Matt Chat 63: Planescape Torment with Chris Avellone

[DrMadolite]

3 Nameless Ones watched this video :)

[Influx27]

@DrMadolite why would the nameless one dislike a video about a game he stars in?

[DrMadolite]

@Influx27 he wouldn't, but the three who disliked it were too afraid to reveal their names. nvm joke didn't work.

[Influx27]

@DrMadolite meh, the jokes about the number of dislikes aren't that funny anyway.

[DrMadolite]

@Influx27 lol true ^.^

[CmdrMander]

Updated my subscriptions

[Ybrethar]

Fallout better than PST? What the hell?

[Jeet27]

Chris is spot on about the alignment system. It's always bugged me too. You just can't pigeon-hole a character like that. Planescape has the right method, in which the game tells you what alignment you are shifting towards based on your decisions. Pre-determined alignments should have been done away with a long time ago.

[KleppyZ]

The stuff about how the Icewind Dale games tie into Planescape is really, really cool. I'm starting a new replay of the series just to catch some of that :)

Great work on your series by the way!

[MrVersipellis]

"Fallout 1 turned out better."

:I

[darthbandon10]

@MrVersipellis MCA is overly modest.

[ianbrown3003]

This is fantastic and very informative! First time I've stumbled across your videos, but as someone who's just started training as a games designer, the opportunity to listen to a top, top designer like Chris Avellone is superb for giving me stuff to think about. I'm a big fan of all of the games I've played that he's worked on, and story wise I think Planescape is outstanding. It's great that you've been able to get this interview, and thanks for sharing.

[grumblekin]

Avellone is an accomplished DM and that came through in his design and execution. Planescape: Torment is the best RPG ever made.

[digitalwaylander]

Time is not your enemy.  Forever is.

[mrcow94]

Well Fallout sold better than Planescape, but over all I think Planescape is just easily a better game. I think the problem with Planescape is it didn't appeal to the consumers as much as Fallout did.

[MetalJesusRocks]

Planescape is one of my favorite games of all time! This was really interesting to watch... Thanks!

[Holammer]

PS:T is still one of my favourite games. Unique in the sense that the sheer amount of dialogue you could dive into will NEVER be done again in game. Same goes for the dialogue options available. I understand why games nowadays become so simplistic in that department as to speed up game development. But I really miss that.

[thekaje2]

Chris, you are so MODEST.

First of all, PS:T was brilliant and perhaps on-par with Fallout 1.

Second, New Vegas is SOOOO much better than FO3, good lord. But I love you for your modesty.

[HeadShotGameReviews]

Chris Avellone underrates this game. I think it's even better than Fallout.

[markusse007]

@HeadShotGameReviews bullshit.

[markusse007]

@HeadShotGameReviews played them all -.-

[ToughGuyver]

@HeadShotGameReviews

They are both perfect in my eyes.^^ Anyway, you forgot about Fallout 2.

[Tychoxi]

OMG!111 this explains why every chick in KOTORII is blind!

[magikot]

You say to track down the game, but don't tell anyone where. For those that don't know it was rereleased last year. You can buy it online at gogamer.com for $20 USD

[lewa123456]

Morte has more attitude than any other character in video games.

[Androidindisguise]

God I love this guy and his smugness, he HAS to post on the Codex.

[vintagevideogamegeek]

Cool approach to the whole "alignment" issue. I was always partial to "neutral good".

[TimRMortiss]

Very informative video! It was interesting to learn the motivations behind many of the design decisions.

[enkephalin07]

That's a hell of a spoiler, playing the end cinematic.

[whitetrashoutlaw]

@enkephalin07 Meh, it's not really important to the game though.

[IcyScythe]

@enkephalin07 thanks for posting that... or I woulda watched it (and I'm about to try this for the first time :P)

[Konuvis]

great video as usual Matt. I had a great time on PST, especially Annah :)

Did you get a chance to play Alpha Protocol? It looked promising but the reviews have been pretty average across the board. The gameplay looks weak but the storya nd dialogue look good so i'm intrigued.

[blacklily8]

@Konuvis Nope, haven't played it yet. I tend to wait for the hype to die down and the price to drop before buying new games.

[Konuvis]

@blacklily8 yeah me too. oh well then!

[Soulgotha]

@blacklily8 That makes two of us. Every now and then a game is just too tempting to wait for though.

[darthbandon10]

@Konuvis As I said on the first part...one word: publisher. You really think Avellone and his buddies would want to release unfinished work? If they don't abide by deadlines, Obsidian goes under and we'll likely never see a game from them again...

