Horde Level 40

Neverwinter Nights' introductory expansion, Shadows of Undrentide, was surely an engrossing tale, and a outstanding addition to the universe, but for how much I enjoyed that adventure it pales in comparison to Hordes of the Underdark. Sure, this elaboration looks somewhat better than the last, and manages to add in an potpourri of new goodies for level-up junkies like myself, but what in truth 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 aid but love Mind Flayers and those evil elf beeatches. If you managed to miss out on Shadows, you must do yourself a favor and make sure you check out Hordes, as it represents a good deal of of the best storytelling going on in the PC world. Even if you don't care in regards to the plot, you may always just make a good deal of crazy powerful characters and tear it up.

Game Informer Review

When primary 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 difficultness 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 commence at level 15, all the NPCs react to them as a legendary hero from the beginning – a nice change from the popular RPG opening. In all the time I expended 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 rather without apparent effort to Enserric the Longsword (who is rather the reputation 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 foolish abilities as turning into an ancient dragon or totally dodging one attack per round, no matter what. The six new prestige classes are fun to play as, even though a lot of are a bit underpowered equated to others. Items scale up with you as well, and may concede a great deal of genuinely sickening bonuses. Enserric, for instance, heals you for five hit points each time you hit something; though five HP isn't a whole lot when you've got 230 to commence with.

This elaboration adds rather a bit of stuff for lower-level heroes as well. New crafting attainments concede players to custommake their instrumentation even more than before. Some of the prestige classes may be accessed as early as level six, and a large total of new scripts have been added to give players more outstanding control over their henchmen. Heroes may have two followers rather than the former limit of one, which lets you have galore 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 manufacturers will take delight in the improvements on the already comprehensive toolset. BioWare has likewise added a number of scripts to the game which concede for better fundamental 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 amount by which it elaborates the game in each direction is genuinely epic.

Concept:
Allow heroes to reach utterly stupid levels of power, and give them suitably ridiculous tasks

Graphics:
Somewhat bettered over the original, particularly the textures

Sound:
Same old Neverwinter sounds. The battle music gets awfully old

Playability:
The bettered 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' primary expansion, Shadows of Undrentide, was surely an engrossing tale, and a outstanding addition to the universe, but for how much I enjoyed that adventure it pales in comparison to Hordes of the Underdark. Sure, this elaboration looks somewhat better than the last, and manages to add in an assortment of new goodies for level-up junkies like myself, but what actually 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 support but love Mind Flayers and those evil elf beeatches. If you managed to miss out on Shadows, you will have to do yourself a favor and make sure you check out Hordes, as it represents a great deal of of the best storytelling going on in the PC world. Even if you don't care with regards to the plot, you may always just make some crazy powerful characters and tear it up.

Rated: 8.5 out of 10
Editor: Andy McNamara


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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 world and stone of Undermountain.

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 venture setting. Hordes of the Underdark will significantly exaggerate 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, permitting them to advance as far as level 40.

In addition, Neverwinter Nights: Hordes of the Underdark introduces assorted 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, galore designed solely for epic level characters; challenging new creatures pulled straight out of the Underdark, including Mind Flayers, Beholders and Driders; assorted new reputation voice sets for even dandier reputation customization; and 17 new epic soundtracks from composer Jeremy Soule.

Neverwinter Nights: Hordes of the Underdark equips module manufacturers with two new tilesets and further and added content for the Neverwinter Nights Aurora Toolset, the groundbreaking software included with the full game that allows players to develop their own universes, quests and storylines. The two new tilesets will be based around the new venture and will include stimulating new features specific to sure denizens of the Underdark itself.

Most helpful client reviews

44 of 46 persons found the following review helpful.
Hordes: An instant "Must Have" Classic
By A
Cinematic, flashy, epic, and exhaustively satisfying - Hordes of the Underdark is the genuinely extraordinary culmination of the Neverwinter Nights franchise. While player reviews were mixed in regards to the primary NWN effort and the original elaboration campaign, I have seen little if anything for Hordes except high praise. It brings to the table both a well written and dramatic effort and an avalanche of new game features like feats, prestige classes and accomplishments and the much-awaited Epic Levels - expanding the game from 20 class levels to 40 - all of it in an exceedingly smooth and meticulously invented package.

The official Hordes crusade is not only my most gratifying Neverwinter Nights play experience yet, but likewise 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 venture is, on the one hand, the same plot each RPG has - "save the world." However there's not one thing formulaic in regards to 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 a good deal of well-portrayed emplacements classic to the D&D genre, such as Undermountain, the Underdark, and Beholder and Illithid cities. These emplacements are moody, alien, dark and disturbing in a veritably tangible way. You will not explore these locatings *wondering* how you must react - you *will* react, tangibly and viscerally, to their disturbing lighting and ailen architecture.

In addition, allround the crusade Bioware has made spacious 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 when it comes to 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 may stop. And as you approach the close of the story, you are not marveling how you ought to feel, or fiddling with your instrumentation because you're bored. You will forget game mechanics and move urgently towards the solution of the story.

