BioWare Looking at Ways to Bring Jade Empire Back

[UnravThreads]

Sources on that claim? How do you know that Lucasarts simply didn't say "Hey, make another one of those Old Republic games that everyone seems to love", and Bioware decided to use that as their basis for an MMO. You're claiming that all the decisions were made by Lucasarts, when it's just as likely that Bioware were given license to make an Old Republic game and decided to make it an MMO themselves. Or it may even have been EA's idea. Bioware may have been working on a KOTOR 3, and EA said "No, fuck that, we want another MMO to try and dethrone World Of Warcraft with." Until you can point to an article or interview that says Lucasarts shut down or vetoed a KOTOR 3, we won't know. Which is why I said 'someone fucked up' not necessarily 'Bioware fucked up'.

How about LucasArt's rather well known tight grip on the Star Wars franchise? The point is that any and all lore decisions will have to go through LucasArts because it can have massive effects on the universe. You do not get free-reign with Star Wars. If you look at this [http://news.ea.com/news/ea/20101110007406/en/EA-LucasArts-Enter-Global-Publishing-Agreement-Star], it clearly states LucasArts are involved with the design (And marketing). LucasArts don't give you the Star Wars license and pat you on the head, leaving you to carry on with whatever you feel like. If they don't like a decision you've made, you change it.

You're basing your assumption of the idea that the most important thing about KOTOR is for there to be a 'canon' story to base things off. That's the wrong way to look at things. When KOTOR came out on Xbox, it caused such a stir because it introduced many console gamers to the idea of an RPG having a non-linear story where they could choose the outcome. Before then, console RPGs were still seen as fairly linear affairs. KOTOR showed that you could have a branching storyline with moral choices and different endings, and that was the appeal for the entire game. There wasn't a 'right' way or 'wrong' way to play the game. The whole reason Bioware chose the Old Republic setting, 3000 years prior to A New Hope, was so that players could make their own choices without fucking up or negating later events in the Star Wars saga. Turning around and then saying "Oh, no, wait, there was a right way to play the game after all, and this was it" is not only insulting to the intellect, it stands in complete contrast with the whole appeal of the KOTOR games in the first place. If you're going to try and cement the events of KOTOR in canon, then it shows you never really understood what KOTOR was about in the first place.

No, the most important thing about KotOR was that it was a compelling story with fairly good gameplay. But LucasArts need a canon story. Your experience is not the same as mine. Our experiences are not the same as someone else's. Why should *your* experience take priority over mine? Why should mine be more important than yours? Whose story truly happened? Revan is not your character, Revan is not my character. He is LucasArt's. Just because I made Revan female and had her bonk the lovely Juhani, it doesn't mean that's what happened in the story. That is what happened in my story for Revan.

 

[Quijiboh]

Jade Empire was the only Bioware game I didn't like. I remember there was one conversation leading up to a sidequest, and there was an option to say "I really don't care about you or what you're talking about", and honestly, that was pretty much how I felt about the story and characters in general. Plus, the combat was repetitive, tedious and on higher difficulties each encounter lasted an aeon.

In short, there'd have to be some major changes before they got me interested again.

 

[Kian2]

I don't think Jade Empire is quite my favorite game, although it's up there.

I can say, however, that it has my favorite story twist of any game I ever played. Spoiler'd, although for a six year old game I really shouldn't need to:

Spoiler

Your master turning out to have trained you to fail. Not just the 'old master turns out to be a villain', but the execution. All throughout the game, every person you fought remarked on how you had a certain weakness, but that it was strange, since they couldn't exploit it and it left them open if they tried.

Naturally, I assumed this meant I was awesome. That's what every other game has taught me. If something about you is strange = you are awesome. Having that oft remarked weakness come into play as the final touch of the master strategist's gamble to take the dragon's power for himself was genius, and quite enjoyable.

Actually, now that I think about it, KotOR and Jade Empire shared the interesting plot twist thing, which DA and ME kind of dropped. The plot for those two is fairly straight forward. No real surprises or anything.

Spoiler

Granted, I think I caught on to the Revan mindwipe thing a bit before the actual reveal, but it was a fun moment regardless. On the other hand, betrayals in Dragon Age are obvious and you can see them coming a mile away. There is no real attempt to surprise you as a player, and are instead expected to buy into your character being oblivious.

Mass Effect is even more straightforward. The biggest surprise is that the Reapers are the real threat, which you learn immediately after the introduction. Basically, once you have Liara, the plot is spoiled. She spells out how there's a cycle of galactic extinction and how we're overdue, which answers every question for a somewhat savvy player.

 

[gmaverick019_v1legacy]

ah helll yeah, i lovedd jade empire! too bad it doesn't have very much mod support on the pc..

but still, that would be awesome, i loved the atmosphere and style of the game, and a sequel would more then likely get a guaranteed purchase from me

 

[gmaverick019_v1legacy]

Spoiler

Your master turning out to have trained you to fail. Not just the 'old master turns out to be a villain', but the execution. All throughout the game, every person you fought remarked on how you had a certain weakness, but that it was strange, since they couldn't exploit it and it left them open if they tried.

Naturally, I assumed this meant I was awesome. That's what every other game has taught me. If something about you is strange = you are awesome. Having that oft remarked weakness come into play as the final touch of the master strategist's gamble to take the dragon's power for himself was genius, and quite enjoyable.

hah i will have to agree, i felt the exact same way, they used my cocky "i've played lots of games" knowledge against me in that twist.

every time someone talked to me about my skills that way i always was like

but then later on after the twist i was like

 

[Nobodyman]

Jade Empire is probobly my favorite Bioware game. Its amazing.

 

[GiglameshSoulEater]

I would not mind a sequel, but i wonder how they would make a new plot. I mean, you solved everything.. or broke everything. Not much further to go from that