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Casimir_Effect

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Aug 26, 2010
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Finally, someone else who likes this game. A lot. Unusual because for some reason it's become Bioware's odd-one-out and people have issue with it.

Pretty much agree with you on your points. The shmup minigame I never minded much as it was easy and optional (for the most part). Also, I think using the keyboard to control the ship removes the need to mouse-tap. Space fires continuously I think. (or just use a 360 controller as the game doesn't need pin-point accuracy).

The fighting mechanics I actually enjoyed due to their more-involving nature. Sure they could have been better, but they were simple and fun. And yeah you can mash light attack to win, but that's boring. The game wants you to feel like you're in an old kung fu/ wushu film so act like it. Roll all over the place. Try and be audacious. It's not like the game is ever really hard.

In fact the only time it is are the worst periods. Fighting Horse demons is a fucking nightmare because of the I-hit-you-I-take-damage mechanic, and Elephant demons are annoying too. Nothing compares to fighting
Master Li
though, who flat out fucking cheats. 3 shots and you're down was my experience of that fight most of the time. Luckily there is the cheese-tactic of Storm Dragon style, which taught him who was fucking boss.

I would also recommend this to anyone who missed it, especially as you can go and download it from Steam right now for less than £10. The setting and art is beautiful (opposite of gritty). The characters in this game were the precursors for most in Mass Effect and Dragon Age. The story is intriguing and has one hell of a twist. And finally, due to the good/evil paths to take being nicely varied (along with a load of companions) there is much replay value.

And you, reviewer man. I like your style, keep it up.
 

xdgt

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Apr 27, 2010
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I actually liked Jade Empire, a bit more action oriented than other Bioware stuff, but it was unique and fun. What i liked most was actually the "moral" system - it was less about good versus evil and more about being supportive, kind and helpfull versus tough love aproach of let people handle their troubles to make them strong and capable in the future. The minigame really didn't bother me at all, threw me back to NES nostalgia i guess, anyway if i remember correctly you could fail the minigame and still progress in the game, you only really needed to succeed in order to get more upgrades (and there were only 5 levels i believe, i wish there were more so i could get more upgrades). The combat difficulty really ranged from one character to another, the strong would come out on top rather easily, the fast could use a little more finesse as for the rest they had it even worse.
Also there was a bug that made you crash in the middle of the game 90% of the time (i fell into the other 10% the first time i played through).
 

ShadowsofHope

Outsider
Nov 1, 2009
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I enjoyed Jade Empire myself, still playing it actually. One of Bioware's less-than-recognized RPG's, unfortunately.

I really take an interest in the Ancient Chinese spirituality lore, however. Something a little more.. serene about it, than most Western concepts.
 

xdgt

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Apr 27, 2010
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joethekoeller said:
Seriously? To my impression that concept is scrapped almost immediately after being brought up, and then the game uses traditional good versus evil anyway. While that means little change for open palm, people into the definition of closed fist will probably find it irritating that half of the actions required for their path has them punching babies or stuff like that: For some of it it's just hard to justify you did it with the best of intentions, and even so: How is the game supposed to measure your intentions?
Its true in some cases it seems mostly cosmetic with good being "good" and evil being "evil". But i remember playing through the game the second time around and actually seeing the consequences of my actions run a different course, while it was a bit long ago and i don't have an example right now - it was something along the way of refusing to help a villager against local bandits, then he went off and fought them himself, ridding the village of that threat for as long as he lived there, while if i helped him the bandits would retreat and then once i was gone come back and keep doing whats they're doing.
Its not a question of intentions, but of actions, you could have just been a dick but that treatment made the other person stronger and independable. For me it raised an interesting question of what are the good actions and what are the bad? That which was "good" was not necesarily so in the long run and neither was "evil". For this was the whole pretext of the game. The main storyline is based on the draught - surely it was a good thing that the emperor intervened and stopped it? But at what cost?
Usually in Bioware games when you do good (whether its good or "good") you can see from the immediate consequences that it was just that - good. In the case of Jade Empire that line got a little blurry (or a lot) and for me its a great (or a small) achievement on their part.
Hope you understand any of these, i got a little incoherent there i think.
 

irequirefood

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May 26, 2010
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This is easily my favourite Bioware game, probably even RPG. I loved the review, and funnily enough my favourite part was the bit beforehand about the neutral character and moral-choice systems. I actually want to have that character now. I didn't find the minigame too hard, even when playing Jade Master mode. And playing through that, can I say that the golem form becomes less over-powered, and more I need to use this if I want to kill people in less than a few minutes.
 

