Jade Empire: Special Edition

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.

I'll edit the review once I've played more, just wanted to say I couldn't get this game to launch on the EA app (same with many other games tbh), but the GOG version easily works for me. Support GOG and get your old games on here.

Jade Empire has an interesting setting that I wish had been expanded on. It has an intriguing combat system that I wish had been expanded on. It has an engaging story that I wish had been expanded upon. But unfortunately, it all ends up being somewhat shallow. That's not to say it isn't good, or that you won't have a good time with it, or that it's somehow broken, far from it. Jade Empire's problem is that it doesn't go far enough. The combat is too simple. The Way of the Open Palm/Way of the Closed Fist aren't developed much beyond "pacifistic/good" and "aggressive/evil" (the Way of the Closed Fist isn't quite evil, that's an over simplification, but it's sort of like choosing to be Dark Side in KoTOR 2). I think the most depressing thing about Jade Empire is that it's really hard to replay. The plot twists you already know about just leave you with the feeling that you're going through the motions, and is unsatisfying. The game is fairly linear to boot, so there's not a lot of content to explore once you're done. For all my personal gripes about Dragon Age: Origins, BioWare packed it to the brim with content - and Jade Empire manages to feel anemic compared to KoTOR. Still, I love the music, I love the setting. I love the martial arts action. I love the characters as well. I just wish there was more. If you've never played it, and you're looking for something a little different and need that RPG fix, you likely won't go wrong with Jade Empire.

I liked too much when I played it on XBOX and thought that would be very good playing it on PC but it was really dissapointing the crap port made. It is not a widescreen game but a stretched 4:3 one, unoptimized and mehh graphics. Really dissapointing coming from GOG.

A fantastic Action-RPG with Bioware's trademark strong storyline and great NPCs. It beautifully captures the mythic far-eastern atmosphere and has that cool vibe of a classic Kung-Fu movie. Though gameplay-wise, there is some discord between areas designed for exploring/fighting/adventure and areas containing many pure dialog-driven quests - It's still a fun and rewarding RPG which at times rises to epicness and leaved good memories after it's completion.