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Jade Empire fans...UNITE!
- Thread starter AFreak
- Start date
Shake Appeal
Member
Jade Empire is better than Mass Effect.
I liked Jade Empire in the sense that it itched that need for a Kotor (Bioware?) style RPG. However, in retrospect, I'd say it wasn't all that great or memorable. I was intrigued by some of the world stuff, I remember (except some furry heaven you encounter at some point - I forgot exactly how that worked), but, on the whole, the game was just sort of "what I needed" when I played it.
In this game's case, I'm not sure the short length worked against it; if this was a 40 hour, or even 20 hour, quest I probably wouldn't have finished it.
In this game's case, I'm not sure the short length worked against it; if this was a 40 hour, or even 20 hour, quest I probably wouldn't have finished it.
I also loved JE. I had played through to the arena section when my xbox stopped wanting to read the disc. I ended up restarting it on my 360 and finishing it. I really enjoyed the variety that the combat system allowed whilst being so simple.
Saying that I do think Mass Effect is the better overall game.
Saying that I do think Mass Effect is the better overall game.
firehawk12
Subete no aware
[Ramble mode]
It's weird, because I understand why people think the combat is shallow and whatnot because it can be... but I think it probably had the most decent story of the modern BioWare lineup, even though the fact that the endings weren't animated was a complete copout.
My biggest complaint was that they used fake Chinese. I understand that they wanted to be as "fantasy" as possible and not tie it to the real world so they went out and invented a new language with a Sinologist... but why? Don't use Mandarin or Cantonese then... use like Hakka or Taiwanese or some equally obscure Chinese dialect. Instead, what we got is the KoTOR alien language loops.
Another oddity was that the game hacked in gay relationships. It was sort of clear that they didn't plan to have gay relationships, because the game took out the "kiss" scene for gay characters due to the fact that they couldn't go back and animate two dudes or two girls kissing (which was a problem since they only had a hetero kiss scene and the men in the game were much taller than the women)... so I just wonder why they put it in. Maybe they got a lot of heat because the Juhani thing was buried in the deep recesses of subtlety and they felt some pressure to show that they weren't trying to hide gay characters? I don't know.
It's just weird that they went from everyone is bisexual to Mass Effect, where everyone is straight with the cop out that Liara is "monogendered" even though she looks like a woman.
I don't know. I imagine that Jade Empire has been buried and forgotten over at BioWare now that they have Generic Fantasy Vehicle aka Dragon Age and Generic Science Fiction Vehicles, aka Mass Effect and TOR, but I kind of appreciated that there was a WRPG in a typically JRPG/CRPG setting. At least it was different from bald space marines and elves with bows.
[/Ramble mode]
It's weird, because I understand why people think the combat is shallow and whatnot because it can be... but I think it probably had the most decent story of the modern BioWare lineup, even though the fact that the endings weren't animated was a complete copout.
My biggest complaint was that they used fake Chinese. I understand that they wanted to be as "fantasy" as possible and not tie it to the real world so they went out and invented a new language with a Sinologist... but why? Don't use Mandarin or Cantonese then... use like Hakka or Taiwanese or some equally obscure Chinese dialect. Instead, what we got is the KoTOR alien language loops.
Another oddity was that the game hacked in gay relationships. It was sort of clear that they didn't plan to have gay relationships, because the game took out the "kiss" scene for gay characters due to the fact that they couldn't go back and animate two dudes or two girls kissing (which was a problem since they only had a hetero kiss scene and the men in the game were much taller than the women)... so I just wonder why they put it in. Maybe they got a lot of heat because the Juhani thing was buried in the deep recesses of subtlety and they felt some pressure to show that they weren't trying to hide gay characters? I don't know.
It's just weird that they went from everyone is bisexual to Mass Effect, where everyone is straight with the cop out that Liara is "monogendered" even though she looks like a woman.
I don't know. I imagine that Jade Empire has been buried and forgotten over at BioWare now that they have Generic Fantasy Vehicle aka Dragon Age and Generic Science Fiction Vehicles, aka Mass Effect and TOR, but I kind of appreciated that there was a WRPG in a typically JRPG/CRPG setting. At least it was different from bald space marines and elves with bows.
[/Ramble mode]
Thought the game was shallow and completely terrible... especially this being my first Bioware game and all. I bought into the hype with this, since I had just bought an Xbox 1 at the time and needed something to play, something RPGish. In hindsight I should have gone with Morrowind... Makes me hesitant to sit down and play Mass Effect.
Haunted
Member
No, just no.AFreak said:I've been talking with a friend lately whether Jade Empire or Mass Effect was the better game. He has his heart set firmly with Mass Effect, while I lean towards Jade Empire.
