- Expansion for Neverwinter Nights.
- New 20-hour single-player campaign.
- Epic levels allow characters to advance as far as level 40.
- New prestige classes, feats, weapons, spells, and voice sets.
- 2 new tilesets and additional content for the Neverwinter Nights Aurora Toolset.
Product Description
-------------------
Neverwinter Nights: Hordes of the Underdark pits players
in a battle to save the embattled city of Waterdeep from an
ancient evil buried deep within the earth and stone of
Underain.
From the Manufacturer
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Neverwinter Nights: Hordes of the Underdark pits players
in a battle to save the embattled city of Waterdeep from an
ancient evil buried deep within the earth and stone of
Underain.
Neverwinter Nights: Hordes of the Underdark includes a new
20-hour single player campaign, designed for high-level
characters and set amidst the famous city of Waterdeep and the
foreboding Underdark from the D&D game's Forgotten Realms
campaign setting. Hordes of the Underdark will significantly
expand upon the Neverwinter Nights universe, most notably with
the addition of Epic Level gameplay. Based upon the rules
published by Wizards of the Coast in the D&D game supplement Epic
Level Handbook, Epic Levels are available for characters who have
reached level 20, allowing them to advance as far as level 40.
In addition, Neverwinter Nights: Hordes of the Underdark
introduces several new prestige classes, including the Shifter, a
druidic class specializing in shape shifting; dozens of new
feats, such as Epic Reputation, Craft Weapon and Armor Skin; a
multitude of new weapons and spells, many designed solely for
epic level characters; challenging new creatures pulled straight
out of the Underdark, including Mind Flayers, Beholders and
Driders; several new character voice sets for even greater
character customization; and 17 new epic soundtracks from
composer Jeremy Soule.
Neverwinter Nights: Hordes of the Underdark equips module makers
with two new tilesets and additional content for the Neverwinter
Nights Aurora Toolset, the groundbreaking software included with
the full game that allows players to create their own universes,
quests and storylines. The two new tilesets will be based around
the new campaign and will include exciting new features specific
to certain denizens of the Underdark itself.
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Review
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When first looking through the manual and checking out all the
new feats, classes, and powers available in this expansion, I
thought that they were way too obscenely powerful and would throw
off the game's difficulty balancing. However, even with a godlike
character, the challenges found in the Hordes of the Underdark
are no joke.
The adventure included in Underdark is one of the better official
campaigns. Since players start at level 15, all the NPCs react to
them as a legendary hero from the beginning – a nice change from
the standard RPG opening. In all the time I spent playing Hordes,
I didn't kill a single rat, maggot, or slime. In the very
beginning of the quest, there's a blue dragon – which
incidentally fell quite easily to Enserric the Long (who is
quite the character himself, and has some of the best lines in
the game). That's an example of the power levels involved here.
Hordes allows characters to reach level 40 (!), twice the old
level cap, and doesn't disappoint in ways to make your hero
über-powerful. Epic feats give you such silly abilities as
turning into an ancient dragon or completely dodging one attack
per round, no matter what. The six new prestige classes are fun
to play as, though some are a bit underpowered compared to
others. Items scale up with you as well, and can grant some
really ening bonuses. Enserric, for instance, heals you for
five hit points every time you hit something; though five HP
isn't a whole lot when you've got 230 to begin with.
This expansion adds quite a bit of stuff for lower-level heroes
as well. New crafting skills allow players to customize their
equipment even more than before. Some of the prestige classes can
be accessed as early as level six, and lots of new scripts have
been added to give players greater control over their henchmen.
Heroes can have two followers rather than the previous limit of
one, which lets you have some semblance of an actual party even
in single-player. Despite the new and vastly superior control,
however, they still tend to run off and die when you're not
paying attention.
Mod makers will enjoy the improvements on the already
comprehensive toolset. BioWare has also added a number of scripts
to the game which allow for better interaction and combat. Of
course, these upgrades will help regular players as well, in the
form of better modules to adventure through.
Owners of Neverwinter Nights are punishing themselves by not
getting Hordes of the Underdark. The a by which it expands
the game in every direction is truly epic.
Concept:
Allow heroes to reach utterly stupid levels of power, and give
them suitably ridiculous tasks
Graphics:
Somewhat improved over the original, particularly the textures
Sound:
Same old Neverwinter sounds. The battle music gets awfully old
Playability:
The improved camera control is very welcome, and the whole
interface is a little smoother around the edges
Entertainment:
There's no better way to dork out to the max, online or off
Replay:
High
Rated: 8.5 out of 10
Editor: Adam Biessener
Issue: February 2004
2nd Opinion:
Neverwinter Nights' first expansion, Shadows of Undrentide, was
certainly an engrossing tale, and a great addition to the
universe, but for how much I enjoyed that adventure it pales in
comparison to Hordes of the Underdark. Sure, this expansion looks
slightly better than the last, and manages to add in an
assortment of new goodies for level-up junkies like myself, but
what really makes this game for me is that it revolves around the
Drow and all the dark creatures of the D&D universe. You just
can't help but love Mind Flayers and those evil elf beeatches. If
you managed to miss out on Shadows, you should do yourself a
favor and make sure you check out Hordes, as it represents some
of the best storytelling going on in the PC world. Even if you
don't care about the plot, you can always just make some crazy
powerful characters and tear it up.
Rated: 8.5 out of 10
Editor: Andy McNamara
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