Games
As many of you who know me will attest, I am not a big game player.  There are; however, some games that I really enjoy playing when I play them.  Sim City 2000 was the first game that I really got into.  I think the first time I played it I played for 6 hours straight.  I got the expansion pack, called the Urban Renewal pack for SC 2000 and loved all the different architectural options.  I have Sim City 3000 and have enjoyed it, though not so much as 2000 and am looking forward to getting Sim City 4000.

Divine Divinity
This last Christmas That would be Christmas of 2002 my Sweet Faboo got me a game called Divine Divinity, it's kind of a mythological game along the lines of D&D and a lot of fun.  I've been playing it so much since I got it that I'm afraid he is somewhat sorry he got it for me.  There are a lot of things about DD that are well thought out.  One thing that has really increased my enjoyment of it is that there are a lot of things you can pick up and move around that are not necessarily related to any quest or mission you might be on.  I have put that ability to good use to clean out a deserted castle's treasure room and make it a little home for my character.  I moved a bed in along with some other comforts and decorated it nicely.  Sure it took some time, but it was fun and I like to think of my character as having a nice home to retire to when I'm not around.  Each time I leave the castle I take a load of garbage or other detrius out of the dungeon on the way to the castle proper.  The advantage of this location is that it's close to it's own teleporter pad.  

It's amazing how much real estate is readily avalible for the price of cleaning out all the undead.  I took the plants from the foyer of a real jerk of a merchant.  The golden throne came from the new duke who is a brat and quite annoying.  I bet he will be the one who's annoyed when he goes to hold court next.  I'm going to be picking up some other things to decorate with and when I'm done I'll re post the picture to show the finished product.

My home in the Imp's Castle.  Pretty, no?

Hordes of the Underdark
Right then.  Last Christmas and this would be Christmas of 2002, my in-laws purchased a game for me called Neverwinter Nights.  A true D&D game that I enjoyed playing very much.  Its right up there with Sim City and Divine Divinity.  This last November the third expansion was released for Neverwinter Nights, called Hordes of the Underdark.  Hordes of the Underdark (henceforth HotU) is the most fun game I have ever played.  It is my current favorite and I have replayed it many times. 

The programmers really expanded upon an already rich game environment in NWN and added so many little things that HotU is just the best game I've ever played.  I really enjoyed the NPCs (that'd be non player characters) and their interactions with not only my character, but each other.  There were old friends from NWN and Shadows of Undrentide (SoU) as well as new friends.  Deekin the kobold bard was entertaining in SoU, but really raised to new heights of hiliarity in HotU. 

 

So far, this is the best screen shot of the whirlwind attack I've gotten. Both my pc and Valen are executing whirlwind attacks.
Sadly this was the only angle that gave a visible shot of both characters.  That red glow is because that drow failed his saving throw against my Enserric The Longsword.  

One of the more remarkable new NPCs was Valen Shadowbreath, a tiefling warrior that you meet in the second chapter.  His character was really well developed by David Gaider of Bioware, who added some priceless personality traits.  Like for instance Valen will sing to himself, badly, just as he is going into battle.  I was pleased and impressed to find such depth of character in a computer game, frankly I would expect to see at best two dimensional characters, but in HotU there were well developed three dimensional characters to interact with.  One of the feelings I got while playing was that of actually being in a movie.

One last thing to mention, or rather NPC, is Enserric the intelligent longsword.  Appearantly in life he was a mage and somehow got himself sucked into a vampiric longsword whilst out adventuring.  He's a bit bitter about it too.  Some of the things he says are just hysterical.  I really think toward the end of the game he starts to go 'round the bend too.  But then he's become a sword, that might unravel even the most rational of minds.

 

Yes Valen has a prehensile tail.
More screen shots follow.

The red glowing weapon is Enserric the Longsword. The white glowing weapon is my Holy Avenger!  Yeah!
Ok. I'm just having so much fun what with all the different weapons and armor and prestiege classes.  I keep playing the game over again just to try new things out. 

One time through I'll see a weapon that looks cool, but that I don't have the feat to wield, so I'll make a mental note and the next time through I'll take the required feat so that I can give it a try.  The same is true of some of the armor.  Like the Armor of Faith can only be worn by a Paladin or a Champion of Torm and the Fletchers Friend armor can only be worn by an Arcane Archer.

This is some groovy armor I bought from one of the merchants.  It's called the Fletchers Friend as it's a plus 6 armor, but with no arcane spell failure and no limit on your Dex bonus; and hey!  Is he checking out my cleavage?!?
It also seems like I find new dialogue each time I go through.  To be honest I try to give different replies each time and its fun to see where the conversations go.

 

"Father always wanted me to be a fighter!"  Enserric the Intelligent Long Sword.

 

 

This super cool armor is called the Armor of Faith.  I got it for my Paladin/Weapons Master.  This is a pretty good view of Enserric the Intelligent Long sword too.  The other long sword is my Holy Avenger!  Yeah!
PC (player character):  Why are you draining my constitution?

Enserric: I think this sword is evil.

PC:  You let yourself be sucked into an evil sword?

Enserric:  Look it was either die or be sucked into an evil sword.  What would you have done?

This is a super cool bow called Forever that has unlimited ammo: fire arrows.  I had to get it for my Arcane Archer/Cleric/ Sorceress.  Wait a minute!  He's staring at my cleavage again.  How just like a guy.
Ok, so here I am in the Searing Armor.  I love it because it gives me a free retributive strike.  On hit, which means when I take a hit, it discharges a beam of searing light (level 6 I believe).    So that is what that beam is you see coming from my armor. 

Plus the driders look cool.

If you've made it this far I'll let you know that I've started writing a fan fiction based upon HotU.  You can read what I've got done Here:  worlds_within