NWN - Hordes of the Underdark in Stores 224
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."
Playing it now! (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Playing it now! (Score:2)
Re:Playing it now! (Score:2)
Yes it does. I have a 11th level Barbarian / 3rd level Rogue named "Ogg" who is fully supported by the new expansion pack. And if you want to find out why I named him Ogg just find him online and tell him that he's one ugly mother.
Note to Linux users! (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Note to Linux users! (Score:1)
The NwN team, of course, has been fantastic in their Linux support. I'm not thrilled that the editor isn't available on Linux, but it's more the fault of lying tool publishers than it is theirs...
Re:Note to Linux users! (Score:2, Insightful)
Really? I seem to remember them saying how they couldn't release it for months because they had to rewrite the audio engine, only to have it pointed out for them that the audio engine was already ported and there for the taking. I also seem to remember waiting months for it to come out at all. I must say that the version they have out now isn't bad, and it's nice that they're releasing windows and linux patches pretty much in sync, but t
Re:Note to Linux users! (Score:1)
Not timely, but fantastic just the same. Despite people like me going out and buying the base game and first expansion at the same time to run under linux, they won't get to see a lot of dollars for the linux version. Everyone is used to patching after they buy a game now anyway, so just treat it as a forthcoming patch. A lot of copies of this game won't
Re:Note to Linux users! (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Note to Linux users! (Score:5, Informative)
I love the Bioware guys - they are one of the best developers we get to work with.
They have never evaluated Bink for Linux and we have never quoted them a price, so there hasn't been anything to disagree about, even if we wanted to.
And in any case, one Bink license fee (which is way less than six figures), is nothing compared to the amount of money Bioware spends to create the Linux version of their game in the first place (it's pretty cool that they spend all this time and money actually, since the Linux gamer user base is so tiny - even compared to Mac).
They just put this expansion pack together very very quickly (for all three platforms at once even!), so they didn't have time to integrate any major new stuff yet.
->Jeff
RAD Game Tools
Re:No need to wait, here's the torrent (Score:3, Informative)
I'm all for file-sharing, but these guys deserve some support...
Re:No need to wait, here's the torrent (Score:2, Insightful)
Well... (Score:5, Funny)
Mac? (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Mac? (Score:1, Informative)
Re:Mac? (Score:2)
The new classes and mechanics for HoU will be in the forthcoming 1.60 patch; I haven't seen any information yet about whether 1.60 will be available for mac os. It's anyone's guess..
Great (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Great (Score:2)
Or, you could just follow the instructions on nwn.bioware.com which are very detailed.
Just be sure to have DRI turned on in your XF86Config or it will go mega-slow
Good luck.
How to bash Microsoft? (Score:1, Funny)
Please advise.
Re:How to bash Microsoft? (Score:2)
Well the Windows client tends to crash a lot because little MSN Messenger spam popups keep dropping you back to the desktop. Also, people with the windows version seem to have to do a hard reboot when the game crashes. OTOH, in my experience the linux client is very robust and has only crashed once or twice in my memory, and all it did was drop out to X11 to be quickly restarted with no reboot required. Also, in multiplayer, I seem to con
I know this is offtopic but, (Score:5, Insightful)
it just goes to show that quality can still be found in new games, as opposed to crap we find in sw:galaxies, enter the matrix, or deus ex 2.
my hat's off to bioware...
Re:I know this is offtopic but, (Score:3, Funny)
It's bought in bulk from quality-and-excellence-discounters.com. Quality shipments starting from a low, low price of only $19.95 / quadratic cm! (quality is, as you know, a four dimensional entity)
quadratic? like a parabola? (Score:1, Insightful)
Re:I know this is offtopic but, (Score:5, Informative)
The company, Bioware, was actually comprized of doctors in Canada who really enjoyed gaming. I know this because I used to be a regular poster to comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.rpg and when Bioware was in it's infancy Dr. Ray Mazurka (one of the founders) used to post all the time with updates to BG and whatnot. Fun guy
He doesn't post there much now, but Bioware has already established itself. BTW: I just started NWN a week ago and love the damn thing...
