Customer Reviews

Jade Empire (Limited Edition)

5 star:		(37)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

From the people who brought us Knights of the Old Republic comes another genre-blending game with a fabulously twisting plot. If you own an Xbox, you should own this game. It is not only the best Action RPG on the Xbox but one of the best RPGs played in recent memory.

For those who have played KOTOR, this game will be instantly familiar. At the offset, you pick a character and are thrust into a world of moralities. Unlike KOTOR, the morality system is a little more complex for the most part. Instead of focusing on good and evil, your character has the choice of being endlessly helpful, understanding and tolerant of everyone (in other words believes in the power of the human spirit) or someone who reveres strength. As an example of this strength concept, there is a decision early on about a dam that is open and has caused problems for a town because the sailors are land locked. A wine merchant wants the dam to remain open so he can make a killing off of the sailors. If you follow the Way of the Open Palm you would probably close the dam so that the town can prosper in what is should be doing. If you follow the Way of the Closed Fist, on the other hand, would decide that if the town were strong they will survive this current hurdle and that it is only that, a hurdle. It gets a little more tricky than that and does open some areas for roleplaying your character and deciding what you would really do in that situation. Bioware is also wonderful at making you think about your decision as they give you new information just as soon as you make a decision that might change how you feel about the situation.

My only complaint with the system is that while they say that the two paths are different from looking at things as good and evil, there are still some instances where there is a "good" and an "evil" way of doing things. I might have rationalized why I would be doing something that way, yet I would get points from the side I didn't want because it was clearly delineated as "good and evil choice." So, that's a bit frustrating given that their system isn't supposed to be good and evil. But, overall the system works well and really makes you think.

I didn't really care for KOTOR because of the battle system and that is probably the reason I'm enjoying Jade Empire much more. The fighting system is simple yet deep. As you progress you will learn different martial arts style that you can map to the D-pad for quick and easy access. And you will be constantly changing your styles as the techniques to defeat enemies will constantly evolve. Some monsters are immune to certain attacks so you will have to experiment and find the best ways of devastating your foes.

On the simple side, the combat is really about rock, paper scissors. You have a quick attack and a time-consuming attack (and a knock back attack that really only helps when you are surrounded and need some space). When someone blocks you use your time consuming attack, otherwise you mostly use your quick attacks to offset their own long attacks. It's pretty simple and easy to used to. However, some battles can become a button masher either way you look at it. But it's still exhilarating and fast with many ways of deciding how you want to play. Do you want to focus on using weapons, martial arts, magic, transformations? A little of the above? It's all up to you.

The game is beautiful most of the time. The art style is impeccable and really helps create a full-flesh universe. Since it's based on oriental myth, it doesn't take place in the Orient as we know it but a mythical world that incorporates themes from oriental culture. Because of this, the desiginers are free to create whatever their imagination can make. And it's beautiful. There are some places that I stood for awhile and just looked because it was so surreally beautiful and soothing. It made me wish that sometimes our world wasn't so industrialized and that we could go back to what was a more simple beauty. It was that affecting. However, sometimes, the backgrounds look painted on. Some of the hills and areas that act as blockades for where you can't go aren't that well designed. Also my character's body type makes me laugh because his pecs are super large and his abs are indented in his body that I laugh whenever I see it.

The game moves impeccably fast as well. Your character runs and I mean runs through the areas. The framerate is great. But, like KOTOR before it, the game stutters sometimes when you are running and turning the camera. When the camera pans, the game flutters sometimes as it tries to take in everything that happens. In battles, the game hardly ever stutters. And the battles can end up having a good dozen or so enemies fighting you and your partner so they can get pretty hectic and the graphics engine does a great job keeping the motion moving.

Aurally, the game is a treat. You will find some cameo voice actors that are immediately familiar (look for John Cleese in a hysterical role). The music is well done and has a wonderful oriental bent to it (of course). Also, Bioware hired a real linguist to help create the fictional language used in the game. It is very familiar to oriental language but isn't real. It was created solely for this game. And that's amazing.

Unfortunately, my problem with the dialogue in the game is the same problem I had with KOTOR. It's great and all but all too often the plot developments and dialogue becomes a "talking head" type situation where anyone who has something important to say gets a close up of their face while their lips move and the dialogue is heard. This is unfortunate for me because I get impatient sometimes and will just read the subtitles and skip through most of their dialogue. It's never "dynamic" in cutscenes like in some RPGs I've played (hands down the best use of dialogue in an RPG goes to FFX that used dialogue to move the plot but it wasn't a novel dialogue; it was more of a movie dialogue). The dialogue in Jade Empire is sometimes like a novel. So, for those who aren't interested in talking heads delivering dialogue this might get annoying after a time. But the dialogue is genuinely well voiced and excellent.

