In order to combat the rising menace of international terrorism, Penultima crafted a grand stone wall to seal off Claustrophobia Pass from the nations to the west. Its name... PassGate Fortress. Of course, the southern border is left wide open, nobody to the west really wants to invade us, security is largely a joke, the whole thing revolves around a magical barrier to augment the stonework and a hundred bloodthirsty orcs are about to descend upon the place while the door has been jammed open. And you get to sort the mess out in the few hours remaining before the attack... do it for your country. Live free or die! Or just die. (Now version 1.4.)
Posted by amers1015 at 2009-09-24 12:10:29 Voted 10.00 on 09/24/09
All I can say is WOW! I can't believe I'd never played this series before!
It's very funny (sometimes down right hilarious), but still manages to tell a great story with engaging characters.
I agree with others that posted that the combat was too freakin' hard at times, but I was having such a good time with this, that I didn't even mind really.
Excellent work, everyone should try this series (especially the Rerolled campaign which was phenomenal!) _________________________ The less you know, the more you believe.
Posted by Goglutin at 2009-08-17 08:48:54 Voted 9.00 on 08/17/09
I played through the hole campaign and it was really good ( the rating is for the whole campaign). Note : I'm really greedy on tens...
I had not given a ten because in the first 5 modules (out of ten). I got really frustrated by too hard combat and by the fact that XP was only gained through fight. I was playing a rogue and it was really hard without a good henchmen to help me maneuver for placing my sneak attacks. Indeed, the balance is really much better in the ''rerolled'' campaign and the fact that you have a henchmen with you helped me much. The second part of the campaign is really better than the first one so keep on playing up to those one and you'll be surprised.
Still, the humor and the storyline is good (or should I say GOOD !!!) so it deserve its 9 rightfully !!! Be prepared for a good laugh and don't take it seriously !!!
Posted by Kilvain at 2008-10-18 06:18:32 Voted 9.50 on 10/18/08
As with all the rest in the series I enjoyed this a lot.
Posted by Copperhawk at 2008-01-07 07:40:18 Voted 9.00 on 01/07/08
A very solid & enjoyable game but not as fun as the "Below the r00t" for my taste. In terms of content, this one seems a little bit "lighter".
Posted by WeAreAllKosh at 2007-12-17 12:57:38 Voted 8.25 on 12/17/07
A good mystery to solve. And good humor-jabbing at war and homeland security and reliance on technology. Not sure if subtle humor was the intent, but the idea that no one could tell the difference between the real-life conservative warmongering patriot (Sarge) and his robotic replacement came across as quite funny. Billy's questioning of the Professor's lecture on Penultima's defense policy also got a laugh.
Combat is somewhat improved here with more of a variety of foes (particularly in the storage area under the gearworks). And it was nice to finally get some decent treasure, a weapon of choice from the Advent (previously, I'd been using the same arrangement of equipment I'd had since Penultima 5).
The main story picks up here and takes an interesting turn at the end. But a lot of the D20 Gang's nature and motivation is couched in confusion and complexity that I hope will eventually be explained better than 'it's Kaos, it's not supposed to make sense.'
Posted by Steve_Savicki at 2007-07-17 19:44:20 Voted 9.75 on 07/17/07
The mention of 12 hours makes time a little pressuring not to complete every side quest, but other than that, a wonderful who dunnit. _________________________ Steve's Characters - please don't forget to vote on them if you play them.
Thanks,
Steve
Posted by cosmonauts_wrath at 2007-01-17 19:31:24 Voted 10.00 on 01/17/07
just voting, nothing else to say
Posted by medevac99 at 2006-08-26 16:57:32 Voted 9.50 on 08/26/06
Great storyline in this one - the ending was very good.
Posted by elvedon at 2006-05-18 08:00:57 Voted 10.00 on 05/18/06
My favorite series by far.
Posted by GLWizard at 2006-03-18 09:09:20 Voted 10.00 on 03/18/06
Posted by KotCzarny at 2006-02-17 15:55:13 Voted 9.50 on 02/17/06
not your usual hack and slash, must play! :)
Posted by jkohen at 2005-08-21 08:18:09 Voted 9.25 on 08/21/05
The best humor ever!
Not only that, but it's even lots of fun to play!
Very good job adding custom descriptions to every single weapon and item; it reminded me of everyone's favorite humor writer's footnotes.
Posted by spike_spegeil ( 66.69.xxx.xxx ) at 2005-08-08 09:57:27
Throughly enjoyable, with (I suspect) some modern day relavance. The best of any Penultima series yet.
Posted by dennysan ( 128.152.xxx.xxx ) at 2005-07-31 13:03:28
Have you tried this with the 1.66 patch? Hangs up when I try to enter Gearworks.
The entire series has been great (both of them) and looking forward to playing through the rest!
Posted by TOllas at 2005-03-12 16:25:44 Voted 7.50 on 03/12/05
Posted by MikeLM9215 at 2004-10-03 08:12:49 Voted 7.00 on 10/03/04
Spent first day playing it and never got a fight. Picks up near the end. _________________________ The road to Ravenloft is paved with good intentions.
Posted by Brandiles at 2004-10-03 01:23:32 Voted 8.00 on 10/03/04
I felt that Homeland Security was, unfortunately, a step back for the Penultima Rerolled series. The first two episodes in the Rerolled series were uproariously funny and very well put together. This episode is technically fine, does have some funny jokes here and there, but was lacking the consistent parody of the prior episodes.