Jade Empire, to me, just has the better setting (historical fictionalized China is rarely used, space is used often), better main character( I just love my hot Chinese chick), and much better missions (no Mako here).
However, Jade Empire is usually remembered as the red herring of the Bioware RPGs, but I'd give that crown to ME myself.
What I'm really trying to say is: I WANT MY JADE EMPIRE 2!
Thoughts gaf?
Jade Empire is still good (it's BioWare, after all), but it doesn't hold a candle to Mass Effect. Or any other Bioware effort.
I want a Bioware RPG set in the Wild West.
Epic Tier 3 Engineer
Banned
Jade Empire is by far my favorite Bioware game. It's not incredibly deep and it's very action oriented, but all that means to me is that they trimmed the fat from KotOR and kept me interested the whole way through. Plus, it seems to be the only BioWare game that ran smoothly, at least compared to KotOR and ME.
Love the battle system and the atmosphere and don't understand the hate at all. I found KotOR to be exceedingly boring because the presentation was so awful. JE just seemed more streamlined.
Love the battle system and the atmosphere and don't understand the hate at all. I found KotOR to be exceedingly boring because the presentation was so awful. JE just seemed more streamlined.
"God's Beard!"
Member
Well it's way the hell better than the shitpile that was KOTOR and I'd probably give it the edge over all of Bioware's awful Forgotten Realms D&D games by sheer virtue of it not being Forgotten Realms and not being D&D, but I wouldn't say I'm really much of a fan and it definitely doesn't have anything on Mass Effect.
I guess third-best Bioware isn't that bad a spot to be in, though, even if it is a fairly distant third after MDK2.
I guess third-best Bioware isn't that bad a spot to be in, though, even if it is a fairly distant third after MDK2.
Cat in the Hat
Member
:OCoxswain said:
Hari Seldon
Member
I loved Jade Empire. I have played through it twice and loved it both times. It does kind of drag at the end though.
I would say it is better than Mass Effect simply because Mass Effect's side missions were shit and the inventory was RAAAGE worthy.
I would say it is better than Mass Effect simply because Mass Effect's side missions were shit and the inventory was RAAAGE worthy.
Matty McDee
Neo Member
Eh...I liked Jade Empire, but that was the time when I was really addicted to KOTOR
Chauncy Talon
Member
Speevy said:
I had never played it. I heard it was a great game
Ajemsuhgao
Member
I purchased it on Xbox Live, but I have yet to really sit down and play it.
Hari Seldon
Member
If you are goign to buy it buy the version on Steam it is the superior version.
Kabuki Waq
Member
horibble game pure button mashing, crap combat, crap story, crap graphics.
bloodforge
Member
Love Jade Empire. I own and have played through it multiple times on Xbox and PC. I don't get the hate the game receives either.
Would love to see Jade Empire 2.
Would love to see Jade Empire 2.
After I finish KotoR2, this will be the next game I play. I'm on a RPG spree this summer. I didn't read shit on Jade Empire at the time it was coming and when they ported it for the PC so I'll be spared major spoilers like big twist in KotoR1*.
*I still need to garrote my friend for spoiling that one.
*I still need to garrote my friend for spoiling that one.
monkspider
Member
I definitely didn't prefer it to Mass Effect, but it was a good game and I would like to see a sequel.
Did anyone laugh at the part near the end
Did anyone laugh at the part near the end
with the Water Dragon and all of your teammates saying stuff like "This an abomination against nature!", "this is the most disqusting thing i have ever seen!", "this makes me forget the beauty of life!". It just went on and on and on, I found it oddly hilarious.
Kuro Madoushi
Unconfirmed Member
firehawk12 said:
Bah! Dude, maybe you should study East Asian History along with that CS degree and English PhD you got.
Mandarin and Taiwanese are the same thing despite what some Taiwanese may think (nevermind, I suck. I thought you were referring to Taiwan Mandarin, which is the same as mainland Mandarin, not the diaclect)...And how many people and/or voice actors do you know that can speak bloody Hakka?
And the impression I got from that wasn't necessarily that it was a fake 'China,' but more a fake East Asia. Certainly, there is more Chinese influence in the theme and setting, but if you went to the other Asian countries, you'd see a lot of the same thing.
Personally, I would've gone with something like this:
- Three 'countries' influenced by China, Japan, Korea or whatever. Each would have their own style of fighting, politics, architecture, food, culture etc.
