In addition, here are some design decisions that we made (Alex Tomovic is the PST:EE Project Lead):
No new party members, quests, NPCs, areas or cinematic movies
No new writing by anyone except Chris Avellone. In case you're wondering, Chris wrote a couple of new journal entries, adjusted a few special ability (i.e. Morte's Skull Mob) textual descriptions and composed the text that is displayed on the new "Welcome Screen". He also designed the Steam Achievements (wrote the text and specified the icon appearance) and named the new main menu buttons (i.e. Options = Alter Senses)
No changes to existing writing except for a proofreading pass of the original game text by Chris Avellone (he asked to do this)
No kits/classes/races/spells/items from BG2 or IWD
No changes to the combat and general gameplay
No "Story Mode" or "Heart of Fury" difficulty settings
No multiplayer
Note that when we say "writing" we're referring to the text that the player can access within the gameworld i.e. by talking to NPCs, inspecting objects, spells, items and the journal. That doesn't include text that is accessed outside of the gameworld such as the technical descriptions which explain how new UI options like "Zoom Lock" or "Hardware Mouse Cursor" function. The descriptions of those options were written by the developers who worked on implementing them, not by Chris Avellone.
Soundtrack.
We had access to the original, uncompressed versions of the music tracks which were then used for the remastering process.
Mark Morgan wasn't involved directly.
Outlines and sprites.
And for people asking about the black outlines and blurry sprites, here's a pixel perfect 1080p screenshot with most of the EE options turned off.
That should be the closest to the original game + widescreen mod.
Portraits.
We didn't have access to the source art for the original animated portraits and movies.
Without the source art, the only way to update the EE versions would be to re-create the movies and portraits from scratch and we felt that doing that would alter the feel of the original game too much.
Combat AI.
The combat and general gameplay of the original game were left unchanged for PST:EE.
Altering those within the base game (without making it optional) didn't feel right to us.
PST Fixpack.
For people asking about the integration of the PST Fixpack: we contacted Qwinn in the early development stages of PST:EE and obtained permission to use it. During development, the fixpack has undergone a thorough review by the PST:EE team and Chris Avellone was consulted whenever there was uncertainty. As a result, all objective bugfixes have been integrated into PST:EE.
Note that some of the more subjective fixpack changes have been deliberately left out for PST:EE because they contradicted the original (Black Isle) developer intent. This is not Qwinn's fault, as he didn't have access to the original PST design documents (which we do) nor to the PST source code (which we also have) so he had no way of knowing. As an example, PST:EE leaves out the fixpack change that gave enemies the ability to run towards the player while engaged in combat. The original design documents and the source code both confirm that enemies were deliberately prevented from running in that situation.
Unfinished Business.
We obtained permission to use the Unfinished Business mod, but decided not to after some internal discussions.
If/when the mod is updated for PST:EE people will still be able to install it, if they are so inclined.
Pathfinding
PST:EE uses the same pathfinding code as Siege of Dragonspear, with minor improvements on top of that.
That code is more advanced than what was used in the original Planescape Torment.
Which mods, or parts of mods, for PST are included in PST:EE?
Qwinn's PST Fixpack has undergone a thorough review by the PST:EE development team. With Qwinn's permission, we've integrated most of the content from that mod into PST:EE. Other changes were left out as some of them had been cut from the original game on purpose.
And an addition.
PST:EE is the canonical version of the game in terms of the content.
We've been working with Chris Avellone on it, and his stance is that some of the content that was cut from Planescape: Torment was cut for a reason, so we didn't want to include Unfinished Business since it wouldn't be the canonical version of the game.
PST:EE is the canonical version of the game in terms of the content.
We've been working with Chris Avellone on it, and his stance is that some of the content that was cut from Planescape: Torment was cut for a reason, so we didn't want to include Unfinished Business since it wouldn't be the canonical version of the game.
So that quest weren't unfinished, but they were just cut. OK, that's a fine answer.
It was Chris Avellone wish to not add any new content? Didn't he want add anything?
Wish ya guys had sprung for new hires art portraits.
If you were concerned about losing the look of the original you could make it toggleable like they did in the monkey island remaster - you can swap between hires and classic.
Can we finally use cheats at least? As some who played the original release times over, I'd love to get my hands on endgame weapons without having to grind the Undersigil.
