Planescape: Torment - Gameplay

Gameplay

Planescape: Torment is built on BioWare's Infinity Engine, which presents the player with a two-dimensional world in which player characters are controlled. The game's rules are based on those of Advanced Dungeons & Dragons. The player takes the role of "The Nameless One", an immortal being on a quest to learn why he cannot die. Exploration around the painted scenery is accomplished by clicking on the ground to move, or on objects and characters to interact with them. Items and spells may be employed through hotkeys, "quick slots", or a radial menu. An alternative to armor is the use of magical tattoos, which can be applied to The Nameless One and certain other characters to enhance their abilities.

The game begins with character creation, where the player assigns attribute points (such as strength, intelligence, charisma) to The Nameless One. The Nameless One starts the game as a fighter, but the player may later change his character class to thief or wizard, with the option to also change back to fighter, after finding corresponding tutors. The player may recruit adventuring companions over the course of the game; there are seven potential party members, but a maximum of five may accompany the player at any one time. Conversation is frequent among party members, occurring both randomly and during conversations with other non-player characters.

Planescape: Torment's gameplay often focuses on the resolution of quests through dialogue rather than combat, and many of the game's combat encounters can be resolved or avoided through dialogue or stealth; a review of the game in incite PC Gaming says that "The game is almost entirely story driven, and by asking the right questions you should only have to get violent a handful of times." The Nameless One carries a journal, which helps the player keep track of the game's numerous quests and subplots. Death of the player character usually imposes no penalty beyond respawning in a different location.

Alignment in AD&D—which determines a character's ethical and moral perspective on the independent axes of "good vs. evil" and "law vs. chaos"—is a static property, chosen by the player at the start of a game. In Planescape: Torment, the character begins as a "true neutral" character (that is, neither good nor evil, and neither lawful nor chaotic) and throughout the game, based on the character's actions, this property is incrementally changed. Non-player characters respond to The Nameless One differently, depending on his alignment. A review in NextGen reported that "the game caters to both the goody-goody player who wants to be nice and lawful, and the evil bastards who just want to kill everything and take no guff from anyone".