RollForInitiative

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Mar 10, 2009
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Well, that was a nice read. Jade Empire was the first game I ever shipped so it will always hold a special place in my heart. Glad to see that it manages to do that for some other people as well. =)
 

Pegghead

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Aug 4, 2009
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TL;SR (Too long, skim read) but I agree with your key-points.

I thought Jade Empire was, well, awesome! A Chinese mythological steampunk kung-fu adventure, that alone would make it a good game but everything else was tightened and fun, from the minigames that broke the tedium to the...unique way of levelling up to the good ways party members were introduced and indeed used.

Bollocks to Mass Effect, THIS is Bioware's best game.
 

Onyx Oblivion

Borderlands Addict. Again.
Sep 9, 2008
17,032
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Fuck Mass Effect. Fuck KOTOR. Fuck Baldur's Gate. Fuck all of Bioware's catalog.

I would trade every other game that Bioware has ever made for a Jade Empire 2.

And by trade, I mean that I'd make it so that they never existed. That is how much I love JE.
 

Flamezdudes

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Aug 27, 2009
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This is an Xbox title right? It's probably one of the only games of BioWare's I haven't played so I think i'l give it a try. Looks good, very good review.
 

The Wykydtron

"Emotions are very important!"
Sep 23, 2010
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I loved the moral system in JE just because I could be all nice all the way up to the end then just screw everyone over. Also its the only RPG i've seen that actually gives you the choice to let the bad guy win at the end in return for an awesome statue of yourself, thats just epic win.
 

Flamezdudes

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Aug 27, 2009
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Onyx Oblivion said:
Fuck Mass Effect. Fuck KOTOR. Fuck Baldur's Gate. Fuck all of Bioware's catalog.

I would trade every other game that Bioware has ever made for a Jade Empire 2.

And by trade, I mean that I'd make it so that they never existed. That is how much I love JE.
Blasphemer! Blasphemer! No game is good enough to take away Mass Effect forever! NONE! It can't be that good can it?
 

Onyx Oblivion

Borderlands Addict. Again.
Sep 9, 2008
17,032
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Flamezdudes said:
Onyx Oblivion said:
Fuck Mass Effect. Fuck KOTOR. Fuck Baldur's Gate. Fuck all of Bioware's catalog.

I would trade every other game that Bioware has ever made for a Jade Empire 2.

And by trade, I mean that I'd make it so that they never existed. That is how much I love JE.
Blasphemer! Blasphemer! No game is good enough to take away Mass Effect forever! NONE! It can't be that good can it?
It's certainly leagues more original. I can count on one hand the number of games I know that are set in mystical china kung fu land. And on one finger I can count the number of RPGs set there.
 

irequirefood

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May 26, 2010
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joethekoeller said:
Good to hear, I was beginning to assume that thing went by utterly unnoticed. Now we only have to hope some game designers pick up the idea.

Feedback is always appreciated.
Sorry for the lack of feedback, I'm not very sure about what exactly to say, but here goes. I felt that even though there were the pictures to break it up, it still seemed a bit like a wall-of-text. I dunno, maybe for my tastes it was a little long? That could just be me though. I can't really think of anything you left out, except maybe the extensive inventory of gems, but it didn't seem important enough to bother me.

All-in-all, it was a good review, that gives someone who is curious about the game a good enough reason to buy it.
 

irequirefood

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May 26, 2010
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joethekoeller said:
Sorry, should have made that clear: I was being appreciatevie of the feedback already there, not demanding more. More is better, but I'm happy for anything I can get.
*Facepalm* Well I'm glad I could add to the feedback in any case :)