Jade Empire started off with enjoyable gameplay, but the challenge quickly diminished as any skill required was overshadowed by the strength of your stats as you leveled up. As I progressed, I found myself just spamming left-click and healing, with little need to time hits or block. What kept me going was the appeal of exploring its charming world and a surface-level intrigue about how the plot would unfold. ...But as a Bioware game, you shouldn’t expect Fallout 2 levels of player dialogue and world interaction. Most of your progress is going to be linear, with dialogue options often limited to the classic 'good guy' or 'evil jerk' choices. I mostly feel that the setting is a waste, and as quickly as the game "opened up" it threw you straight to its ending. I would have liked it more if everything had unfolded more slowly. I can’t just excuse all its flaws as a 'product of its time' when other games from the same era managed better. Jade Empire's flaws feel more like the result of a company awkwardly trying to release a 3D RPG with limited time and funding. You've got gameplay that devolves into "turn my brain off" levels of spam, along with a plot and setting cut short in the third act. It's just sad that itscharming setting is now left to be forgotten and collect dust. Overall, it's an okay 3.5/5 with a score of 4 being too generous.
I enjoy this game, though it’s not life-changing or likely to redefine your experience with other games in the genre. Arx can be quite challenging for modern gamers, it doesn’t mark quests well, nor does it provide a proper log for reference. The game is so open-ended that you might find yourself doing things out of order, skipping steps, or missing key items. This often leads to watching walkthrough videos or retracing your steps in guides, which can take away from the experience and discourage players from exploring freely, diminishing the game’s natural charm. My issues with the game are mostly small frustrations, like how interactable objects blend into the environment, the odd flags controlling NPC availability, and the painfully slow movement speed (which you can fix with console commands). The slow pace and constant backtracking can make parts of the game feel like a slog. What sets Arx apart -and why many recommend it- is its novelty compared to other games of its time. The level of interaction between your actions and the questlines is surprisingly advanced for an early 2000s game, even if it’s just a few alternate solutions or actions that reward you with extra gold or experience. Unfortunately, much of this depth isn’t immediately apparent, leaving players to fumble through a dated UI and sparse in-game information. Even with Arx Libertatis, which improves the game’s appearance on modern systems, these issues still remain. Overall I recommend it IF you want to explore older titles, but don't expect it to be genre-defining or to find it to be a "must play"
