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Diamond4444 β Planescape Torment
Published: 2010-10-15 00:07:08 +0000 UTC; Views: 18614; Favourites: 138; Downloads: 406
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Description
First, a little piece of music :[link]I'm always a little bit disappointed by the lack of Torment fanarts on teh internets. So I made one myself, hopefully it conveys the atmosphere of this fantastic video game, made in 1999 by Black Isle Studios and directed/written by Mister Chris Avellone.
I wanted to do something original, and I thought it would be cool to introduce a reference to Hamlet, since the existentialists themes are proeminent in both Shakespeare's tragedy and Avellone's RPG. I found a great base to work on : the statue of Hamlet by Lord Ronald Sutherland Gower, in Stratford-upon-Avon, UK (picture : [link] ) Starting from there, with the Nameless One as Hamlet, I could include Morte in place of the Prince of Denmark's iconic skull.
"If there is anything I have learned in my travels across the Planes, it is that many things may change the nature of a man. Whether regret, or love, or revenge or fear - whatever you believe can change the nature of a man, can. Iβve seen belief move cities, make men stave off death, and turn an evil hag's heart half-circle. This entire Fortress has been constructed from belief. Belief damned a woman, whose heart clung to the hope that another loved her when he did not. Once, it made a man seek immortality and achieve it. And it has made a posturing spirit think it is something more than a part of me."
Planescape Torment is available for sale on Good Old Games. Play it ! >>> [link]
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Comments: 80
"As I fell from the walls of Shra'kt'lor, know that my self was broken. My blade was mist, my mind divided. I was adrift upon Limboβs seas, and I wished to drown. I died for days, my mind awash in division, when death finally came to me. It wore your skin, and it had your voice."
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"By now, we both know the ultimate results of either choice... and I think we both know what you're going to choose, Chief..."
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I hereby inform thee, solemnly, of my difficult to make, yet indisputable choice... It will be... A gigantic rave in the Fortress of Regrets. Free drinks !
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"Alas, poor Yorick! I knew him -- "
"Uh, ya gonna put me down, Chief?"
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You know (both) your classics I see !!!
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Totally captures the spirit of the game. Β Planescape: Torment is grimdark and incredibly cerebral.
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I (obviously !) agree, few games have pushed the psychology of their characters as much as Torment. The "litterary" aspect of the game certainly helped. That's what I tried to reproduce here, glad you liked it !
I really hope they can recapture at least a tiny bit of this in Tides of Numenera.
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Oh wow, this is amazing!
Love Torment, no game quite stirred emotion the way it did.
That final showdown with the Transcendent One...
Words cannot express it. 
Awesome, awesome work.
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So many iconic characters and great scenes in this game. The whole Fortress of Regrets section was glorious, from your confrontation with your other incarnations to the final conversations with your companions. Few games manage to have such a complex script and are able to wrap everything up in a satisfying manner at the end.
I really hope InXile will be able to reproduce this kind of magic with the spiritual sequel.
Thanks a lot for your comment, nice avatar too ! Morte's the man (uuh, the skull !) !
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Thanks ! Always nice to have feedback from Torment lovers !
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Best video game, movie, anime, novel, comic, book, story, fables, fantasy etc etc etc in the whole fucking world:
Planescape : Torment
People that never played it will die with regret. Sorry didn't want to derail from commenting your awesome artwork. 
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Don't worry, that's fine to praise the game, it deserves it ! That's why I drew this piece in the first place ! Can't wait for Project Eternity, hope Avellone and Obsidian will be able to replicate some of the magic.
Maybe Morte is joking yeah, but looking at Nameless' face, either he's not amused or he already saw the line Morte forgot to tell him about on his back.
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hes just sitting there yea.
hes the champion.
on swell swoop and the only thing you gonna be hearing next is boom O.o
XdD
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Yup, he's the man ! B)
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Trent Oster, developer for a Game company "Beamdog", is currently making Remasterizations of Baldur's Gate 1 AND 2.
...and in his twitter, he said the next step:
Planescape Torment.
[link]
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That's cool ! Even if Baldur's Gate and Planescape aged relatively well, it's nice to see there's still love for them. If it can make younger players discover these games, I'm all for it.
Very excited by the future involvement of Chris Avellone in Wasteland 2 by the way !
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Indeed, i think current gen gamers need a brain exsercise with the overload of Military FPSs and games with terrible Plots, and who better for that Job than PST?
i'm excited for Wasteland 2 as well, i played the original a loooong time ago, and it was pretty awesome, but i'm more curious as to how they're gonna make it evolve.
