NWN - Hordes of the Underdark in Stores

morcego writes "BioWare has done it again. Another expansion pack for Neverwinter Nights has been released. This time, it's Hordes of the Underdark, in case you haven't been following. Reviews are already available, including it being rated 4.5/5 on GamesDomain. Atari (the publisher) also have a press release about it."

Comments

Playing it now!

[katpurz]

More camera control...finally Small level compared to previous expansion or original module, but still fun... Mostly a developers/builders set of tiles/creatures.. One of the funnest games (NWN) I've played in years...

Anyone disappointed at NWN

[Brian_Ellenberger]

Was anyone else disappointed at NWN? I haven't played any of the expansions, but I found the original game lacking in many ways to BG and Torment. You can definitely tell that Black Isle's story telling abilities are sorely missed. It never seemed to draw you in or give you any "cool" story experiences.

Secondly, the henchmen were utterly lacking. Part of the fun of the Infinite Engine games were the companions. I loved the companion interactions and definitely made the store much more enjoyable and meaningful. It wasn't just that you beat some badguy, but you had a journey. NWN henchmen seemed like a hack. Something bolted on as to not make it Diablo

Third, the tile engine was way too obvious. In many ways the Infinity Engines looked better. How many random identical looking caves can someone go through?

Lastly, the fights sucked. Mostly slashing weak monsters and an occasional boss. Of course, with only two companions there is only so much you can do.

I do think Bioware redeemed themselves with Knights of the Old Republic. While still a bit contrived, they have improved in their story telling and the combat and companion systems are greatly improved.

Brian Ellenberger

Re:Anyone disappointed at NWN

[arth1]

Was anyone else disappointed at NWN? I haven't played any of the expansions, but I found the original game lacking in many ways to BG and Torment. You can definitely tell that Black Isle's story telling abilities are sorely missed. It never seemed to draw you in or give you any "cool" story experiences.

I agree. One thing that's sorely missing is to be immersed in dialogs. Sure, there's dialogs, of sorts, but it's a "click all choices in turn" interface, and not something where every choice limits what choices you get later on.
Something that drew you even more into BG (and to smaller extent, BGII) was the audible speech that often occurred. All the way from the first "Hi, I'm Imoen!" and "Go for the eyes, Boo! Go for the eyes!" to how people in your party would randomly talk to each other -- bantering, trading insults, or even flirting.
It all lent credibility to the NPCs and the overall athmosphere. BGII didn't do as well as the original, but was still WAY better than NWN.

Third, the tile engine was way too obvious. In many ways the Infinity Engines looked better. How many random identical looking caves can someone go through?

It also suffers from the Quake frame rate improvisation syndrome -- darkness. By turning everything darker, you have to render less, and can make the game halfway playable with a mere $500 CPU and $300 graphics card upgrade. Then skew the midtones in the final result towards blindingly white and yellow, to give the impression that it's not really that dark.
Well, it is. This is one game that doesn't look a bit better in 32-bit than 16-bit colour, due to the lack of tones and high and harsh contrast.

Temple of Elemental Evil is something in-between, where the developers at least have TRIED getting some of the athmosphere from Baldur's Gate in, while still allowing much of the 3D and advanced features of Neverwinter Nights. Unfortunately, it's just as buggy as their other D&D flop -- Pools of Radiance. Even patched. To the point that it crashes instantly every time I try to have my party cast more than two spells at a time.

It's back to nethack and moria for me, unless I give BGII SoA a second try. It was quite frankly boring compared to the original BG, but compared to the latest offerings, at least it has *some* depth to it.

Regards,
--
*Art

Does anyone else find these games a bit linear?

[God Hates Liberals]

I really enjoyed Neverwinter's game engine, and found it expounded upon all others, but storyline still hasn't evolved beyond 'pick the response which you think will lead to another exchange between this character'

They throw Alignment in there, and then give you 'good' and 'evil' roles to play, which consist basically of:

Good? Offer to do everything for free, see most of the game.

Evil? Push for a bit of profit in every encounter, get shut out about a third of the time. Miss that much of the game.

You'll find me buying the expansion pack where player's choices are the axial decision in gameplay, not the plot-designer's.

I have commented on NWN earlier...

[Jugalator]

... and that was some negative remarks that quickly became considered as flames by NWN zealots. :-)

So I'd just like to say that HotU seems to be great! In the end, after these two (?) years, BioWare has produced a VERY feature rich system for creating campaigns. I haven't played it for long, but already noticed lots of new major features in the Toolset:

- Skies depending on tileset
- Robes realistically flowing as the character wearing them walks around
- Beholders, mindflayers, dracoliches, even OOZE :-D (with a beautiful model with skeleton parts floating inside its body)
- Weapon and armor crafting, potion brewing, oh my...
- Support for epic levels, with epic feats and all
- Lots of new prestige classes
- Attachable demon/angel/dragon/butterfly/bird wings to characters, attachable tails of several variations as well. Making cool celestial, demonic and draconic humanoids just became so much easier.