Neverwinter Nights: Shadow of Undrentide

Other products by Atari

Product Features

• In Neverwinter Nights, your city is under quarantine as a deadly plague decimates the population is running amok. You are sent on a quest to find a cure. Journey through ancient dungeons, battles deadly monsters & learn the skills you need to become a mighty warrior. Hire your own muscle or join other adventurers to form war parties -- or go onlin and control a multiplayer adventure as Dungeon Master!
• Neverwinter Nights - Shadows of Undrentide takes you to frontier town of Hilltop, where a young apprentice sees her mentor killed & strange artifacts taken from his home. Swearing revenge, she is swept into an adventure that will leave the fate of Hilltop and the Silver Marches in her inexperienced hands. Travel eastward, crossing the deserts to face a dangerous enemy while gaining new skills like Tumble and Appraise. Discover new weapons and items Holy Water and Choking Powder -- you'll need

Product Details

• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B00007M57T
• Product Dimensions: 7.5 x 5.2 x 1.2 inches ; 5.6 ounces
• Media: CD-ROM
• Release Date: June 18, 2003
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (47 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #7,803 in Video Games (See Bestsellers in Video Games)
• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes

Product Description

Platform: PC

From the Manufacturer

Neverwinter Nights: Shadows of Undrentide offers role playing fans even more D&D features than the groundbreaking original. Additions include new skills, including Tumble and Appraise; new feats, such as Divine Might, Extra Music and Bullheaded; new weapons, such as Holy Water Flasks and Choking Powder; new prestige classes, like Harper Scout; new monsters from the D&D universe, including Medusa, Cockatrice, Sphinx, and Female Fire Giant; and dozens of new spells. In addition, the expansion pack equips amateur module makers with additional content for the Neverwinter Nights Aurora Toolset, the groundbreaking software included with the full game that allows players to create their own universes, quests and storylines. The toolset will be augmented with all new tile sets for creation of new environments as well as new "Wizards," or automated guides, to help gamers build and play adventures of their own creation.

Product Description

Neverwinter Nights "Shadows of Undrentide" Expansion Pack (PC CD-ROM), Product #24570

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

42 of 44 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Not bad for an expansion, July 24, 2003

By	Yu-jin Chia "Yu-Jin Chia" (Cupertino, CA USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Shadows of Undrentide doesn't do much to change the way Neverwinter Nights is played, and this is generally for the best. The main changes in terms of characterization are five new prestige classes, a scattering of new feats and skills, and a few new spells for each spellcaster type. New creatures have been added as well, including two new familiars. Lastly, several new tilesets have been added: snow, desert, and Netherese ruins.

The new campaign isn't as long as BioWare's infinity engine game expansions (Heart of Winter, Throne of Bhaal) but isn't too short either. There's enough new things to see to make it interesting, and the roleplaying aspect is significantly improved over the original NWN campaign. For one, you really have the chance to act evil and still get through the game, which until now- in the general universe of D&D computer gaming- has been difficult at best. The plot is a pretty standard artifact hunt, but it does take some interesting turns. Fans of the Forgotten Realms D&D setting will appreciate this especially, but it's easy enough to follow that those who can't tell Elminster from Gandalf should be able to make sense of it.

As for the campaign difficulty, it is pretty tough. Whether out of some perverse humor or just because the original campaign was too easy, the developers seem to be baiting players to their doom. The prestige classes are the cool new thing about Shadows, but none of them (with the probable exception of Arcane Archer) are spellcasting classes. However, I found it extremely difficult to play single player without a spellcasting character [if it matters, I thought Baldur's Gate, Icewind Dale, and the original NWN were all fun, but too easy]. You will often run into masses of enemies that individually are no match for your combat prowess, but taken in whole will make hay out of your warrior or rogue. When this happens, there's really no substitute for a good fireball. Of course, this can be remedied if you get all your friends online to help you out, which I heartily recommend.

You can bring along one of several potential allies- a dwarf rogue/priest, a half-orc barbarian/sorcerer, or a kobold bard. I found the spellcasting AI to be abysmal- the priest won't heal you when you're almost dead unless you ask her to, and the sorcerer seems to have nothing but ray of frost in his repertoire- and uses it even when he would do far better just meleeing the enemy up. The good news is you can now manage their inventory, so if you have an extra set of armor or weaponry (another plus in not being a warrior) you can give it to them. The pathfinding and trap handling AI seems to be improved as well. NPCs will no longer charge over a trap when they spot another one beyond it, and will finish disarming one before attacking an enemy.

