Jade Empire: Special Edition

I don't doubt this game was great when I originally wanted it but didn't have an Xbox, but it's just boring me. I actually was having a good time for quite a while, but then all at once the repetition and clunkiness of it all just hit me and I've been slogging through the last few hours. I'm at the end of chapter 3 and I just don't care enough to finish. The setting is nice, but the story and voice acting are just so phoned in that it hasn't created one memorable moment yet.

I never experienced any bugs with this game. I know a lot of people had issues, bugs, even game-breaking bugs, or the game would simply not start for them. I think the GoG version is the best version of the game, but be warned. When it does work though it's an amazing action game, the martial arts aspect is surprisingly deep and balanced with many different fights challenging your mastery in various ways. The choice of which martial arts styles to focus on feels very meaningful and deeply impacts how the gameplay feels. This makes the game surprisingly replayable. The story is hard to surpass. This action game has a better story than most "story-rich" games published in the last decade. The downsides of the game (bringing it down from a hypothetical 7 stars to a mere 5 stars) in my eyes are: The end game railroads you a bit which is an unwelcome change after the very free, hub-based early and mid-game that offers a lot of choice. I know a lot of games do this, but I felt the balance was a bit off in JE, perhaps the game could have used one last hub somehow combining the areas of the 5th and 6th chapters. The new game + feature (Jade Master) is generally fun, but especially the bossfights involve a lot of repeated moves that are hard on the fingers. Still overall an amazing game and well worth at least one play-through!

This is my favorite game. Great story, a vibrant kung-fu fantasy setting, and gameplay focused around learning and combining various fighting styles. The soundtrack is amazing and the graphics, while certainly outdated, hold up even 20 years later. Unfortunately, it doesn't work on Windows 11 at all, but I've managed to run it on Windows 10 without issue. Underrated both as an RPG classic and as part of BioWare's portfolio. If you enjoyed the Knights of the Old Republic games, you will find Jade Empire to be familiar ground. Give this hidden gem a spin if you haven't already!

.... is that it was WAY too short (and that's the only reason it got 4/5).. The music was absolutely amazing, the story was great (though predictable) and there were some really emotionally touching moments. A brilliant RPG!

When I was a kid I watched kung fu theater on channel 17 religiously. So if you like kung fu this game is well just plain fun. :-D