[HardWarUK]

Maybe it's too late, and maybe it's easy to ask other people to do a little more work, I think, covering major classic games need to be changed in Matt Chat. I think the review of the game would have 10 mins to itself as a 'part 2' with part one exclusively you talking about the game and/or interviewing someone. If, as would be the case with Planescape you might need the odd 3 part video.

It just doesn't seem right that you review of games amount to no more than about 3 minutes in many cases.

[blacklily8]

@HardWarUK I don't understand your comment. I did a whole episode about Planescape in an earlier video.

[HardWarUK]

@blacklily8 I meant games in general. Sometimes the talk is about 4 mins and the review 4 mins then another two mins after the review. In the case of PS:T yes, there was a separate review, but in many it's all in that 10 mins. So in general 2 parter maybe should be the norm, you talking about the history of the company/game like you do, and then a separate one where you show the game and talk over it.

[clays121]

As always an Awesome video, and amazed at the people you get to interview, not even some of the big names in the games industry can get these people, and still blows my mind more people don't view your videos.

[blacklily8]

@clays121 Thanks, Clay. Don't forget to help spread the word. I'm sure more people would be interested if they knew about the topics we look at here.

[MrMagic1163]

Oh that deathmechanic is very nice! Rather than to see death as an end or a punishment, they use it as gameplay, genius!

[Lorfarius]

With the higher res mod this game becomes truly something else.

[SamsButterscotch]

@ 09:05 my God, is that actually Ravel?

[LordDreagon]

Thanks for the new Matt Chat, awesome!

[DlNKYDANA]

Nice job. Can't wait for Fallout New Vegas.

[marcusmalone]

'Fallout 3 with more cool stuff in it'. Jesus H. BRING IT ON! I heard that with New Vegas the devs are bringing the Bethesda entries more into line with the old Black Isle Fallouts. Good news to me. Should be good news to you also Matt, hey?

[blacklily8]

@marcusmalone I'm excited about it as well as Alpha Protocol, naturally. :)

[marcusmalone]

@blacklily8 The latter is taking a bit of a beating in the press. All reviewers are praising the game in terms of narrative etc. No doubt your mate played a big role in these areas.

[HardWarUK]

@blacklily8 If Planescape Torment is the BBC then Alpha Protocol is the local community station!

[marcusmalone]

Anyone know whether or not Planescape works on Windows 7?

[blacklily8]

@marcusmalone No idea. It's a bit temperamental in Vista, but playable (mine just crashes on exit).

[RPGfiend]

@blacklily8 Yes it is playable,but like many people you may have to do a few things to get it running as good as possible.If you are going to play this on Windows 7 and need help getting it running good,send me a message and I'll send you all of the information you need.

[freudrik]

@marcusmalone I've heard there are unofficial mods for it. Don't quote me on it though.

[scullyy]

@marcusmalone I'm replaying it on win7 with all mods. works great.

[ZFGokuSSJ1]

@marcusmalone I have the UK DVD release; it works just fine. Had to install some fan patches to get full compatibility. The "Planescape Torment Fixpack."

[Jacesfaces]

Always Impressive Matt! Good enough for TV, if not better…lol.

[AxiomofDiscord]

@Jacesfaces Yeah I would say too good for TV ... most TV in my opinion is not worth anyone's time.

[blacklily8]

@Jacesfaces Thanks! I'm so glad you guys enjoyed it. I try my best.

[HardWarUK]

I don't know how you do it. But you do it every time!

[umbalaba]

I had just finished the last game in Richard Garriott's Ultima series, when fellow enthusiast recommended Planescape Torment to me. What a great game. The story writing, the music and the whole look of the game was just incredible. I think it is an example of how sometimes everything aligns at the right place at the right time and special things happen, which cannot be repeated on purpose.

[blacklily8]

@umbalaba I'm inclined to agree, though the things Chris pointed out about what worked well in Planescape seemed to jive quite well with my own views on the subject. Let's hope his greatest achievements still lie ahead of him. :)

[umbalaba]

@blacklily8 I share your hopes! I would love to see another game from Chris Avellone's hand, which reaches the hights of Planescape Torment!

[HardWarUK]

@umbalaba It'll never happen in today's market. Jade Empire, Mass Effect and Bioshock are the RPG's of today and the future from North American publishers. Europe is the only place for real RPG's like The Witcher and Gothic IV In fact Europe is the only place now where titles are being developed just for PC - games like STALKER. in North America 99% of titles are console conversions.

[freudrik]

Excellent interview. I am very impressed by the quality of your videos. I have watched and enjoyed all of them.

[blacklily8]

@freudrik Whoa! You deserve a special achievement for that. Epic!

[subrealms]

That was such a great game with a little bit too much dialogue. I'd say Baldur's Gate had as much dialogue as I could take.

[solnasonen]

great stuff