"Every electronic world I saved as a kid was a reminder that my own was still broken", beautifully observed and written Noah!

I spent nearly two years of my life designing for Torment Tides of Numenera.
Your interpretation of the final work is deeply reflective of what it was like to make it, cluttered, conflicted, but in its own obtuse way, beautiful.
Thank you for taking the time to experience it.

This is one I wish Noah would remake; not because it's bad, but because he's developed so much since, and this is material that clearly matters to him.

I was talking to a friend who had worked with one of the designers of the original Planescape setting. My favorite anecdote is that when asked why there are so many settings, the designer responded "We were told to make a setting that would appeal to Vampire: The Masquerade fans."

When your "weakest character arc" belongs to "a part-demon princess to a kingdom of trash at the center of the universe," that's still some friggin unique writing!

Honestly, Fin the Linguist's forgiveness made me really tear up. It's a moving act to forgive someone in such a way, you rarely see something like that in most media. That raw moment of forgiveness, the willingness to let things go.

My favourite ending is where you WILL YOURSELF OUT OF EXISTENCE USING NOTHING BUT THE POWER OF YOUR CONCENTRATED WILL. I literally just stood there in awe, staring at the screen for a while.

[Truth] On a very personal level I appreciate this essay more than you can imagine. Thank you.

[starts video] "Oh yay that sounds like Noah’s new mic"
[hears the airplane in the background] "Oh no that sounds like Noah’s new mic"

I remember hanging out in the sensorium for hours just to listen to the stories.
Thats what makes this game unique; combat, equipment and spoils are all secondary.
I became ridiculously emotionally invested.

"What can change the nature of a man?"
This game.

I'm the fourth kind of Torment fan: Disco Elysium made me play Planescape for the first time.

Regarding Annah 38:38

Annah's torment isn't her love for the Nameless One. She's tormented by her inability to form healthy relationships because of a poor upbringing by an abusive step-father that raised her to be a worker. As a result she constantly puts herself in emotionally abusive situations driven by an eternal loneliness.  As a result Annah has no one, so she's clinging to people she shouldn't while simultaneously lashing out as a defense mechanism. (See the strange dichotomy of Annah working with the collectors and dustmen, but acting so passionate)

I think Annah's torment is most commonly misunderstood because people don't dwell on it beyond the surface, and emotionally abusive relationships, even those among yourself, aren't so obvious. It's easy to write off Annah's love for the Nameless One as a convenience or a trope, but it's another thing to ask 'why' and realize that there's perhaps a lot more subtlety to Annah's character than the mere dialogue can suggest.

I think one of the biggest points is Pharrod's death, he doesn't need to die because you can literally never go back and see him again. Yet he does need to die functionally for Annah's development as a character because it leads to this strange situation were Annah decides to stay with you. There's no good reason for her to stay with you, but it's heavily indicative that you're the only thing she has left- a stranger that she met a few days ago and she can't help but cling to that because she's scared of being alone. She'll take anything she can get.

I can't quite put it into words just how much depth there can be to Annah's character, because it's depth can be as deep as your thoughts at any given time, and I don't think I quite did her character and arc justice, but I hope I shed a little light on why Annah is one of my favourite characters in the game and I'm disappointed that people write her off as the 'weakest' written companion because they simply haven't thought about the implications of the character. In Planescape: Torment, even one of the most undeveloped and unwritten characters has this much complexity behind them. It really is an S-tier RPG.

Written by Twisted Scarlett on /watch?v=xJnFHKU3FEA

I very much agree.

Your 'rule of three' comment at the end was prophetic considering Disco Elysium was just around the corner.

I was so proud when I discovered Nordom and Vhailor. And Dakkon did not stand out compared to the other patrons in the bar either until you get to know him. The amount of things to miss showed the courage of Black Isle Studios.

The fundamental question that is meant to be at the heart of Torment: Tides of Numenera is "What does one life matter?"

It was interesting in the video seeing some of the early quests and realising that is at the heart of them:
The robot who you help have children at the cost of its own life
The father trying to save his daughter dooming countless girls to slowly turn into her
The slaver using a child to help control her own tidal surges
The martial artist seeking a contest that in its ideal state will end in death.

Also, much like Planescape: Torment seems to have expected you to play a mage, I can't help but feel that Torment: Tides of Numenera intended you to play a Nano with Scan Thoughts.

So much information and context becomes clear when you also get the unspoken thoughts from the NPCs. If you have Scan Thoughts Erritis's inner conflict is apparent, though still mysterious from the very first interaction with him.

Finally, there are other NPCs that explain the effects Castoff and castoff forms have on the tides, your very existence damages the relationships and the people around you, even if you make no deliberate use of the tides to assist you your continued life requires them. The Sorrow was one of the most persuasive antagonists I have encountered in a game.

Years later and this is still one of the best breakdowns of this game I've seen.

"perhaps there will be a 3rd game to unify the styles"

disco Elysium has entered the chat.

49:00-55:00 around there is the best explanation I've ever heard of I'm guessing many people's childhood far more than we'll ever know.

I also wish that there was a bit more to Annah's arc than what we get, but . . . my god, her death is the saddest one in the entire game. It's even worse if your relationship with Annah mirrors that of Deionarra and the Practical Incarnation. That is to say, if you didn't particularly like Annah, but brought her with to make use of her skills.

I had to go through a whole box of tissues my first time through the game. And the second, and the third, and the fourth. I don't think I can ever make it through the end of the game with a dry eye.