The official Dungeons & Dragons Facebook page shared this URL today, and mysteriously asked:

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http://planescape.com/

What do you think?



EDIT
Well, I guess not. It's Planescape Torment Enhanced Edition!

The page source has a line that says: secret="0x50 0x53 0x54 0x45 0x45" Those hexidecimal values convert to "PSTEE" in ASCII.

Yep, it's the Enhanced Edition videogame. I hope they don't mess with the game too much and just enchance its gfx and user interface. Heard Baldurs Gate EE had some wonky things.

About an eventual revival for 5e, well who knows? If this sells well, together with Tides of Numenera recent success, it may be a sign the Weird sub-genre has enough potential for the companies to look into.

Quote from: Itachi;953542Heard Baldurs Gate EE had some wonky things.

It had issues because one of the writers on the new team (Not the original) went brainworm and decided to change the dialog of a few characters.

Plan Escape.  Sounds like someone misread "planescape" because they were a new hire who had no grasp of D&D edition history.  Of course the way Hasbro operates, that might not be a joke.

JG

Even if you're not a big fan of planescape or its ideas for tabletop purposes, PS: Torment is absolutely worth a play through. Just make sure your main character has high Wisdom, trust me.

Updated my journal.

I wish they would make enhanced editions of the various Gold Box games.

Quote from: Christopher Brady;953547It had issues because one of the writers on the new team (Not the original) went brainworm and decided to change the dialog of a few characters.

None of the original dialogues were changed in BGEE and BG2EE. Beamdog was prohibited from changing any of the original stories or dialogues in their contract (at least I recall reading something to that effect on the Beamdog forum when the EE versions were released).

New dialogues, characters, stories, etc. were added of course. Some of those elements were not to everyone's tastes.

Personally, I really enjoyed BGEE and BG2EE, as well as the new 'bridge' story/game Siege of Dragonspear Castle. (Not every single element or character was my cup of tea, naturally, but that was true of the originals as well. Overall I had a great time with the games.)

Quote from: Shipyard Locked;953557... PS: Torment is absolutely worth a play through. Just make sure your main character has high Wisdom, trust me.

Indeed. Max out Wisdom, and pump up Intelligence and Charisma as well. In PS:T Strength, Dexterity, and Constitution are the "dump" stats.

Quote from: The Scythian;953563Updated my journal.

Heh!

Quote from: Akrasia;953740None of the original dialogues were changed in BGEE and BG2EE. Beamdog was prohibited from changing any of the original stories or dialogues in their contract (at least I recall reading something to that effect on the Beamdog forum when the EE versions were released).

One of the writers went onto the forums and claimed to have changed one of the female characters (it's literally been decades since I've played the game, but I think it was the sex-kitten love interest) because she didn't like the original portrayal.

Quote from: Akrasia;953740New dialogues, characters, stories, etc. were added of course. Some of those elements were not to everyone's tastes.

Which means they've broken the supposed contract by adding the characters to interact with all the other NPCs.

 That was one of the highlights of the original game, actually.  The characters had alignments that may not get along, or have cute dialog between each of them, without any interaction from the player character you control.

Anecdote:  WAAAAAAY back when, and I had to look this up cuz I only remember the name Viconia, my roommate had gotten the NE Drow chick and loved the dialog with her.  Then after some time in the game, he picked up the Paladin.  And the interaction was absolutely hilarious, until the Paladin became hostile to the party and smote the NE &!&$# in one blow, gibbing her instantly.  I remember blinking and then Drow body parts were all over the screen.  That was hilarious.  But it wouldn't have happened if there wasn't any writing that had NPC talk to NPC.

So by adding new characters, they've changed the dialog and interactions.  Hence why I don't believe that their contract had anything restricting them.

Quote from: Akrasia;953740Personally, I really enjoyed BGEE and BG2EE, as well as the new 'bridge' story/game Siege of Dragonspear Castle. (Not every single element or character was my cup of tea, naturally, but that was true of the originals as well. Overall I had a great time with the games.)

Do you want to know why Dragonspear was lambasted on their own forums?  Because people had issues on the writing.

And the big issue was how the Transgendered character (in a fantasy world with sex alteration items in it...  Boggles the mind...) was portrayed.

No one on the street comes up to you and introduces themselves as 'Hi, I'm Gay!', and yet, that's effectivle that one character that does so in Dragonspear.  Which frankly, as part of an adventuring party is such a non-issue that the only thing that should have matter is if said character can swing a sword or sling a spell.  What you do with your partner of choice or how you think of yourself has no bearing on whether or not you can survive a demon/devil infested fortress of doom.

