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Late to the 9.9: Jade Empire
- Thread starter U5230
- Start date
Dr. Strangelove
I'M COOCOO FOR COCO CRISP!
The battle system is horrible. I found the game to be very underwhelming as a whole.
Speevy said:
Agreed. They expanded gameplay and near-bugless code, but the game was literally bereft of fun. I think part of the problem is that both we the gamer and they the designer had no trouble finding fun in the world of Star Wars, but as soon as they were given the responsablity of creating their own universe, they balked and made a dull, listless one rather than one bristling with character.
I hope its a lesson Bioware learned well.
I didn't have a problem with the combat in Jade Empire, especially when I found the right set of four styles I ended up using through the whole game. It was nice to mix and match on the fly, and a huge step up from KOTOR's pure tedium it claimed as combat. Aside from the visuals, everything else was pretty much bleh.
Choosing it over Phantom Dust though should be a crime punishable in at least 12 states.
Choosing it over Phantom Dust though should be a crime punishable in at least 12 states.
Speevy said:
Thing is, I think it does pay homage to sci-fi. The backgrounds in the game looks like they're swiped right out of a Syd Mead concept book. And the music is total Vangelis. And the tank deal that they drive around in looks straight out of Damnation Alley.
If anything this is where they're getting things right.
I'm worried that they can't handle the finer points of story and character without a good pre-fab outline.
davepoobond
you can't put a price on sparks
at least it wasn't a 10
Stench said:If it's worth anything...
That image alone completely sells me on the game. The combat system could be garbage for all I care, if the game is full of awesome moments like that, I'm all over it.
That's what I'm saying! Syd Mead up and down! This shit rocks. But games aren't ALL about scenery.
Joe Molotov
Member
7.9 would have been closer to reality. Although they also gave Fable a 9.3, so I guess compared to that, 9.9 for Jade Empire makes sense.
Magicpaint
Member
Dr. Strangelove said:
My exact thoughts.
Even the buggy as hell KOTOR 2 was far, far more entertaning than this.
Notorious_Roy
Member
I kinda liked Jade Empire, one of my favourite Xbox games, and yes, that also says something about the Xbox catalogue itself 
why is it that everything is so black and white with gaf?
Jade Empire was very similar in structure to KOTR 1 and 2. The story wasnt up to par with KOTR but then again what is? Still it wasnt bad either, I liked your master ending up being the betrayer. The story on the whole was much better than your average video game.
The puzzles/quests were very similar to what you do in KOTR, and the graphics were also very good. The battle system is simple, with lots of choices. The big problem is none of the enemies you face require you to change tactics. Its a problem that many video games make, They give you 80 combat moves but you only need 1 to complete the game. It makes combat tedious, repetitive, and too easy.
I believe the design choice to let players choose from a number of combat styles can hinder game play variety. The designer has to make sure that each style will be able to complete the game, in doing so its tougher to make opponents that require a specific strategy/action/weapon to defeat.
I think Jade Empire is an above average game, of the rpgs ive played on the xbox i would rank them like this
1. KOTR
2. Fable
3. Jade Empire
4. KOTR 2
5. Baldurs Gate Dark Alliance
6. Gladius
kotr i consider excellent, 2-4 are above average and 5-6 are average. I dont consider any of these games bad. After reading the above posts you would think Jade empire was as bad as gauntlet dark legacy. Some people need to gain perspective
Jade Empire was very similar in structure to KOTR 1 and 2. The story wasnt up to par with KOTR but then again what is? Still it wasnt bad either, I liked your master ending up being the betrayer. The story on the whole was much better than your average video game.
The puzzles/quests were very similar to what you do in KOTR, and the graphics were also very good. The battle system is simple, with lots of choices. The big problem is none of the enemies you face require you to change tactics. Its a problem that many video games make, They give you 80 combat moves but you only need 1 to complete the game. It makes combat tedious, repetitive, and too easy.
I believe the design choice to let players choose from a number of combat styles can hinder game play variety. The designer has to make sure that each style will be able to complete the game, in doing so its tougher to make opponents that require a specific strategy/action/weapon to defeat.
