My playthrough

[Tawmis]

And I just finished. Very enjoyable. It has a cute charm to it. There's been a bit of discussion about the humor and there are times when I don't think everything works, it still was well done. It wasn't "funny" so much as "amusing". The ending felt a bit rushed. I was expecting a little more of a confrontation. It's a pretty interesting and original world that I would have liked to get a little more background on, like why the "worlds" are now separated and how they functioned before. Perhaps that would have been explored in future games.

I had always hoped that there would be more to Torin's Passage in terms of sequels to go deeper into the world(s).

In Asthenia (the lava world), Torin mentions stuff about forts and military equipment, but I'm not sure how he concluded any of that from what he was seeing.

I'd need to replay it to see if I remember this reference/what it possibly means.

I'll give this another playthrough. Since the narrative was non-linear, I'd like to give it another viewing now that I have the whole story.

Glad you enjoyed it, good sir.

[notbobsmith]

Just finished my second playthrough. Again, very enjoyable. One thing I may not have mentioned before is the cel-based animation is really well done and gives the game a lot of its character. I kind of liked Boogle too.

I did, however, become more aware of some plot issues. I'm not sure what Pecand's gameplan is. He has Lysentia kidnap Torin's parents and then sends Torin to The Lands Below after her. But to what end? Why not just kill him since that is his final goal? The subterfuge didn't seem to accomplish anything. Also, if Lysentia is powerful enough to have her magic affect The Lands Above, it seems that she should be able to exact some sort of revenge without anyone's help or needing to return there. Like kidnapping Kurzweil.

Also, how did Leenah manage to leave Escarpa?

[adeyke]

That whole main plot doesn't make sense to me.

Apparently, Pecand is sending Torin to his doom because if he murdered Torin in the Lands Above, this would be recognized and he then wouldn't be able to take the throne as he wants. If Torin just dies accidentally on his quest, though, he will inherit it.

The problem with this is that he apparently was willing to outright kill the royal family at the start. He wasn't exactly subtle about it, either. So there's a definite mismatch there.

Also, the design notes say this of Kurtzwell: "Completely honest, good, self-effacing, noble, aristocratic, above petty politics, he is the strongest character in the story." However, his main action is giving a monstrously cruel punishment to the innocent Lycentia. If they intended to show him as a good person, they didn't succeed.

Also, there's one thing that bothers me generally: The city guard.

When Torin tries to go to the town, something he apparently does often as just another of his boring chores, the guard refuses to open the gate. Not for any reason (i.e. there's no mention of there being a lockdown because an attack of dark magic was detected or anything). Just plain refusing. Now, it's clear that the reason for this is just that the game doesn't take place in the city, but that they didn't even attempt a plausible in-universe explanation for this is bizarre.

Side note to Tawmis:
I was trying to download the script for Torin's Passage from LarryLaffer.net, but it turns out that the supposed PDF is actually just an HTML file for a "Your file download should start immediately." page. Specifically, I noticed this issue with a copy I'd downloaded a year ago but had never looked at, and I just now confirmed that it's the case for the file currently on the server.

[Tawmis]

Side note to Tawmis:
I was trying to download the script for Torin's Passage from LarryLaffer.net, but it turns out that the supposed PDF is actually just an HTML file for a "Your file download should start immediately." page. Specifically, I noticed this issue with a copy I'd downloaded a year ago but had never looked at, and I just now confirmed that it's the case for the file currently on the server.

Thank you! Looks like something corrupted the file. And the copy I have is the same, locally. I will see about getting it from BBP, who originally provided it to me.

[adeyke]

It's not that the file is corrupted. You just seem to have done a "save page as..." instead of "save link as..." back when you tried to download it.

[Tawmis]

It's not that the file is corrupted. You just seem to have done a "save page as..." instead of "save link as..." back when you tried to download it.

BBP got me the PDF; and I verified I got the right one this time - not the html file.

Thanks for spotting that! Now fixed!