because I was too focused on TNO's actions and the distant battle field.

    As for the Bronze Sphere, I had it carried on TNO all the time, and no one instructed him to open it, even in the Fortress of Regrets. As far as I can see, something really went wrong during the plot writer's arrangement of revealing crucial information.
  • jsavingjsaving Member Posts: 1,083
    In PST, your eternal fate is determined by the cumulative impact of actions taken during your lifetime. TNO is aware of this and knows full well where that cumulative weight will take him, regardless of what he does while in the hands of the player.

    It's a very dark view and one that isn't fully consistent with the more traditional conception that your alignment at death determines your final fate, but it certainly makes for a compelling story.
  • Ian579Ian579 Member Posts: 241
    edited May 2020
    jsaving wrote: »
    TNO is aware of this and knows full well where that cumulative weight will take him, regardless of what he does while in the hands of the player.

    I can hardly see TNO knows that. In fact, TNO knew little of his own backstory during the gamplay, and he didn't realize/remember that he has to take responsibility for his crimes until the ending (and only one of the endings).
  • jsavingjsaving Member Posts: 1,083
    edited May 2020
    I'm not sure it's so much taking responsibility as learning to accept what he cannot change (his fate) while changing what he can (the nature of a man). Whereas his other incarnations almost uniformly struggled to alter what cannot be changed (his fate), which does mean they knew what that fate would be (though of course you are right that during their amnesia periods they didn't immediately remember that).
  • ZaxaresZaxares Member Posts: 1,330
    Ian579 wrote: »
    As for the Bronze Sphere, I had it carried on TNO all the time, and no one instructed him to open it, even in the Fortress of Regrets. As far as I can see, something really went wrong during the plot writer's arrangement of revealing crucial information.

    I did a quick look at the Torment wiki, and apparently you're meant to "use" the Bronze Sphere yourself after you meet the "Good incarnation" in the Fortress of Regrets. I admit that I've forgotten about this part goes since it's been so long since I played the game.
  • Ian579Ian579 Member Posts: 241
    edited May 2020
    Zaxares wrote: »
    Ian579 wrote: »
    As for the Bronze Sphere, I had it carried on TNO all the time, and no one instructed him to open it, even in the Fortress of Regrets. As far as I can see, something really went wrong during the plot writer's arrangement of revealing crucial information.

    I did a quick look at the Torment wiki, and apparently you're meant to "use" the Bronze Sphere yourself after you meet the "Good incarnation" in the Fortress of Regrets. I admit that I've forgotten about this part goes since it's been so long since I played the game.

    Thanks. I did "use" the sphere in the Fortress of Regrets after talking to the Good Incarnation, but it still didn't reveal further information.

    Now I just tried it again and finally got it working. It turns out that TNO needs to trigger a specific dialogue with the Good Incarnation in order to make the sphere able to reveal further information. I also tried it for three more times, and somehow the order of the "Q&A" of the second and the third tries did not get it working. Then the fourth try finally got it working again. I think making such an important information difficult to obtain is not a good idea.
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