Lancer

Irecnius made himself much more noticeable in BG2 than Sarevok did in BG1 which is what I think many people liked about Irenicus. But this more direct interceding of Irenicus is somewhat of a mixed bag. On the one hand, his character was more detailed than Sarevok's but on the other hand, it removed much of the mystique that Sarevok had. Irenicus being so directly involved in SoA was the greatest strength as well as the greatest weakness of his character at the same time. By the time I got to the final showdown against Irenicus all of the suspense, mystique, and respect for him as a villain had long since vanished. I just don't have much respect for a villain that I have already fought twice earlier in the game and defeated handily.. Where is the villainy in that? To face someone I already vanquished twice (yet again!) in a "final showdown" was a big letdown. OTOH, Sarevok was only faced once and working behind the scenes there was much more buildup to the final fight with him. Afterall, he was the one who killed Gorion, manipulated the Iron Throne, started a war, killed his own father, FRAMED your character towards the end so you were already going into the final showdown already hating the guy. On top of this, since he did work clandestinely there was much uncertainty in regards to his abilities, strengths and so on. We just didn't know what to expect when we finally did fight him which made everything all the more suspenseful. In regards to being a truly good villain-- Irenicus fell far short. He would have made a good comic book villain, just not a very good RPG one.

How can I possibly forget this guy?

These are my picks: He was much more of a villain than Irenicus was, IMO. Sarevok was the epitome of evil and while working behind the scenes stopped at nothing to achieve his goal of ascension. He killed Gorion, assassinated his own father, manipulated the Iron Throne, started a war, he FRAMED you.. Must I go on? This guy was just pure creepy. I am sure the atmosphere of the vault and music also added to the effect. He was very cold, evil, calculating but intellectual at the same time with a voice-ver that totally rocks. I was about to scream when he killed Annah.

Last time I heard, Hawaii has the most expensive gas prices in the US.

Just a quick comment: A couple of posters have mentioned that prices are even more expensive in Europe than in the US.. And you are right.. Europe has the most expensive gas prices in the world. Although the gas in the states isn't as expensive, US citizens rely on their automobile so much more. Driving a car to get to everywhere just isn't as feasible in more densely populated Europe where most things are just a short walk or bus ride away. The US being the sparsely (relatively speaking of course) populated sprawling country that we are, we have to use our cars to get around just about EVERYWHERE. With few exceptions like NYC and Chicago, destinations are much more spread out and thus the necessity to drive everywhere to get anywhere is a real one. Europeans when they do drive are also smart enough to use much more fuel-efficient cars. We US dummies drive cars that average slightly above 20 mpg. In contrast, Europeans milk out some 30 or so mpg out of their wheels. And isn't diesel gas relatively cheap in Europe?

I feel the same way too :ph34r:

You know.. I am considering it. Half my colleagues already bike to school as it is...

Around here it's at around $3 to $3.40 or so, although it spiked earlier in the week to $3.90. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Man.. where are you at? The Southeast somewhere?

Well.. As if gas prices weren't high enough before it seems with the recent events of Hurricane Katrina, gas prices spiked some 30+ cents higher than they were just a week ago. I am in Phoenix and the cheapest unleaded fuel is at 3 bucks a gallon. Guess that scratches my plans to visit LA... The way things are going we will hit $5 a gallon in no time...

The first game I played that got me hooked was "Target Earth" for the Sega Genesis. The best game of the 16bit era IMHO.

Seeing how popular Torment is (regularly being among the top 2 or 3 favorite RPGs in just about every online CRPG forum) all across the net tells me that it wasn't a "total failure."

I really AM a rocket scientist.

People seem to separate "combat" from "actual roleplaying" as if they were two totally disparate things... Almost as if when a fight begins roleplaying mysteriously must cease.. I believe that if combat in your games is "boring" then you are probably not doing it in the best fashion. If you actually roleplay your combats (and if you use minis, use tactics) rather than just doing the following: "I roll a 15 on a d20. Hit" "Ok. Subtract 6 hp off the ghoul" then combat becomes as fun as anything else in the game.

I also find myself completely at odds with those that say that Planescape's combat was "weak." Weak in what sense? I have never understood what was so bad about Torment's combat? It used the same engine as the BG games and it had a good balance of combat and roleplaying (IMHO, unlike say IWD) And there *were* relatively difficult combat sequences in the game such as the huge demon on Curst, Curst prison, the mayhem in Carceri, and the Transcendent One. I wonder from those who disliked Torment's combat was it because you didn't get a huge assortment of swords and amor to choose from like in the BG Games? I personally thought that the combat was just right.

In regards to the surprising comment that some felt that the Mortuary was "boring": In addition to Yst's and roshan's comments, the mortuary had interesting roleplaying opportunities and (depending on your intelligence) things like exposing the anarchist dressed up as a zombie or learning interesting tidbits about individual zombies or the True Death were quite fun. Heck, you can obtain a needle, some thread and embalming fluid and even masquerade as a zombie yourself! There was a lot of interesting roleplaying in the mortuary in contrast to what the naysayers say. The Mortuary was definitely one of the high points in the game.

Cool jodo jast 5.. Where in downtown Orlando do you live? I am actually from Casselberry.

26.. not getting any younger

What you mean is, the Torment will never end :D <{POST_SNAPBACK}> The only "real" Torment is not having played another game like Planescape since 1999. It is no wonder that people repeatedly mention this game nostalgically in forums... Nothing else that has come out since really compares to it. EDIT: And we might never get a game like Torment ever again for exactly Gromnir's/metadigital's reasons on profit motivation for companies. The unfortunate truth is that it is just not sound business to make another game like Torment regardless of how much a tiny niche market wants one. Now *that* is the real Torment.

Classics never die.

You do NOT have to kill Navarre. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> I love that part... you have the chance to join the terrorists and ditch your brother. I never tried it though. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> I haven't either, so I have to. Something about her impudent little face and her derisive tone make me want to smash her ugly little face into the floor. ... <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Hehe...Exactly.. She was *really* asking for it.. She is such a b--.. Anyhow, this makes me want to replay Deus Ex just to see what happens if you join Navarre and kill Lebedev..

Deus Ex beats the crap out of most games.

@ roshan: Unfortunately, there really isn't another game out there remotely like Torment, however... Games "kinda" like the Fallouts: Arcanum, KOTOR, and Vampire. As for oldies: Have you ever tried Ultima VII? That is one kickass game. Old Genesis ROMS like Shadowrun and Buck Rogers were also quite good. Aside from that maybe try out some indie devs like Spiderweb Software. I haven't played any of the Geneforge games myself but I have heard that they are quite good. In fact, they are supposed to be better than many of the $10-15M RPGs made by the big guys.

You do NOT have to kill Navarre. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> I love that part... you have the chance to join the terrorists and ditch your brother. I never tried it though.