Re:I know this is offtopic but, (Score:2)
yes! (Score:2, Interesting)
What I really wish is that someone would make an ungodly beautiful game that's made with multiprocessor machines.
*drools*
Re:yes! (Score:5, Informative)
Nwvault camera hack page. [ign.com]
smeat!
Re:yes! (Score:4, Informative)
Camera can be unlocked already! (Score:4, Informative)
To unlock, go to console (tilde) and type "unlockcamera 1", or go to the talk bar and say "##unlockcamera 1".
To make it permanent, edit nwnplayer.ini - add "UnlockCamera=1" to [Control Options] section
Re:yes! (Score:2)
There was a hack that allowed it, and the game went from great to OMG.
But then they released a 'patch' that broke it.
Also, I had to deal with there support people, and got treated like a thief, so I won't be buying Hordes, regardless on its quality.
Re:yes! (Score:2)
http://nwvault.ign.com/Files/hakpacks/data/1028
Re:yes! (Score:2)
NwN is not so framerate sensitive as most FPS games and things like Doom3. If you get 20fps its totally playable and your not likely to notice any ill effects. And of course you can benefit from SMP. The nwmain process will just live on one of the cpu's and use up 99% cpu cycles for that processor, leaving you lots of cycles to run system processes, a web browser on yo
Good news (Score:2, Insightful)
Anyone disappointed at NWN (Score:3, Interesting)
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 EllenbergerRe:Anyone disappointed at NWN (Score:2)
The first expansion was better though. You could see them really start to pull out some better rpg tricks like real choices in how to deal with situations. Thats why a lot of people are keen for this next expansion, assuming that the improvement has continued to what the first game could (should?
www.nordock.net (Score:5, Informative)
NWN by itself is an average game. What extends it as one of the most amazing games of all time is it's unprecedented "hackability". Nordock.net is an excellent example. It started as a small module written for the friends of the creater, Marc. It's since grown into a three server, persistant world with a user base of several thousand. There are typically 10-20 people in-game at any given time. This makes the game much more friendly, IMHO, than commerical MMORGs; there are much less powergamers and more role-playing. Plus they have about a dozen DMs, most of which are really cool and regulary run spontanious quests.
If you want to give it a shot, here are the server addresses:
nordock1.nordock.net:5121nordock1.nordock.net:5122
nordock1.nordock.net:5124
They all share the same character vault, so you can play on any of them.
Re:Anyone disappointed at NWN (Score:2)
James
Play it online (Score:2)
Re:Anyone disappointed at NWN (Score:1)
Re:Anyone disappointed at NWN (Score:2)
Also, playing multiplayer is so damn slow it's pointless. One person gains a level and everyone gets lunch while he or she levels up.
Re:Anyone disappointed at NWN (Score:2, Informative)
Then, two days later, we were both repeating:
"Never again."
"Never again."
It will be a cold day in hell before Bioware gets another hundred dollars out of us for a sequel to a product so inferior in every possible way.
I think the brightest memory I have of playing NWN was running around getting chased by my cohort, wh
Re:Anyone disappointed at NWN (Score:3, Interesting)
Agree. The BG1/2 (+ Throne of Bhaal) were beautifully told and had an excellent story to tell as well.
NWN henchmen seemed like a hack. Something bolted on as to not make it Diablo
Agree that NWN henchmen, even in HotU, isn't as interactive as before. They still feel a bit too much like AI drones you can talk to and give orders to. There *is* one op
Re:Anyone disappointed at NWN (Score:4, Interesting)
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.
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
sounds like you haven't played Planescape:Torment (Score:2)
Re:sounds like you haven't played Planescape:Torme (Score:2)
I have indeed played it, in between BG and BGII, but only for a couple of hours. The whole zombie angle didn't really appeal to me -- I much prefer daylight, birds singing, and pretty wenches.