My only other complaint is the load times. While not as annoying constant as Fable where each and every small zone no matter how small had to be loaded for a good 5-10+ seconds, it still is a pain when you have to go through zones for a quest. For instance, in the beginning of the game you have to go through the town to the school (a load screen) to get a quest, go back to town (load screen) to talk to someone, then back to the school (load screen). And it's unfortunate because the actual quest takes maybe a minute, but a good 20 seconds of the time is spent in load screens. That's a uncharacteristic load time though as generally the areas are big and don't usually require many loads. Although another incident where it is very noticeable is in an arena combat situation where before and after each arena battle it has to load for a good 5-10 seconds. The kicker is, some of the arena battles are over in about a minute or much much less and yet you have to deal with two load screens comprising a good 10-20 seconds. So, in some areas it can be annoying and definitely pulls you out of the game when you should be pulled further in. And, it becomes especially annoying considering that games like Halo 2 are seamless after the original load.

Overall, though, this game is gold. It's perfectly plotted and paced and has Bioware's trademark in excellence stamped all over it. It ranks as one of my favorite games this year so far along with God of War and Psychonauts. I would definitely recommend buying this game. There are some problems that I have noted but you know regardless of the problems, this is an excellent game with an excellent story. And, at 22+ hours, this adventure is worth taking.

**NOTE: You should definitely pick up this, the Limited Edition of it if you can still find it. For the initial run they are all Limited Edition and after they are gone, you will only be able to get the standard game. The Limited edition has a new character and weapon and a making of as well as some other fun things. Same price, so definitely check this one out if you want the game.

If you enjoy RPGs, then Jade Empire is definitely a game for you! The graphics are gorgeous, the storyline is great, and the atmosphere is intricate and well developed.

First, the basics. You are a young martial arts student who is sent by your master on a quest, in a fictional Oriental land. As you move through this world, you encounter a wide variety of people and situations. The choices you make help to shape the world around you and your skill progression.

The graphics are simply *beautiful* to look at. Each area has its own look, and the details are just stunning. There have been other XBox games in the past that looked quite nice, but with Jade Empire I really think they've hit the top. We'll have to wait for the next XBox to see anything more lush than this.

The sounds show that same attention to detail. The voice actors are great, and the background sounds really shine. The soundtrack is well done, too. The developers poured a lot of energy into the sound atmosphere in which you explore, and it really shows.

Gameplay is very smooth and fun. You can balance three different aspects of your "health" - i.e. physical health, magic power and focus - through your choices in combat. There are a wide variety of styles, and certain enemies are resistant to certain styles of attacks.

There is a main plot line, and numerous side plots. Sure, if you have a walkthrough, you can zip through the game in only 15 or so hours. That's true for pretty much any game. The joy of an RPG is to take your time, explore, talk to people. It's the difference between fast-forwarding through a DVD to see the end, vs actually sitting back and enjoying the entire ride. Compared to how much money you pay for a 1.5 hr movie, you're getting an incredible bargain here!

Highly recommended - 5/5

Jade Empire - Circa 2005

GOOD:
- Good/Tight controls
- Nicely balanced gameplay (some might think it's to easy just go to the difficulty setting and crank up the difficulty)
- Lots of different and interesting fighting styles to earn and choose from
- An original story with some twists and turns for you to discover (by talking to people). The story also has multiple endings (either good or bad outcome)
- Variety of different locals to travel to (all done in nice detail)
- Action RPG with lots of story (told through character dialogue) and real-time action

BAD:
- Not a traditional RPG or a traditional beat-em-up (like Final Fight), so it might upset people looking for more of either
- Slightly liner gameplay
- Dialogue trees might be to long for some that want more of an action game
- Some complain of long loading times, but Star Wars: Knights of the old Republic and fable had loading times just as long

IF IT FITS YOUR TASTE:
- Has mythical/medieval Chinese theme
- Action RPG with real time fighting (like in Fable), no turn based fighting (like in final Fantasy X) and no "partial" turn based fighting (like in Star Wars: Knights of the old Republic)
- Light RPG elements, think of this as an RPG for people who like RPG's but hate tracking statistics and complex weapon/armor upgrading. Great for people who like action/adventure games (like Onimusha) but want a lot more story
- Lot's of story and dialogue if you ever played Star Wars: Knights of the old Republic one or two you'll know what I mean.

