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Story, characters and setting. These three things are done so well that it makes up for the lack of combat, character advancement and outdated interface.

It is:) trust me, keep on playing, the ending is the best part of the game.

You forgot about the Mods by ghostdog and his friends at www.spellholdstudios.com

Good story, characters, setting, and writing. Lousy interface, boring combat. Whether the one does or does not make up for the other is going to be a matter of personal taste.

Mostly it's the unique take on fantasy that makes it so great. In my opinion Planescape is one of the best RPG worlds, second only to Morrowind.

It's true that it starts off kind of slow, as far as the Hive is concerned, and I guess this section is the pet peeve of most people who have something to complain about Torment, also because there's a lot of fetch quests and you don't really have clear directions on what to do and what it's all about yet.

Personally though I think that of all RPGs I've played Torment is among the few ones who actually have an interesting beginning and a gripping story and setting that motivated me enough to go on and see past all eventual flaws in the gameplay. I think I didn't even notice them until a friend complained about them, that's how fascinated I was with the plot and the storytelling, whereas most other RPGs are more about gameplay but essentially bore me with their run-of-the-mill stories and storytelling. The beauty in the game is discovering the universe it's set in and the story behind your character. And yeah, the atmosphere and the fantastic soundtrack had a part in it, too. And a lot of people seem to think that the game gets better after the Hive part (I can't judge that myself because I liked it from start to finish).

I have to say that Dak'kon's voice acting has given me a whole new appreciation for Assistant Director Skinner... who was pretty awesome in the first place. He's probably the most intriguing character apart from TNO himself, but my *favorite* is probably Nordom. He just cracks me up, though it's probably not quite as funny if you aren't familiar with the Planescape setting. Modron "society" isn't terribly well explained in-game, but that can be forgiven because the setting is so large and the game only focuses on a pretty narrow selection of it.

Good writing and a unique setting. That's pretty much it, the gameplay is terrible. Despite being big on stories in games I find it hard to play as well.

+1 for amazing setting and writing
-1 for the godawful engine.

I still haven't further than a few hours into any of the Bioware RPGs, simply because I despise the Infinity engine.

Why?

In my opinion, there's nothing better than IE in the video games history.

Personal preference, I guess. I think that it feels very clunky and looks plain ugly.
The interface and accessibility is also a nightmare (hated it in BG2 as well).
And while not tied to the engine, I detest the DnD rule set.

I'm sure it's someone else's cup of tea, but certainly not mine.

I played Morrowind a few hours, years ago, and I thought it was boring as hell. Then I played Oblivion, almost until the end, and I was bored out of my mind. Didn't even fight the final boss as I didn't care.

Actually I am seeing a little bit of PT 's ending on youtube and I am quite struck by how philosophical and intelligent is the story. Morrowind has no story as far as I know.

*****************SPOILER'S ALERT, IF YOU ARE PLAYING PLANESCAPE TORMENT, DO NOT KEEP READING UNLESS YOU WANT TO 'RUIN' THE GAMEPLAY**********

just saw a bit of the part where the 'immortal spirit part' of the Nameless One is negotiating with the Nameless One. Even though I did not meet the characters that died, I was struck about the fact that they died to help the Nameless One.

Then I stopped watching. Maybe I'll play it, but how many hours does it take to get to the end? gotta decide :)

If you're not finding yourself drawn into the game at this point, it might be a good idea to put it aside for now and try it again sometime in the future.

I find that whether I'm able to get into a game often depends as much on timing and my own mood as it does on the game itself. There have been many games that initially didn't hold my interest, but later earned a place among my favorites when I came back to them at the right time.

A personal example would be the original Fallout. I missed the game when it was released and tried, unsuccessfully, several times over the years to play it. Then, maybe a year or so ago, I got the urge to try again and it just clicked. I finally saw what people had been raving about, and loved it.

Sometimes, all it takes is experiencing the game at the right time, or with the right attitude. Of course, it's possible that Torment may just not be the game for you and that won't happen, but I find that trying to force myself to play something I'm just not into for whatever reason just doesn't work.

yeah I agree, it is very difficult to find an RPG with a really good story. The soundrack in PT is great. I myself am a musician and am really happy to have gotten the soundtrack as part of the package in GOG. Very memorable themes, great music really