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Torment: Tides of Numenera |OT| What Can Change The Nature of a Man?

L

Llyranor

Member
I'm exploring the Bloom, and my heart's not in it anymore. For all the amount of writing there is (which I loved in PST), it's just not hooking me in. I find myself skipping all descriptive text and just glancing at the dialogue. I don't even click on the 'looking glass' narration anymore. The game is just failing to make me interested. Maybe it's just too verbose for its own good (and lacking the quality to make it work). I just feel like I'm going through the motions right now. I'm strongly considering giving up, and maybe starting a new RPG that people actually rave about, like Dragonfall.

EDIT: Now I'm just casually reading spoilers in this thread. That's how little I care about the story *sigh*
 
P

Purkake4

Banned
Llyranor said:
I'm exploring the Bloom, and my heart's not in it anymore. For all the amount of writing there is (which I loved in PST), it's just not hooking me in. I find myself skipping all descriptive text and just glancing at the dialogue. I don't even click on the 'looking glass' narration anymore. The game is just failing to make me interested. Maybe it's just too verbose for its own good (and lacking the quality to make it work). I just feel like I'm going through the motions right now. I'm strongly considering giving up, and maybe starting a new RPG that people actually rave about, like Dragonfall.

EDIT: Now I'm just casually reading spoilers in this thread. That's how little I care about the story *sigh*
Click to expand...
Well, Dragonfall is amazing.

I'd suggest you play it through, but honestly the endgame for the Bloom was pretty bad...
 
Freeman76

Freeman76

Member
Tried 3 times to get into this, every time I was hit with a bug that stopped me progressing, and this is in the first 2 areas. Selling this shit, what a letdown. Performance on my PS4 Pro is terrible, no excuse for this really.
 
S

SkyTurnsRed

Banned
I backed this, but now I'm really torn on whether I should start it at all given the reception, go back to Torment and played the EE version, or start KotoR 2, MotB, Tyranny, or Age of Decadence.
 
B

BeeDog

Member
So, patch 1.02 seems to have dropped for PS4 and it's a whooping 5,034 GB. Still downloading on my end so no idea what it contains.

EDIT: the patch list is humongous and seems to mirror the PC notes from earlier. Don't know if I'll have the time to try out the PS4 performance improvements though...
 
swarley64

swarley64

Member
ScientificPizza said:
Oh, that's a shame. I guess I'll wait until I can figure out a good couch mouse and keyboard setup

Has anyone tried playing with a Steam Controller?
Click to expand...

Yes, I couldn't get it to work the way I wanted... I usually like to use the Steam Controller thumb-pad as a mouse, but for Torment it defaults to controlling like an analog stick to move your character. I eventually gave up and just played M+KB.

SkyTurnsRed said:
I backed this, but now I'm really torn on whether I should start it at all given the reception, go back to Torment and played the EE version, or start KotoR 2, MotB, Tyranny, or Age of Decadence.
Click to expand...
T:ToN isn't perfect, but I definitely enjoyed it more than Tyranny (which I've yet to finish). However, the original PST is in another league... If you've never played it, you should get that enhanced edition.
 
J

JP

Member
There's quite a large patch for the console versions now, what I've copied in below is a fraction of the full notes that you'll find on the official website.
Torment Patch 1.0.2 said:
  • Fixed a large number of freezes that would happen in various states.
  • Numerous performance optimizations.
  • Addendum text should now be appearing on item descriptions. Many dozens of items now have more details depending on your lore skills and other factors!
  • Fixed an issue that was preventing party members from bantering. Party members should now be much more talkative!
  • Updated a number of crisis sequences to rebalance a number of enemies. In some situations, it will make combat proceed more quickly with combats that were sluggish.
  • Numerous fixes and improvements to movement grid, pathing, and AI. This should prevent issues where the game would hang as combat could get stuck in numerous situations.
  • Several quest and conversation fixes.
  • Inspiring Presence and other looping sound effects have been reduced or removed.
Click to expand...
I could only play it for about two hours at launch due to the really poor performance on my PS4 Pro, I've tried it again for about 15 minutes on my old save and it does seem a lot better.

There are still jumps so it's not perfect but I'll have no issues with starting the game again now. There's still clearly better performance hidden in the game somewhere and I really hope that they put some more work into it now, I couldn't recommend it to people before due to the performance on the PS4 Pro but I'd have no issues recommending it to people now.

Bear in mind, I've only visited a couple of locations and run around a bit so I can't say that it;s improved everywhere. I've waited so long to play this so I'm really happy that they've started fixing some of the issues.
 
StereoVsn

StereoVsn

Gold Member
SkyTurnsRed said:
I backed this, but now I'm really torn on whether I should start it at all given the reception, go back to Torment and played the EE version, or start KotoR 2, MotB, Tyranny, or Age of Decadence.
Click to expand...

Well, you have some of the best RPGs of all times in Torment, Kotor 2 and MotB and AoD is quite interesting (if not to the same extent). If you haven't played Kotor2 or MotB, I would highly recommend that. If you haven't played the OG Torment, certainly play that (EE version is pretty good).
 