The main joke seems to be a parody of government spending in general, and in particular it seemed like it was poking fun of President Bush's missile defense system. Now I'm all for making fun of Dubya, but I didn't think it was executed all that well here. Ultimately, what the plot boiled down to was that somehow a bunch of mechanical minions had gone haywire, and they were needed to protect a fortress from an upcoming attack. The module unfolds as a fairly restricted dungeon crawl (with one optional revisit of an old familiar mine) with minimal sidequesting. Unlike last time, there wasn't anything particularly clever (like the chatroom) that made the combat more interesting, although there is a cameo from Austin Powers...
The combat difficulty picked up a fair bit this time around. Foes are slinging some powerful magic about, and many are pretty hard to hit and do decent damage to you. It's still decently balanced, however -- I didn't die, but my cleric henchman died 3 or so times from the flames (why doesn't he ever convert to a dragon right before dying anyway?). Overall, though, the combat just didn't seem as engaging as it had been in the past.
The end of the module throws in a bit of a twist, though it is something you might have anticipated if you tend to read the material available while you play.
After playing it, I do feel a bit underwhelmed. The first two in the Rerolled series seemed so fresh and novel, but this one seemed much more mundane...more like the original series. I hope Gagne's able to recapture the magic, so to speak, in PR4. - Brandiles
Posted by Snowdon at 2004-09-01 09:46:50 Voted 6.25 on 09/01/04
Posted by saraphinn at 2004-08-24 14:15:56 Voted 9.25 on 08/24/04
Posted by muniz at 2004-08-06 05:05:41 Voted 9.75 on 08/06/04
Posted by Karroud at 2004-07-27 10:02:30 Voted 9.25 on 07/27/04
Another excellent module, highly recommended
Posted by nath at 2004-07-27 06:39:13 Voted 8.00 on 07/27/04
Posted by Aquilonious at 2004-07-25 22:31:13 Voted 9.25 on 07/25/04
i got stuck a few times in this mod in the PR series. but with just a little hint i went on to complete it. (you'll have to forgive me for i'm not the greatest at puzzles). the interaction with NPC's gets more and more interesting. i played it using Whisper. most excellent!
Posted by Shilkanni at 2004-07-18 13:47:17 Voted 7.00 on 07/18/04
Posted by Aquilonious ( 24.31.xxx.xxx ) at 2004-07-14 18:51:00
a previous post here by Turo has answered my question--should have looked. :)
Posted by Aquilonious ( 24.31.xxx.xxx ) at 2004-07-13 19:06:00
I'm stuck! (in this module, PR3)
i'm using Whisper as my henchwoman
i detected with the RetroTemporal Scope that Sarge is the traitor. My only journal entry reaads:
Homeland Security
"Okay, this is getting weird. According to Kris, the Sarge is actually a gearwork... She assures you he's firmly under her control, via a remote control in her footlocker back at the barracks. He wouldn't have done this, presumably."
i went to the footlocker in the barracks but it's empty. i then talked to the female soldier downstairs and after telling her the footlocker was empty, she said she couldn't help.
So i went back to Kris and said,
"I have bad news... I looked in your footlocker and it was empty."
to this Kris relied,
"Wh-what?... see if you can figure out who stole it. Please!"
after this i questioned Rafael, the Sarge, and everyone at the tavern--nothing. if i go back to Kris she repeats the same thing.
p.s. i've done both side quests--the Water elemental & killing the penguins for the dwarf.
Posted by Aquilonious ( 24.31.xxx.xxx ) at 2004-07-13 19:06:00
I'm stuck! (in this module, PR3)
i'm using Whisper as my henchwoman
i detected with the RetroTemporal Scope that Sarge is the traitor. My only journal entry reaads:
Homeland Security
"Okay, this is getting weird. According to Kris, the Sarge is actually a gearwork... She assures you he's firmly under her control, via a remote control in her footlocker back at the barracks. He wouldn't have done this, presumably."
i went to the footlocker in the barracks but it's empty. i then talked to the female soldier downstairs and after telling her the footlocker was empty, she said she couldn't help.
So i went back to Kris and said,
"I have bad news... I looked in your footlocker and it was empty."
to this Kris relied,
"Wh-what?... see if you can figure out who stole it. Please!"
after this i questioned Rafael, the Sarge, and everyone at the tavern--nothing. if i go back to Kris she repeats the same thing.
p.s. i've done both side quests--the Water elemental & killing the penguins for the dwarf.
Posted by Ultramundane at 2004-07-10 20:16:13 Voted 10.00 on 07/10/04
10
Posted by kok_warlock at 2004-07-03 11:23:42 Voted 7.00 on 07/03/04
Alright mod, but not very fun...
Posted by Kataja at 2004-06-13 08:27:02 Voted 9.00 on 06/13/04
Someone in here likes probing. Got me stuck for a while with it, the neural probe in ee2 was a tad more straightforward. Also, the collector dwarf was an excellent surprise. Silly silly me, I sold away that deluxe thing she might have wanted just moments earlier... "I don't think I'll lug this around longer."
Site
at 2009-09-24 12:10:29
at 2009-08-17 08:48:54
at 2004-10-03 08:12:49