New items in the expansion include grenade-like weapons such as alchemist's fire and acid flasks. These are useful early on, and in large quantities can duplicate that much-needed fireball effect, but are oddly expensive and don't do that much damage individually. New weapons, loot, and armor are of course available, though these generally don't have a new look. Some new potions and assorted artifacts can be found, some of which are quite interesting. For example, there is a bag that summons creatures depending on what ingredients you put inside it.

The new prestige classes available are the Arcane Archer, Assassin, Blackguard, Harper Scout, and Shadowdancer. This is where I have a bit of a gripe with Shadows. Save for Arcane Archer, these classes are, frankly, worthless. They were already pretty bad with the core rules, but some of those rules require things that NWN can't do (e.g. crafting Harper Pins as a Harper Scout). The developers overcame these problems by changing some abilities and, in my opinion, the computerized versions are even worse than the pen and paper ones. Also, as I mentioned earlier, there aren't spellcasting classes (arcane archer is far less arcane than archer). I was hoping they'd add the archmage or loremaster at least, but no luck there so you'll have to settle for the new familiars and spells. The familiars are the pseudodragon and fairy dragon, both of which are very cool. Spells include such notably absent ones as Shield, the Bigby's Hand series, Inflict Wounds spells, and Earthquake.

Of course, perhaps the best thing about Shadows is the potential fan content. The new tilesets look great, and the complex interactions in the new campaign show what can be done with the engine. Once the mod community sinks its teeth into the expansion, there will no doubt be plenty more adventures to share. This has always been the best part of Neverwinter Nights, and will surely be the best part of Shadows of Undrentide.

20 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent expansion for those who liked the original, June 25, 2003

By A Customer

While it is true that the re-addition of SecuROM has caused some computers some problems, this was also an issue when NWN first shipped. If you were able to play before patching originally, you will be able to play the expansion as well.

The campaign included is not an extension of the original campaign, but is instead a new campaign for new characters. Starting at any level above first is bound to disappoint. It is, however, more challenging than the original campaign if you start with a recommended first level character. The campaign also addresses some of the complaints that those who prefer singelplayer had with the original campaign - more choices for different ways to solve quests, more interactive NPCs and henchmen, some control over how your henchman levels up as well as the ability to have them cast support/"buffing" spells before battle. Although the game advertises 20 hours, this varies according to your playing style, and it isn't unusual for those who enjoy engaging in conversations and exploring to have over 30 hours in a single play through of the game. Not too bad for an expansion.

Also, they have added the ability to control your henchman's inventory and what they have equipped, many new spells and feats, and prestige classes - five new classes that you must level up and qualify for in order to attain.

For builders, there are two brand new tilesets (desert and ruins) as well as a nicely reskinned rural tileset in winter clothes. They've also added several new groups to the existing tilesets, many, many new placeables, and a large amount of scripting commands.

As with the original, although I think the game is worth the money for what it was packaged with, the value really shines when you download the user created modules and/or play online. There are over 2500 modules to download, and growing. Personally, I think only about 5% are worth playing, but that still is about 125 modules and hundreds of additional game hours. This does not take into account the possibilites for playing with friends online that can change the game onthe fly with the DM Client.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A bit anti-climactic, June 23, 2003

By A Customer

It's not that there's anything wrong with SoU, it's just that a lot of the fan made content is way better. The module itself is alright, but it's too short, too small in size and scope, and there were a few really non-intuitive puzzles.

The tilesets are nice enough too, but I don't see why they didn't include several others for fans to use. An outdoor Arabian city tileset, and a corresponding city in the module would have made SoU a lot better.

The Prestige Classes are a mixed bag. Specifically, the Shadowdancer and the Assassin can't do much that a normal rogue can't do.

On the positive side, the new Feats and Skills are very cool, and should allow for more unique characters. The new spells are awesome, probably the best addition to the game.

SoU isn't all bad, but I still recommend saving your money and downloading the fan made Lone Wolf modules and a few others instead.

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