I think Jade Empire is an above average game, of the rpgs ive played on the xbox i would rank them like this
1. KOTR
2. Fable
3. Jade Empire
4. KOTR 2
5. Baldurs Gate Dark Alliance
6. Gladius
kotr i consider excellent, 2-4 are above average and 5-6 are average. I dont consider any of these games bad. After reading the above posts you would think Jade empire was as bad as gauntlet dark legacy. Some people need to gain perspective
This is sadly the most overrated peace of shit i've tried since i got my Xbox.
I've found the battle system to be really boring and badly done, the story started really annoying, the presentation was "meh" and wasn't immersing me in the game and finally the graphics weren't all that hot and with extreme use of bloom lighting.
Honestly, that's a chance i only did rent that game...
I've found the battle system to be really boring and badly done, the story started really annoying, the presentation was "meh" and wasn't immersing me in the game and finally the graphics weren't all that hot and with extreme use of bloom lighting.
Honestly, that's a chance i only did rent that game...
Traumahound
Member
Flatbread! Spoiler that shit! I don't think Himuro has finished the game yet.
Weird seeing this thread, I just finished Jade Empire last night. I enjoyed it up to the fourth chapter. It seems like Bioware finished the third chapter and realized, "Oh shit, we have to finish this game by next week." The first three chapters took me about 12 hours to finish, the rest of the game after that only took about two hours. I enjoyed the sidequests much more than the main story and there are essentially no sidequests after the third chapter.
I also agree with everyone who says that combat sucks. Especially fighting spirits. I feel into a pattern of using my sword against everyone to get through the fights as quickly as possible. Spirits, of course, are immune to the weapons and every fight with them was the same. Mash 'A' to remove some health. They block. Hit 'X' to break the block. Mash 'A' again. Repeat if necessary. The height of tedium. Especially in the graveyard with the respawning ghosts.
It seemed by the end of the game that Bioware now has essentially one plot that they keep rewriting into different settings. Someone is
and that changes everything! Dun dun dun.
Weird seeing this thread, I just finished Jade Empire last night. I enjoyed it up to the fourth chapter. It seems like Bioware finished the third chapter and realized, "Oh shit, we have to finish this game by next week." The first three chapters took me about 12 hours to finish, the rest of the game after that only took about two hours. I enjoyed the sidequests much more than the main story and there are essentially no sidequests after the third chapter.
I also agree with everyone who says that combat sucks. Especially fighting spirits. I feel into a pattern of using my sword against everyone to get through the fights as quickly as possible. Spirits, of course, are immune to the weapons and every fight with them was the same. Mash 'A' to remove some health. They block. Hit 'X' to break the block. Mash 'A' again. Repeat if necessary. The height of tedium. Especially in the graveyard with the respawning ghosts.
It seemed by the end of the game that Bioware now has essentially one plot that they keep rewriting into different settings. Someone is
not who they seem
scorpian007
Member
I think Jade Empire is one of the best RPGs I've ever played, yes, I enjoyed it a little more than KOTOR (even though the combat system sucks).
tahrikmili
Member
Stench said:If it's worth anything...
That image alone completely sells me on the game. The combat system could be garbage for all I care, if the game is full of awesome moments like that, I'm all over it.
Is there a higher res (720p etc) version of this image? Would make an awesome desktop wallpaper!
EDIT: I found this: http://xbox360media.ign.com/xbox360/image/article/707/707364/mass-effect-20060510040227175.jpg but it's IGN watermarked
Teknopathetic
Member
You've been playing too much Lucky Hit.
I love Jade Empire. The 9.9 was ****ing ridiculous, but if I were to score it, I'd probably give it an 8.0. The battle system is pretty shallow (I would have preferred Dynasty Warriors style beat em up action to the paper rock scissors system JE has), but as a few others have said, it actually gets better later on, especially when you do the arena matches. The later ones force you to mix up styles and manage your chi/health and whatnot. The story starts out lame as ****, but by the end of the game, I really loved the twists it took. The endings are pretty much lame, but that didn't bother me too much as I didn't put any emotional investment into the story (which is maybe why I liked it so much).