Regards,
--
*Art
Re:Anyone disappointed at NWN (Score:2)
Yup. For the same reason that a good book has much better graphics than the movie -- powered by your imagination, instead of ILM and nVidia.
Regards,
--
*Art
Re:Anyone disappointed at NWN (Score:3, Insightful)
Well, I never even finished playing the initial scenario beyond chapter 3. I bought the SoU expansion and never played its campaign. I'm gonna buy HotU this weekend and to be honest with you, I don't even in
Re:The biggest problem (Score:2)
Then I started talking to someone else about the hireling quests...trying to help Tomi find the forged document proving h
Re:Anyone disappointed at NWN (Score:2)
Right from the outset BioWare made it well known to anyone who cared to l
Other Horde Reviews (Score:4, Insightful)
The last expansion pack for NWN was a bit of a let-down (it averaged a 79% [gametab.com]) but this pack seems to have much better chances [gametab.com].
Does anyone have any statistics on how the intitial release and first expansion pack fared at retail? I am looking forward to a full-blown sequel, but the publisher seems here [gametab.com] more willing to issue a "Gold Edition" than to invest in a new full game.
Re:Other Horde Reviews (Score:2)
They've been working on their Secret PC RPG Project [bioware.com] for over a year.
I want to try these games, which one 1st? (Score:2)
Where do I start is the original game called Never Winter Nights?
Do the expansions go in order or are they each seperate games?
Thanks
Re:I want to try these games, which one 1st? (Score:2)
Re:Gold Edition lacks bound manuals ;-( (Score:2)
I was lucky enough to find it at EB earlier this year. (Stuff like this rarely hits the shores in Aust). It really is a collasal collection of goodies put together in one package.
Contents (lifted from bioware webpage):
#The Art of Neverwinter Nights - The first ever collection of Neverwinter Nights art features 120 pages of exclusive artwork straight from the creative geniuses at BioWare. The book comes loaded with concept art, 'never before seen' sketches
Re:Gold Edition lacks bound manuals ;-( (Score:2)
Re:I want to try these games, which one 1st? (Score:2)
I
Re:I want to try these games, which one 1st? (Score:2)
The first expansion, Shadows of Udrentide got much better story reviews and added a few good things to the toolset. Its story is not a sequel to the original storyline.
The second expansion, Hordes of the Underdark is still too fre
Does anyone else find these games a bit linear? (Score:5, Interesting)
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.
Re:Does anyone else find these games a bit linear? (Score:5, Informative)
If you want an experience more like pen and paper D&D, play multiplayer with a Dungeon Master. The DM has a great deal of control over what happens in the game, and can directly control NPCs to help eliminate the bad Turing Test feel of some dialog scripts.
Re:Does anyone else find these games a bit linear? (Score:2)
It should be (Score:2)
Re:It should be (Score:2)
Yawn (Score:1, Offtopic)
James
Re:Yawn (Score:1, Offtopic)
(Yes, I know stupider is not a word you bloody grammar nazi's.)
Re:Yawn (Score:2)
Why still no DVD? (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Why still no DVD? (Score:2)
Re:Why still no DVD? (Score:2)
CDs? What CDs? There's three CDs in NWN, and two expansions, each one CD.
And only one is used as a "play" disk! Never ever needed to change a CD in NWN! The game runs mostly off HD, even if you do a non-full install.
And further, with full install, only Windows version insists on checking the CD for copy protection purposes (bet they'll spay that too one day), Linux version runs completely off HD.
bioware + linux (Score:5, Insightful)
Not only that, but I believe the company has totally raised the bar for computer game standards. An auto-updater is included, support for Mac and Linux, standalone servers, tons of downloads on their server (they even host a fan-made movie [bioware.com]), etc, etc.
I hope they come out with more mods, or at the very least keep improving on a really fun game.
Module creation (Score:5, Informative)
Also, I hear that the Hordes of the Underdark finally lets your characters advance to epic (over 20) levels. *That* is cool.