First off, getting Chris on board and committing to just offering a HD remaster of the original game was a fantastic call and shows incredibly good judgement. Second, I can't believe this is getting released in two weeks. Now we can all hope and pray for Icewind Dale II as well, though I won't hold my breath.
Can we finally use cheats at least? As some who played the original release times over, I'd love to get my hands on endgame weapons without having to grind the Undersigil.
Then ee keeper is your last resort, I don't recall in game cheat can give you goodies like BELL'S SHIELD? Greater glabrezu is so hard to encounter.
What does Planescape: Torment: Enhanced Edition offer that the modded original version doesn't?
Planescape: Torment: Enhanced Edition features a high-definition UI, compatibility with modern hardware, and Enhanced Edition features such as quickloot and the combat log. In addition to the Windows version, we've built native Mac/Linux/iOS/Android ports, and have committed to continued support and bug fixing beyond what is capable via mods. Non-English players will enjoy the improved translations and fixes to voiceover overlap bugs. The new version looks great on high-resolution screens and works in windowed mode.
Here's a longer list of improvements we've made:
Improvement
Notes
Options menu accessable from start screen
Feature not present in original PST
Most recent save accessable from start screen
Feature not present in original PST
Movies and plot events now work correctily in windowed mode
In original PST, movies would not play in windowed mode, sometimes breaking plot points
Options to adjust text size
Feature not present in original PST
Fewer clicks to cast spells, change weapons, use items, etc.
The right-click menu in original PST required at least one additional click to perform any action
Performing actions no longer obscures game world
Because the right-click menu in original PST obscured a significant portion of the screen, the player was forced to move the menu around often
More autopause options
Additional settings now available
Quick loot available
Feature not present in original PST
Load screens removed
Original PST had lengthy load times between areas
Smoother area transitions
Entering areas is now a more pleasant experience and provides information to the player
Combat log available
Feature not present in original PST
Option to see health status of creatures
Feature not present in original PST
Chris Avellone editing pass
Chris Avellone requested the chance to review the entire text of Planescape: Torment and made thousands of corrections and improvements
Framerate adjustment options
The framerate in original PST was locked to 30 fps
Tooltips easier to read
Adjusted the color of tooltips from what original PST had makes them easier to read
Option to cycle through spell descriptions
Feature not present in original PST
Option to make cursors larger (option not available on Windows 7 and Windows 8)
Feature not present in original PST (useful for HD displays)
Option to apply sprite outlines and highlight the selected sprite
Makes sprites easier to see and interact with
Optional grayscale on pause
Makes viewing sprites in combat easier
Able to zoom out to gain a wider view of the game
Zooming was not present in original PST
Heal on rest option
Makes resting more convenient
Max HP on level up
Makes game easier for players more focused on story
Option to set language from within game
Feature not present in original PST
Option to read descriptions for special abilities
There was no way in original PST to read character abilities like Morte's Litany of Curses (taunt), so Chris Avellone wrote new lines to describe these abilities
Quick item and spell descriptions
Players can now read quick item, spell, and special ability descriptions directly from the main UI
"Affected by" section added to character record
We show the specific spells cast on the character in addition to any original information supplied by the game
Fixed technical issues with plots
Based off of extensive testing, many technical issues in PST plots have been fixed
In-game help
The original PST interface was not clearly explained to the player. Now we have a series of help cards
More user interface feedback
Primarily with stores, but across the board, more details have been exposed to the UI to help players understand how the interface works
Option to see walkable areas in area map
Not present in original PST (helps with obscure areas)
Object highlight mode
Easier to see obscure locations in the game world by highlighting interactable objects
Journal / quest log highlights unread entries
Easier to track which plots are active
Option to search the journal and quest text
Easier to find information related to obscure plots
Cloud saves (Steam-only)
Steam players can use the same save games on different desktops
Keyboard navigation of the UI without overriding user hotkeys
Original PST had inconsistent keyboard navigation
Aspect ratio support from 5:4 to 21:9
The original PST was 4:3, and with mods could go to 16:9
Not sure if I'm missing something obvious or if it's mentioned somewhere on the store page that I'm overlooking, but what version does pre-ordering and purchasing it *here* give us?
Steam? Gog? Android? IOS? All of the above?
EDIT: So, according to smeagolheart's link, we can get a steam copy here if we manually request one. I suppose the 'default' version we get is just a DRM-free download or something then? Store page could do with some clarification still.