S

ScientificPizza

Banned
swarley64 said:
Yes, I couldn't get it to work the way I wanted... I usually like to use the Steam Controller thumb-pad as a mouse, but for Torment it defaults to controlling like an analog stick to move your character. I eventually gave up and just played M+KB.
Click to expand...
Ah, that's a bummer. I guess I'll just hold off until I can get a good setup
in like a year when i move and have room :(
 
S

SkyTurnsRed

Banned
swarley64 said:
Yes, I couldn't get it to work the way I wanted... I usually like to use the Steam Controller thumb-pad as a mouse, but for Torment it defaults to controlling like an analog stick to move your character. I eventually gave up and just played M+KB.


T:ToN isn't perfect, but I definitely enjoyed it more than Tyranny (which I've yet to finish). However, the original PST is in another league... If you've never played it, you should get that enhanced edition.
Click to expand...

StereoVsn said:
Well, you have some of the best RPGs of all times in Torment, Kotor 2 and MotB and AoD is quite interesting (if not to the same extent). If you haven't played Kotor2 or MotB, I would highly recommend that. If you haven't played the OG Torment, certainly play that (EE version is pretty good).
Click to expand...

I have played PS:T! It's one of my favorite games ever. Just thinking whether I should just replay it over this.

Thanks :)
 
L

Lagamorph

Member
I've played an hour or two of this and I'm really not feeling it to be honest.

I'm doing some quest where I have to descend into some ruins using a mechanical eye and when I first entered there were some lizard men in there who promptly slaughtered me. When I went back they were already dead, so I was able to go deeper, and encountered some robots who now keep slaughtering me.

I don't think I've leveled up once yet in order to actually make myself any stronger.
 
M

Mivey

Member
Lagamorph said:
I've played an hour or two of this and I'm really not feeling it to be honest.

I'm doing some quest where I have to descend into some ruins using a mechanical eye and when I first entered there were some lizard men in there who promptly slaughtered me. When I went back they were already dead, so I was able to go deeper, and encountered some robots who now keep slaughtering me.

I don't think I've leveled up once yet in order to actually make myself any stronger.
Click to expand...
In neither fight do you have to actually use violence. The robots can be turned off, though you have to keep running from them until you manage to do so. A cipher or two might help you there. If you want to build a combat focused party, you should do some sidequests and get leveled up. Though some of the more creative solutions to fights are non-violent. (There are exceptions, usually in side quests. Everything in the critical path can be solved in other ways, if I recall correctly.)
Taruranto said:
Honestly, replaying the original made me like Numenera even less. The Bloom is still good, but everything else... meh.
Click to expand...
If feels like they had to cut quite a bit and then rushed to make the rest coherent enough for the plot to work. Probably the reason they ditched the original producer. Seems like the long pre-production didn't do them much good in preparing properly for production.
 
M

Mr. Bad Example

Neo Member
Mivey said:
If feels like they had to cut quite a bit and then rushed to make the rest coherent enough for the plot to work. Probably the reason they ditched the original producer. Seems like the long pre-production didn't do them much good in preparing properly for production.
Click to expand...

I just finished it last night (I know--late to the party) and that's the impression I got too. I was really enjoying the earlier parts of the game, and I was really getting into the whole Ninth World setting...and then around the halfway point in
the Bloom
, the plot started to feel like one of those hand-written signs where someone's run out of room and has to cramalltheletterstogether.

And then after all that, I didn't get an ending cinematic, or even a slideshow? I just got one paragraph of text and dumped back out to the main menu. It was quite a letdown.
 
B

BrokenFiction

Member
Servant of the Tides Update Out Now!

That's right! The new update is live on Steam right now! Oom, the Voluminous Codex, and a host of improvements, tweaks, fixes, are out today on PC.

Highlights
  • New Companion: Oom. Oom is a new stretch goal character who you will discover on your journey through the Ninth World. Oom features its own companion quest, "Servant of the Tides", its own unique abilities for use in combat and exploration, and interactions with various characters throughout the game.
  • Added the Voluminous Codex. This new stretch goal feature unlocks lore and character entries as you explore the game world.
  • Added a new user interface element to the Inventory Screen which makes it easier to view companion attitudes toward the Last Castoff.
  • Added a new user interface element to the Common Panel which better messages the Last Castoff's current Legacy.
  • Players can now advance to Tier 5 and Tier 6, allowing players to spend their Experience Points more in the later game. This also allows the Last Castoff to gain abilities from other character types.
  • Various balance improvements to Crisis gameplay throughout the game.
  • Various balance improvements to exploration gameplay, especially in the later stages of the game.
  • Added zoom in/out key binding to the Options Menu. This allows players without mouse wheels to remap the zoom functions.
  • Cypher Sickness initialization is now delayed until after Equipment initialization. This should prevent issues where loading a save file where equipment was preventing a cypher explosion would cause input to freeze up (fix may not be retroactive).
  • Remove all non-gameplay Fettles from companions when they're removed from the party. This should prevent certain freezes from occurring.
  • Numerous small UI fixes.
  • Numerous small quest fixes.

For the full patch notes, please check this page.
 