In fact, here's a better metric, does someone being gay or straight or into plants have any bearing or importance to the story/plot?  No?  Then don't bother.

And yet, that same female writer that supposedly changed a character in the 'Enhanced Edition', not only did so, apparently did it so badly that she got severe backlash over it.

Quote from: James Gillen;953550Plan Escape.  Sounds like someone misread "planescape" because they were a new hire who had no grasp of D&D edition history.  Of course the way Hasbro operates, that might not be a joke.

JG

Nah, it was clever wordplay. They knew precisely what they were doing.

Quote from: Christopher Brady;953802One of the writers went onto the forums and claimed to have changed one of the female characters (it's literally been decades since I've played the game, but I think it was the sex-kitten love interest) because she didn't like the original portrayal.

The original dialogues were not changed, but the character was portrayed differently in the new game (Siege of Dragonspear) for the reasons you mention.

I'm not happy with what that writer did, by the way. But it hardly 'ruined' the game for me.

Quote from: Christopher Brady;953802Which means they've broken the supposed contract by adding the characters to interact with all the other NPCs.

This makes no sense.

The original dialogues could not be changed. The contract said nothing about adding new dialogues.

Quote from: Christopher Brady;953802That was one of the highlights of the original game, actually.  The characters had alignments that may not get along, or have cute dialog between each of them, without any interaction from the player character you control.

Yeah, and that was not changed in the EE versions!

Quote from: Christopher Brady;953802Anecdote:  WAAAAAAY back when, and I had to look this up cuz I only remember the name Viconia, my roommate had gotten the NE Drow chick and loved the dialog with her.  Then after some time in the game, he picked up the Paladin.  And the interaction was absolutely hilarious, until the Paladin became hostile to the party and smote the NE &!&$# in one blow, gibbing her instantly.  I remember blinking and then Drow body parts were all over the screen.  That was hilarious.  But it wouldn't have happened if there wasn't any writing that had NPC talk to NPC.

Yes, and that interaction is still in the game. It's unchanged. If you have Viconia in the party and recruit Keldorn (the paladin) they will end up fighting (with Keldorn almost certainly winning).

That's still there man. 100% unchanged.

Quote from: Christopher Brady;953802So by adding new characters, they've changed the dialog and interactions.

Your own example refutes your claim. The same dialogues, interactions, and so forth are in the EE versions. There just are new dialogues and interactions.  

Quote from: Christopher Brady;953802And the big issue was how the Transgendered character (in a fantasy world with sex alteration items in it...  Boggles the mind...) was portrayed.

No one on the street comes up to you and introduces themselves as 'Hi, I'm Gay!', and yet, that's effectivle that one character that does so in Dragonspear.  Which frankly, as part of an adventuring party is such a non-issue that the only thing that should have matter is if said character can swing a sword or sling a spell.  What you do with your partner of choice or how you think of yourself has no bearing on whether or not you can survive a demon/devil infested fortress of doom...

There was a bizarre kerfuffle over one NPC -- a character who cannot join the party by the way -- who has one transgender line. It's easily missed/avoided/ignored. Yet many people flipped out over it, claiming that it somehow ruined 50+ hours of the game for them, even though the character in question is irrelevant for the main story.

Ironically the mods have been including LGBT characters for years and nobody complained. I recall there being a lesbian romance between two NPC party members. Although the mods for the straight characters included things like abusive fathers, broken families and other special issues. In that sort of environment I would expect permissive attitudes.

Or it might be due to the modders actually caring about their art rather than trying to shoehorn a political statement.

Quote from: BoxCrayonTales;953911Ironically the mods have been including LGBT characters for years and nobody complained. I recall there being a lesbian romance between two NPC party members. Although the mods for the straight characters included things like abusive fathers, broken families and other special issues. In that sort of environment I would expect permissive attitudes.

Or it might be due to the modders actually caring about their art rather than trying to shoehorn a political statement.

It's not that they're LGBT that was the issue, it's how those characters were portrayed.

Quote from: ZWEIHÄNDER;953509EDIT
Well, I guess not. It's Planescape Torment Enhanced Edition!

The page source has a line that says: secret="0x50 0x53 0x54 0x45 0x45" Those hexidecimal values convert to "PSTEE" in ASCII.

I was kind of hoping for a book, but in retrospect it wouldn't really make much sense to reveal a pen and paper product like that. I did check the code myself so yeah PSTEE is legit, though part of me still hopes for a pen and paper product. Just one skinny book, with the Lady of Pain on the cover.

I suppose I should finish playing the original. I still have the disks, though it's easier just to install it from GOG. I did read the novel, as well as the other four Planescape books. I just have a hard time feeling immersed in an isolinear game.