Torment: Tides of Numenera - Interview @ UGE

A small site by the name of Urban Gaming Elite had the chance to interview inXile Entertainment about their latest  RPG game Torment: Tides of Numenera.

What are some of the challenges of adapting a tabletop RPG setting?

Adam Heine: The biggest challenge is that we don't have a GM. More than most RPGs, Numenera encourages players to come up with creative solutions and the GM to come up with creative responses to those solutions. TTON has to anticipate what players will want to try and handle it in interesting and satisfying ways.

It's a daunting task, but it is in many ways uniquely suited for a Torment game. When the player comes across a lock, it won't be just a lock you can pick, but maybe a riddle you must solve using clues gained through Lore: Civilizations, Visual Perception, or even items you've picked up in your travels.

Numenera's play style encourages us to create unique, scripted interactions like this, instead of dropping locks and traps everywhere that differ only in their difficulty level. It is most certainly a challenge, but it should make for a more interesting game across the board.

In a nutshell, how will the gameplay of Tides of Numenera differ from Planescape?

Adam: The most obvious difference will be combat—not only because TTON's combat will be turn-based, but because combat will almost never be just combat. Even the most battle-focused Crisis in Torment might have opportunities to talk to NPCs (e.g. to command allies, sway enemies to your side, to draw out secrets that can aid you in the Crisis, etc.) and to interact with the environment. Crises will be few in number, but that enables us to be more focused, making each one interesting and challenging in its own way.

As I alluded to before, exploration gameplay won't have all the locks, traps, and dungeon crawls of the Infinity Engine games. But there will still be plenty of corners to explore and secrets to find. And dialogue, of course, is taking everything from Planescape: Torment—all the depth and choices and riddles of the original. We're adding a couple of minor elements to the gameplay here and there (for example, Numenera's concept of Effort), but this is the part of the game will feel the most like TTON's predecessor