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The next Neverwinter Nights expansion pack pits you against the vile creatures of the Underdark. Made for advanced characters (level 15 and higher suggested), Hordes of the Underdark brings a whole new adventure for players to enjoy and gives module creators more tilesets, monsters, weapons, and more. If the previous expansion pack, Shadows of Undrentide, was any indication, then this new expansion pack should offer an even more refined Neverwinter Nights experience. The fact that it focuses on one of the most interesting areas of Dungeons & Dragons (people love drow!) makes it all the more exciting. Story details are sparse at this time. What I was able to learn is that the kingdom of Waterdeep is under assault by an unorthodox crew of creatures from the Underdark. The army is led by a mysterious and charismatic drow outcast that was somehow able to foster cooperation between the dark elves, duergar, illithids (mind flayers), and beholders. Using the unique abilities of each race, this motley force is on the cusp of crushing Waterdeep. It's up to you to discover the secrets of this unusual coalition and destroy it before Waterdeep falls. Hordes of the Underdark's single-player adventure is geared towards high-level characters. BioWare suggests that you start the game with a character of at least level 15. The game's character generator can start you off with a buff character, but you can also import a character from the original Neverwinter Nights or Shadows of Undrentide. The experience cap has been raised as well, allowing your character to reach level 30 (the previous cap was level 20) in accordance with the rules found in Wizards of the Coast's Epic Level Handbook. Other new goodies include six new prestige classes, 16 new creatures, over 40 new spells, over 50 new feats, new weapon types, new voice sets, new music tracks, and a new item-crafting sytem. As good as Shadows of Undrentide was, the additions to Hordes of the Underdark look even sweeter. For several reasons, people love playing and reading about all things drow. This expansion pack attempts to offer a thrilling Underdark adventure and allow module makers to craft their own dark-elf tales. Most of the new creatures and tilesets are specific to the Underdark. Aside from the aforementioned drow, illithids, duergar, and beholders, you'll encounter driders (cursed half-drow/half-spider creatures), spider demons, and azer. The new tilesets are taken from areas specific to many Underdark races. So you'll be able to create your very own illithid layer or drow city. Those flanking striders. Your stout character will have access to all kinds of new abilities. New skills include scribe scroll and brew potion; there will be more item-crafting skills implemented, but BioWare hasn't revealed them at this time. New spells include ball lightning, hellball, crumble, and iron guts. A slew of epic-level feats will be available to you, including epic reputation, epic spell focus, epic mage armor, and overwhelming critical. By the end of the game your character will be nearly as powerful as a demigod! Other new touches include new weapon types, like whips and dwarven waraxes, and more class-specific feats, like the bard's curse song and lasting inspiration. Like Shadows of Undrentide, Hordes of the Underdark will feature six new prestige classes. At this time only the shifter class has been revealed. Hopefully the blend of good and evil classes will be a balanced as the offerings in Undrentide. Sound is getting a nice boost. Six new voice sets will be included, allowing for better role-playing and character diversity. The prolific Jeremy Soule is composing 17 new tracks for the expansion. Soule is my favorite game music composer (on the PC side) and I'm fully jazzed to hear more of his work. Die you ugly Underdark bug thing! One of the major complaints of Shadows of Undrentide was a lack of diverse henchmen. Of the three companions you could choose from, none were an ideal complement for physically weaker classes like mages and rogues. BioWare is addressing this problem and promises more henchmen, with more diverse classes, this time around. Best of all, there will be romance scripts to make henchmen interaction more interesting. Hopefully the romances will be as interesting as the ones found in BioWare's Baldur's Gate II. Hordes of the Underdark looks like it will be, at very least, as good as the previous expansion pack. BioWare has the opportunity to make it even better, partially because the subject matter is cooler and partially because it appears to be implementing fan feedback (one of the company's hallmarks). Neverwinter Nights fans are likely to dig this new adventure, while anyone that's ever wanted to wage war with the accursed drow and illithids (they just look gross) should keep their eye on this one.

[ 08-25-2003, 09:20 PM: Message edited by: Chewbacca ]