GAME ITS MOST ASSOCATED TOO:
- Fable
- Star Wars: Knights of the old Republic

ADDITIONAL NOTES:
- This special version has a bonus disc with a new playable character, weapon and a making of the game video (made by G4's show Icons)
- After you beat the game and during the credits, you get some really funny dialogue from the game's main story characters

Okay, I don't know if I'm really qualified to write a review for this game yet seeing as how I'm only 10 hours into it, but damn, I feel I have to add to the positive input that should convince people to buy this game. This game has sucked me in. Goodbye Halo 2 (for a little while anyways), goodbye social life, goodbye girlfriend (just kidding--I still see her on the weekends ;) ), hello Jade Empire. This game is so gorgeous that I can hardly begin to describe it. It feels like every blade of grass, every tile on every roof, every statue in every town, has been there for centuries and belongs there. I love jumping into a game with an already lived-in feel, as if everything makes sense because of being crafted by years of experience. I love the fight system and the good/bad polarization that has carried over from KOTOR (which I always thought was one of the best replay elements a game could have). But the visuals are what drew me in the most. The architecture, the color, the feel of this game astounds me. Do yourself a favor and buy this game, even if you're only a partial fan of kung-fu movies and rpg games. If you have a small interest in the ancient chinese culture, possibly piqued by movies like Hero, Crouching Tiger, or House of Flying Daggers, this game will most definitely be your cup of tea. If you don't like good action games with deep storylines (and I haven't even finished it yet!) and beautiful visuals, then don't buy this game. And stay away from me...you freak.

My purchase of Jade Empire was solely due to my love of BioWare's best known title, Knights of the Old Republic. I was concerned that I might not be so engrossed without the Star Wars factor, but I was quickly sucked into this game.

As someone who might have only recently thought to describe herself as a gamer, I am sorely lacking in the controller skills one might expect a real-time combat system to require. I was pleasantly surprised to find Jade Empire's combat more than accessible; I'd be so bold as to say I was quickly kicking major kung-fu butt :-). Seriously, the variety of styles, both in types (Martial, Weapon, Magic and Support) and the sheer number of available styles, made the fighting beautiful to see, and although there are no complex button combinations, the Harmonic Combinations, while never necessary to defeat an opponent, allow the player to rain especially gory death on his or her enemies.

The storyline just rocks. The larger, overarching action constantly beckons the player to continue, and the romance subplots are one feature significantly improved over KotOR, in my opinion. Both male and female PCs have more than one character available for love, and one's chosen can be converted to the PC's philosophic path, or suffer the consequences. As (I admit it) a sappy girl when it comes to romance, I found this aspect of the game contributed significantly to my immersion in the plot. This game can be beaten in a little over 20 hours easily, but the game experience can be significantly enriched by the many subquests. The first time through, however, the larger plot drove me to skip several of these quests, simply because I couldn't wait to find out what happened next.

Although the "morality system" is not perfect, I found the Ways of Open Palm and Closed Fist intriguing. There are several subquests where I felt like I was being given straight good or evil choices, but overall, the options given to the player when choosing how to deal with characters reflects divergent philosophies, rather than nice or mean options.

The most out of place element in Jade Empire is probably the flyer missions, although once you become immersed in this mythical world, rather than thinking of this as simply medieval China, the presence of the flyer becomes much more natural.

A large part of this game's success is definitely due to the quality voice acting. The voices were never dull or flat, and there weren't many obviously repeated voices. The followers' voices are just brilliant, too, particularly the more comedic characters. And despite a slight tendency to relate large amounts of background information in random NPC dialogue, the script was, on the whole, great.

Overall, I absolutely loved this game. If you're looking for a game that balances simple, yet deep Player Character statistics, enjoyable gameplay, stunning environments, and riveting plot, Jade Empire's it.

Despite inevitible comparisons to the KOTOR series, Jade Empire really stands on its own as an extraordinary game.

It can be similar to Knights of the Old Republic in some respects; the conversation system that worked well in KOTOR is back here, with similar good and evil paths that you can follow (Open Hand and Closed Fist for good/evil respectively). The dialog is top-notch for a game, in standard Bioware quality, and the voice acting for it is also great. It is a bit awkward at first since I was expecting a more chinese-sounding voice set, but I think their decision to stay away from badly imitated accents was ultimately a good one.

Gameplay is also very good, and the difficulty is readily adjustable. Combat is a series of combinations more on par with the Dynasty Warriors style of fighting than with Tekken, but it has a flavor of its own that makes it interesting. Different styles of fighting and different weapons are available to change up the action, and each has its own feel and animation set. Fun and challenging, but not weighed down by being overly deep or bogged down in RPG statistics. Very accessible to players not trained on hours of arcade fighters, but still fun for those people on higher difficulty levels.