Wasteland is extremely old and 95% of the gamers out there have never even heard about it, so they won't have to deal with the raging fanboys blinded by nostalgia
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Awesome pic. Oh how I love this game. Commenting on the hair, it works in its own way. I actually do like to see it when people take something and modify it a bit, switch it up--show us new ways of looking at old things. Love that you've chosen PS:T for a project. I definitely wish more people would...
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Thanks ! It's telling that most people who comment on this piece leave well-articulated, interesting comments, good games attract good people !
Yeah, I tried not to draw him exactly like the 3D models, even if the redesign isn't huge, it allowed me to have a little more input in the final result (and I must say I wasn't a fan of his boots in the first place !).
The hair, however, are a honest mistake, because I really thought it was his hairstyle until someone commented on it. It's even funnier to see a lot of guys have made the same mistake in other fanarts of the game. But hey, I quite like this look, even if it's not 100% accurate !
And yeah, as I said in the piece's description, I wish there were more love for Torment too. I think it's important for gamers to be interested in their medium's history and keep old masterpieces like this one alive. It's okay to enjoy modern games, I enjoyed a lot of games this year myself (Portal 2, Dark Souls, Deus Ex, Bastion, etc. !), but we must not forget old gems and their legacy. If this kind of fanart can make a few people remember the good times they had with the game or even discover and play it for the first time, I'll be extremely happy.
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now that i think about it, you're definitely right about the kind of people PS:T attracts. interesting. i just know that the game really transcended what most games are fundamentally about, i.e. having fun... i've never been more intrigued from a thematic standpoint by anything else of a ficticious nature. not even with my favorite films and books. (and i'm HUGE into film--it's my career) and still, it was a lot of fun
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Well, it's very nice to see someone invested into film say that. Different medium, different strengths of course, but to me, good videogames can be as memorable as great classic movies or books. Torment is a good example of that.
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the writing in torment is absolutely fantastic, though i can't say it is little more than a book because the art design, voice acting, and music were all wonderful. i think it's interesting because if i had to choose its weakest element i'd say such would be the gameplay... i don't think torment, in the sense of what a video game is fundamentally about, is the best out there; far from such in fact. but as an overall *experience*, it's second to none.
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Well the combat wasn't particularly thrilling, I agree. But to me, exploring Sigil, talking to all the characters, slowly discovering the truth about yourself by making your own choices, all of this WAS the gameplay in Torment. So I wouldn't agree 100% with you on this point, although I agree there are better games out there when it comes to pure handling satisfaction. But from a structural point of view, I think Torment is a very good videogame, and an experience you would have a very hard time reproducing in another medium.
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I like it, it's just a pity you got his hair completely wrong...
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Thanks !
Well I'm not especially good with hair, but, and of course it's my work so I'm not the most objective person to ask, I wouldn't say it's "completely wrong". I think I could have done them better, more detailed and not pitch black, but to me it looks like what he has in the game and on the rare 3D models of him.
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Well what I mean is, you appear to have based the hairstyle off of the game's box-art, which was made before the final TNO was created. His whole head isn't covered with dreads, only the front bit. The back and sides are short.
See here for an example (look at the back of his head): [link]
Also here is his original concept art: [link]
Also the boots aren't 100% correct, but I think that's just nitpicking
I like the overall look of your pic, but his hair bugs me, since that's one of the defining parts of this character, and it looks a bit off.
Otherwise, I love it. Great work.
P.S I also wish there was more fanart of TNO. I can't believe how hard it is to find any!
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Holy shit it seems you're right ! So many hours spent on Torment and I never realized he had short hair behind.
Ok, ok, my bad. Even if (as you've seen with the boots) my goal wasn't to stick exactly with his game model, I should have noticed. Jeez... Who wears such complicated hairstyle ?
Anyway, yeah, it's unfortunately a quite "old" game, and even if it's a classic, I fear most of young and middle-aged artists who like videogames play more recent titles today. To be fair, with these old rpgs there's not a lot of references to work with, but I'de like to see more guys' take on this fantastic adventure.
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Awesome! We'd like to use this picture in our videogames zine. I've left you a note here with the details.
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Thanks ! Note answered.
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The Hamlet/Planescape: Torment thing was a great idea! I like how you included the bronze sphere. Overall, a great picture!
(Now you got me thinking... who would the other characters be? Deionarra could be Ophelia, maybe? idk)
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Thank you very much !
Including the bronze sphere was interesting for several reasons. The pose is more dynamic with it, and it's such an important part of the story, yet not explicitly so. You can go to the Fortress of Regrets and finish the adventure without taking it back and, in doing so, you miss a really great moment, one of my favourites in the game. I keep a save just before it occurs to replay it from time to time.
