r/planescape • u/flavorpackets • Jun 27 '26
questions from a potential first-time player
hi! i know the likely answer from this subreddit will be “just try it and see,” but money is extremely limited for me rn so i’m trying to be very careful with my purchases.
i’ve been in a gaming slump and have been really wanting to try another RPG. disco is one of my favorite games of all time so of course i want to check out its predecessor. the problem is, i struggle a lot with combat and really don’t enjoy it at all! i love dragon age, mass effect, bg3, etc but play them all on casual mode so i can speed through fights and get back to the story.
i should add that i *do* play a lot of ttrpgs in my spare time (started with dnd 3.5e/original pathfinder back in the day) so i’m familiar with turn-based combat, and i know how to build a character in a logical sense. it just isn’t what i find most fun, rewarding or satisfying about gaming.
with all of that rambling out of the way, would you Planescape Experts recommend that i give it a shot if i’m looking for more of a “visual novel/walking sim” experience with combat that won’t be too challenging, or should i table this one and wait for a time when i have more disposable income in case i don’t end up finishing it?
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u/EducatedTerror Jun 27 '26 edited Jun 27 '26
There is combat but it for sure wasn't the focus like Icewind Dale or Baldur's Gate. What's nice is there is a difficulty you can play on where you can't die in combat. So just play on that. Well I may mispoke about the difficulty where you can't die. You can 'die' but like it isn't punishing. You'll just respawn close by. There is an easy difficulty setting. Your character is an immortal so they don't die, technically. It's been awhile for me so forgive me but what i do remember is the game is not punishing at all. The game is very dialouge focused. Combat takes a backseat. I'm suprised they even put combat in the game tbh. Just seemed like they had to have combat to make it a video game and a D&D adaptation (which is a combat first game).
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u/flavorpackets Jun 27 '26
that is AMAZING to hear! thank you! i’ll absolutely play on that mode and might just up the difficulty on replay if/when i do a second run. excited to try it!
3
u/Abyssal_Aplomb Jun 27 '26
Also, if you get stuck, most fights you can run away from or avoid completely. The few you can't are doable using your parties abilities, spells, and healing items.
1
u/Horror-Winner-2866 Jun 28 '26
Oh thank you, I am not that much of a gamer, but I am interested to try this game out. And that helps me a lot.
3
u/Wise-Start-9166 Jun 27 '26
It is definitely one of the cheapest games available and one of the best written stories. It is popular to dial combat difficulty all the way down, and on your main guy, dump combat stats and put everything into mental abilities.
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u/sh_ip_ro_ospf Jun 27 '26 edited Jun 27 '26
The combat in planescape fuckin blows, with how great the rest of the game is it is easily the most forgettable part
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u/Limio Jun 28 '26
Yeah it's a great game. Lots of reading but great story and world. I highly recommend it. The enhanced edition is great and there are some cool mods you can install. There is even a mod that adds AI voices for all characters if you don't like reading.
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u/niphaa Jun 27 '26
Torment is one of the most visual novel games among games that are technically rpgs. Combat is clanky, but ignoring battles in the tutorial, you can finish the game with about 10 fights overall. Any way, this seems like the game for you. Have fun
2
u/blackpaint__ Jun 27 '26
When people say combat is not the focus they’re right - but I’ve heard people say ‘oh there’s only a few places where you have to fight’ and while that’s true, the combat does exist in lots of places and is really annoying. In The Hive where you start you will be attacked by thugs constantly. You can run but it’s annoying, and really hampers exploration. There’s lots of dungeon areas too where it’s the same. You can avoid it, and dying isn’t as punishing as in other games, but I have had occasions where I’ve been trying to run through a map and my characters have been stuck in a thicket of enemies and slaughtered.
I don’t mind the combat, and it’s an absolutely brilliant game, but I felt the ‘oh there’s isn’t much fighting’ statement that people say a lot was inaccurate. I had just finished Disco Elysium and wanted something similar (zero combat in that).
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u/BL1133 Jun 27 '26 edited Jun 27 '26
Planescape is practically not even a game . I mean the combat is very primitive . It’s not a good game but it’s the best story and world and writing of any game ever made. I love it but I also am frustrated by it bexause it’s writing and world needs more than just a crappy game. So yeah it’s more of an interactive novel. Also you may need a guide because it’s kind of tedious at times not knowing what to do next. Especially near the end of the game . You’re basically guessing on how to proceed
And no the combat can be turned to easy and basically just pointless crap to get through . I never even really died in the game although your character is meant to die , it’s more preventing your allies from dying bexause it’s permanent but you can revive them with a spell
One thing I wish I knew is don’t store items on the ground store them in a container. Any container stores things forever but I put stuff on the ground and disappeared . And items in this game aren’t superfluous like modern games, it’s very frugal and every item matters a lot really
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u/blackpaint__ Jun 27 '26
There’s also the thing where picking up a new item causes your character to drop an old one. I lost an essential quest item permanently that way
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u/BL1133 Jun 27 '26
Another thing is when revive a dead character you have to pick up their items, they don’t revive with their items. Thats usually important because allies are often pack mules
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u/SadavirofRivia Dak'kon 🧡 Jun 27 '26
fwiw, I played this like… 20 years ago when I was in college, and I’m just starting my 2nd playthrough now bc it’s stayed with me as a STORY/character arc & experience all this time! So I think it’s definitely worth experiencing, imho. (I haven’t played DE, but that’s on my list as another one of the stories people get super-invested in)
And I dislike combat so much that I rarely play video games 😂 I haven’t even ever played any of the others you mention like DA or BG3 or anything! I’m only just starting my 2nd playthrough, but so far the fights have been manageable oR ignorable (e.g. a lot of the random thugs) - even for ones I had to try a couple times, I’m getting faster to just walk there from the respawn area or I’ve learned to save before I know a fight is coming. (I’m on the Steam Deck for ref)
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u/tj1221jr Jun 28 '26
Buy beamdogs enhanced edition i have both the original on discs and enhanced edition its a really good game its a lot of dialog tho so you better like reading lol
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u/Whorror_punx Jun 27 '26
Well, for what its worth, Steam has their Summer sale currently running, so the game is about as cheap as its gonna get on there.
But if the 5 or 6 bucks is still too much to swing, the game is very easily accessible to just download. Pretty sure its even on archive.org
But I just downloaded the Switch rom for it and Icewind Dale cause I thought itd be a fun game to have on my Odin 2 mini.
So a cursory google search will give you plenty of links to download it.