There are various ways to remaster and, more generally, revive an old video game. One of the most wrong is to try to add content that no one has asked: nor who played the original, nor the new players, who will certainly not be convinced to purchase from the presence of some more mission or some line of dialogue changed.
Each discounting operation should be based on respect for the work, including limits. Beamdog struggled to understand it with Baldur’s Gate Enhanced Edition, however well done, but often criticized for its revised and added contents. The Siege of Dragonspear itself Autonomous expansion of the Baldur’s Gate, which tried to fill the gap between the first two chapters, after some political controversy, has received strong criticism for not being able to reach the quality of the originals.
In short, remastering a classic can certainly be fruitful, but at the same time it is a minefield from which one risks not to come out alive.
Planescape: Torment Enhanced Edition was announced a few weeks ago. It was suspected that Beamdog had been working on it for a few months, because it was silent for some time and also because it was the last among the great titles created with the BioWare Infinity Engine not yet been remastered (actually still missing Icewind Dale II,
which however is not as famous as this). However, certainty has been practically concluded.many have immediately put hand to arms, declaring themselves ready to go to war in the event that what is considered one of the best electronic
role-playing games of all time had been affected by some nefarious commercial decision. Even began to turn uncontrolled rumors about alleged changes, additions and more, due to the presence of Chris Avellone as a consultant, one of the authors of the game. Fortunately it did not happen that way …
We reviewed Planescape: Torment Enhanced Edition: is it still one of the best RPGs ever?
THE STRENGTH OF PLANESCAPE: TORMENT
Unlike the already mentioned Baldur’s Gate or Icewind Dale, Planescape: Torment (1999), always a videogame translation of a scenario of Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, is a very measured and composed title, able to tell the story of his main character very effectively, but without ever giving in to harmful excesses.
The maneuver space for modifying or expanding such a narrative fabric is practically nil, partly because it would seriously risk breaking its balance, causing the entire gameplay to collapse with them.In short, in a Baldur’s Gate a fight more or less, perhaps on an unprecedented scenario, does not make a big difference, while in Torment it would be difficult, if not impossible, to justify. For this reason Beamdog made the only sensible choice: the Content Enhanced Edition has remained identical to the original, including dialogues. For those who do not know it, Planescape: Torment, not to be confused with
Torment: Tides of Numenera, which is only a spiritual following, but which is not directly related to this, tells the story of a character without a name and without memory, called Nameless One, who awakens in the mortuary of the city of Sigil, the so-called “City of Doors”, the melting pot of the multiverse’s plans. Together with him we immediately get to know another person
,From here on, the goal becomes to reconstruct the identity of the protagonist, to discover how and why he has forgotten his story and who or what made him become immortal.
