Jade Empire: Special Edition

I bought my copy of the Jade Empire special edition for the PC some years back, and thought it enjoyable; its flaws were outweighed by the pure merit of the game being set in the magical Asian mythos. However, I would agree with the opinions which state that this beautiful interactive wuxia feels a bit rushed and/or is too short. Unfortunately... which brilliant RPGs were truly finished before being released? Even classics like PT or BG were released before the developers truly finished what they had planned, robbing us of even greater games that might have been... to not even mention KOTOR2 or DA2. Jade Empire faired comparatively better than those two. I'd say enjoy the game for what it is, and what it is is still quality entertainment set in an unique world nothing akin to which, to my best knowledge, has been attempted before or after in the genre.

Jade Empire is a game that has a reputation, good old days of Bioware and when they did great games. Well, after finally playing and beating it in 2017 I can say that this is a decent game with moments of greatness. The Visuals and music are good, having in mind the time when it was released, it still looks great. The main problem is two-fold - story and gameplay. The plot of this game is much too predictable, almost without any unique and creative attempts. Each story beat, each sidequest, each companion dialogue is almost a direct copy of ones seen in other games and works of fiction. The crazy berserker alcoholic, the mad inventor, the silent, brooding warrior, the charismatic rogue, the naive village girl. Even the one quest where your character is forced to be an actor and improvise on stage. Having said that, there are some great moments, amazing dialogues but this whole experience is medicore at best. The gameplay is another thing, on paper it is amazing, multiple styles, dodges, types of attacks that let you have very strategic battles. In practice, a lot of enemies are resistant to a lot of types of attacks, forcing you to play just one or two specific ways. You think you can choose a way to play, like being a mage, but you can't you need to bee a jack-of-all-trades. Another problem is the massive inbalance in the fighting styles. It is painfully easy to find the best, strongest ways to deal with opponents - to break the game and become basically unbeatable. The combat and gameplay is fun but unbalanced. All in all, this is a good game, but it is the equivallent of an action flick that you will watch once and never think about it again.

I'm only 5 1/2 hours in and already can't get enough of this game. Even the players who've given it 3-star reviews recommend Jade Empire %100, and I couldn't agree more. Just buy the game. At the very least you'll appreciate it.

The reviews for this game don't reflect the actuality of the game IMO. The game is entirely linear. You may decide the order in which you perform side quests, but little else. A world map and transportation is available, but there is zero reason to backtrack. Combat is ridiculously easy: Spam the fast attack button and evade. Occasionally use the power attack on a stubborn block. There is virtually no reason to block for yourself. Companions are virtually useless in combat, making them worthwhile only in support roles. Those, I admit, are varied enough to fit most any playstyle or anticipated opponents. Moral choices amount to good or evil with nothing in between, and both choices massively obvious. No moral ambiguity or shades of gray here. The martial arts styles have effectively nothing distinguishing about them. Power attacks and chi attacks might cause different effects, but these are minor at best. Combat debuffs, either your own or the enemy's, are so minor as to be useless. Support style offer interesting gameplay choices and useful debuffs, but a huge portion of the harder enemies are immune to them entirely. The maps are tiny to fit into the pitiful memory of consoles at the time. And by tiny, I mean TINY. Missing a secret is virtually impossible. There's no "off the beaten path" to explore. Other reviews say the game was cutshort; by the end, I was just powering through to get it over with. Maybe if they'd had more locations, there would have been some choice to the game rather than just the linear story it had. The only positive I can say with certainty I enjoyed was the setting and aesthetic. After the masses of 5 star reviews, this is at best average and a huge disappointment.

After playing DA - The Veilguard going back to old Bioware was a breath of fresh air. Plus I had never played it before and in the few hours I've played I find it to be a way better story.