When all is said and done, you will be left with a reputation that is roughly 25th-30th level. And you will genuinely see your reputation as an epic hero - not becuase of a number on your reputation sheet, or because of feats and accomplishments you chose, and not because of your epic loot. (And there's a great deal of astounding loot if you like that.) You will see your reputation as an epic hero because of your bright memories of the epic *actions* that your reputation has performed. "Level 30" will seem meaningless equated to looking at your reputation and remembering an entire city looking to you as it's only hope - and genuinely 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 elaboration has an exceedingly professional and clean feel to it. I was troubled by only a single bug for the duration of my play through of the crusade - a moment when a cutscene didn't fire perfectly. This surely didn't stop my game play. Every feature added has a very polished feel, as if a outstanding 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 beautiful and show care in design.

Henchman AI is much bettered in Hordes, and you may 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 conclusions to battles. For example Deekin would use his Fear spell only on oppositions that were vulnerable to it, oftentimes 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 unquestionably NOT feel like you are alone on this adventure with a mute robot that often times 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 dissimilar reasons. Many new feats, a heap of epic and some not, were added. Weapon and armorcrafting achievements now concede you to modify the aspect of your items - so you may pick amongst a chain shirt having all those metal loops, or that leather trim. Cloth, leather and metal dyes grant you to wholly custommake the colors of your armor and helmets. Intimidate and Bluff attainments grant new and dissimilar types of social interactions. Robes have been added to the game and they look amazing. Items in your inventory may now be the target for spells and items, permitting 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 when it comes to Bioware and their commitment to quality. They demonstrate so numerous gifts and natural abilities and qualities in Hordes - care, precision, smart design - and most importantly, an necessary understanding of what an RPG gamer wants when they sit down to play. Bioware has in truth hit the nail on the head with this great campaign: it leaves you sentiment like a unfeigned hero from myth or legend.

In an era of RPGs that for the most part disappoint, Bioware has produced a classic - a resplendent gem that is impressive on so a good deal of levels that is closely out of the question to rate the game high enough. If you have any love for 3E D&D or for NWN, you merely ought to buy this expansion.

22 of 26 persons found the following review helpful.
Engaging single player adventure, awful toolset content
By M. Gold
I have to admit, I'm enjoying the new crusade in Hordes of the Underdark more than either of the former Neverwinter Nights campaigns (the firstborn game or the Shadows of Undrentide expansion). It has a strong "Forgotten Realms" feel to it, and it's great for persons 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 will have to unquestionably add to the re-playability factor. I've personally played through this elaboration twice: with a Druid/Shifter and Bard/Dragon Disciple, and I'd surely consider playing it again.

Also, from a module builder perspective, the new toolset content is rather impressive. To mention just a few things: new tilesets, new magic item abilities, intellectual weapons, improvements and added scripting functions, vastly bettered henchman AI... and your characters may 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 it is customers. This elaboration brings Neverwinter Nights to a new level of maturity with regards to the sheer wealth of possibleness for fans who design modules.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful.
Neverwinter Nights: Hordes of the Underdark
By A
Neverwinter Nights: Hordes of the Underdark adds more of everything. The new Prestige Classes are in general more interesting and utile than those in the former elaboration pack (Shadows of Underntide). The new feats, like the Prestige Classes, are also much more interesting and utile than the former expansion. The list of epic spells, bettered henchman, max level, and tile sets are all improvements for the game.

Hordes of Underdark likewise adds a new set of official modules with the expansion. The plotline, dungeon layout, puzzles, and feel of the modules are far superior to that of former official modules (and even better than most player/fan-base modules). A major problem is that it was designed for single-player only. Technically, you could play the game multiplayer, but the player hosting the game would have to be well versed in using the DM Client commands from the Player Client interface to combat these "issues."

Hordes of the Underdark has likewise freed more glitches and bugs than even the basi unpatched game. Even after Hordes being patched, most users experience occasional freezes and crashes. This is not such a huge deal when you have the auto-save feature turned on, but still takes away from the excitement of playing the game.

One problem that I have witnessed in Neverwinter Nights from the beginning is that there has never been a huge player/fan-base Mods for high levels (level 20). With the new cap of level 40 in Hordes, I have still not witnessed a good deal of high quality Mods for characters level 20-40. Lastly, those Mods that have been designed well for the higher levels oftentimes have a bias for more warrior based characters.

For players whose main focus in NWN is the single-player mode and enjoyed the elaboration of freedoms in Shadows of Underntide (classes, feats, etc), those who receive pleasure from "maxing" out a reputation or designing super templates, take pleasure in designing their own Mods or like to be capable to keep up with playing the most current Mods, then Hordes of Underdark is an splendid expansion. For players whose computer's limits were being pushed by the former elaboration (Hordes doubles the "recommended" RAM requirement), who play primary/solely multiplayer mode, or for those who get their kicks by challenging high-level content, then Hordes doesn't deliver as much as it seems to contain.

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