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Hordes: An instant "Must Have" Classic

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 41 / 43
Date: December 10, 2003
Author: Amazon User

Cinematic, flashy, epic, and thoroughly satisfying - Hordes of the Underdark is the truly phenomenal culmination of the Neverwinter Nights franchise. While player reviews were mixed in regards to the original NWN campaign and the first expansion campaign, I have seen little if anything for Hordes except high praise. It brings to the table both a well written and dramatic campaign and an avalanche of new game features like feats, prestige classes and skills and the much-awaited Epic Levels - expanding the game from 20 class levels to 40 - all of it in an extremely smooth and meticulously produced package.

The official Hordes campaign is not only my most enjoyable Neverwinter Nights play experience yet, but also ranks as the single most satisfying RPG game experience I've ever had. If you haven't ever played Neverwinter Nights, now is the time to buy NWN Gold and Hordes and get down to business learning this fantastic game.

The plot of the Hordes campaign is, on the one hand, the same plot every RPG has - "save the world." However there's nothing formulaic about the plot of Hordes. Bioware has made a compelling story that you will have trouble walking away from. The story is complex and well written, taking you to many well-portrayed locations classic to the D&D genre, such as Undermountain, the Underdark, and Beholder and Illithid cities. These locations are moody, alien, dark and disturbing in a truly tangible way. You will not explore these locations *wondering* how you should react - you *will* react, tangibly and viscerally, to their disturbing lighting and ailen architecture.

In addition, throughout the campaign Bioware has made extensive use of the new cinematic camera features added by SOU, bringing a sense of big screen urgency to this adventure. No more reading in a little text box about how important it is you undertake this quest. Instead you watch beautiful, dramatic, in-game cutscenes that show you horrors being unleashed upon the world that only you can stop. And as you approach the close of the story, you are not wondering how you should feel, or fiddling with your equipment because you're bored. You will forget game mechanics and move urgently towards the resolution of the story.

When all is said and done, you will be left with a character that is roughly 25th-30th level. And you will truly see your character as an epic hero - not becuase of a number on your character sheet, or because of feats and skills you chose, and not because of your epic loot. (And there's plenty of awesome loot if you like that.) You will see your character as an epic hero because of your vivid memories of the epic *actions* that your character has performed. "Level 30" will seem meaningless compared to looking at your character and remembering an entire city looking to you as it's only hope - and actually leading that city to *defeat* an entire army in order to realize that hope.

Having now played the OC and tried multiple game features, I have to say that this expansion has an extremely professional and clean feel to it. I was troubled by only a single bug during my play through of the campaign - a moment when a cutscene didn't fire perfectly. This certainly didn't stop my game play. Every feature added has a very polished feel, as if a great deal of care and attention was placed on each of the new game additions. The smallest features, such as the new icons used to represent added feats, are attractive and show care in design.

Henchman AI is much improved in Hordes, and you can now take 2 of them with you while you travel. Playing on Hardcore difficulty, I had a henchman die only once. Countless times my party-mates contributed smart decisions to battles. For example Deekin would use his Fear spell only on foes that were vulnerable to it, often with great results. NPCs that join your party have been given a *lot* of side chatter, comments, and extra interactions with either each other or you - and it's often hilarious. You will definitely NOT feel like you are alone on this adventure with a mute robot that often dies.

I've commented so much on the OC that I don't have much space to comment on the multitude of other great features. Six new Prestige Classes are added, and judging from the Bioware forums they're all a huge hit for different reasons. Many new feats, some epic and some not, were added. Weapon and armorcrafting skills now allow you to modify the appearance of your items - so you can pick between a chain shirt having all those metal loops, or that leather trim. Cloth, leather and metal dyes allow you to completely customize the colors of your armor and helmets. Intimidate and Bluff skills allow new and different types of social interactions. Robes have been added to the game and they look amazing. Items in your inventory can now be the target for spells and items, allowing you to poison your blade, or cast spells on your items that give them new properties.

After NWN's rocky life story, HotU has erased any doubts about Bioware and their commitment to quality. They demonstrate so many gifts and talents in Hordes - care, precision, smart design - and most importantly, an essential understanding of what an RPG gamer wants when they sit down to play. Bioware has really hit the nail on the head with this great campaign: it leaves you feeling like a true hero from myth or legend.

