1- Length ?
2-Story ?
3-Impressiveness ?
4-is it worth $45 ?
5-how does it compare to Planescape ?

Still too early to say how long the game is, but it's rich, like Planescape: Torment was. If you don't want to read lore and do side quests, it's probably not that huge. It feels like it might be about the size of PS:T, and you could speedrun that game in under an hour.

The story is good so far. It really feels like I'm playing another chapter in the Planescape: Torment story. In fact the game keeps not-so-subtly hinting that it might *be* a prequel to PS:T, even though it's set on our earth a billion years from now. Even very early on, NPCs will recognize you as "Adahn" which should sound familiar to anyone who has played PS:T.

I'm getting my money's worth out of it, and I paid $120 all told for collector's edition plus an additional copy. How much is $45 worth to you? Is the game worth four or five movies in a theater? Yeah. Is it worth groceries for a week if you're hard up for money? No.

It feels like PS:T. It even looks like PS:T from time to time, though much sharper at high resolutions, of course. The feel of being a stranger in a strange land is very present. Being the Last Castoff and knowing that you've been so many places and done so many things? That's really evocative of the PS:T feel of discovery.

It's got the makings of a really good game. But it'll be a while before I finish it and can say if it holds up to the end.

Thank you for the reply.

1. I am not far enough to comment properly on that but it is true that if you do all the side stuff and talk to everyone then it can be a long journey.
2. Story is picking up, again not far along to comment on that properly.
3. Have to admit I was expecting alot more, I dislike the combat system, I was hoping for more itemization and the male portrait looks like a western ladyboy for some reason which kind of ruins the immersion of being a heroic adventurer everytime I look at it. (I am sure it can be replaced somewhere somehow though)
4. Depending on how much you value 45$, there is a very good chance you will get a few hours of fun out of this game, if not many, if you compare it hourwise to what other activities cost then it is an easy calculation.
5. Personally I think the predecessor was heaps better (And yes I do play it from time to time, still a good game).

Also think it's to early to tell.

My first thoughts are:
* great world and lore
* maybe the game is a little out of balance:
- I had Lie at 10% yet I could lie in the first encounter directly, tried that part 6 times, and got 5/6 a succes at 10%.
* worth the 45,- dont know Im an original backer (got it cheaper ;))
* better then planescape, never finished planescape, but it made reinstall it

conclusion same at with pillars (and other modern CRPG). started to play that 2 years after original release and you can tell how it holds up against the favorites of old. ,

I think the game has:

bad and slow combat
generally poor writing
boring side quests, especially for a game set far into the future
uneven visuals
does not keep my interested even though it really tries to
weird for the sake of being weird. oh look another floating machine, how interesting...

Not even close to PST, far from it. Just not a very good game, couldve been better at the hands of more competent developers, because the Numenera setting itself is very good.

1) The game is actually pretty short. It took me about 20 hours to finish, and I did all the sidequests I could find.

2) The story is good imo, but it suffers from the fact that the PC is not nearly as much of a mystery as TNO, and the NPCs aren't as interesting.

3) The setting is impressive, the writing is pretty good, the gameplay has some really interesting and original ideas that unfortunately aren't fully explored, mostly because the game is way too easy.

4) I backed it on KS for about 50$ IIRC, and I don't regret it. Whether other people feel the game is worth it, well it's a matter of opinion. Let me just say that if you didn't like PS: T, you probably won't like this one.

5)The game is pretty close to PS: T in terms of making story more important than combat. In fact, imo, it sticks a bit too close to the original's themes as well as its flaws.

If that was directed at me, I didn't do a speed run. In fact, I've never done a speed run of any game, mostly because I agree with you.

The sad fact is that this game is about as short as Tyranny, but without most of the replay value I found in that game.

Really? I've put in about 20 hours and I've barely explored the first city yet. I keep revisiting old locations to find changes, solve mysteries I couldn't earlier and encounter new NPCs.

15 hours here and still on the first city with a pile of side quests to do.

I've been really enjoying it, at 23 hours i'm guessing i'm about 75% complete. I don't want to look too closely at any guides so i'm not sure exactly how much is left.

The dialog, story and characters are well written in my opinion. But for someone new to the setting I have to admit it's an exhuasting introduction, you're just thrown in, sink or swim. This applies to some game mechanics as well, it doesn't hold your hand. That doesn't mean the game is hard, it's not, it just doesn't explain certain things very well.

While it's not the best looking game out there, i'm very impressed by the attention to detail with the visuals and audio. The characters and environments always look and sound exactly as they're described.

My only major complaints about the game so far are technical, there are some glitches that range from minor to very annoying. However there is nothing game breaking that i've encountered. The combat interface could also use a bit of work. The main issue is it's too easy to do something by mistake.

I very rarely buy games at full price and I don't feel bad at all about the money I spent on Torment.

[EDIT]

The play time for my first playthrough was roughly 35 hours, that was exploring every nook and dialog path I could find. As well as replaying one or two battles that froze due to an annoying bug with the combat AI.

I wish that when it is time to choose new abilities, that it would tell you what statistic they are tied to. Also, if combat abilities, whether they burn action or move. Also, things like area of effect and range are complete mysteries, till you have chosen the ability and use it in combat. There are a lot of places like this that I think could use a little tool tip love.

Other than that, I'm pretty happy. I like the characters, art, and story. (Though I'm currently stuck with a broken quest, and I hate the idea of going back so far that I can try it again fresh. I wish this was a year later and people could tell me what console command to use to complete or reset the quest.)

I guess philosophically, I question the need to trip over numenera every time I walk down the street. True, they are fun and unique to this game. But there's just an awful lot of stuff, that maybe, more realistically, should be kind of rare.

-edit- added a concrete example of what the heck I was talking about, above.

Some abilities could definitely use better descriptions, there's some abilities I didn't take because the descriptions were too vague. But other than exact range it does show most of the basic information.

I attached an example of a tooltip, so anyone without the game can get an idea.

I've also doubled up on skills/abilties because I had no idea another party member would get it when they hit the next tier. But that happens to me the first time I play any party based RPG. :)

[EDIT] I can't remember now if the tooltips are different / less descriptive during the level up phase.

20+ hours, at least. Longer if you really dig into the side quests, which are many, and have many ways to resolve (Arguably too many). The story is interesting and involved, with many twists and turns and revelations. It can sometimes be a bit predictable, but it's still a joy to go through. It's impressive. ...No. It's been so long since I played it, I can't be sure. T:ToN is definately more technically impressive, and it has all the modern gameplay updates one would expect, but relative to era... it's not as good. Planescape: Torment was a true gem of it's age, while Tides of Numenera, quite frankly, gets shown up in almost every regard by Tyranny, a superior game.

Without going into it in to much length, T:ToN's biggest strength and weakness is it's world. The world is massive and highly detailed, which is normally good, but it's so dense that there's just too much going on to focus on. 90% of it's going to get lost in the colossal shuffle that is the story, and that includes companion characterization.

It's second greatest strength (Which, because it's all good, I guess makes it it's actual biggest strength?) is it's resolution chains - Failure can be good, and that includes dying. This helps by reducing save scumming, and keeping the game moving forward, rather then forcing you to try the same thing over and over again until you get the result you like.

Everything else about the game is, at best, mediocre compared to the genre as a whole, or a failure. Overall, I'd say it's a decent game with a lot of holes in it.