- Each just use their own goddamn language for Christ's sake with subtitles. To the average western gamer, Asian languages probably sound like alien speech anyways. This would give it an authentic flair and it would probably get a kick out of Asian gamers. I'd be confused if anybody complained about subtitled alien language in Kotor and then bitch about this...
- Fighting should've focused entirely on hand to hand combat and removed the 'magic' garbage and horrendous weapon-based fighting. Perhaps the main character visits various schools in each country to pick up different techniques. Of course, each style could be further broken down and changing styles had to be done to face different foes.
- Bosses would be intense one-on-one duels similar to the martial arts movies of old. Random encounters, I guess you could do it River City Ransom style mixed in with set pieces and other crap not to make the game too stale.
- Quests, well...you'd have your generic fetch quests, beat-the-shit-out-of quests, defensive quests, offensive quests, etc etc. However, your choices wouldn't necessarily be 'evil' or 'good' but would have a visible effect on other countries, which in turn would affect your ending.
- NPCs' encounters with enemies would be more cinematic, again like you're watching a movie. Your character would be fighting one dude, and your NPC would be attacking, blocking, running. When you double-team, animation would reflect this instead of enemy turning to face you, then turning to face NPC.
Bioware if you're reading...I'm looking for a job and I've lived in Edmonton before
That being said, I do hope Bioware gives it another shot. Personally, I still preferred ME over JE, but ME definitely falls flat on its face in terms of missions...same shitty planets, same shitty enemies all the time doing the same shit.
Liabe Brave
Member
I disagree with this. I found the overall tone and setting of the story pretty spot-on. That said, there were two pretty big design flaws that worked against the wuxia feel:HK-47 said:
1. The "not just plain evil" morality was, in fact, just plain evil. Not unique to Bioware, this is a problem almost no games with such systems avoid.
2. The combat was boring and repetitive. This is the exact opposite of the liquid grace of wuxia, and is by far the biggest flaw in the atmosphere. I'm glad it wasn't turn-based, at least.
On the technical side, it was quite nice for the time and platform, though it retained the ridiculous load times that also hobbled KotOR.
AFreak said:
If they make a sequel, they should fix the combat. Something that doesn't involve punching badguys (who attack you one at a time), vaulting over them, and then attacking them again. Or sword-sword-vault-sword-decapitate-sword-vault. The complete opposite of what you'd expect in wuxia. The morality system needs a total overhaul since the closed fist isn't anything like the Machiavellian philosophy it's supposed to be. They should fix the load times since they are absolutely they worse I've ever experienced in a big-budget game.
Come to think of it, they should just make something else.
Revelations
Banned
Jade Empire had a awesome soundtrack. It's concept was great and i hope Bioware is working on a sequel. I can see much improvement over the original. But keeping with the same design and style of the first.
Jade Empire didn't remind me remotely of wuxia, but it did remind me of other Western visions of fantasy China, like Bridge of Birds and later Avatar: the Last Airbender, and I enjoyed both of those.
I'll have to reserve judgment until Bald Space Marine's Dune Buggy and Elevator Riding Adventure 2 and THE NEW SH_T!!1! come out, but JE was the last time Bioware assembled their BG2-era stock properties, changed the setting, tossed in a token new system (the exploitable but fun twitch combat), and produced something that didn't make me say, "Meh, seen this before."
Sure, it was short, flawed, pretty predictable and had an advanced case of consolitis. But damn it, it had heart! And Brian Doyle-Murray doing a faux-Chinese Don King impression.
I'll have to reserve judgment until Bald Space Marine's Dune Buggy and Elevator Riding Adventure 2 and THE NEW SH_T!!1! come out, but JE was the last time Bioware assembled their BG2-era stock properties, changed the setting, tossed in a token new system (the exploitable but fun twitch combat), and produced something that didn't make me say, "Meh, seen this before."
Sure, it was short, flawed, pretty predictable and had an advanced case of consolitis. But damn it, it had heart! And Brian Doyle-Murray doing a faux-Chinese Don King impression.
Vustadumas
Banned
Jade was a huge disappointment to me. I was so looking forward to it. It played like a shitty action game, with a tired story. Definitely one of Bioware's low points.
bistromathics
facing a bright new dawn
Now that I think about it, Jade Empire was the last bioware game I played.
godhandiscen
There are millions of whiny 5-year olds on Earth, and I AM THEIR KING.
I couldn't finish it due to lack of interest. Jade Empire doesn't hold a candle to Mass Effect.
TitaniumGroceries
Banned
Jade Empire was Diet-KotOR, with characters who were just amalgamations of characters from KotOR. For instance, Sagacious Zu is just a combination of Canderous Ordo and Carth Onasi.