In an era of RPGs that largely disappoint, Bioware has produced a classic - a resplendent gem that is impressive on so many levels that is almost impossible to rate the game high enough. If you have any love for 3E D&D or for NWN, you simply must buy this expansion.

Engaging single player adventure, awesome toolset content

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 22 / 28
Date: December 17, 2003
Author: Amazon User

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.

Best Neverwinter thus far

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 14 / 19
Date: December 29, 2003
Author: Amazon User

The first expansion pack was a disappointment - too little playing time, and what seemed like a quickly thrown together storyline. This second expansion pack was awesome to play. The new stuff is great: Epic classes and skills, multiple NPCs, majorly souped up (and customizable) weapons and armor, and much more playing time. Plus you can import your level 12-15 character from the previous Neverwinter, or start a new level 15 character and manually level them up. (All your equipment gets "stolen" in the opening sequence - but it doesn't matter, because within an hour or two you've gotten much better stuff already!)
This game was a joy, I just finished it and am starting again with a different character.

Warning:highly addictive game

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 11 / 12
Date: March 31, 2004
Author: Amazon User

HOTU as we call it online is a great addition to the Neverwinter Nights collection. It gives you new monsters (most notably the mind flayer and beholder), toolsets (like the drow and mind flayer lairs), classes (like the Pale Master and Red Dragon Desciple), and greatly expands the limitations of things like magic item powers (you can make weapons up to +20 with massive additional damage from fire, acid, etc.). There are so many ways you can custom make your character that no two characters are the same. It's fun just to build a character and test them against hordes of monsters.
The many online servers are great, and offer unlimited fun with other players. It doesn't end there, though. The game comes with an *awesome* adventure (which I rate much much higher than any of the previous adventures) where you get to venture into the underdark and battle hordes of drow elves, mind flayers, beholders, etc. It has enough monsters to boost your character from first level to around 26th level, and takes a few days to complete. (I did have a lot of problems with the solo adventure crashing, especially during FMV's. It made the adventure almost impossible to complete. Hope the developers can improve upon this)
You can also download countless adventures from the NWN web sight. There are so many possibilities with this game that you can spend a looooong time experimenting. Have fun!

25 YEARS OD RPGING AND STILL GOING STRONG

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 8 / 11
Date: November 26, 2003
Author: Amazon User

OK, I've played PnP D&D since I was 1st interested in reading - actually D&D is what got me interested in reading in the first place...but anyways, I've also played (or tried playing) most PC RPG's out there including the hit titles of 2002 - Morrowind and Dungeon Siege, and NWN is by far the best you can get. First off, if you want Hack and Slash RPGing, you can download as many Hack and Slash modules off of NWVault.com as your heart desires - even beautiful recreations of Diablo and Diablo2! If you want some cerebral RPGing with plenty of text and quests, well you can download tonnes of D&D PnP module recreations - including titles like "Keep on the Borderlands", "Temple of Elemental Evil", "Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh", etc... There are even accurate recreations of previous Bioware licensed material like Baldur's Gate, Planescape, and Icewind Dale! So when you buy your copy of NWN, your getting a thousand RPG's in one little box - it's that crazy!

Worthy upgrade for Neverwinter Nights.

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 6 / 7
Date: January 29, 2004
Author: Amazon User

This game is awesome, finally your character can brawl with the best of them. To the neverwinter fans, if you thought Shadows of Undrentide wasn't worth a purchase, this expansion will prove to you that missing out on all the new content is stupid. Personally, I thought Shadows of Udrentide kicked @$$ but to each his own opinion. Epic spells, feats and levels make this game a must buy if you bought the first Nevewinter. Tons of online content in the form of Mods is already available utilizing the expansion. The toolset has also recieved heafty additions in the form of tilesets, monster, scripting and armor.-Dungeon Masters rejoice. Theres more of everything but most important thing of all, the graphics are now better due to the 'sky boxes'(give the appearance of a sky in background) and the ability to move the camera right beside you. It feels almost like another game. I'll be playing this game for another year or so. Bioware really listens to the fans and it shows in spades.

Fun even for nongamers

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 4 / 7
Date: May 17, 2004
Author: Amazon User

I am not a hardcore gamer. I wouldn't even really call myself a gamer at all -- I'm of the "if my husband's playing it and it looks really fun, I'll give it a try" school.