Is it just me .... (Score:4, Funny)
I mean really ... we already know that anyone who plays it gets a "monitor tan" ... but to call them "Underdark" is just too much
Crowds of the OverLight (Score:2)
I have commented on NWN earlier... (Score:4, Interesting)
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
- 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.
Blah Blah Blah (Score:2, Insightful)
I won't post a link to the the authors homepage as I don't want the guy
Eyaaargh... (Score:2)
Official Campaign not multiplayer (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Official Campaign not multiplayer (Score:2)
Hordes of the underdark? (Score:2, Funny)
Hordes of the underdark in stores sounds to me like the rush of gamers crawling out of their caves and into walmart to buy this new game.
Changing Rules (Score:2)
When I made my mod [stickafork.ath.cx] I wanted to make a fun balanced place for those who had NWN to play. I think I did a pretty good job of that and many a player has had fun slaying dragons and such so I think I succeded in that regard. However...
Then they released SoU. Not only did they make it very hard for the people who had NWN mods to edit any of the scripts that were now included in SoU unless you made your s
Re:Changing Rules (Score:2)
Re:Changing Rules (Score:2)
1. I knew that the expansions would modify in the game that my mod couldn't react to.
2. I wanted to incorporate whatever I could from the expansions.
Now in all honesty I'm very happy to see Shadows and Hordes because it really ads a crapload of good stuff to NWN. Even so I hope a third expansion doesn't appear. I'd rather see NWN 2 appear that uses 3.5 rules and makes deep changes to correct some of the larger flaws existing in N
An amusing misunderstanding (Score:2)
Source Control (Score:2, Interesting)
I lost a lot of interest when I was told the solution was basically a design by contract and people essentially worked on zones separate from each other. This gives each person a vertical slice of the world. I'd like a horizontal slice where I could do coding someone else do mapping, someone else do dialog...etc.
This i
Re:Source Control (Score:2)
Re:Source Control (Score:2)
Linux registration (Score:3, Informative)
"The Hordes of Underdark" not in all stores. (Score:2)
Fortunately some stores used "Stinking Cloud" and other area-of-effect spells to keep the Hordes from disrupting Christmas shoppers.
Just Finished the game... (Score:2)
Re:first post (Score:1)
Re:first post (Score:2, Insightful)
To each his own, but Non-MMORPG roleplaying games will always have their large market, as storytelling is what many people look for in
Re:first post (Score:5, Insightful)
MMORPG's are certainly highly addictive, but so far, have not really progressed much beyond being a skinner's box wraped up in some fantasy and garnished with ample opportunity for socialization. (not entirely a bad thing) Single player RPG's, on the other hand, are a lot like interactive novels. Games like NWN that provide robust development tools to end-users are essentially interactive novels which encourage fan-fiction.
MMORPG's and games like NWN both have their distinctive niches and, while they may be based around the same sort of fantasy universes, are completely different animals which are both unlikely to go extinct anytime soon.
Re:first post (Score:2)
Re:first post (Score:2)
Re:I'm willing to lay my karma on the line (Score:1)
Well, a deal's a deal: A WINNN-AAAHHHHHHH
Re:I'm willing to lay my karma on the line (Score:2)
Re:I'm willing to lay my karma on the line (Score:1)
I'm just happen to be having a great evening and though I'd do something weird. Hell, it is only $20 bucks (or ~$829872CA to me).
Re:I'm willing to lay my karma on the line (Score:2)
Re:Too busy! (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Too busy! (Score:2)
Re:Front Page (Score:2)
Plus it's a pretty cool thing. RPG plus toolset that allows you to create your own stories plus DM client that lets you play god in real-time for a group of other players.
Re:Front Page (Score:2)
Because Slashdot is News for Nerds - Stuff that Matters. If you don't think that this is front page news then you are obviously a geek rather than a nerd, and us nerds don't like you geeks making stupid posts dis'ing our holy grail: Dungeons and Dragons . Maybe yo