Rock, Paper, Shotgun

Who Owns Planescape Torment?

By Jim Rossignol on September 28th, 2009 at 6:57 pm.


And by “own” I mean the publishing rights. Come on, fess up. You need to tell Direct2Drive, or perhaps GoG.com. (Via Blues.) Then the mighty classic can be re-released. More important information below.

Why Planescape Torment should be re-released:

Best.

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136 Comments »

  1. 28/09/2009 at 19:01 Gremmi says:

    I have a copy.

    They can take it from my cold dead hands.

  2. 28/09/2009 at 19:02 Jacques says:

    I wish they had some of those crazy spells in NwN.

  3. 28/09/2009 at 19:03 Knight Of Cydonia says:

    I have it. Piss off if you think I’m going to buy it again though. It’s the only reason I keep a Windows 2000 Pentium 3 around.

  4. 28/09/2009 at 19:04 Pags says:

    Jim Rossignol: Didn’t know there was talking to be done. Used a multi-dimensional cannon on everything.

  5. 28/09/2009 at 19:05 Sprint says:

    There are so many reasons to re-release Planescape but surely Morte takes the lead?

  6. 28/09/2009 at 19:05 Dreamhacker says:

    I remember seeing this in a store and not buying it.

    I also remember a lifetime of regret.

  7. 28/09/2009 at 19:07 Okami says:

    I loved how that mighty steampunkmagicdimensionpiercingultrocannon only dealt 64 damage.

  8. 28/09/2009 at 19:08 TNO says:

    I bet it’s Bethesda.

    Be VERY afraid.

  9. 28/09/2009 at 19:10 Acosta says:

    I have it, but I would buy a digital copy from GoG (D2D can go to hell until they offer service to us, dirty continentals).

  10. 28/09/2009 at 19:10 Jonas says:

    I keep my copy in a vault, buried in rock, protected by proximity mines and laser grids hooked up to nerve gas emitters. If I thought any of the money would actually go to the original developers (even though they no longer exist as a company), I would buy it again. And maybe one more time after that.

  11. 28/09/2009 at 19:12 Grawl says:

    I have an Interplay box with Fallout 2, Baldur’s Gate and Planescape Torment.

  12. 28/09/2009 at 19:16 Po0py says:

    It’s on ebay but it’s way, way overpriced. Also, being one of the games that you hear a lot of people say very nice things about, I’d like to think some of the developers would get some of my money for it. After recently hearing that the devs of Vampire: Bloodlines don’t receive a penny for their efforts I happily picked up a copy for £3.50 at CEX the other day. Such a shame that all these talented devs can get fucked around so much when a company goes bust.

  13. 28/09/2009 at 19:17 Magnus says:

    I’d only want to see it from GOG, since they’ll make sure it’ll work on newer systems.

    Surely Atari should know who owns the rights, since they published it (as well as the Baldur’s Gate games) in Europe.

    I missed out on it, and will forever regret that, unless I can get a copy…

  14. 28/09/2009 at 19:26 Brett says:

    If you read the forums over at GoG apparently the main issue holding up the re-release is that the “license” to the game is owned by several companies, and getting them all to play nicely is an effort in patience.

    I know they want to get it done, it’s like the 2nd most popular “wanted” game after system shock over there. It’s just the people involved seem…difficult…to deal with.

    I also think there’s some issue with it being based on old editions of the planescape rule set, but that could just be happenstance in the whole thing.

    • 28/09/2009 at 19:35 Nick says:

      I thought they had killed off the Planescape setting?

    • 28/09/2009 at 19:58 BigJonno says:

      They kinda-sorta killed it. The Planescape name went the way of the dodo alongside AD&D 2nd edition, but the actual setting rolled forward with 3rd edition as it was the official version of the D&D cosmos. Now that 4th edition has come along and bastardised everything, I’m not sure where it stands, but a lot of the creatures and concepts are still around in some form or another.

    • 28/09/2009 at 19:58 damien says:

      didn’t kill off planescape, just gutted it when they made 4th ed. changes to the alignment system (from 9 to 5.)

      last i heard, the planes still existed, but not in the way we knew and loved them.

