Neverwinter Nights: Hordes of the Underdark Expansion Pack
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Video Game Reviews of Neverwinter Nights: Hordes of the Underdark Expansion Pack
Customer Review: a power gamer's dream
Summary: 4 Stars
This is a review for Hoards only(it should say at the bottom referring to Hoards of Underdark version or something) Aside from the plot, thier is a bit too much power in this game. I prefer classic RPG's with heros, not gods to be the central character. If playing V P I recommend being as redundant as possible(for macho RPG purpose I pick a powerhouse Champion Paladin for riteiousness and spells with 6 fighter levels for devastating sword play (the HoU play guide has wimpy paladin characters with only 12 strenght. In PVP the more similar classes you stack together the more devastaing you are. a Rouge/CoT/fighter just won't cut it, you should be reduntant and pick three warrior classes, three mage classes or three thief classes. both for RPG purpose and Powergame purpose. It is incredibly advantagious. My CoT/Pal/Figh character can hit hard and acurate like a fighter, can heal like a Champ and can cast and resist like a paladin. WMaster, Fighter Barbarian works well with this too(use the cute Cleric as your healer and the Bard as your spell caster) The class system is great, however the demi-god status isn't. I don't play RPG's to be a god, I play Populous or Light/Dark to be a god. Baldur's Gate had this flaw. Other than that, it is a good romp in the Hellish Undermountain and Underdark. Epic battles against terrifying foes. Drizzt doesn't show up because he is already on the surface.Customer Review: What a great game!
Summary: 5 Stars
First off I'd like to say that the minimum system requirements on the box should say P2 450 and 256mb ram with a 32mb video card. My system is a Athlon 600mhz, 512mb ram and a 64mb GeForce2 video card and the game looks great. Some of the cut scenes were a little choppy and when there is a lot of action on the screen it slows down a little but nothing to bad. The graphics look a little bit better than they did with the original. Anyways this game is totally awesome great story line along with a great engine. If you have the money buy this game it brilliant.Customer Review: Engaging single player adventure, awesome toolset content
Summary: 5 Stars
I have to admit, I'm enjoying the new campaign in Hordes of the Underdark more than either of the previous Neverwinter Nights campaigns (the original game or the Shadows of Undrentide expansion). It has a strong "Forgotten Realms" feel to it, and it's great for people who've been wanting a high level adventure with tons of Drow, Ilithids, Beholders, and other denizens of the Underdark. The new prestige classes, spells, feats, etc... are a lot of fun and should definitely add to the re-playability factor. I've personally played through this expansion twice: with a Druid/Shifter and Bard/Dragon Disciple, and I'd certainly consider playing it again.Also, from a module builder perspective, the new toolset content is quite impressive. To mention just a few things: new tilesets, new magic item abilities, intelligent weapons, improvements and added scripting functions, vastly improved henchman AI... and your characters can now wear robes! These are things that the Neverwinter community has been clamoring for, and it's nice to see the wishes of the players and module creators being addressed. Kudos to Bioware for listening to its customers. This expansion brings Neverwinter Nights to a new level of maturity with regards to the sheer wealth of possibility for fans who design modules.
Customer Review: Earn your wings and show them off to your friends! NOT!
Summary: 3 Stars
If you're going to play this in the single player game then you have nothing to worry about. It's really fun if you like playing by yourself. :)If you were planning on playing online with your friends and taking the Red Dragon Disciple (a new class that allows the player to become 1/2 dragon and grow a set of wings) then be ready for some heartache. Once you've downloaded the most recent patch, version 1.61, and spent your time (how much is *your* time worth?) building your character up to wing status you'll discover that you can't login because this class is broken! Keep that in mind, before buying this expansion pack for little Jonnie or Janie (or yourself ;) ) if you play online and wanted to "wow" everyone with your wings.
Everytime a bell rings, someone finds a bug in NWN:HotU!
Customer Review: more like 2 and a half
Summary: 3 Stars
Bioware seems to be learning from previous mistakes and then simply making new ones. While one could go into the fact that the original (and required) basis for this expansion pack - Neverwinter Nights - and the first expansion - Shadows of Undrentide - are still quite buggy and in need of further patching with the release of yet a second expansion, there are more pressing concerns about Hordes of the underdark.First, the good stuff:
- The campaign that ships with Hordes is simply stellar when comapred to the campaign that came with the original NWN. Some would fret that that isn;t saying much considering how abyssmal the original was. But, rest assured, hordes delivers a good single player experience.
- Your henchmen are smarter, participative and worth having around. You get 2 now, and you can tell them when to cast spells and when to stop blowing all of their offensive power on weak little minions that present no real challenge and save the fireworks for the big dogs.
- The new tilesets are well done and the presentation of the whole campaign shows care and attention to detail - it is beautiful.
- The musical score is top notch - one of the best i have heard in a CRPG.
Now, the bad:
- Your epic wizard types are severely hamstrung here. Your character barely advances in any measureable way as a spell caster past 20th level. Instead you get to spend your feat(bonus bailities you get as you advance) on a selection of epic spells (there are only 6 to pick from). You can only take each spell once and it is usable only once per day. So, not only do you get no spells or increas ein spell power past 20th level, but you only get 6 spells from level 21-40.
- The class imbalance only gets worse. It has never been a huge secret that some classes - Druids, Bards and Rogues for example - are pretty much left behind in the class balance area. With new epic levels, they are totally left behind. Very little is added to these classes to make them worthwhile vs say a cleric or fighter.
- The new prestige classes are basically for clerics and fighter only. The new wizard prestige classes add no spell casting ability, and the shifter class for the Druid adds little to bring them up to par with everyone else. Monks get nothing.
- The new spells are nothing special. New spells for all classes are not game breakers, and the new epic spells are so easily resisted by 20+ level character that they are barely worthwhile - keep in mind your spell caster abilities stopped at level 20. Vs a 40th level opponent you are still casting as a 20th level mage.
- The system requirements jumped from a p3 450 to a p3 800 without warning. A small thing, but certainly something to take notice of if you have a minimum spec machine for NWN you cannot use Hordes.
all in all this expansion is worth buying, but bear in mind it suffers from the same problems as the rest of the series - hasty implementation with little playtesting for balance coupled with the fact that it is based on a ruleset that isn't exactly perfect to begin with.
it would be nice to see what Bioware does in the future with it upcoming original material that won;t be tied to the flawed dungeons and dragons rule system, but the NWN series is basically a good game hampered by a poor foundation of rules.