![]() This is known as the Effort system, and it means that even if, say, you only have 1 point of Might, you can spend that to potentially succeed at smashing open a box or prising a scale off a weird psychic cube. This is not true simply of being able to divert your skills into other areas (mechanical prowess or charisma, for instance, instead of combat-related abilities), but also that, in any dilemma, you can 'spend' your pool of key stats on increasing your chances of success. With a few exceptions (for instance, the choice between, essentially, a wizard, a warrior and a bit of both archetype, which is primarily a combat rather than behavioural factor in any case), there's plenty of scope to drag your character in a different direction if you don't feel comfortable with what you initially rolled. Here, though, they are mutable across the course of the game - this means you create your character as you play more than you do finesse an established template over time.īy contrast to that, Torment drops new players in at the deep end, with a torrent of unfamiliar terms in character creation. On paper, Tides are comparable to the Alignment system of Dungeons and Dragons - lawful evil, chaotic good and all that. Additionally, tending towards one behaviour or another is likely to lead to consequences that other Tides will not experience. Though your Tide has only subtle effects on how others respond to you, the messages that denote changes to it does become something to personally strive for - to feel relief that you have done what you feel is true to you, or horror that you may have gone against your nature. Your Tide(s) will shift as you play, and attempts to be one sort of person may be foiled by making difficult choices that favour society over the individual or vice-versa, or yourself over others, or vice-versa. A gold character is one who has tended to be sympathetic to others and self-sacrificing blue prides knowledge all else red is impulsive, whether driven by passion or aggression. Simple morality is sidestepped via the titular Tides system, which effectively sees your character's personality defined according to your various and ongoing actions. An empathetic choice is not always the best choice, while slaying an apparent villain might well close rather than open doors. Think of it as the dialogue-based decision-making of Mass Effect or The Witcher, but expanded enormously, with far more scope to elicit further information before choosing your actions, yet also avoiding obvious binary nice/nasty choices. This is an RPG for attentive players, not those who merely wish to accumulate increasing powers of destruction. I don't mean simply moral decisions here, but also that Torment will drop hints about possible solutions in its dialogue, leaving it up to you to put two and two together about how you might resolve its many quests or dilemmas, and the possible consequences thereof. The game is one of obtaining as much information as you can, and then making decisions with often far-reaching and sometimes tragic consequences based on your analysis of that information. Torment: Tides of Numenera does contain action, and many of its situations can be resolved with violence if you so choose, but to do so would be to cut yourself off from the game it most wants to be. You, as a male or female character dubbed 'The Last Castoff' are born into it in adulthood, with apparent ties to a divisive 'god', and from there you must uncover the secrets of your own past, but more importantly make an ongoing choice about who you wish to now become. To summarise as briefly as possible: this is an RPG set in a world of equal parts magic and technology, and at which the relics and detritus of other worlds and realities have washed up. What is required is a reasonable degree of patience, and an enjoyment of reading and of big ideas. There are references and commonalities, but they're not in any way necessary to understand or appreciate it. No, you don't need to have played 1999 weird fantasy roleplaying game Planescape: Torment to enjoy this spiritual sequel. You do not know the past of Torment, and so chose to hear everything.
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