Hate to say it but this doesn't feel very "Enhanced" to me.
The amount of flak they would have caught if they altered the content in this game would have torpedoed the entire project. This game isn't like Baldur's Gate, where fans have been making NPC mods of varying quality for decades. There was no reason Beamdog couldn't throw their hat in that ring. Altering Planescape: Torment, an almost literary experience, would have been met with a massive outcry.
Can we finally use cheats at least? As some who played the original release times over, I'd love to get my hands on endgame weapons without having to grind the Undersigil.
Console is available. Just edit your .lua file like with the BGs games.
Beamdog, if possible, please give us the option to manually cancel or disable the spell videos/animations. It's nice to look at a Meteor Swarm or Mechanus' Cannon animation the first time around, but if you casting them over and over, it gets really tiresome waiting for the animation to finish. Celestial Host is an egregious example, with an almost 90 second long unskippable animation.
Excellent call to keep content untouched. That department is where the game shines the brightest. This is an Enhanced Edition done right: respectful of the original content and tweaked on the technical side. Well done!
Well, I did expect it. I did get a good chuckle out of the advertising of a Chris Avellone EDITING PASS, though. But in seriousness, while I'm personally disappointed in the lack of anything new, I think it was the right call for Beamdog due to the irrationality of the internet, so good luck, guys.
Not sure if I'm missing something obvious or if it's mentioned somewhere on the store page that I'm overlooking, but what version does pre-ordering and purchasing it *here* give us?
Steam? Gog? Android? IOS? All of the above?
EDIT: So, according to smeagolheart's link, we can get a steam copy here if we manually request one. I suppose the 'default' version we get is just a DRM-free download or something then? Store page could do with some clarification still.
If you pre-order through Beamdog you get a forum badge, a DRM-free version of the game, and you can request a Steam key. (The forum badge is the only unique thing for a Beamdog pre-order.)
Can we finally use cheats at least? As some who played the original release times over, I'd love to get my hands on endgame weapons without having to grind the Undersigil.
Yes, on of the features of PST:EE, and it's mentioned in the official FAQ, is cheat commands and debug console.
"One thing in particular I like (beyond what has been mentioned here) is that the console now works for it (you still have to enable I think).
Players probably won't need to use the console (the original didn't have it) but for anyone who wants to get into modding PST it's pretty useful when it comes to moving between areas, spawning creature files, and for confirming whats wrong with your mod."
We didn't have access to the source art for the original animated portraits and movies.
Without the source art, the only way to update the EE versions would be to re-create the movies and portraits from scratch and we felt that doing that would alter the feel of the original game too much.
As expected. Have you thought, or is there a chance, of adding some sort of toggleable filter (like scanlines) to mitigate the effect of low resolution on those assets (expecially compared to the hires ui) but still be faithful to the original?
Just pre-ordered this. I was really hoping for this EE, yes! I'll finally be able to finish P:T.
Just one question to the developers: will we see some original content as DLC? I really like your original content in all EEs and in SoD, so I would buy your P:T EE dlcs.
JuliusBorisov
Member, Administrator, Moderator, Developer Posts: 21,449
Comments
- No new party members, quests, NPCs, areas or cinematic movies
- No new writing by anyone except Chris Avellone. In case you're wondering, Chris wrote a couple of new journal entries, adjusted a few special ability (i.e. Morte's Skull Mob) textual descriptions and composed the text that is displayed on the new "Welcome Screen". He also designed the Steam Achievements (wrote the text and specified the icon appearance) and named the new main menu buttons (i.e. Options = Alter Senses)
- No changes to existing writing except for a proofreading pass of the original game text by Chris Avellone (he asked to do this)
- No kits/classes/races/spells/items from BG2 or IWD
- No changes to the combat and general gameplay
- No "Story Mode" or "Heart of Fury" difficulty settings
- No multiplayer
Note that when we say "writing" we're referring to the text that the player can access within the gameworld i.e. by talking to NPCs, inspecting objects, spells, items and the journal. That doesn't include text that is accessed outside of the gameworld such as the technical descriptions which explain how new UI options like "Zoom Lock" or "Hardware Mouse Cursor" function. The descriptions of those options were written by the developers who worked on implementing them, not by Chris Avellone.Soundtrack.
