Question about Planescape: Torment

I don't want any spoilers because I just got out of the Mortuary but

How many different endings are there?

Does the game get so difficult that you have to maximize every opportunity for xp or start over?

Why can't I find the skeleton or zombie with number 42 on it and if you kill it does it mean you can't get whatever it is you buried inside?

Its weird I can't run this game on my XP desktop but it works fine on my laptop with Vista...go figure.

There are 3 separate endings and a number of different ways to achieve each one. The game is relatively easy from a combat standpoint, so maximizing everything isn't an issue, especially since you gain stat points when you level up and there are many opportunities to receive stat increases through the course of the game. I recommend pumping up your wisdom score whenever possible as it will open up more interesting dialogue, memories, bonuses, and strongly influence party members and the endgame.

The game never actually gets impossible for one major reason: You're immortal. You can just keep dieing and dieing over and over with no real penalty. It does get harder, but its nothing to worry about.

Thats for a small side quest. I wouldnt get hung up over it. Its very minor in the grand scheme. But generally, stuff about finding objects or intuiton tends to rely on having either a high wisdom or a high intelligence.

Not surprising. Vista, i find, tends to have better compatibility with older stuff than XP did. Running XP on a dual-core isnt the most pleasant thing.

If theres one hint i can give you is to not underestimate Wisdom. Next time i play i'll probably put every possible point i can into it. Its just so awesome for this game.

There are Three endings to Planescape Torment......without spoiling it, only One ending is considered the "Satisfactory" or "Good" ending, because your companions live and you get to have a final chat with them before going on to your fate......and the only way to get this ending is with a high Wisdom and Intelligence.

In fact, when you started the game with your character sheet....did you max out Wisdom....if not, I recommend starting over and putting as many points as the game will let you into Wisdom....in other words, you should have started the game with a Wisdom of 18....believe me, it'll make the rest of the game a LOT better.

My advice, Wisdom is the most important stat....I can't stress this enough. Always wear Tatoos that boost Wisdom, in fact, the Tatoos that boosts Wisdom is the ones you should first buy. Stay away from Tatoos and items that lower Wisdom.

25 is the highest any stat will go.

Planescape Torment isn't like you're typical RPG.....it's not an RPG about combat, it's an RPG about character, mainly discovering your identity. In fact, it's far easier to take out some of the strongest bosses / opponents in the game with Words and Wisdom then it is with weapons, and you get more by using words and wisdom.

Like I said....the point of Planescape is to find your identity.....so think about the stats that would most help you achieve that goal, which are again, Wisdom, Intelligence, and Charisma.

The two most important stats in Torment are Wisdom and Intelligence.....these open up the most dialogue, get you back the most memories, and can even be responsible for getting the best items in the game. As I said, I can't stress enough how important having a high Wisdom is to getting the most out of the game. Charisma is important, but later in the game you'll be able to find a spell that temporarily boosts your charisma a great deal, even better, it's stackable, meaning if you cast it twice it give you twice the boost, so dont stress too much about putting points into Charisma when you level up, since you'll be getting a spell later that helps charisma. Like I said, the stat you should be most concerned with is Wisdom.

My second peice of advice....become at least a level 12 Mage, you'll get the most out of the game this way then with the other two classes. Not surprising since like I said, Wisdom is the most important aspect of the game and Mage most ties into Wisdom. Besides, you'll have anywhere between two to three very awesome fighters in your party.

And make sure you're a Mage the first time you hit level 7 and level 12....the reason is you can only get class bonuses the first time you hit level 12.....and Mage is the best one to get since you get Wisdom and Intelligence bonuses.

In other words, if you are a Fighter, hit level 7, get the fighter bonuses, and then switch to mage and level to level 7....you won't get the Mage bonuses since you only get the bonuses for the first class you hit level 7 and 12 in.

I hope you spoke with Deinorra before you left the mortuary.

So once again...Wisdom is everything in this game.

PS - Turning down 3D hardware excelleration in Windows XP really helps Planecapes Performance.

If you need a guide to Planescape....I recommend these two, there are literally the best on the web for Planescape:

http://www.gamebanshee.com/planescapetorment/walkthrough.php

http://www.gamefaqs.com/computer/doswin/file/187975/7964

There are three endings to the game (not including outright failures - killing important NPCs or otherwise getting yourself perma-killed).
Also, there are nine ways to handle the final encounter, so you're not necessarily forced to finish the game in a certain way.

One ending is far better than the others, though, although telling you how to get it would spoil things. Experiment. :P

Does the game get so difficult that you have to maximize every opportunity for xp or start over?

No. It can get difficult later on, but there are only a few battles that you're forced to fight in.
Having said that, you really should attempt to do every quest and maximise both your xp, stats and knowledge.

Why can't I find the skeleton or zombie with number 42 on it and if you kill it does it mean you can't get whatever it is you buried inside?

I think that that's the skeleton on the upstairs floor, just south of the central 'well'-thing.

Its weird I can't run this game on my XP desktop but it works fine on my laptop with Vista...go figure.

Thanks for all the great responses. I feel more confident in just kind of going with the flow in the game. When it's something like this with a bunch of choices I start to freak out about every decision I make.

Oh yeah it wasn't XP my dvd-drive won't read anything. It will write but it won't read. No idea what happened with that. But I know when I played Baldur's Gate on this system with XP it ran everythingsuper fast and would give me weird memory errors. I haven't had anything like that yet on my Vista laptop.