NWN expansion: Shadows of Undrentide, available now

[Nadia]

http://gamespot.com/gamespot/stories/ne ... 41,00.html
Edmonton-based developer will announce not one, but two add-ons for this ambitious role-playing game. The first one is called Shadows of Undrentide


GS: What does the title "Shadows of Undrentide" refer to?

Rick Ernst: In the Forgotten Realms there was once a nation of powerful wizards called Netheril. So great was Netherese magic that they lived in massive cities that would float through the air. Unchecked ambition destroyed their civilization and sent their cities crashing into the ground (doesn't it always?). Generations later the ruined cities are still filled with powerful magics and fell beasts. Undrentide is one of these cities.

GS: Will players be able to import their high-level Neverwinter Nights characters into the game, or will they start over with a new character in the expansion?

PN: 3rd Edition Dungeons & Dragons has a built-in level cap at 20th level. Since most people who've played through the original campaign have hit that cap (or nearly so), the expansion campaign is intended to start from first level with a new generation of adventurers. However, the expansion is broken into three chapters and designed such that a player could start the game at the beginning of either the second or third chapter with a preexisting midlevel character.

Greg Zeschuk: Exactly. The first expansion is intended as more of a lower- to midlevel adventure, while the second expansion is aimed at mid- to higher-level characters.

GS: Will the hireling system remain as is, or will players have control over more characters this time around?

RE: We're sticking with the dynamic-duo style of play for Shadows of Undrentide. That being said, we're adding a number of improvements to the henchmen themselves. We're working on allowing the player more control over a henchman's actions, and we're giving the henchmen a more active role by allowing them to interject with criticism or advice. The goal is to give your one henchman more character.

RM: In addition to the design wizardry of FloodGate, the programmers at BioWare are working to implement several improvements to the henchman system, some of which will be in the first expansion, and some of which will be in the second expansion (mainly because some features will take longer to develop). One other important addition in the first expansion (no promises until we implement it) is that we're hoping to be able to allow players to access their henchman's inventory, and we plan to continue to build further enhancements to henchmen in the second expansion.

GS: Neverwinter Nights met with some criticism because of the campaign's relative ease. Will Shadows of Undrentide be a more challenging adventure?
PN: One of the things we're trying to do with the campaign is keep it more focused, with fewer side quests and more emphasis on the plot line. Because of this we have a better idea of what level players will have reached at a given point in the game. This should help us tweak the difficulty of the major encounters. There are also a number of quests that have more than one path to completion, and they won't all be equally easy. Anyone hoping to maintain a lawful good alignment may have some tough choices to make, though they'll find it rewarding if they keep the faith.

GZ: We definitely wanted Neverwinter Nights to be accessible to the mainstream player, but we also provided ways for the hard-core players to be challenged (difficulty settings, for example). With our expansion packs our goal is to grow the audience for Neverwinter even larger.

GS: Will the character level cap be raised? What can we expect in the way of new skills, feats, or even character classes?

RE: Raising the 20th level cap would require implementation of elements from Wizards of the Coast's Epic Level Handbook, which was beyond the scope of what we were planning with Shadows of Undrentide. Even so, we're adding a heap of new feats and spells and a couple of skills as well. Fighters will be happy to see the inclusion of great cleave and dirty fighting, and we've also negotiated for the addition of a certain line of spells from a wizard named Bigby. Shadows of Undrentide will also see our first craft skill, and we're very interested to see how it is received. As for character classes, Shadows of Undrentide will see the debut of prestige classes to Neverwinter Nights.

RM: The programmers at BioWare will definitely be implementing the feats, spells, skills, and prestige classes that Paul mentions above for the first expansion, but epic levels are something that we're hoping to be able to deal with comprehensively in the second expansion pack. We'll reveal more details on that later.

GS: What kind of new monsters will we be up against?

PN: Really, how much fun would new spells and feats be without beasties to try 'em out on, eh? Well one of the additions we've added to Shadows of Undrentide is a petrification effect, so naturally we're adding some petrifying monsters, including the dread basilisk and everyone's favorite evil chicken, the cockatrice. Since we're adding a new desert environment, we have to include some desert monsters to occupy it, so players will be able to face down a sphinx and a horde of stingers (scorpion-men). One of our favorite additions to the monster roster would be wyrmling--very young dragons. And on a not-entirely unrelated note, players will also have access to a couple of new familiars and an animal companion. We'll also be making use of the monsters that BioWare's live team has been working on, including the much-maligned kobold.