We had access to the original, uncompressed versions of the music tracks which were then used for the remastering process.
Mark Morgan wasn't involved directly.
Outlines and sprites.
And for people asking about the black outlines and blurry sprites, here's a pixel perfect 1080p screenshot with most of the EE options turned off.
That should be the closest to the original game + widescreen mod.
Portraits.
We didn't have access to the source art for the original animated portraits and movies.
Without the source art, the only way to update the EE versions would be to re-create the movies and portraits from scratch and we felt that doing that would alter the feel of the original game too much.
Combat AI.
The combat and general gameplay of the original game were left unchanged for PST:EE.
Altering those within the base game (without making it optional) didn't feel right to us.
PST Fixpack.
For people asking about the integration of the PST Fixpack: we contacted Qwinn in the early development stages of PST:EE and obtained permission to use it. During development, the fixpack has undergone a thorough review by the PST:EE team and Chris Avellone was consulted whenever there was uncertainty. As a result, all objective bugfixes have been integrated into PST:EE.
Note that some of the more subjective fixpack changes have been deliberately left out for PST:EE because they contradicted the original (Black Isle) developer intent. This is not Qwinn's fault, as he didn't have access to the original PST design documents (which we do) nor to the PST source code (which we also have) so he had no way of knowing. As an example, PST:EE leaves out the fixpack change that gave enemies the ability to run towards the player while engaged in combat. The original design documents and the source code both confirm that enemies were deliberately prevented from running in that situation.
Unfinished Business.
We obtained permission to use the Unfinished Business mod, but decided not to after some internal discussions.
If/when the mod is updated for PST:EE people will still be able to install it, if they are so inclined.
Pathfinding
PST:EE uses the same pathfinding code as Siege of Dragonspear, with minor improvements on top of that.
That code is more advanced than what was used in the original Planescape Torment.
YES YES YES YES!
I Would say some things are very bugged some changes the way how you understand things like the morte mod.
Players they never played Planescape will many things not understand here.
My Question here is.
Were you able to Reimplement the EAX Sound Effects ? Its the only thing you cant Emulate on new Systems. (alchemy wont work)
I would be happy when you can do it in the modern sound way :-)
Which mods, or parts of mods, for PST are included in PST:EE?
Qwinn's PST Fixpack has undergone a thorough review by the PST:EE development team. With Qwinn's permission, we've integrated most of the content from that mod into PST:EE. Other changes were left out as some of them had been cut from the original game on purpose.
And an addition.
PST:EE is the canonical version of the game in terms of the content.
We've been working with Chris Avellone on it, and his stance is that some of the content that was cut from Planescape: Torment was cut for a reason, so we didn't want to include Unfinished Business since it wouldn't be the canonical version of the game.
It was Chris Avellone wish to not add any new content? Didn't he want add anything?
If you were concerned about losing the look of the original you could make it toggleable like they did in the monkey island remaster - you can swap between hires and classic.
Greater glabrezu is so hard to encounter.
I pre-ordered.
One thing though. It would have been fine to improve combat AI.
What is in the game is laid out nicely here:
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/63938/planescape-torment-enhanced-edition-announced-pre-orders-available/p1
and in the FAQ
[spoiler]
[/spoiler]
Steam? Gog? Android? IOS? All of the above?
EDIT: So, according to smeagolheart's link, we can get a steam copy here if we manually request one. I suppose the 'default' version we get is just a DRM-free download or something then? Store page could do with some clarification still.
Well, I did expect it. I did get a good chuckle out of the advertising of a Chris Avellone EDITING PASS, though. But in seriousness, while I'm personally disappointed in the lack of anything new, I think it was the right call for Beamdog due to the irrationality of the internet, so good luck, guys.
I'd like to quote @elminster from the beta forum:
"One thing in particular I like (beyond what has been mentioned here) is that the console now works for it (you still have to enable I think).
Players probably won't need to use the console (the original didn't have it) but for anyone who wants to get into modding PST it's pretty useful when it comes to moving between areas, spawning creature files, and for confirming whats wrong with your mod."
Just one question to the developers: will we see some original content as DLC? I really like your original content in all EEs and in SoD, so I would buy your P:T EE dlcs.
1. Warrior, Mage, Thief
2. I think it was D&D 1 with tons of customisation by Black Isle Studios. It definitely wasn't any true D&D system.