To me JE is a fairly above avg action adventure game with some rpg elements thrown in. Nice graphics, nice music, wicked character designs. Overall not too shabby. Of course the hype made it easy for the game to fall flat in the eyes of most, so I never really argue when someone trashes it, cuz it could easily be seen as a massive disappointment, and I've certainly trashed other games in similar situations.
Oh Himu, make sure you flirt with your party members. I played as a girl my first time thru and hooked up with Silk Fox
To me JE is a fairly above avg action adventure game with some rpg elements thrown in. Nice graphics, nice music, wicked character designs. Overall not too shabby. Of course the hype made it easy for the game to fall flat in the eyes of most, so I never really argue when someone trashes it, cuz it could easily be seen as a massive disappointment, and I've certainly trashed other games in similar situations.
Oh Himu, make sure you flirt with your party members. I played as a girl my first time thru and hooked up with Silk Fox
Just goes to show how personal tastes vary across the board. Bioware has always been one of my favorite devs, due to the insane amount of detail and atmosphere that goes into each one of their RPGs. Of course, that doesn't mean that I actually *like* all of their work... some of it simply doesn't appeal to me, though I can certainly acknowledge that a game may be fantastic, even if it doesn't do anything for me personally.
IMO, the Baldur's Gate series will always be the pinnacle of RPGs. When it comes to content, atmosphere, story and character interaction, it really has no equal. To this day, I still consider BG2 to be Bioware's crowning achievement in their short history.
On the other hand, a game like Jade Empire has been given the highest accolades by a lot of magazines, but unfortunately, I just couldn't get into the Far East setting and martial arts battle system. Obviously, it's a great game and there's quite a few people out there who love it, but its Eastern style just didn't appeal to me. Even so, I can admire the game on its own merits, which is an attempt to do something new and unique, which sets it apart from the plethora of FF clones.
IMO, the Baldur's Gate series will always be the pinnacle of RPGs. When it comes to content, atmosphere, story and character interaction, it really has no equal. To this day, I still consider BG2 to be Bioware's crowning achievement in their short history.
On the other hand, a game like Jade Empire has been given the highest accolades by a lot of magazines, but unfortunately, I just couldn't get into the Far East setting and martial arts battle system. Obviously, it's a great game and there's quite a few people out there who love it, but its Eastern style just didn't appeal to me. Even so, I can admire the game on its own merits, which is an attempt to do something new and unique, which sets it apart from the plethora of FF clones.
Himuro said:Pretty cool game.
I'm in Heaven right now, helping out the Fox spirit. The whole forest quest is pretty awesome. Heaven is beautiful, the graphics in this part of the game look better than most 360 game's. :lol
Yeah, the art for that particular segment of the game is jaw-dropping.
Himuro said:
I have it but I can't seem to get into it, the character creation options are just so ugly, why can't I make my character to be good-looking? And why are the characters either grossly generic second generation Chinese from Alberta-lookalikes or completely typical stereotypes? There are genuinely good-looking and cool-looking Chinese people. That's one of the things I can't get past. I enjoyed KOTOR and KOTOR2 but without the Star Wars mythology and the jedi coolness it's hard to get into a Bioware title, for me anyway.
jade empire was on the verge on enjoyable for a while, until I got to some angel character who had been assigned to watch over me, and kept complaining about how much paper work and red tape that i had caused him for killing so many people. I immediately turned the game off, and never played it again. hey game developers, lets keep office space humor at least within a setting where "offices" exist. Not ancient china (japan, whatever, does it even matter for this game?)
I used to consider Bioware one of the best companies out there, until I realized they just keep making Baldur's Gate clones in different clothes. mix an overused mechanic with bad dialogue and research, and they've lost a fan in me.
Im sure this game is very enjoyable to a lot of people, but that sort of stuff really bothers me.
On a side note, while a completely different game, Ganji's environments, especially teh "heaven" level completely blew jade empire out of the water.
I used to consider Bioware one of the best companies out there, until I realized they just keep making Baldur's Gate clones in different clothes. mix an overused mechanic with bad dialogue and research, and they've lost a fan in me.
Im sure this game is very enjoyable to a lot of people, but that sort of stuff really bothers me.
On a side note, while a completely different game, Ganji's environments, especially teh "heaven" level completely blew jade empire out of the water.