    • 28/09/2009 at 20:04 Vinraith says:

      Planescape itself was a bastardization of first edition’s outer planes material, though, altered in large part to avoid offending the religious types. They can have my first edition Manual of the Planes when they pry it from my cold, dead hands.

    • 28/09/2009 at 20:51 BigJonno says:

      Yeah, the whole concept dates back to AD&D, but I’d consider Planescape more “let’s craft an interesting and unique setting from the material we have” than a bastardisation. Though the 1st ed stuff was lovely, in a somewhat crude and beardy manner.

  15. 28/09/2009 at 19:27 Pace says:

    How about System Shock 2? That should get released somewhere.

    (Magnus; I wish my name was Magnus. I’d be so much cooler.)

  16. 28/09/2009 at 19:29 Roosterfeet says:

    Don’t forget the resolution mod referenced in the “related stories” section. Just saying…

  17. 28/09/2009 at 19:31 Mosh says:

    I carried a copy around half the world as it’s one of the few games that’ll run unhindered on my clanky old laptop. Wish my netbook would handle it, but without the CD drive and with weird screen dimensions it’s a no-goer!

  18. 28/09/2009 at 19:32 Ian says:

    I have a copy but, erm, *cough*, haven’t played it.

    Wanted to try to get the HD (or at least more up to date UI, whatever it is) mod installed amongst other things but couldn’t get the blessed thing working. I’ll soon try again before just getting it to whatever working state I can.

  19. 28/09/2009 at 19:34 Patrick says:

    This is probably a good time to plug the UI overhaul mod:
    http://www.spellholdstudios.net/ie/ghostdogs-pst-ui
    It’s a good bit improved over the simple widescreen mod from a year or two ago. The menus, and loading screens are all handled correctly now.

    Torment’s lead developer Chris Avellone has a new game coming out next month: Alpha Protocol. Not quite in the same boat, but I’m hoping that it has its own merits.

  20. 28/09/2009 at 19:36 Lamalo says:

    I remember my first(and only) time in the US, my first priority was finding a store to buy this game.

    That was the only good thing out of that vacation, ’cause honestly, who cares my brother got married.

  21. 28/09/2009 at 19:37 blah says:

    I remember seeing five NRFB copies at a computer fair years ago (before they turned into mobile phones and console fairs… like PC World…) going for £10 each. I should have bought them all up and put them on ebay, damn.

  22. 28/09/2009 at 19:38 Duncan says:

    I swear it used to be available on GameTap. Where’d it go?

    • 28/09/2009 at 20:19 Kanamit says:

      It definitely was. If Gametap could get the rights to it GoG or D2D should be able to as well.

    • 28/09/2009 at 21:13 Geoff says:

      Yes, I played it for about an hour on Gametap, back in 2006. Cancelled Gametap a few months later, but left a mental note to go back and get Planescape.

      I agree it’s strange that the rights question would be more complicated three years later…

  23. 28/09/2009 at 19:39 Lambchops says:

    I loved that cannon.

    I have a double pack thingamybob with . . . err . . I think it was called Soulbringer or something. Whatever it was I’ve never played it. I don’t know whether I should have or not but I doubt it will be as good as Planescape.

    Beyond a shadow of a doubt my favourite RPG out of the few that i’ve played.

  24. 28/09/2009 at 19:40 CogDissident says:

    Keep in mind, there is currently a project that allows you to mod planescape torment to run on up to 1600×1200 resolutions as well (which makes the game immensely prettier, actually, because you get to see more of the beautiful landscapes at once). And another set of mods that correct all the dialog in the game and trim some of the nonsensical conversation trees (well, the ones that arn’t “supposed” to be nonsensical).

  25. 28/09/2009 at 19:41 sfury says:

    Best indeed.

  26. 28/09/2009 at 19:45 Klaus says:

    7000 xp! Holy shit!
    I’ve never finished this, I always get bored at the very beginning. And I dislike Morte.

  27. 28/09/2009 at 19:45 Daniel says:

    I too had the experience of seeing it in a bargain bin one day and walking away. I’m still upset about that particular decision.

    Find a way to bring it back!

  28. 28/09/2009 at 19:47 Martin Coxall says:

    What PS:T needs is a Special Edition release. It would consist of PS:T, bug-fixed, with a shiny new UI and packed in with a version of the Hi-res mod.