Well, I've never played D&D in my life, but I am a HUGE Neverwinter Nights fan. I love being able to customize my character's appearance and skills, I love the graphics, I love the adventures and the ability to roleplay my character in many different ways (from goody two-shoes to black-hearted villain).

Having finished the original Neverwinter Nights and the Shadows of Undrentide expansion pack, I started in on Hordes of the Underdark. Without a doubt, it's my favorite so far. The quests are more interesting (some even stumped me, and I had to go to the Bioware site for a little help!). There are new classes, which are fun to play, and there's even a little romance in the game! I have to admit, I thought that was a great element. I don't know how the guys who play this cared for it, but it really added some fun for me.

The best RPG in ages

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 5 / 6
Date: August 30, 2004
Author: Amazon User

The thing about trilogies is the last one is always the most boring. That is not so with HotU. It starts with a dark heroine asking her wizards to summon up the image of the only man/woman who can threaten her might, and viola, you see a nebulous shape emerging. Oh My God! It is you.

Your mission will take you through dungeons beneath cities, the Underdark where the drow live and well, let me just say to hell and back. You will battle the most thrilling monsters, take sides, face betrayal, be inspired by amazing loyalty, and unlike Shadows of the Underentide, which *sucked* the characters here are well developed and romanceable. Female gamers will be impressed that the dominantly male industry has created a male NPC with some depth. You will meet old friends (Aribeth, Linu, Deekin), you will fight old foes (why give away the surprise) and even fight some old friends. (Yes, wait when you go on the quest of the sleeping man, he used to be my friend and he attacked me!!. The best part, you do not have to be a 16 year old with hyper reflexes and eye to hand coordination to play this game, but you will still feel like a God when you fell dragons and devils with one swing of your blade (did I tell you you can reach epic status of 40 and upgrade your weapons to do cool stuff including a +10 enchantment bonus?. I have already played this game 28 times, as a man, as a woman, as every possible profession, and as every possible race I could think of and am still having a party. I'd recommend it to anyone and they ought to thank me.

Great addition

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 5 / 6
Date: December 12, 2004
Author: Amazon User

There's a lot of things I think make this expansion pack worthwhile. Just another game to play, that alone would be a deal. But you can sort of "pick up" where you might have ended in NWN:OC or SoU.

I haven't had any crashing problems, and have a general run-of-the-mill system: XP2100+ with 512mb, XPSP2, DMA133 hard drive. The only thing that might be considered sub-par is the graphic card, which is an older NVidia MX420 which I've had for about three years now (64mb). But even with the video, I get good response, except in those areas where there are a huge number of scripts running, such as one battle scene near the end. luckily, those are few.

Other than that, the plot is fun, and full of unexpected twists and turns. But it allows you to follow those plot twists, such as betraying your allies. The ultimate goal seems to be the same, no matter which way you play it.

Graphics and sounds are fine, as in the original NWN. They did add a lot more cut-scenes to HotU, tho, which can get kind of annoying. Some of the cut-scenes add depth to the story, but some are just seemingly put there for eye-candy.

There's also lots more puzzles in this expansion. Some are fun, but one in particular got extremely tedious very fast. I knew exactly how to solve it, but I had to wait for in-game timing events before I could move on to the next step. I honestly cheated at that point, and just solved the puzzle. Otherwise I'd probably waste 30 or so minutes.

You can start HotU with a new character, and you'll immeadiately level him up to level 15. I'd really recommend that you play straight from OC to SoU and then HotU. You get a good feel for your character, his strengths and weaknesses. It's easy to take your newly made level 15 character and assume invicibility. I ended the OC with a level 15 half-orc barb, took him thru SoU to level 18, and ended HotU around level 22. Quite a bit of growth in there. Besides, I'm an XP hunter and level monger, so I like that kind of stuff.

Excellent expansion

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 4 / 5
Date: April 24, 2004
Author: Amazon User

This was a great expansion for the NWN series, easily making up for the so-so Shadows of Undretide, which offered zero challenge to a character that finished the original.

I purchased this very shortly after it came out, and did the immediate patch, and had zero game play issues, which is refreshing nowadays.

The storyline was good, the return of some characters was a pleasant surprise, and it definitely served up a decent challenge, while not being unbeatable. Like many RPGs, the final battle wasn't the hardest I encountered, but the overall game was good, and none of the puzzles were incredibly hard to overcome.

A definite keeper, with considerable replay value, as you try out other classes.

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