These questions are for an article I'm willing about classic titles people still play.

Why do you still play Planescape: Torment, despite the evolution in technology and RPGs since the game came out? What's the thing that keeps bringing you back for another game?

And what's your favorite or most important memory about the game?

I wouldn't say "still" since I've played it only once (But will certianlly play it again), but I will for the world.
The world is so alive and unique, unlike ANYTHING I've ever played, watched, or played. I'm not usually interseted in fantasy worlds, they are all pretty much European, LOTR-ish , swords, knights , and dragons worlds.

Planescape is diffrent, bizzare, full of mystery and wonder....

PS:T isn't really a game you keep coming back to like most adventure games. Once it's done, it's done until you feel like cracking it open another year or two down the road so asking "why people still play this game" probably isn't the best way to phrase it. However, the game is great while it lasts.

As for the most memorable part in the game for me, too many to name considering all the weird stuff you see here but if I had to pick one, it would be when Ravel asks "What can change the nature of a man?" When I stopped playing for the night, I kept asking myself that question over and over.


Off topic note: I just had a flash of deja vu while typing this post :S

I actually do keep coming back to it every 6 months to a year or so. Much how Silent Hill 2 is the game that Yahtzee keeps playing every so often to remind himself that gaming is still worth defending, Planescape is the game that I replay to remind myself of many things. Firstly, it reminds me that games can be works of art without abandoning any traditional semblance of gameplay, something that I thinkg The Chinese Room and several other developers seem to have forgotten. Secondly, it reminds me that RPGs are capable of telling their stories without being driven primarily by violence; maybe its just me getting old, but the way RPGs are usually so keen on having the primary problem to be solved be violent in nature without any thought for the lives the player is snuffing out is starting to skeeve me out a little. Thirdly, it serves as one of my more clear examples of a rebuttal to Roger Ebert's nonsense about games as art; granted, this isn't the only game to share the distinction of being comparable to great dramatists and all that, but I'll stop mentioning that as one of its merits when my folder containing shortcuts for clear examples of games as art requires a second set of hands or more to count on.

Right now, my most recent LP has been inspired partly by a desire to see if the mods are worth any attention; thus far, while I appreciate the bug fixes, the various assorted quests that have been added in do nothing for me, but I hear that one restored main plotline might actually be worthy of notice. Mostly, however, I've felt the urge to revisit it in light of the whole gamergate debacle. Given that the movement now seems to have taken the tact that games should just be evaluated as toys and not as works of art, I felt like going through my catalog of clear examples of games as art (again, not an extensive catalog, so time isn't too much of a concern) to highlight just how ridiculous that notion is. Then, if I still feel like tempting fate, I might go ahead and do a write-up or video discussing each one in turn.

As for the rest of OP's questions, RPGs might have evolved on a technology level, but technology changing doesn't necessarily, in my experience, mean that the technology will be used to tell better stories. The same goes for how RPGs in general have 'evolved'. While their mechanics and presentation methods have changed, few games, especially RPGs, have managed to deliver a story that is as full of nuance, emotional resonance, and deeper meaning than PST. I keep hearing good things about NWN2: MotB, but not much else; usually if anyone brings up the newest great RPG, it turns out to either be something decent on its own merits without aspiring to be anything more than a relatively standard entry into the genre with a possible character focus, or it turns out that the game's story is so appalling and offensive in its writing or storytelling that I can't bring myself to finish it. Nothing wrong with the former, obviously, but those types of games just don't make me stop and think about my life the way PST does (and that's a game I keep getting more out of the more I play it). That said, I really hope that more thought provoking RPGs come along; it's all very good and well to keep getting additional insights from one game over and over again, but I can't help but feel that it would be preferable to experience mutliple thought provoking experiences designed by people from different backgrounds and approaching ideas from different angles so as to avoid mental stagnation.

As for my most important memory... well, since it would probably be cheating to say "everything", I'd have to say the end. From having to bid goodbye to the people who had traveled with me and trying to resist the urge to tear up as I reflected on the ways I had impacted their lives (both good and ill), to the final suggestions of what can change the nature of a man, to... well, you get the idea. I would go on, but I fear I have gushed enough for now.

There is one other thing that comes to mind, now that I think of it. The instructor addicted to the Sensory Stones hits a bit close to home with the way it could be interpreted as a criticism of overindulging in escapist fiction, particularly videogames. She samples the stones endlessly, gorging herself on new experiences, never once considering that they might not be intended as a substitute for living life, but to gain insight into the life one is trying to live. It rings particularly true with games, which still seem to revolve primarily around power fantasy or general escapism.

WARNING MIGHT CONTAIN MILD SPOILERS

Definetily for the extraordinarily brilliant story telling.
The mysteries around TNO unravel at an exactly perfect speed, not so quick that it feels hasted and shoved down your throat and also not so slow that you lose interest.
There are so many secret connections between characters that it defies all laws of probability, but each and every one is introduced in a way that feels legit. In general, the whole world (especially also the story line) shows a high grade of consistency, all seems to fit, I do not know how else to describe it. Concerning the story, maybe it's something like you do not come across something that makes you think 'what the f*** was that now, that was unnecessary'.
The characters and their development and relation to TNO are believable and sympathetic.
Last but not least, the sound track, done by Mark Morgan, that plays a significant role in transporting the whole feeling of the experience. Without this sound track, the game would only be half as good.