    Replaying PS:T in 1900×1200 was one of the simple joys of my existence, but the UI needs to be redone to work just as well at the same resolution.

  29. 28/09/2009 at 19:48 spinks says:

    I still have my old copy, in its box. <3

  30. 28/09/2009 at 19:52 ilves says:

    Yea, the awesomeness:damage ratio of that spell was really high. 64 is really not that much. Planescape is game that requires patience early on until it gets good. The mortuary and the first few hours are a little draggy, but it gets better.

  31. 28/09/2009 at 19:53 ilves says:

    also, for some reason I can’t get the widescreen mods to work on my XP system for any of the games (PS:T, Baldurs 1 or 2). very annoying

  32. 28/09/2009 at 19:53 Vinraith says:

    I sold mine for VERY good money last year, figuring that it would show up on the direct download services soon and crash the market. My timing wasn’t perfect, but it sounds like it may have been good enough. I didn’t much care for it as a game, but it worked out to be a halfway decent investment.

    • 28/09/2009 at 20:26 Subject 706 says:

      “I didn’t much care for it as a game”

      BURN THE HERETIC!

    • 28/09/2009 at 20:43 Vinraith says:

      And that, right there, is why I consider Planescape: Torment the single most overrated game in the history of the medium.

    • 28/09/2009 at 20:58 Voice of the Majority says:

      You can’t squeeze the cold bits to your chest when they pry it from your cold dead fingers. On the other hand, I have the box, which is an entirely different story.

    • 28/09/2009 at 20:58 Caleb says:

      “Vinraith says:
      September 28, 2009 at 8:43 pm

      And that, right there, is why I consider Planescape: Torment the single most overrated game in the history of the medium.”

      MAIM! KILL! BURN!
      MAIM! KILL! BURN!

    • 28/09/2009 at 23:28 Wooly says:

      Obviously, you sir, have not heard of “Final Fantasy 7″ if you are calling PST the most overrated game ever.

    • 28/09/2009 at 23:56 Spoon says:

      I love the game to death. This and the two first Fallouts always find their way on any laptop I own. That said, I agree with Vinraith on it being way overrated. It seems like as more and more RPGs have gone cross platform, the die hards and the codex trolls put this game on a higher and higher pedestal.

    • 29/09/2009 at 00:08 Vinraith says:

      @Wooly

      You may be right. I recoil reflexively from JRPG’s, so I don’t consider myself objectively capable of assessing their quality. Planescape, on the other hand, is very much of a genre I enjoy, I just didn’t think it was very good. It’s got brilliant environment design and I’m told the plot is marvelous, but the mechanics and gameplay just didn’t work for me at all, and neither did the characters (at least those you start with). I’ve tried over a dozen times to play through the thing, but I always sputtered out after a few hours. It’s a matter of taste, obviously, but the near universal praise still trips a “WTF is with you people?” kind of reflex in my head to this day.

  33. 28/09/2009 at 19:57 Axiin says:

    I have a copy, I’ve kept all my old PC games, even ones I know I’ll never play again.

    For example: 7th guest, It was the first PC game I owned, spooky as hell for a 12 year old. I never beat it but man I STILL hear that music in my head at times!
    Rebel Assault, Indiana Jones and the fate of Atlantis, Battlechess etc. you get the idea.

    Of course I had to keep planescape!

    The funny thing is when I first picked it up, I never really got all that into it. I was really confused by it. I picked it up again like two or three years ago and finally understood why there was all this love about it.

  34. 28/09/2009 at 20:08 Rei Onryou says:

    I bought mine last year/earlier this year from eBay for very extortionate (but well worth it) amounts. Around £30-35. But its old-school-cardboard-boxed-mint-conditioned-awesomesauce. Still only played the first section, but its a good first section. I’ve only got it on my EEE atm for travel playing, but haven’t done any travelling.

    At least I own it. And yes, I’d buy it again on Steam/GoG if reasonably priced.

  35. 28/09/2009 at 20:10 skyturnedred says:

    I have the box. I have the manual. I don’t have the cds.

    My own fault, I borrowed it to my cousin about 6-7 years ago, never saw it again. And I never got to finish the game either, so I would buy it from GoG asap.