Speaking of animations, they're outstanding. The character models are well made, and the fluidity of the motion has the grace and beauty that kung-fu display should. Very well done, and worth a separate mention on their own.

The story is very well done as well, probably the key element for a role-playing game; characters are interesting and well realized for their different traits and motivations. It has the feeling of an old style kung-fu movie, with a good mix of emotional material both funny and sometimes tragic.

Terrific game, a must buy for RPG and/or kung-fu movie fans.

Just finished this game, and it simply blew me away. It is deffinetly my idea of a near perfect single player RPG.

-Very good well written story.
-Great characters.
-Great voice acting.
-Awesome fight system that is really fun.
-Terrific soundtrack that fits whatever is happening perfectly.
-Tons of subquests to do.
-Lots of choices that WILL effect the outcome of the game, as well as relationships with other characters.
-Many different unique fighting styles, ranging from martial arts, to weapons, magic, or physical transformation.
-The way the player behaves during the game shapes their character, and the path he/she follows.

A few minor camera angle problems during some of the battles is pretty much the ONLY flaw I found with this game.

If you enjoy RPGs, do yourself a favor and buy Jade Empire.
Really an fantastic gaming experience.

I remember being a kid and watching all of the old Kung-Fu classics that this one television station used to show on lazy Sunday afternoons. Most were cheesy. Some were outright over the top. For example, there was this one movie (I can't remember the name of it) where a monk with a bo-staff was wandering through a graveyard and all of a sudden several ninjas erupted out of the ground underneath him and started stabbing him in the gut. His intestines were hanging out of his pant leg and he STILL kept slaughtering them by the dozens. The only way they beat him was when he stepped on a loop of his own intestine and went down on one knee and the only pain he showed was this puzzled look on his face. And that was another thing about those movies; no one seemed to die simply. If one of the protagonists got killed, they had to stagger around, looking enraged, take out a couple more enemies WHILE THEY WERE DYING, and then do a backflip and three front somersaults before they went to the ground and were still.

But they were still good fun to watch when you had nothing else on your plate for the day.

Jade Empire is a successful creation of this type of fun. The outlook is a little more serious, but playing this game evokes a deep feeling of notstalgia 'for me younger days'. Plus, the play time ranges anywhere from thirty to forty hours, MUCH longer than the time it took me to get through any of those chop-sockey films. If you like fantasy-based roleplaying games with a twist, you'll like this one.

GAMEPLAY-5 Stars
Jade Empire weaves one of the richest tapestries of culture for a console game of this scope, based on the Chinese dynasties of ancient times (quick useless fact: In ancient China, jade was considered so precious a stone that only the emperor was allowed to possess it). The developers even went so far as to create a fictional language, called 'Tho Fan', that the older members of the Empire still converse in.

Like every other game that Bioware has produced, you're given a choice of which character you want to play, all in a third-person based perspective, male or female, fast, strong or balanced, and the moral path you take is also entirely in your hands, with certain aspects of the game altering according to the decisions you make, both at the onset and during the course of your adventure.

Unlike previous games produced under the Bioware aegis, combat is real-time and you can switch your mode of attack on the fly to best take advantage of the situation you're faced with. You can choose between attacking bare-handed, with a weapon, magically or by supporting your team member and each method bears its own strengths and weaknesses when compared to the nature of the opponent you're squaring off against, whether it's a mundane pirate, demon, ghost or what have you.

This is also one of the few original xbox games that will play smoothly on the xbox 360. The one major issue I've seen here is that, in some spots, the texture mapping is blank on certain items and all you see is the greyscale model, but that's rare.

There are three basic statistics that define your character: Body (raw physical might and ability to withstand injury), Mind (ability to think reflexively) and Spirit (ability to manipulate your internal chi energy). There are also three secondary attributes: Health (the ability to take damage before you die; influenced by Body), Chi (raw internal mental energy; influenced by Spirit) and Focus (the measure of your ability to concentrate on one particular action to improve the outcome; influenced by Mind). Aside from your combat skills, there are three conversational skills which can directly affect the dialogue you maintain with people. These are: Charm (friendly banter), Intuition (amount of insight you have on a given person's motives) and Intimidation (ability to coerce by threats).

