Jade Empire: Special Edition

I find the fighting in this game a chore. Step one: click enemy to death, repeat 10 times - and now for round two of this multi-stage fight, repeat step one! The game is also phenomenally bad at explaining the combat mechanics to you, you're mostly in the dark about what effects or even what damage output your different fighting styles/weapons will have. Apart from that, you're - once again - the chosen one and saviour of the world. Your party members sort of stumble into your company and then simply stay around even in the face of certain death, for whatever reason. Granted, some do share your motivations to see things through to the end, but several are just more or less along for the ride. Despite what the game and some fans tell you, decisions you make in Jade Empire are simply and exclusively good or bad. The 'open palm' / 'closed fist' 'philosophies' are just a reskin of the KotOR light side / dark side binary moral system. Probably I'm feeling more disappointed about the game due to this clash of the setting looking different, but the contents staying all the same. Add to that the less than great game mechanics, and you have a pretty mediocre game. It was nice enough to play once, but unlike other RPGs, I won't play this one again.

The twin brother of Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic. While similar in structure, it's actually more action-oriented. Inspired by ancient Chinese mythology, Jade Empire delivers a great experience to WRPG fans looking for that early 2000's story-driven RPG experience. This game is unique in that with so many different ways to play, there is essentially no "wrong" way. You can play the game in any way you want, there is no hard build as any build you build will succeed and bring you to the end of the game. The music, the atmosphere, and the general feel of the game are fantastic, I couldn't recommend this game more. For such a low price, this is an experience you will never forget.

Put Simply, this game is amazing. It has all of the powerful story telling, decision making, characters, and rpg elements Bioware is famous for. However, it feels much too short. At what I thought was about the half way point through the game, the game ended. Great game. Worth the money. Just be prepared to feel like it ended way too soon.

Jade Empire is sort of re-telling of 1st KOTOR scenario in Far East setting. The missions are eerily similar, albeit placed linearly. Same goes for overall structure: visit several places, confront the main antagonist, wander some more, confront him again. However, Jade Empire has one quality that's very uncommon in modern CRPGs: it does not punish you for playing evil. It even puts there a convenient philosophy of egoism and self-reliance, to distinguish this concept from simply being "evil" as we know it from other games. Not only it does not discriminate based on player character morality, actually for the most part being evil is easier and/or more profitable than being good, exactly the way it plays out in real life. If you look for modern RPG game that let's you really pick your morality, consider this game.

Can't play it. Running Windows 7. This crash on launch is a fairly common problem. I've looked up and attempted to apply the solutions, but no dice. Maybe it'll work for you. I got this game for three bucks and change. Had I known about this problem prior to purchasing, I still would have taken the risk, because Bioware is great and the price was reasonable. Just know that you might be throwing away your money.