  36. 28/09/2009 at 20:10 CJohnson03 says:

    This game works fantastically on XP, with all the patches and upgrades and mods installed. Running it right now at 1280×1024, looks pretty decent actually. Looks way better than a game from 1999 has any right to look.

  37. 28/09/2009 at 20:12 Mesmertron says:

    If no one knows who owns the rights anymore, then I hereby declare that I own them and I challenge Atari, Interplay, or any other ‘interested parties’ to prove otherwise.

  38. 28/09/2009 at 20:15 negativedge says:

    I have this game but I haven’t played it because it sucks

    die planescape

  39. 28/09/2009 at 20:21 JamesOf83 says:

    Love Planescape Torment. Easily in my Top 5 games of all time. Yet oddly, I’ve only ever played it once. I loved that I could shun most of the combat and use lovely, well crafted, witty words to win the day.

  40. 28/09/2009 at 20:23 Horatius says:

    Planescape has held a #2 position on the GOG ‘Wishlist’ for a looooooong time now, just behind System Shock 2.

    http://www.gog.com/en/wanted/

  41. 28/09/2009 at 20:32 Heliocentric says:

    I first got Planescape in a pound shop in a double pack with some awful interplay 3d but isometric rpg.

    I also got messiah+sac together and kabuto+evolva, £3 well spent.

    • 28/09/2009 at 20:55 Earl_of_Josh says:

      Actually, I bought the original game probably a year after it had been released (boxed copy, had the box for forever, until the moving life of a student made it disappear. Along with a bunch of my socks.)

      But anyway, I raved about the game so much to my friend he made me lend it to him. However, by the time he finished playing it, the disks were too scratched to play anymore. He felt so bad that he bought me the same double pack thing I think you got (which I still have and is in working condition!) I think the other game it was bundled with was Spellforce? Whatever it was, it stood no chance. Why would I play Spellforce when I could play PS:T which was RIGHT THERE??

  42. 28/09/2009 at 20:38 Caleb says:

    I have one too and i’m not going to let it leave my domain. EVER.

    And besides, if it’s Bethesda, i’d cheer. They actually have some brains and some love for this stuff, and let Horse Armor DLC bygones be bygones. I’d rather fear Electronic Arts getting their sweaty greedy paws on it.

    Now that I think of it, I want Torment remade with the Oblivion engine.
    Sweetness.
    And awesomeness.

  43. 28/09/2009 at 20:46 James G says:

    I have a boxed copy, brought on eBay a couple of years back for £15.30. I was quite fortunate in that about six copies went up for sale at once, so it was a lot cheaper than it usually is.

  44. 28/09/2009 at 20:57 dancingcrab says:

    I bought it back in the day, when I used to buy games from actual high street shops as a teen in the late nineties. Still got it, although right now it’s with my entire collection on a boat somewhere, as I’ve just moved from the UK to the USA. Thinking about it makes me sweat about the thought of it sinking or being dropped or something. That container also have System Shock and SS2 in it, as well as all the Ultimas (well, U1-6 Series, UW1/2 Compilation, Savage Empire and Martian Dreams, Ultima 7/Serpent Isle, Ultima 8, Ultima 9, and that rubbish Ultima Collection boxset), plus every other Black Isle game (I love the original Falout manuals).

    Torment is amazing. I would probably buy it again on GOG as a transferable back up of the optical media, but I don’t think I’d bother with Steam or D2D.

  45. 28/09/2009 at 21:02 jsutcliffe says:

    I never finished Torment — I got stuck in an area with too few healing materials to survive and no way to exit to a safer area to collect my thoughts. Naturally, I’d managed to fail to make a save point before I’d gone into that location, too.

    I tried it again a few years ago but couldn’t get back into it again. If I can find my copy (or a new one) I might try it again — I didn’t know there were mods to let you play it at a higher resolution.

  46. 28/09/2009 at 21:08 Miker says:

    I didn’t start PC gaming until after the golden age of D&D RPGs, so I’m eagerly awaiting a digital distribution release of some old Bioware and Black Isle games.

  47. 28/09/2009 at 21:12 Vandelay says:

    Well, I think I’ve already told GOG that I want Planescape: Torment, along with some others, such as System Shock 2 (got a copy elsewhere) and Blade Runner.

    If they haven’t got it yet with it being number 2 on the most wished for list, I doubt they ever will get it. I’m sure they aren’t just sitting on the wish list information.