Dsyndrome

Dsyndrome

Member
Looks like I can start playing again, hopefully won't be too put off by restarting since I was not too far into Valley of the Dead Heroes.
 
S

Sinatar

Official GAF Bottom Feeder
Yea the game tanked, so I think they've finished with it and are all hands on deck with Bard's Tale 4 and Wasteland 3.
 
S

Sinatar

Official GAF Bottom Feeder
Bard's Tale 4 looks pretty good from what they've shown.

As for Wasteland I mean it's probably going to be better then 2, and I enjoyed 2 quite a bit. So yea I'm not down on inXile despite not liking Torment.
 
M

Mivey

Member
Anno said:
It's pretty easy to be down on inXile at the moment. I have hope for WL3 and BT4, but not much.
Click to expand...
They had one dud, after a really great game. I wouldn't go all pessimistic just based on that.

And while I am kinda disappointed in TToN, I still liked playing it. They messed up the production, and it ended up hurting the game. Sad thing is that this is probably the last Torment style (where the main gameplay mechanic is dialogues, essentially) game from them or anyone else for that matter. Even if it didn't come close to Planescape, as I said, still enjoyed the experience.
 
E

Eridani

Member
Mivey said:
They had one dud, after a really great game. I wouldn't go all pessimistic just based on that.

And while I am kinda disappointed in TToN, I still liked playing it. They messed up the production, and it ended up hurting the game. Sad thing is that this is probably the last Torment style (where the main gameplay mechanic is dialogues, essentially) game from them or anyone else for that matter. Even if it didn't come close to Planescape, as I said, still enjoyed the experience.
Click to expand...

Not really. No Truce With The Furies looks amazing, and Sunless Skies recently went into early access. It's not quite the same thing gameplay wise, but considering Sunless Sea was a much better spiritual successor to Planescape than TToN was, it's still very noteworthy. Also Cultist Simulator for similar reasons, although that's less dialogue and more of a narrative focused board game inspired thing. There's also smaller, lesser known things like Alcyone and a ton of other small interactive fiction projects.

Apart from No Truce With The Furies none of them are super close to Planescape game play wise, but they are heavily text/dialogue focused.
 
P

Purkake4

Banned
Eridani said:
Not really. No Truce With The Furies looks amazing, and Sunless Skies recently went into early access. It's not quite the same thing gameplay wise, but considering Sunless Sea was a much better spiritual successor to Planescape than TToN was, it's still very noteworthy. Also Cultist Simulator for similar reasons, although that's less dialogue and more of a narrative focused board game inspired thing. There's also smaller, lesser known things like Alcyone and a ton of other small interactive fiction projects.

Apart from No Truce With The Furies none of them are super close to Planescape game play wise, but they are heavily text/dialogue focused.
Click to expand...
I very much agree, that style of game is coming back if anything. TTON dropped the ball badly in terms of the overall narrative, themes and plot, which are the only things it needed to be good at.
 
F

ffvorax

Member
Damn this game is big in term of contents... I'm still in the first city, and the fact that at the end the Italian translation was cut off by surprise has been a huge wall... I'm used to english in games and work, but this kind of content is so much and deep that it's hard to keep myself always concentrated enough to understand everything... :\

But the feel of the good old rpg is there, like it was for Pillars of Eternity.
 
M

More_Badass

Member
Thinking of getting back into this, been reading a lot of sci-fi lately

Did patches and added content change the consensus towards Tides, or is it still thought as of kind of a failure?
 
E

Eusis

Member
More_Badass said:
Thinking of getting back into this, been reading a lot of sci-fi lately

Did patches and added content change the consensus towards Tides, or is it still thought as of kind of a failure?
Click to expand...
It might be better to treat as kind of a string of vignettes tied together, but it's still a solid, unique sci-fi romp even if it failed to live up to Planescape Torment. But that was a high, high bar to clear.
 
S

Shake Appeal

Member
I'm plodding through my first playthrough, and I think I've just run out of steam. I'm in the Bloom now and don't have the enthusiasm to continue. This is a profound disappointment to me, and I went in with low expectations. I honestly was more hooked on Wasteland 2 than this, interesting as some of the lore is.
 
L

Lime

Member
This games UI and aesthetics are pretty subpar. The UI looks like a PSP and the character portraits are vastly underused.

Not feeling very hooked at the moment but the writing is decent so far.
 
T

Taruranto

Member
Shake Appeal said:
I'm plodding through my first playthrough, and I think I've just run out of steam. I'm in the Bloom now and don't have the enthusiasm to continue. This is a profound disappointment to me, and I went in with low expectations. I honestly was more hooked on Wasteland 2 than this, interesting as some of the lore is.
Click to expand...

The Bloom is the best area in the game, if you feel like continuing. It's really much better designed than the rest of the game.
 
P

Purkake4

Banned
Taruranto said:
The Bloom is the best area in the game, if you feel like continuing. It's really much better designed than the rest of the game.
Click to expand...
Can't really say I agree, I feel that it's a mishmash of unfinished ideas topped off with the unfinished ending to the area.

If you mean the rest of the game after that then yes, but that's a low low bar.
 
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