GS: What kind of new loot or new magic can we expect to run into?

RE: Ah yes, loot! Well, we'll need wands and staves charged up with our new spells (watch out for a wand that looks like a back-scratcher--it belongs to that Bigby fellow) and new armor and weapons to take full advantage of our new feats and skills--Boots of Tumbling, Arrows of Petrification--plus powerful sets of armor and weapons wielded by legendary heroes. And for our low-level buddies, we're adding a new nonmagic weapon to their arsenal, grenadelike weapons, so you can wade into battle with a bandoleer of holy water, alchemist's fire, or caltrops.

GS: This project is being codeveloped by BioWare and FloodGate. Can you tell us about this partnership and give us some background on the codeveloper?

RM: We're very excited to be working in partnership with another developer to develop a project--it's not something that we've done before, but it's something that we'll likely be doing more of in the future. Accordingly, we've chosen FloodGate very carefully, based largely on the experience of their team--a large number of the people there have come from Looking Glass, a company we had a lot of respect for. We'll be working closely with them--BioWare is doing the programming work on this first expansion, and FloodGate is doing the design and art (which BioWare is providing commentary and suggestions on as well). We're looking forward to seeing the results of this partnership.

PN: FloodGate is a relatively new studio, but the team has deep roots in the game industry, including a number of folks who were key developers on such classics as Ultima Underworld, System Shock, and Thief. All of us are huge fans of Neverwinter Nights, and we are thrilled to help grow this franchise. In our partnership with BioWare, we are providing the design, art, and audio for the expansion, while BioWare is adding the technical (programming) wizardry.

[Nadia]

interview
http://www.homelanfed.com/index.php?id=11240
<snippet>
HomeLAN - What is the current progress on Shadows of Undrentide and when will it be released?

Neurath and Ernst - We’re well into development now, all three chapters are up and running. You can play through the game from start to finish, and almost all of the new features are in the game. Our main focus at the moment is to add as much fun flavor and role-playing opportunities as possible. We want players to feel like they can play their character however they want, sneaky, do-gooder, evil, brute… which means a lot of options when it comes to quests. As for release date, I believe Infogrames currently has us slated for a spring release.



HomeLAN - BioWare is planning on making its own solo commerical expansion for Neverwinter Nights next year. What can you tell us at this time about your plans for this project?


Muzyka and Zeschuk - We’re very excited about the second expansion pack to Neverwinter. We have a lot of new features planned for this second expansion pack, and while we have been focusing the PR mainly on the first expansion right now, we’ll have a lot more to say about this second expansion a bit later on in the year. We are working on some cool new spells, some significant improvements to the henchmen system, as well as a bunch of new prestige classes, plus tons of new skills and feats – in addition, a whole new setting in the Forgotten Realms is featured in a new tileset that we’re working on – our fans have been clamoring to visit this area and we’re happy to provide a cool new background tileset for them!

[Nadia]

reported by http://www.bluesnews.com

Shadows of Undrentide Preview

The Shadows of Undrentide Preview on GameSpot offers a look at the upcoming expansion for BioWare's Neverwinter Nights currently in development at Floodgate. The article goes into detail about what to expect from the add-on, describing the story, gameplay mechanics, and more, including some detail on the kinds of diversions available off the beaten path: "As you may expect from the creator of the Baldur's Gate series, BioWare will include plenty of side quests and related quests to give you more options and freedom to explore as you wish. These quests are varied and fun and have the same variety and open-ended nature of the quests in the original Neverwinter Nights. You can help the aforementioned Red Wizards set up a magic shop in the town (and possibly benefit from the new wares they bring in), rescue a dwarven woman who has been mistaken for a baby giant and forced to be the wife of a dim-witted hill giant, find a snow-white teleporting magic stag for an elven ranger who needs the creature's horns to cure his wife's disease, secure the freedom of a helpful but sniveling kobold, and so forth."


gamespot preview
http://www.gamespot.com/pc/rpg/neverwin ... 26697.html

[Awea]

June! awww.... that's too far away =(