  48. 28/09/2009 at 21:53 Tom says:

    I have it. I keep a completely modded version on my harddrive, no need to install that 4-cd behemoth anymore. Still have to sit down to play it seriously though. And I also bought it second hand for a mere €10.

  49. 28/09/2009 at 22:05 bhlaab says:

    Forget system shock 2, when is GoG going to put out system shock 1?

  50. 28/09/2009 at 22:28 Cosmosium says:

    Planescape Torment, Baldurs Gate 1 & 2, Icewind Dale 1 & 2 were all removed from Gametap this summer due to rights issues. Whoever owns the rights is leaving money on the table. Ptosh.

    -g

  51. 28/09/2009 at 22:29 Carra says:

    I’ve already voted for it on the gog.com wishlist.

    And yes: gog.com, not direct2drive! Cheap prices in actual dollars, not pounds. No DRM, no messing around with serials. Guaranteed to work on my vista 64 bit machine. And with a great community who will be glad to point me out to the best mods for the game. Oh, no bloody restrictions either. I can only imagine d2d putting it up for their US customers only.

    Replaying the game in widescreen, that sure sounds attractive.

    • 29/09/2009 at 15:28 Cooper says:

      The resolution mod for Planescape is great, and it looks amazing on widescreen. Thing is, it doesn’t change the size of the font, and for a game that relies so heavily upon written text, having difficulty reading the text is not good. So you end up having to play low res anyway.

  52. 28/09/2009 at 22:43 Namos says:

    Own it, sits opposite the Baldur’s Gate 2 disks in my disk folder.

    I’ve never actually finished it – obsessive completionism meant I drove myself to read every bit of description text – rather wearying after a while. Also, I developed myself as a mage and found myself in a no rest zone, full of shadows, and my spells exhausted – and I wasn’t very good at managing my saves. I do remember an absurdly long fetch quest, though (Evercold Beer Stein of Styx River Water).

    I highly doubt anyone would want to release such a text heavy title in this day and age. Although if you go over to the evil console realm, there is Atlus…

  53. 28/09/2009 at 22:44 Sunjammer says:

    I love this game. That is all.

  54. 28/09/2009 at 22:53 Aphotique says:

    Ps:T was the first game that ever really made me appreciate the medium that is video gaming. I believe I played it through three times when I bought it and I’ve always had it installed on one machine or another ready to play should I feel the urge since then. It was like playing through a really well written ever evolving novel as with each play through I would notice something I hadn’t noticed before that would cause me to see things in a whole new light.

    A few years after its release, I bought 10 of the cheap bundle copies from a Wal-Mart (the ones with Soulbringer, which was pretty rubbish) and distributed them to my friends. Roughly half of them hated it, and those became my FPS mates, and the other half loved it becoming my RPG mates. I only wish I had bought more copies.

    • 28/09/2009 at 23:48 Lambchops says:

      “Soulbringer, wish was pretty rubbish”

      Glad you said thatl makes me feel less guilty for never actually installing it!

      The only two bad bits in Planescape in my view were Under Sigil; which seemed like a grind fest which I completely ignored (which was why i couldn’t access some of hte mosst powerful spells in the game) and the bloody Mmodron pitl which started out as an amusing parody before quickly becoming the very thing it was parodying.

      The rest of the game was brilliant and was a rare RPG where I felt I could rely on dialogue to solve my issues almost the whole way through and rely on my companions for the brute force.

  55. 28/09/2009 at 22:54 Zanthox says:

    I actually have had a copy for years… and it is perhaps my greatest shame to say I’ve never completed it…

  56. 28/09/2009 at 23:02 CthulhuRlyeh says:

    Wow, great timing! I’ve been playing this for the past week, Just finished Ravel’s Maze.

  57. 28/09/2009 at 23:50 Hmm-Hmm. says:

    Well, I would buy it, anyway. Yes, Baldur’s Gate is the first of that subtype of rpg I own. It probably wasn’t released for the mac, but now I can has windows on my mac.

  58. 29/09/2009 at 00:12 Guto says:

    Best game of all time.

  59. 29/09/2009 at 00:15 AW says:

    Still playing it, had it when it came out, never finished it, read the RPS retrospective on it a year ago, got it back out and made a lot of progress, then went on vacation and that broke the spell.

