Jade Empire

[TheMadDoofer]

I loved the two KOTOR games so much, I thought I'd try Jade Empire - glad I did. So, I wrote a review because it kicks so much ass.

 

Story: Very good here, (I won't spoil it) as are most Bioware games, but it's pretty epic - another "chosen one" type story, and the voiceovers are pretty cheesey - almost everyone sounds completely american (though John Cleese has a small role). It still tells a great story though. There are also a ton of interesting side quests.

 

Gameplay: Pretty simple statistics - easy to learn, but still quite customizable. There is no "armor" per se, but you can power up your character with some objects and learn techniques that permanently enhance some aspect of your character. You have three stats to give points to when you level up: Body(health), Chi(magic), and Foucs(allows you to use weapons). Also, there are a ton of fighting styles for each of the following types: martial, magic, weapon, and the two alignments: open palm and closed fist. These two alignments are just like dark and light side in KOTOR, except there is a larger gray area. Movement is identical to KOTOR, but fighting is in real time, and is a lot of fun. It's very fast-paced and hard-hitting, but still requires some strategy if you want to live. You can use things called harmonic combos that basically cause your enemies to explode when correctly completed. (Gore can be turned off)

 

Graphics: Very pretty graphics that are very faithful to Chinese paintings and art of that time period - also very diverse. The characters are well animated, and enemies can be very strange, but that just makes it better (toad demons=???).

 

 

Sound: There are many points in the game with excellent music, just take the time to listen to it, it's really pretty. The game also includes a huge amount of dialogue, which is well written and often hilarious - more chances to insult people: I met a real holier-than-thou person, and there was a choice to call him a pompous ass and kill him. The ambient noise can be pretty creepy in some places too.

 

Replay: High - you should play it twice, because the alignment changes a lot.

 

 

Overall: 9/10

 

 

Discuss. And don't hurt me, but I like it better than the second KOTOR, and just as much as the first.

[Hannibal]

Originally posted by TheMadDoofer

Discuss. And don't hurt me, but I like it better than the second KOTOR, and just as much as the first.

 

I refer to Jade Empire as KOTOR2. I loved it too. It wasn't perfect but neither was KOTOR. I need to play it again as a closed fist now.

[Darth333]

I have too agree with you two.

 

I loved the game. It reminded me of K1 perhaps more than K2 did.

 

Major spoiler for both K2 and Jade - do not blame me if your game is ruined if you read what's under the spoiler tag - :

I found it amusing that as in K2, your initial ally becomes the end boss

but the plot was better conducted in Jade.

 

The game was well polished and there was a good variety of side quests. I found that the scenery and the details put in the graphics were great. I just wish it was longer.

 

Got to play the close fist way but I'm not sure I can be evil in this game

[TheMadDoofer]

There isn't an obvious big incentive for being evil over good, but some of the styles are better - plus you usually have more money from forcing it out of people, which can buy lots of techniques.