Penultima... its very name speaks of the mundane, the ordinary, the half-hearted. And for the longest time, that held true; even the bold and mighty adventurers of this valley kingdom would be spotted more often than not drinking coffee and arguing about business contracts. But as YOU have discovered, more lurks underneath the surface of this country than meets the eye... and just as you debunked legends and tangled with gods in recent weeks, so shall you again... in Penultima ReRolled. (This is the starting point for ReRolled. It is expected that you completed the first Penultima campaign, from a plot perspective -- however, you can take a fresh character into this version of the city without problems.) [Major update v1.4; NWN 1.30 compliant]
A question: Does anyone miss anything for not playing the earlier Penultima form same author? I already played this excellent series, and will re-download the 5 ReRolled... just wondering if the other series is asnything close to the style of this one.
Posted by Kate at 2005-02-2510:07:00
Just when I thought user-created NWN modules were all so short and sad that it was time to stash the CDs deep in some dusty box in my closet, I found Penultima. I loved them more than the official campaigns. I loved them more than Dreamcatcher or Shadowlords or any of those "serious" story-driven modules. In fact, I loved them so much that a year or two later I felt compelled to write and tell you that if you and the annoying child next door were stuck in a burning building, I'd save you. I cannot rate this series highly enough.
Posted by somniac1 at 2004-12-0814:36:00
One more vote in favour:- Penultima is fun, fun, fun and of that style it's the best I've played so far.
Posted by MikeLM9215 at on10/03/04
The least fun module of the second series. Died many many times. _________________________ The road to Ravenloft is paved with good intentions.
Posted by Brandiles at on09/30/04
This first in the series was a vast improvement over Penultima. Unlike P5, PR1 reverts back to a standard linear dungeon crawl. But there's a lot going on, a lot of optional areas and quests, and the humor element is back!! The first thing that I want to highlight is the use of henchmen. There were a few instances in the original penultima series where you could use henchmen, but typically it was very brief in duration and in some cases was very buggily implemented. This time around, there are a large number of henchmen available--a wizard, a cleric, a theif, a fighter, and a barbarian. And, while I didn't encounter this (I took Grandma with me..I just love that old bag..), reading the spoilers afterwards indicated that many of them seem to have unique quests that you can undertake. I also greatly appreciate that they will make comments (often funny) as you play through the mod. All of this resulted in my feeling much more involved in the story and the characters. There's also a fair bit of custom content in this mod, most notably the custom sketches of most of the main characters. It's a very nice touch and makes this feel much more original than in the prior campaign. There are also some custom items, some of which I'll highlight below in terms of the monsters... The respawning/resurrection system is well implemented, complete with a separate area devoted to the diety who controls the whole mess. I also quite like the sparks of life, and the fact that they carry over from mod to mod. I found that the combat in this episode was much more balanced than in previous episodes. Part of it may be that I was finally able to purchase some decent gear for my monk who, at level 9-10 is finally coming into her own. The previous penultima did have good monk gloves, however the best it ever had in a robe my monk could wear was a robe of electical resistance. Now she has a robe of haste, and with it is up to a fairly insane number of attacks per round and much higher defensive abilities. Overall, I found the combat to be quite enjoyable. The enemies were nicely varied, and while it was at times a bit difficult, I only died once (because I was being stupid) and my henchman never bought the bullet. In fact, there's a way in which the game seemed a bit easy...but I think that's because my monk is getting very good at making reflex checks, which, thanks to improved evasion, means that she can dodge her way from being hurt by most of the elemental attack spells. Perhaps most importantly of all, the humor is back!! The primary villian you'll face during this episode is quite funny -- he's uses a bunch of "creature balls" to summon foes for you to do battle with. Apparently, these are all commericially purchased, as each creature type has a cutesy name followed by (tm). You have some limited opportunities to play with these balls yourself, which adds a nice element to the gameplay. There are also lots of nice little touches related to the items you'll encounter. I can't tell you about my favorite one (it would give it away), but some things...like the bottle of Ale found in the little girl's room, are enough to provide a chuckle every minute or two. There's also a really funny quest that happens early on that I've always wondered why my adventurers have never encountered before. The primary knock against this adventure is that, despite all the humor and nice touches, it is basically a linear dungeon hack. There's not much here in the ways of twists and turns. It's good fun, but doesn't quite reach the next level in terms of story.-B
Posted by Winter_Legacy at 2004-09-2020:56:00
I suppose Impulse doesn't like Douglas Adams or Terry Pratchett, either. It's as if Pratchett wrote this - well, maybe not quite THAT impressive, but you get the idea. It's fun, and no, it's not some romantic, fine-art masterpiece; but it's not intended to be. It's comedy; a spoof, even. If you don't like it, big deal. Some of us do. Keep up the good work, Stefan, and don't lose your sense of fun.____________________________________ "It's not quite as bad, only worse." _________________________ When in doubt, use the bard as bait.
Impulse is right, these are at the same rank as midnight and such, and I agree; its wrong. Penultima City should be MUCH MUCH higher on the chain! I'm so adamant on this, I forgot to use my account.
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