    I’m going to find GOG wishlist, why doesn’t Steam have a wishlist? Every vendor pushing downloadable content needs one, there’s a ton of games that deserve a vote.

  60. 29/09/2009 at 00:18 drewski says:

    One of the games I’m proudest of owning and loving.

  61. 29/09/2009 at 00:31 Ted says:

    Can’t D2D just ask the people at GameTap? They had it on their service for a while.

  62. 29/09/2009 at 00:34 Archonsod says:

    I still have the original. One thing I loved about it pre-patch was the Nameless One continued to regenerate during those lengthy spell animations. I remember on some of the tougher areas deliberately wasting some of the top quality spells on nondescript beasties purely to let my health top up.

  63. 29/09/2009 at 00:36 AngryInternetman says:

    If I ever die, I want a copy of this game to be buried with me.

  65. 29/09/2009 at 01:01 Oddity says:

    It seems I’m far too dumb to use html tags properly.

  66. 29/09/2009 at 01:06 Blather Blob says:

    According to GameTap, it was owned by Sierra (along with BG and Icewind Dale) for the last several years, but got sold off as part of the great Blizzivision “I don’t see WOW in the title” shedding of games. They don’t say who the new owners are, just that they don’t have a deal with whoever they are.

  67. 29/09/2009 at 01:12 Andrew Wade says:

    I would love a chance to play this game, this legend!

    Come on, there must be a legal option beyond 50$ on ebay!

  68. 29/09/2009 at 01:22 Army of None says:

    I’d pay real money for this, given that when I played it, I, uh… acquired it from… completely legitimate and legal means. *cough*.

    That being said, who would the proceeds go to?

  69. 29/09/2009 at 01:30 autarch says:

    The part of the game where you explore the memory library is one of my favorite moments in video gaming of all time. Truly a classic.

  70. 29/09/2009 at 02:23 JonFitt says:

    I own it. When I last went back to Blighty I remembered to dig it out so I could play it with the hi-res mod.
    Mmmmmm, res.

  71. 29/09/2009 at 02:44 LintMan says:

    Wow, what a coincidence. I just started reading the Planescape Torment online novelization this past week. It’s surprisingly good and I was trying to find a copy of the game, which I have unfortunately never played. Of course, I couldn’t find it anywhere, and this article conveniently explains why. I’d buy it in an instant if it showed up on GoG or Steam.

  72. 29/09/2009 at 03:21 coupsan says:

    I have been waiting so fucking long to buy this game. I never had a chance to play it.

  73. 29/09/2009 at 04:24 bill says:

    If a game exists in total limbo, with the copyright/rights split among so many companies that none of them know who owns it, and it can’t ever be released…. should it still be protected by copyright at all?

    It essentially is abandoned. none of the owners seem to have any interest in it. Most of the people who made it have long since moved on. Maybe it’s worse than abandoned… it’s neglect.

  74. 29/09/2009 at 05:34 Wisq says:

    Surely this should be “who wants to own a re-release of Planescape Torment?” and not “who owns Planescape Torment?” … no?

    As a game re-publisher, I’d certainly be interested in how popular a title once was, but I’d be looking for people’s interest in buying it, not their status in owning it.

    • 29/09/2009 at 06:36 MD says:

      @ Wisq: He meant ‘owns’ as in ‘owns the rights to’. Which isn’t clear until you click the Twitter link, and certainly isn’t clear from reading most of these comments :p

      In other news, thanks to that video I’m now tempted to give P:T another go. Fuck the ‘brilliant writing’ and ‘intellectual depth’, that was hilarious.

  75. 29/09/2009 at 07:20 Daniel says:

    I went to the store in 2000 and saw PS:T sitting beside Icewind Dale on the shelf, not really knowing anything about either (though I’d played and loved BG1). Decided to go for IWD. Worst decision ever.

    • 29/09/2009 at 07:33 Vinraith says:

      IWD had the best soundtrack I’d ever encountered in a game at the time. I enjoyed the hell out of it as a game, as well, but that soundtrack stands out to this day IMO.

