Tides of Numenera vs Mask of The Betrayer

[kensu]

I've been playing Tides of Numenera since the official release date (I actually bought it back when it was in open beta, but stopped playing when I got the message box that said: "this area is unimplemented, please distribute your tides" or somesuch.)
As I've been reading some of the reviews and comments I notice how many people mention that Planescape:Torment finally has a spiritual successor, it seems that no one remembers Mask Of The Betrayer.

So, what do you think, which one did you prefer?

I'm only about ten hours in, but I have to be honest, I liked Mask of The Betrayer better. The deluge of text in ToN is really killing the mood, I liked how MotB started out with you stuck in the bottom of a dungeon, no idea how you got there, and stuck on your own, eventually the bald Red Wizard joins you and gives you some clues as to what's going on, but for those first few minutes you're on your own and have to figure out what's going on.

 

ToN on the other hand, starts with two bickering companions. Back when I played this in beta I was certain that they were going to get rid of one of the companions (possibly choose which one finds you randomly) so there will be less hand-holding and you get a chance to explore on your own and start to figure things out; but no, they left it exactly like it was, which was a horrible decision on their part. By the time I was about to exit the reef, I choose to part ways with both of them and figure things out on my own.

It's funny that the designers were slavishly trying to copy Torment but completely missed out on the fact that your only companion in the mortuary was Morte, who already knew you and was very careful not to flood you with information because he's learned the hard way that there's no point in asking you about things you don't remember.

 

Anyone else want to throw their 2¢ in?

[Tigranes]

PST and MOTB were both thematically coherent games with a focused direction, which then featured wacky and interesting writing. 

 

Numenera has only the last.

[kensu]

Just finished it. Generally I stand by my original assessment, however the game did get better once you got out of Sagus Cliffs.

ToN does give you the impression that you're clearing your own path with your decisions, but from the walkthroughs I've read since then, it looks like making other choices either leads to a premature endgame or the choices end up being meaningless.

If you let the Specter take over your body, the game ends.
No matter what you choose to do with the resonance chamber at the end, the same thing ends up happening. The castoff's even don't hold a grudge later on,

 

 

Something that bugged me, long before it was even in prelease, is how in the developer interviews, they would mention how they would make sure to spend some time playing P:T each week, to make sure that they got the "feel" right. I can't imagine them doing that with Mask of the Betrayer, even though it was some of the same people.

ToN has a lot of failings which can't be blamed on an attempt to recreate the experience of P:T; but if they had set up to do something new, I think I'd be more willing to look past those errors. ToN was at its best when it did something completely unlike its predecessor: the Fifth Eye saloon plot, the Endless Gate plot, the Lost Anchorage plot (I want DLC through that door we can't open! Let's take the space elevator down to the planet!), and most of all, providing opportunities to let your party members go when your paths are no longer the same, but when you still might need them.

If they ever make a sequel (and the fact that we still know almost nothing about the Tides makes it pretty clear they were planning on one) they should try to make as different a game as possible.

 

Edit: oh, and the Oasis Fathom. That needed to be a hub!

Edited March 29, 2017 by kensu