Deionarra as Ophelia is a pretty good idea. Then again Planescape Torment itself could be a really good play !
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Yeah, exactly. The sphere is sort of hidden in your picture, just like it was in the game.
(In fact, I didn't even realize that the sphere was important until I happened to read a walkthrough of the game. Good thing, too. The sphere moment is amazing.)
It would make a great play. *gasp* A Planescape movie, perhaps? That would be amazing, although I highly doubt that any movie could be as good as the game. The ability to choose TNO's actions and to explore the world for YOURSELF is what made the game so wonderful.
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I agree. That's why Torment is not only a good story but also a good videogame as a whole, and it's true a lot of great moments would not be as compelling if you weren't part of them.
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Definitely.
Freedom of choice is an important thing
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I'm gonna print your picture on a T-shirt, I hope you don't mind?
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Hey, no problem, I'm honored !
I just hope the resolution is okay for a print.
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Wonderful artwork!!! Torment is one of the best games ever made and probably the best RPG.
It's sad that after more than 10 years, no others games has reached the intensity, the story, the atmosphere of this game
If I think it, I start to cry xD
Once again amazing work ^^
[link]
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Thanks for the kind words ! Great taste in gaming from what I read on your profile.
Yeah, Torment is definitely up there with the best games of all time. I wish there were more games like that too, but on the other hand, producing a masterpiece like that is, I think, incredibly difficult. It requires the right talent, the right studio at the right time, with a little bit of luck. It's because making a game that feels so complete is so hard that Torment is so exceptionnal.
I hesitated between Fortress of Regrets theme and Deionarra theme for the music in the description, probably my two favourite tracks of the soundtrack.
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I agree with that you said, is extremely difficult.
Besides Planescape Torment was a particular game... you spent more time reading than playing and for this reason it wasn't for everyone. Now the games are aimed at a larger public which also play on console and so I think it's very difficult to have a game like torment soon. Additionally, the characters now are talking in games and in some ways this does nothing to help to achieve a detailed and fascinating history as well as that of torment. Unfortunately another game like Torment with talking characters i don't think is possible 
Even Dragon Age that was apparently the game closer to the spirit of the old games of Dungeons and Dragons, in my opinion has failed miserably.
Maybe with times... who knows...
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Yes. One can only hope that gamers who have grown up with old RPG like Torment, Fallout, Baldur's Gate, etc. will want to create similar games when they become game designers. I would argue that we see more and more indie RPGs like Torchlight or Bastion, I heard Obsidian (Avellone works there!) wants to make an new isometric RPG too. There's hope for me. Indie games successfuly brought back 2D platformers so, even if RPGs are slightly different in the sense they require real talent in world creation and writing, I think we have a good chance to see some interesting projects in the future.
Even then, Planescape will be hard to top, because it is special and stays with people after they finish it.
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Yes, you are right. I also hope that Obsidian makes finally a good game because the last that the software house made were only mediocre. But there are capable peoples in obsidian and so i believe that they can return to the glories of the old Black Isle. And yes, the indie scene is always very interesting and sometimes there are people that without spending a lot of money can make good games.
So I just have to wait.
Is strange... I began to love Torment especially in the moment that I finished it. Is a game that remain in heart for long time. After 2 years I still remember almost all the quests. Maybe for me it's time to play it again even though I feel bad because there aren't others RPG like that.
However thanks for this discussion 
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My first thoughts: "Man, this is top notch!" and my 1st thoughts were right. This IS top notch! Great picture. Many congratulations to ya.
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Glad your first thoughts were right and you didn't change your mind !
When you see Microsoft and Sony conferences at E3 this year, it's sad they can't invest a little bit of money in ambitious, classic projects like Torment. Fortunately the third party schedule is pretty packed for the end of the year.
Thanks for the kind comment !
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Awesome game, awesome picture! Nameless as Hamlet is amusing. Love it!
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Thanks a lot Emily ! To me, using Hamlet here was really interesting. The Nameless One could say the famous "to be or not to be" several times in the game and it would fit perfectly. Then there's Morte that plays the role of Yorick's skull. And then there's also, I think, the need to show that there are great stories in gaming too, a fact that too many people don't know or pay attention to today.
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The idea of Yorrick's skull being able to talk back is delightful. Nameless looks so serious and thoughtful, while Morte looks so... Morte!
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Hey, je suis tombΓ© par hasard sur ton travail : incroyable!Merci de m'avoir refait penser Γ ce jeu, je me souviens y avoir passΓ© des heures et des heures, sans pouvoir dΓ©crocher de l'histoire.
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