  76. 29/09/2009 at 08:57 -Spooky- says:

    @Topic

    Atari hold all licences of (A)D&D yet. – >

  77. 29/09/2009 at 09:05 Tomhet says:

    Oh great, now i have to replay it. Thanks so much RPS!

  78. 29/09/2009 at 10:13 JZ says:

    I bought the game many years ago in a branch of Dixons of all places, and it remains one of my proudest gaming processions. I think I will re-play it at the end of the year to celebrate 10 years of PS:T.

    I am still faithfully waiting for the game’s main writer Chris Avellone to scale similar heights again, though I think current industry trends means Torment’s writiness will remain one-of-a-kind.

  79. 29/09/2009 at 11:19 lumpi says:

    So if nobody claims ownership… doesn’t it go into public domain?

  80. 29/09/2009 at 11:20 Ginger Yellow says:

    One of the best things about PT is that it runs fine on netbooks. I’ve been slowly playing through it on plane and train journeys for the last few months.

  81. 29/09/2009 at 11:52 MD says:

    If there really is any genuine confusion as to who owns the rights:
    1) do something blatantly and publicly copyright-violatory
    2) wait for the inevitable team of rabid lawyers to hunt you down
    3) ‘take me to your leader, rabid lawyers’
    4) buy the rights
    5) ?????? sell the game to thousands upon thousands of customers
    6) profit!

  82. 29/09/2009 at 11:55 Barts says:

    Yay, another Planescape Torment post on RockPaperShotgun. I have actually canabalized the previous three into a lengthy post in which I am raving about the game myself .

  83. 29/09/2009 at 11:56 Luís Magalhães says:

    Not only do I have it, I would buy it again if it was released on GoG.
    Not on Direct 2 Drive, tough. I am weary of having my digital content spread around too many services, makes it harder to keep track of.

  84. 29/09/2009 at 14:11 mattwombat says:

    I kinda missed all the Black Isle games when they first arrived. I went back and purchased Fallout 2 prior to the release of FO3 and loved it.

    Then I heard about Planescape (how do you pronounce that anyway? I’ve always said Plan Escape..) and following a bunch of searches online for it I concluded that only the big box version of it was in circulation. As much as I love those big boxes though I just couldn’t justify spending 30 squid on one to get the game. Digi download would be poifect for this.

  85. 29/09/2009 at 14:15 deanimate says:

    Arrggghhhhh! I really need to play this game. Absolutely LOVED Fallout 2 and keep hearing that I would probably enjoy PT too. Must find the time! :D

  86. 29/09/2009 at 15:26 Lucas says:

    This summer I was trying to figure out who owned the rights to Startopia. It’s only available to download on GameTap, who still list Eidos as the publisher. My interest was in getting it open sourced or acquiring the rights to do so, but I stopped short of contacting Eidos (who are now a part of Square-Enix). I’d still love to see it be updated and get the exposure it deserves.

  87. 29/09/2009 at 18:32 dancingcrab says:

    Anonymous Coward said:
    Then I heard about Planescape (how do you pronounce that anyway? I’ve always said Plan Escape..)

    It's definitely 'Plane-scape', as the Jad above points out. Torment is the game's title proper, however, as Planescape is more like a brand. Like how Baldur's Gate has Forgotten Realms on the box (albeit a lot small than Planescape on Torment's box).

  88. 29/09/2009 at 19:25 FallsFromDRM says:

    I don’t normally encourage piracy, but those of you who haven’t played it and are waiting for it to be “legitimately” released, I would suggest torrenting this right away because it will never satisfy the wait and expectation that you have built up thus ruining the game for you. Just reading all of the comments on every gamig forum about how good the game is will have already set your expectations too high.

    (And if you feel bad, just send a $20 check to Obsidian).

  89. 30/09/2009 at 16:09 Vando says:

    I think the issue lies with the rights to publish the game being held by one party, but the rights to use the D&D license and the rights to the Infinity Engine license are held by others (I think Interplay, Atari and Bioware, respectively). So to sell the game anywhere, Interplay would probably have to pay both Atari and EA for the privilege.

    In short: don’t hold your breath.

  90. 01/10/2009 at 12:28 MacQ says:

    Played it, loved it, but to play it again – no thanks. It was a good story, but less good of a game.
    And as someone already mentioned, it was pretty hard to read all that text. If they record audio for it, i’d love to give it another try. XD

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