The mechanics of gameplay are skill-based. The experience you get from your accomplishments goes towards an overall level threshold. Once that threshold is reached, you're given a certain number of skill points that can be allocated among the skills that you possess. Each skill can be increased 5 times before it maxes out and they are each broken down into three sub-categories which govern the speed of the attack, the damage caused and the reduction of the cost of chi needed to use that skill.

One of the main complaints the other reviewers gave this game is in the amount of conversations you have with other parties. I remind them that this IS a roleplaying game. It's a LOT more immersive than your average shooter. Through these conversations, you learn about the nation's history, lifestyles, objectives you may take to progress forward on your quest and Monty Python's John van Cleese does a cameo appearance as Lord von Fontlebottom the Magnificent Ba$tard in the Imperial City's scholar's garden, and he's ALWAYS good for a few laughs.

STORY-5 Stars
It's a story that's withstood the ages, with mythic Chinese legend thrown in for good measure. A promising student at a school learns of their epic destiny. His (or her) master is abducted and they begin a quest to rescue him. Along the way, they gather a following a like-minded individuals out to do the same thing or something similar and, teaming up, find out they're responsible for saving the world.

Bioware also puts the cliffhanger that they're known for into the plot. I was expecting it going into Jade Empire from the previous games I've tried from them, but the first time I saw it, the epiphany STILL had me going "Duuhh..." from the revelation. That alone was worth the price of admission. You discover that Sun Li the Glorious Strategist truly IS a master when preparing his battle plans.

SOUND-5 Stars
The score for Jade Empire is vintage ethnic Asian. It fits the mood of the game perfectly and adjusts to whatever type of area you find yourself in. From the grand sweeping epic music when traversing the Imperial City to the slow, moody sounds as you wander through a haunted inn or graveyard to a more laid-back score when doing your thing in a village (not to mention the heavy percussive riffs as you enter battle), original score designer Jack Wall earned his pay with this one. It all comes through beautifully in 5.1 surround sound.

The voice acting is also top notch. John van Cleese is hilarious as the slap-happy opinionated conquistador. I believe Nathan Fillion, lead actor from the ill-fated Fox sci-fi series 'Firefly' also plays a bit part at the beginning.

GRAPHICS-5 Stars
For its time, Jade Empire was one of the most visually appealing games on a console. Considering the active code required for everything you could do in the game, the graphics themselves were pure eye candy and show the skill of the developers. There is some fade-in with the people wandering around the areas, but it doesn't detract appreciably from the gameplay and the framerate stays at very smooth levels. There are no dynamic shadow effects, but the lighting in the game only serves to enhance the mood.

REPLAY-5 Stars
Like every other production from Bioware, Jade Empire allows you to take a different path each time you play through it. This lends a staying power that you don't normally find in a game.

OVERALL-5 Stars
"Confucius say, one who plays Jade Empire has many hours of enjoyment."

Through five different playthroughs, in whatever choice I made, I've enjoyed every minute of my time wandering around and seeing the sights. Games are about escapism and being someone else for a time. This game serves up a full helping of fun and anyone else who disagrees with my assessment, you can come and see me. I'll give you a 'HAH!!' and a 'HA-YAH!!' My 'positive outlook style' is stronger than your 'grumpy crab style'.

Nuff said.

has a good story line but i must say kinda short... its about 19 to 20 hrs
which isn't alot. Or i could just have gone through it really fast...
the controls are pretty easy and it becomes a second nature, i only had one problem with it and that was the game was scratched, it only had one time it didn't work. and i turned off the xbox and turned it back on and loaded my most recent and i was good to go. GREAT GAME
I just suggest you spend more time on character relationships ships than i did. because i was in a rush to finish mine. GOOD GAME

This is my second favorite game ( the first being KOTOR, also by BioWare). The storyline is rich, as as the characters. Sky is one of my all-time favorite characters (along with Carth from KOTOR). The scenery on this is breaktaking. I enjoyed the "good vs. evil" decision in this game, as it is really innovative. It goes so much further than just good vs. evil. It has 2 leaning, the Way of the Open Palm, which is not that different from general 'I've got to help everyone who comes along' good, and the Way of the Closed Fist. The Closed Fist is one of my main reasons for liking this game so much. Basically it states that only the strong survive and florish, while the weak fade away. There was this one point in the game, as someone asked you to describe your surroundings, and there was one option that just blew me away; it talked about how everything fades over time, even the earth. Just the way it was written was beautiful. Another example is giving a young girl a knife and giving her the oportunity to kill the man that had put her into slavery (of course she can't do it anyway) instead of you just killing him. Get this game, especially the Limited Edition, as there is an extra character. BioWare, make a sequel!